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Soltan Achilova – finalist MEA 2021 – denied travel to Geneva Human Rights Week

November 21, 2023

On 21 November, 2023 the Martin Ennals Foundation, joined by HRW and the ISHR, issued the following statement:

The Martin Ennals Foundation condemns the harassment of Soltan Achilova and her daughter by government authorities at Ashgabat airport and calls for Turkmen authorities to stop their reprisals against journalists for their human rights work.

In the early hours of November 18th, 2023, Mrs. Soltan Achilova and her daughter were stopped by Turkmen government officials from boarding their flight for Switzerland. A customs official took their passports, wet them with a damp rag and declared the passports to be ruined, effectively obstructing Soltan from traveling to Geneva where she would feature as a keynote speaker at the University of Geneva’s Human Rights Week 2023.

This act of harassment and denial of freedom of movement is particularly reprehensible in that it comes only a few days after Turkmenistan’s 4th Universal Periodic Review, during which high-level government representatives expressed their “support for …the promotion and protection of fundamental freedoms and human rights“, giving multiple examples of their progress in terms of respect for freedom of expression.

Soltan Achilova believes she was not allowed to leave the country because of the authorities’ fear that negative information might be heard during the Human Rights week in Geneva. Yet, the obstruction from travel of an internationally recognized human rights defender is more striking evidence of the lack of freedoms in the country and the bad faith with which the Turkmenistan government engages with the Human Rights Council.  

Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive and isolated countries in the world, ranking 176th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom and working conditions for journalists. Soltan has been reporting about her country for more than a decade. Her pictures of daily life are one of the few sources of documentation of human rights violations occurring in this most secretive nation. In 2021, Soltan was recognized by the Martin Ennals Award for her documentation of land grabs and forced evictions of ordinary citizens in Ashgabat.

Soltan has not been allowed to travel freely outside of her country on several occasions. She is under constant surveillance by Turkmen authorities and has suffered numerous incidents of harassment, intimidation, and threats. Despite the challenges, Soltan persists in her human rights work, regularly sending information and pictures  outside of the country so that government authorities are held to account.

We renew calls for Turkmenistan to fully implement their human rights obligations, including, inter alia, allowing human rights defenders and journalists to conduct their work peacefully. We invite Member States accompanying the 4th Universal Periodic Review of Turkmenistan to strongly sanction the silencing of Soltan Achilova and other Turkmen journalists.

For more on Soltan: https://youtu.be/7xkSvMXaZUU?si=JhWOrMxs4yQQ2wz8

Soltan Achilova MEA2021 denied travel to Geneva Human Rights Week

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/21/turkmenistan-journalist-prevented-travelling-abroad

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/turkmenistan-whrd-soltan-achilova-denied-travel-geneva-human-rights-week

https://www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan-achilova-stopped-flying-europe/32692666.html

Posted in Front Line, HRW, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
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HRW submission to Special Rapporteur focuses on child and youth human rights defenders

November 13, 2023

Human Rights Watch’ submission discusses the risks climate activists have faced in Australia, India, and Uganda. It focuses on examples of activists under age 32, as requested by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders.

Australia

Following increased climate protest activity in New South Wales (NSW), the government in March 2022 established a new police unit known as the Strike Force Guard. The unit is designed to “prevent, investigate and disrupt unauthorized protests across the state.” On April 1, the state parliament introduced new laws and penalties specifically targeting protests that blocked roads and ports. Protesters can now be fined up to AU$22,000 (US$15,250) and be jailed for up to two years for protesting without permission on public roads, rail lines, tunnels, bridges, and industrial estates.

In 2022, Human Rights Watch interviewed three climate protesters who had been arrested and charged under the new laws. These cases indicate that climate protesters are being targeted for disproportionate punishment.

