And before i forget – again as a loyal Dutch citizen – nominations are now being accepted for the 2011 Human Rights Defenders Tulip, a human rights award presented by the Dutch government. Human rights defenders the world over are eligible. Nominations close on 15 June. please go to: http://www.humanrightstulip.org/simplepage/page/Nominations
Archive for the 'human rights' Category
Advisory Council issues report on The Human Rights of the Dutch Government
May 31, 2011The Netherlands – of which I am still a loyal citizen – has an Advisory Council on International Affairs and it is regularly asked for advice by the Government. This time the Council, at least its Committee on Human Rights, did not wait for the new Government to ask but decided spontaneously to react to the first pronouncements of the Government and the first parliamentary debates. The Council also wanted to beat the deadline for input into the Policy Document on Human Rights Policy that the Government promised to send to the Parliament on 1 April 2011. It has become a short but powerful document (30 pages) and is worth reading in its totality. The Human Rights Committee has a membership that includes most Dutch Human Rights experts such as Cees Flinterman, Jenny Goldschmidt, Willem van Genugten, Nico Schrijver, Verrijn Stuart and Menno Kamminga. You can order your copy free of charge from the Council: AIV, PO Box 20061, 2500 EB The Hague, email: aiv@minbuza.nl. Or go to the website: http://www.aiv-advice.nl.
Marvelous: Human Rights Defenders in Minsk detained just before detention seminar
May 30, 2011The Belarusian police decided to contribute – rather spontaneously – a hands-on element to a NGO training course on detention conditions:
On Saturday 28 May 2011 seven human rights defenders were detained at the BPF Minsk office, where a seminar on detention conditions was expected to take place. The detainees, including Belarusian Helsinki Committee leader Aleh Hulak, Belarusian human rights defenders Liudmila Isakava and Aliaksandr Sasnou, Russian expert Olga Solomatova, Ukrainian activists Alla Blahaya, Vadim Pivovarov and Oleh Martynenko, were taken to Minsk Savetski District police department. At about 2.30 p.m. all of them were released without charges. However, the defenders were officially warned of possible prosecution for violation of the Belarusian legislation.
Bangladeshi Human Rights Defender survives abduction and interrogation
May 26, 2011The Asian Human Rights Commission on 25 May 2011 issued an urgent statement of extreme concern for the situation of human rights defenders in Bangladesh, and in particular over the disappearance of a young human rights activist, Dipal Barua, yesterday, May 24. Dipal has been working for the last few weeks on the efforts for the life and security of another human rights defender, FMA Razzak, on whom the AHRC has been conducting an international campaign:http://www.humanrights.asia/campaigns/attack-on-fma-razzak. Fortunately the AHRC was able to confirm that Dipal returned to his house around 3:30pm local time, the next day, May 25, having been abducted and interrogated over his human rights activities. The story of his terrifying ordeal reveals that the concerted attacks on human rights defenders in Bangladesh are part of a programme by agencies of the government of Bangladesh, operating in secret, to counter the campaign of the AHRC and its partners who have acted to protect the life of FMA Razzak and demand that his perpetrators be brought to justice.
The details of his abduction and interrogation are to be found in the press statement of the Asian Human Rights Commission: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-066-2011. Let’s keep an eye on developments in Bangladesh…
Syrian Human Rights defender Anwar Al – Bunni released from prison on Monday 23 May 2011
May 23, 2011
Anwar Al-Bunni
Anwar Al-Bunni winner of the 2008 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk has been released today. He finished serving his sentence on the 17th of May 2011 but was taken initially to a branch of the security apparatus before being finally released today. Anwar Al-Bunni was originally sentenced to a five year prison sentence because of his courageous work defending human rights defenders and opposition activists facing charges before the State Security Court, now slated to be abolished by a regime under pressure from the protests. He had also set up a human rights centre in Damascus to support the work of human rights defenders and publicly denounced the use of torture in Syrian prisons. This is very similar to the work and condemnation of Muhannad Al-Hassani the 2010 MEA Laureate which is still in prison.
The good news re Al-Bunni is tempered by the consideration that he was not released before he had served his time and that the Syrian regime still holds hundreds of human rights defenders in detention or under threat.
