Archive for the 'Front Line' Category
May 29, 2014
The Treaty Body that oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, composed of independent experts, recently completed its review of China‘s compliance. In its conclusions (called ‘Concluding Observations’), the UN committee expressed serious concern about ‘instances where labour and human rights activists, and their lawyers, have been victims of repression and reprisals while taking up cases of violations of economic, social and cultural rights’ and said that China is obliged under international law ‘to protect human rights and labour activists, as well as their lawyers, against any form of intimidation, threat and retaliation‘.
[The ISHR had briefed the treaty body experts on the case of Chinese human rights defender, Cao Shunli, on of the 3 Final Nominees of the MEA 2014, who died in detention after being denied access to adequate health care. In its briefing, ISHR also expressed concern at ongoing intimidation and reprisals against other human rights defenders, saying, ‘The Chinese Government again restricted human rights defenders from travelling to Geneva to attend this session, a pattern which is widespread. We call on the Committee to recommend that the government immediately cease its harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, and that it guarantee the right of everyone to safely access and communicate with international bodies, such as this Committee. Further, we request that the Committee remain vigilant about reprisals, and that it recommend that the Government investigate all cases of alleged reprisals, and hold perpetrators to account.’] [http://www.ishr.ch/news/china-un-committee-demands-respect-human-rights-activists-and-end-reprisals]
Two days earlier, 26 May, the NGO Chinese Human Rights Defenders reported that Chinese authorities have detained a top rights lawyer and questioned dozens of activists and family members of victims of the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement after they held a seminar to mark the sensitive 25th anniversary.
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Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Cao Shunli, China, China Human Rights Defenders, Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Cui Weiping, Front Line (NGO), harassment, Hu Jia, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, inner mongolia, International Service for Human Rights, Liu Shihui, MEA final nominee 2014, Pu Zhiqiang, Renee Xia, reprisals, retaliation, Tiananmen Square
May 19, 2014
Mexico is one of the worst places in the world for human rights defenders. This is brought home again with this news item via Front Line Defenders that on 12 May 2014, human rights defender Ms Sandra Luz Hernandez was killed in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The human rights defender was shot 15 times in the head in broad daylight. Sandra Luz Hernandez was a member of Madres con Hijos Desaparecidos (Mothers of Disappeared Children), an organisation made up of mothers seeking to combat impunity for the enforced disappearances of their children in Mexico. The human rights defender has been searching for justice for her son, Edgar Guadalupe García Hernández, who worked in the State Prosecutor’s Office of Sinaloa, since he was abducted from their home on 12 February 2012 by unknown armed persons.
According to the record of the Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en México (The National Network of Human Rights Defenders in Mexico), since 2010 to date, there have been a total of 31 killings of human rights defenders, including the shooting of Sandra Luz Hernandez.
[At approximately 4pm, Sandra Luz Hernandez was shot by a man as she walked along Calle Constitución with a friend. The human rights defender was reportedly on her way to meet a person who she had been told had information regarding her son’s case. Sandra Luz Hernandez had stated that, the day before, she was approached by a stranger in a shopping centre who said that he knew someone who could tell her where her son was. On 12 May 2014, the human rights defender reportedly received a call arranging a meeting with the person at the Benito Juarez Colony. The human rights defender had met with the State Prosecutor of Mexico to discuss her son’s case at 11:30am the same day.]
Posted in Front Line, human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: disappearances, Extrajudicial killing, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Mexico, Mothers of Disappeared Children, murder, Sandra Luz Hernandez, The National Network of Human Rights Defenders in Mexico, woman human rights defender
May 18, 2014
In an excellent piece written for CNN, Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch, on 15 May gives an overview of the different measures that threaten human rights defenders in Russia. While attention is on Ukraine, a vicious crackdown on civil society in Russia itself also escalated with every week brings a new pernicious law or legislative proposal:
- The authorities have blocked or essentially took editorial control over a number of independent news portals and are pushing new laws to stifle freedom of expression.
- A week ago, President Vladimir Putin signed a law requiring Russian bloggers with significant followings to register with the authorities and comply with media regulations.