Violet (Deanna) Coco, a 31-year-old activist, took part in a climate protest on April 13, 2022, that stopped traffic in one lane on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Coco climbed on the roof of a parked truck and stood holding a lit emergency flare. After approximately 25 minutes, NSW police forcibly removed her and the other protesters from the road. Coco was charged with disrupting vehicles, interfering with the safe operation of a bridge, possessing a bright light distress signal in a public place, failing to comply with police direction, and resisting or hindering a police officer. She was also charged under explosives regulations for holding the emergency flare; with an incitement offense for “encouraging the commission of a crime” by livestreaming the protest on Facebook; and for uploading a video of a climate protest she took the previous week, and with disrupting traffic during three previous protests.

Coco pleaded guilty to two charges – blocking traffic and failing to comply with police direction – and not guilty to the other charges. She was released on AU$10,000 (US$6,940) bail, but the magistrate ordered her not to leave her apartment for any purpose except for emergency medical assistance or to attend court. She was also ordered not to associate with any other Fireproof Australia member. Coco spent 21 days under what amounted to house arrest. On May 5, 2022, a magistrate amended her bail and, while she was allowed to leave her property, the authorities imposed a curfew banning her from leaving her address before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m.

In March 2023, Coco was issued with a 12-month conditional release order after a district court judge heard she had been initially imprisoned on false information provided by the New South Wales police.

In August 2022, the state of Victoria followed New South Wales with harsh new measures targeting environmental protesters at logging sites with up to 12 months in jail or $21,000 in fines. In Tasmania, environmental activists now face fines of $13,000 or two years in prison, while nongovernmental organizations that have been found to “support members of the community to protest” face fines of over $45,000.

On May 18, 2023, the South Australia government introduced harsh new anti-protest measures in the South Australian lower house in the morning and then rushed them through after lunch with bipartisan support after just 20 minutes of debate and no public consultation. The bill would increase the punishment for “public obstruction” 60-fold, from $750 to $50,000 or three months in jail, with activists also potentially facing orders to pay for police and other emergency services responding to a protest or action. On May 30, the laws were passed after a 14-hour debate in the South Australian upper house.

India

In February 2021, Indian authorities arrested Ravi who was sent to police custody for five days. Indian authorities also issued arrest warrants against Nikita Jacob, a lawyer, and Shantanu Muluk, an activist, who were granted pre-arrest bail. The authorities alleged Ravi was the “key conspirator” in editing and sharing an online toolkit shared by the Swedish Fridays for Future founder Greta Thunberg on social media, including Twitter, aimed at providing information to those seeking to peacefully support ongoing farmers protests. In granting bail to Ravi, the Delhi court said the evidence on record was “scanty and sketchy,” and that citizens cannot be jailed simply because they disagreed with government policies. It added: “The offense of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of governments.”

The Indian government has enforced Information Technology Rules that allow for greater governmental control over online content, threaten to weaken encryption, and seriously undermine media freedoms, rights to privacy, and freedom of expression online. These rules put youth and other human rights defenders and journalists at further risk of being targeted by the authorities for their online content.

Uganda

Young people from across Uganda have faced reprisals for fighting for climate justice. On September 25, 2020, Ugandan police arrested and detained for eight hours eight youth climate activists while participating in the global climate strike in Kampala. The police told them election campaigns were not allowed, although the activists repeatedly explained that they were an environmental—not a political—movement. The activists, only two of whom were above the age of 18, were detained in a room for eight hours, questioned, and then allowed to leave.

Human Rights Watch published a report that documented a range of restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly related to oil development, including the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) by the government. Civil society organizations and environmental defenders regularly report being harassed and intimidated, unlawfully detained, or arbitrarily arrested. Human Rights Watch interviewed 31 people in Uganda between March and October 2023, including 21 environmental defenders, and several of whom were under 32 years old.

Many student climate activists protesting EACOP have been arrested and charged with various offences in Kampala since 2021. These protests have been largely peaceful and usually small in scale. Since 2021, there have been at least 22 arrests, largely of students, at anti-EACOP protests in Kampala. Nine students were arrested in October 2022 after demonstrating support for the European Parliament resolution on EACOP and charged with “common nuisance.” Their case was finally dismissed on November 6, 2023, after more than 15 court appearances. Another four protesters were arrested on December 9, 2022, as they marched to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) to demand a re-evaluation of the environmental damage caused by EACOP. One of the detainees was kept at an unknown location until the morning of December 12 when all four were released.