Uzbek dissident Yusuf Jumaev freed from prison but others remain
May 23, 2011Human Rights Watch announced last Friday a bit of good news: – Uzbek authorities released the dissident Yusuf Jumaev from prison on May 19, 2011. Jumaev, a civic activist, poet, and prominent government critic, was arrested in 2008 and ill-treated in prison. Jumaev was arrested in the weeks before the December 2007 presidential election after he called for President Islam Karimov to resign. Jumaev had also written poems and staged protests about the Andijan massacre, as well as about government oppression, and the arrest of his son. Jumaev’s release follows an apology he addressed to Karimov in connection with the 20th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence. Although Jumaev was released, the conviction was not quashed and the government has not given any indication that it intends to ease its campaign to crush its critics, Human Rights Watch said.
“Jumaev’s release is a positive development but it serves as a stark reminder of the many other activists who remain unjustly behind bars and the urgency of securing their release,” Swerdlow of HRW said. “Jumaev’s imprisonment and the ill-treatment he suffered underscore the danger of dissent in Uzbekistan.” At least 13 human rights defenders and numerous political activists and independent journalists remain in prison in Uzbekistan in retaliation for their work or criticism of the government, Human Rights Defenders in prison include: Solijon Abdurakhmanov, Azam Formonov, Nosim Isakov, Gaibullo Jalilov, Alisher Karamatov, Jamshid Karimov, Norboi Kholjigitov, Rasul Khudainasarov, Ganihon Mamatkhanov, Habibulla Okpulatov, Yuldash Rasulov, Dilmurod Saidov, and Akzam Turgunov. Several of them are in serious ill-health and at least seven have suffered torture or ill-treatment in prison.
Radio Victoria in El Salvador under threat from death squad
May 23, 2011Through Amnesty International, Protection On Line and others, the case of threatened journalists in El Salvador begs for attention.
Pablo Ayala, Manuel Navarte and Marixela Ramos are staff members of Radio Victoria in El Salvador, a community radio station committed to social and human rights reporting. Between 20 April and 4 May they received several messages (by letter and mostly SMS via the internet). Anonymous but indicating that the authors belong to a a “death squad” (“grupo de exterminio”). The message is clear: “..from Wednesday onwards if you are at the radio station you will regret it. You have made us lose our patience, let’s see what it will take you to stop talking” or ”… stop that news bulletin you are the coordinator of as you also have a daughter”
On 4 May, Radio Victoria staff held a press conference in the capital San Salvador regarding the threats they had received. A few hours later, at 20:00, Pablo Ayala and Marixela Ramos both received two text message threats: “Today you should have left like we ordered you, if you haven’t done so it is not a problem we will finish our work”.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights deemed the threat to Radio Victoria staff to be so great that it issued Precautionary Measures which required that the authorities ensure their safety. For those with further interest there is Tim’s El Salvador blog (http://luterano.blogspot.com) where you can read more about the work of Radio Victoria. There is also an online petition at Change.org which you can sign. Already in 2009 there were threats against this radio station as shown in the short film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmIVQVJlxOY
Kasha can breathe again, for now: Ugandan anti-gay bill fails to be tabled.
May 12, 2011“Am I going to be hanged for being who I am?” said Kasha Jacqueline, winner of the 2011 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, of the Ugandan bill that at draft stage had proposed the death penalty for homosexuals who are “repeat offenders” and included a number of other discriminatory measures. It seem that the bill was not on the agenda of parliament yesterday and is now unlikely to be debated during this parliamentary session as a new parliament will take over next week (but a similar bill could be re-introduced in the future).
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many other international and national human rights groups had campaigned against passing the law and the on-line campaign group, Avaaz, collected 1.5 million signatures from around the world.
One should note however that the issue is more controversial internationally than in Uganda and most other African countries where homosexuality is often illegal and certainly widely unpopular.
Martin Ennals Award 2011 goes to African Gay Right activist Kasha
May 3, 2011The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), meeting in Geneva yesterday, selected Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera as its 2011 Laureate for her work for LGBT rights and marginalised people in Uganda. Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan woman, is the founder and Executive Director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a main lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organization. Kasha has had the courage to appear on national television and international fora openly stating her sexual orientation and demanding equal protection of the law. This has led to her being constantly harassed and threatened. For more details and languages please go the website of the MEA www.martinennalsaward.org
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 