- The same law requires blogging services and social networks to store user activity for six months.
- Another legislative proposal would introduce administrative and criminal offenses for editors who publish “false anti-Russian” information or offer media support to “anti-Russian extremist and separatist forces.”
- Another new draft law introduces a ban on publishing negative information about the Russian government and military.
- Also, amendments presently under review by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, would enable the authorities to throw people behind bars for up to five years for repeated participation in unauthorized public protests.
At the same time the infamous Russian law “on foreign agents”, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ADC Memorial, bloggers, Civil society, foreign agent law, freedom of association, freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, judicial harassment, media, nationalist group, Russia, Tanya Lokshina, Women of the Don
May 16, 2014
MEA Laureate 2007 Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa
MEA Laureate 2007, Pierre-Clavier Mbonimpa, was arrested this morning early. The latest information is that he is still detained at the Police-Judiciare. The background is rising tension in Burundi, where it is feared that President Pierre Nkurunziza is expected to campaign for a third term in office in 2015 despite a two-term constitutional limit. The Economist of 29 March 2014 already carried an article under the prescient title “Trouble Ahead” and on 17 April Paul Debbie, security chief at the UN office in Burundi, was ordered to leave the country in connection with a UN report disliked by the Government containing “allegations of weapons distribution to members of the youth league of the ruling party”. [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/04/burundi-expels-un-official-over-arms-report-2014417144546195161.html] It is feared that this youth wing, named the Imbonerakure, are being armed and trained in weapons use, raising fears of a return to civil war, even of genocide. No charges have been brought against Mbonimpa, but it is believed that the arrest is related to comments made on the radio regarding the above. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 3 Comments »
Tags: APRODH, Burundi, ethnic conflict, freedom of expression, Front Line, illegal detention, Imbonerakure, judicial harassment, laureate MEA, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Nkurunziza, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, Pierre-Clavier Mbonimpa, UN
May 13, 2014
Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, must sometimes be doubting her power: on 5 May 2014, human rights defender Mr Ko Htin Kyaw was arrested by the police for distributing pamphlets in Yangon, Burma. On 9 May 2014, two of his colleagues were also arrested when they attended the trial against him. Ko Htin Kyaw is director of the Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF), a community-based organisation working to promote development and democracy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, FIDH, freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Ko Htin Kyaw, Ko Tin Maung Kyi, Ko Zaw Win, Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF), Myanmar, United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
May 11, 2014
For the weekend a longer read: On 22 April 2014, human rights defender Dr Yuri Melini in Guatemala discovered that intimidating text had been painted on his front gate. The text names the member of the police provided as personal security to the human rights defender since an assassination attempt was made against him. Yuri Melini is the Director of the Centro de Acción Legal, Ambiental y Social de Guatemala (CALAS) – Legal, Environmental and Social Action Centre of Guatemala. CALAS is an organisation working for the strengthening of environmental issues, community participation and respect for the collective rights of indigenous communities in relation to environmental concerns. The human rights defender was awarded the Front Line Defenders Award in 2009. The human rights defender has previously faced harassment, intimidation, defamation and an attempt on his life as a result of his human rights work, see: http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/23190 [Last year eighteen human rights defenders were assassinated, a 72-percent increase over 2012, even as the country’s general murder rate has decreased.]