Another protesting student was arrested in Kampala on June 27, 2023, after trying to deliver a petition to the Speaker of the House of Uganda’s parliament. He told Human Rights Watch he was taken to an unlawful place of detention known as a “safe house” with his hands tied behind his back, questioned by plain-clothed security officials about who was providing the funding for the protests, before he was knocked to the floor. He said he awoke two days later in the hospital with serious injuries. On July 11, 2023, five individuals were arrested after protesting EACOP in downtown Kampala.

On September 15, 2023, four student protesters were arrested after a “Fridays for Future” and “StopEACOP” joint protest at the Ugandan parliament as part of the “Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels,” a global mobilization and day of action. They were released on bond five days later and have been charged with “common nuisance.” Their next hearing is scheduled for November 27, 2023. One of the students described to Human Rights Watch being held in a room inside parliament and beaten by uniformed parliamentary security officials and others in civilian clothes with “batons, gun butts, and using their boots to step on our heads” before being taken to Kampala’s Central Police Station (CPS). At the CPS he described plainclothes intelligence officers asking: “Who are your leaders? Among us, who is your leader? How many are you? Who are your leaders in different universities? Who is managing your social media accounts?” They then described being beaten further in CPS cells by other prisoners, one of whom said, “We have order from above to discipline you. You need to stop working on EACOP.”

See also: https://globalpressjournal.com/africa/uganda/ugandan-pipeline-project-begins-landowners-navigate-crooked-road-compensation/

Human Rights Watch encourages the Special Rapporteur to call on governments to:

  • Promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect, and protect the work of climate activists, in line with their human rights obligations.
  • Publicly condemn assault, threats, harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests of activists, and direct security and other government officials to stop arresting, harassing, or threatening activists for protesting or on false accusations.
  • End arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of human rights defenders, anti-EACOP activists, and peaceful protesters.
  • Respect and protect the rights of all human rights defenders and civil society organizations to exercise freedoms of association, assembly, and expression, in accordance with international human rights norms.
  • Where applicable, ratify and implement regional human rights agreements to ensure public participation in environmental decision-making and to protect environmental defenders.

Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

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Burkina Faso: Emergency Law Targets Dissidents

November 10, 2023

On 8 November, 2023 Human Rights Watch reported that Burkina Faso’s military junta is using a sweeping emergency law against perceived dissidents to expand its crackdown on dissent. Between November 4 and 5, 2023, the Burkinabe security forces notified in writing or by telephone at least a dozen journalists, civil society activists, and opposition party members that they will be conscripted to participate in government security operations across the country.

The transitional military authorities assert that the conscription orders are authorized under the April 13 “general mobilization,” part of a plan to recapture territory lost to Islamist armed groups, which control roughly half of the country. The plan seeks to create a “legal framework for all actions” to be taken against insurgents and gives the president extensive powers to combat the insurgency, including requisitioning people and goods and restraining civil liberties.

“The Burkina Faso junta is using its emergency legislation to silence peaceful dissent and punish its critics,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government should not respond to the abusive Islamist armed groups with further human rights abuses but should instead strengthen efforts to protect civilians and uphold basic rights to freedom of expression and speech.”

By targeting individuals who have openly criticized the junta, the conscription undertaken in Burkina Faso violates fundamental human rights, Human Rights Watch said. The recent notifications for conscriptions targeted, among others, Bassirou Badjo and Rasmane Zinaba, members of the civil society group Balai Citoyen; Daouda Diallo, prominent rights defender, secretary-general of the Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities (Collectif contre l’Impunité et la Stigmatisation des Communautés, CISC), and laureate of the 2022 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/ca7f1556-8f73-4b48-b868-b93a3df9b4e1]; Gabin Korbéogo, president of the Burkina Faso Democratic Youth Organization (Organisation Démocratique de la Jeunesse du Burkina Faso, ODJ); and the journalists Issaka Lingani and Yacouba Ladji Bama.

Domestic civil society groups, media organizations, and trade unions have strongly condemned what one called the “selective and punitive” application of the “general mobilization” decree. In a November 6 statement, the Burkinabe Movement of Human and Peoples’ Rights (Mouvement Burkinabè des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples, MBDHP) said the general mobilization “has been specifically designed and adopted not to contribute to the fight against terrorism,” but to repress critical opinions.

Human rights activists and journalists told Human Rights Watch they feared being conscripted. “This wave of notifications is affecting people’s mental wellbeing,” said an independent journalist living in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital. “I am asking myself if I will be next.”

Some said they decided not to publicly criticize the conscriptions to be able to continue their work. “A human rights defender is useful to others only if he is alive and free,” an activist from the North region said. “I need to keep working and serve my community, and I cannot do so if I am sent to the front.”

..

While governments are empowered to conscript members of the civilian population over age 18 for the national defense, there are limits that the junta has far overstepped. Human Rights Watch takes the position that conscription should not take place unless it has been authorized and is in accordance with domestic law. The conscription law needs to meet reasonable standards of fairness in apportioning the burden of military service. It needs to be carried out in a manner that gives the potential conscript notice of the duration of the military service and an adequate opportunity to contest being required to serve at that time. Conscription also needs to be carried out according to standards consistent with non-discrimination and equal protection under law.

Since it took power in an October 2022 coup, the military junta has increasingly cracked down on the media and peaceful dissent, shrinking the civic space in Burkina Faso.

National and international journalists face increasing harassment, threats, and arbitrary arrests. In April, the military authorities expelled two journalists working for the French newspapers Libération and Le Monde following their reports on human rights abuses by the army. In August, Burkinabe military authorities suspended the independent radio station Radio Omega for one month after it broadcasted an interview with supporters of Niger’s ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum. In September, the junta suspended the Paris-based news outlet Jeune Afrique, accusing it of publishing “misleading” articles seeking “to discredit” the national armed forces.

In late October, at least 15 civil society organizations and trade unions called for a mass meeting in Ouagadougou to commemorate the popular uprising of October 30 and 31, 2014, that ended the power of then-President Blaise Compaoré. The groups also challenged the transitional government about the deterioration of the security situation, high cost of living, poor governance, and corruption. On October 28, the Ouagadougou mayor called on the organizers to cancel their meeting due to potential “disturbances to public order.” The meeting did not take place.

“Providing security for the people of Burkina Faso demands a long-term commitment to promote respect for human rights,” Allegrozzi said. “Using conscription to silence dissent will neither advance the junta’s efforts against the Islamist insurgency nor improve the deteriorating rights situation in the country. The government should immediately end this misuse and abuse of conscription.”

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/08/burkina-faso-emergency-law-targets-dissidents

https://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/burkina-faso-emergency-law-targets-dissidents

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Human rights NGOs use Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review to help human rights defenders in India

November 7, 2023

Amnesty International, C&SN and HRW accuse Indian government of harassing human rights activists and NGOs; the organisations seek FATF’s intervention days before the India’s performance with respect to action taken against money laundering and terrorist funding is up for review

On 6 November 2023, The Hindu newspaper (TH) reports that NGOs are accusing the Indian government of prosecuting, intimidating, and harassing human rights defenders, activists, and non-profit organisations on the pretext of countering terrorist financing, Thus Amnesty International, Charity & Security Network (C&SN), and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have sought the intervention of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

FATF mutual evaluations are in-depth country reports analysing the implementation and effectiveness of measures to combat money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing. The reports are peer reviews, where members from different countries assess another country. Mutual evaluations provide an in-depth description and analysis of a country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing system, as well as focused recommendations to further strengthen its system. During a mutual evaluation, the assessed country must demonstrate that it has an effective framework to protect the financial system from abuse.

The FATF conducts peer reviews of each member on an ongoing basis to assess levels of implementation of the FATF Recommendations, providing an in-depth description and analysis of each country’s system for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system.