To place this incident in context one should read the report by Patricia DAVIS published in Eurasia Review of 28 April 2014: “GUATEMALA: SUPPRESSING DISSENT AT HOME AND ABROAD – ANALYSIS”
After a lengthy introduction concerning the ad personam attack by Guatemalan President Molina on Tim Rieser, majority clerk on the Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee (for blocking military aid), the article dives into the numerous human rights problems in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ICJ | Leave a Comment »
Tags: death threats, environmental issues, extrajudicial killings, Front Line (NGO), Guatemala, Human Rights Defenders, indigenous groups, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, International Commission of Jurists, intimidation, land disputes, Mining, Pérez Molina, trade unionists, Tuyuc, Yuri Melini
May 8, 2014
On 7 May 2014, human rights defender Mr Raif Badawi was sentenced by a Jeddah Criminal Court in Saudi Arabia to 10 years in prison, 1000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals. The human rights defender is a co-founder of the “Free Saudi Liberals” website and was convicted of “insulting Islam”. As Raif Badawi’s page https://frontlinedefenders.org/RaifBadawi on Front Line Defenders explains, the human rights defender was originally sentenced to “ONLY” seven years’ imprisonment and 600 lashes. See also last year’s post: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/saudi-website-founder-to-be-imprisoned-and-lashed-·-global-voices/
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: corporal punishment, Free Saudi Liberals, freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Global Voices, Human rights defender, illtreatment, Islam, lashes, Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia, website
May 8, 2014
reports that yesterday, 7 May 2014, human rights defender Mr Rashid Rehman was shot and killed in an attack on his office in Kutchery Square, Multan, Pakistan. Two other people were injured in the shooting, which was carried out by two unknown men. Rashid Rehman was a human rights lawyer and a coordinator of the Punjab office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in Multan. The human rights defender advocated against the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan and, since February 2014, had been working on the case of Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer at Bahauddin Zakariya University who is accused of blasphemy. It is reported that no lawyer was willing to take the case for a year because of fear of reprisals from extremist religious groups. The human rights defender was shot several times and pronounced dead on arrival at Nishtar Hospital. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: blasphemy, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, in memoriam, Junaid Hafeez, killing, Pakistan, Punjab, Rashid Rehman, threats
April 25, 2014
reported two more cases of persecution of human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia. On 17 April 2014, the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced human rights defender Mr Fadel Al-Manasef to 15 years’ imprisonment, issued a travel ban against him for 15 years and fined him €19,300. Fadel Al-Manasef is a writer and blogger, and a founding member of Al Adalah Center for Human Rights, a Saudi Arabian NGO that documents and monitors human rights violations and provides supports to victims. He has been in detention since his arrest on 2 October 2011.
[In the same hearing, the judge dismissed two more cases against the human rights defender dating from 2009 and 2013. During the trial, Fadel Al-Manasef declared to the court that he had been subjected to torture and other forms of ill treatment during interrogations, however the court failed to address the allegations.] For more information: <https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/16118> .
On 15 April 2014, human rights defender Mr Waleed Abu Al-Khair was arbitrarily detained, while at the premises of the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh. The human rights defender was attending the fifth session of an ongoing trial against him at that court. Neither Waleed Abu Al-Khair’s family nor his lawyer have been informed of the reasons for the arrest. Waleed Abu Al-Khair is a lawyer and head of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. The application to register the organisation as a human rights NGO was rejected.
[29 October 2013, the human rights defender was sentenced to 3 months in prison by a Jeddah court on charges including “organising illegal gatherings” and “insulting the judiciary”. Waleed Abu Al-Khair had been waiting to be informed of when the sentence would be carried out. In addition, in Riyadh, the human rights defender faces charges including: “striving to overthrow the state and the authority of the King”; “criticizing and insulting the judiciary”; “assembling international organizations against the Kingdom”; “creating and supervising an unlicensed organization, and contributing to the establishment of another”; and, “preparing and storing information that will affect public security”. see: <https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/25289> ]
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Fadel Al-Manasef, freedom of expression, freedom of information, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, monitoring, prison sentence, Saudi Arabia, Specialized Criminal Court, Waleed Abu Al-Khair
April 24, 2014
The same day it was announced that Cao Shunli had been selected as one of the Final Nominees for the MEA 2014, Front Line reports the sentencing of 4 other human rights defenders in China. On 18 April 2014, human rights defenders Messrs Ding Jiaxi and Zhao Changqing were sentenced to 3.5 years and 2.5 years’ imprisonment respectively, while Messrs Li Wei and Zhang Baocheng were both given prison sentences of 2 years. The four human rights defenders were convicted of “illegal assembly” over their role in small-scale demonstrations associated with the New Citizens Movement. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Cao Shunli, China, Ding Jiaxi, fair trial, freedom of demonstration, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, illegal detention, Li Wei, MEA final nominee 2014, Zhang Baocheng, Zhao Changqing
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 