The joint statement of the 3 NGOs came on November 3, days before the start of FATF’s periodic review of India’s performance with respect to the action taken against money laundering and terrorist funding. They have accused the authorities of exploiting FATF’s recommendations “to restrict civic space and stifle the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly”. “Draconian laws introduced or adapted to this end include the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)…,” the groups said. See also: https://wordpress.com/post/humanrightsdefenders.blog/22074

“During its third FATF review, in 2010, the Indian government itself recognised the risk posed by the non-profit sector as ‘low’. However, since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, the authorities have used overbroad provisions in domestic law to silence critics and shut down their operations, including by cancelling their foreign funding licences and prosecuting them using counterterrorism law and financial regulations,” the groups alleged.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/amnesty-international-csn-and-hrw-accuse-indian-govt-of-harassing-human-rights-activists-and-ngos/article67504479.ece

https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/topics/mutual-evaluations.html

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FIFA Broke Human Rights Rules: Saudi Arabia Shouldn’t be Rewarded for Its Repression

November 6, 2023

On 27 October, 2023 Human Rights Watch stated that FIFA has broken its own human rights rules in announcing a plan for hosting the next two men’s World Cups that effectively eliminates bidding and human rights due diligence.

Within hours after FIFA published its arrangements for the 2030World Cup, Saudi Arabia announced its ambitions to host the 2034 World Cup.  

“Barely a year after the human rights catastrophes of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, FIFA has failed to learn the lesson that awarding multi-billion dollar events without due diligence and transparency can risk corruption and major human rights abuses,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch “The possibility that FIFA could award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup despite its appalling human rights record and closed door to any monitoring exposes FIFA’s commitments to human rights as a sham.” 

In February 2023, Human Rights Watch contacted FIFA to request details on its due diligence and stakeholder consultation for selection of future World Cup hosts and awarding commercial sponsorship contracts. FIFA has not responded.

Because of regional rotation requirements, the six-country 2030 World Cup means that FIFA will only accept bids from Asia or Oceania for 2034, opening the way for Saudi Arabia to be the host. FIFA instead needs to keep open bidding for the 2034 World Cup and apply the same human rights benchmarks to all bidders in advance of selection, Human Rights Watch said.

FIFA’s Human Rights Policy, adopted in 2017, outlines its responsibility to identify and address adverse human rights impacts of its operations, including taking adequate measures to prevent and mitigate human rights abuses. Article 7 of FIFA’s Human Rights Policy states that “FIFA will constructively engage with relevant authorities and other stakeholders and make every effort to uphold its international human rights responsibilities.” This should include consulting a wide range of stakeholders, including potentially affected groups, domestic human rights monitors, athletes, fans, migrant laborers, and unions, before making major hosting decisions. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/04/17/fifa-world-cup-the-human-rights-plans-of-host-cities/]

Under FIFA’s human rights policies, countries bidding to host games must commit to strict human rights and labor standards. In the introduction to FIFA’s “Key Principles of the Reformed Bidding Process,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino writes: “Whoever ends up hosting the FIFA World Cup must …formally commit to conducting their activities based on sustainable event management principles and to respecting international human rights and labour standards according to the United Nations’ Guiding Principles.” 

FIFA has so far failed to apply these principles in the award of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups. 

In June, FIFA cancelled its planned announcement about the bidding process for the 2030 World Cup, instead announcing that:

in line with the principle of confederation rotation and of securing the best possible hosting conditions for the tournaments, the bidding processes for both the 2030 and 2034 editions would be conducted concurrently, with FIFA member associations from the territories of the Asian Football Confederations and the Oceania Football Confederation invited to bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2034

FIFA’s Overview of the Bidding Processes document sets a deadline for any member associations to confirm bidding by October 31, 2023, an unreasonably tight deadline for the 2034 World Cup 11 years away that should include national stakeholder consultation and could ultimately cost billions of dollars. Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record has deteriorated under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s rule, including mass executions, continued repression of women’s rights under its male guardianship system, and the killing of hundreds of migrants at the Saudi-Yemen border. Torture and imprisonment of peaceful critics of the government continues, and courts imposed decades-long imprisonment on Saudi women for tweets. Sex outside marriage, including same-sex relations, is a crime, with punishments including death. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Saudi Arabia practice extreme self-censorship to survive their daily lives. LGBT players and fans visiting Saudi Arabia could face censorship, stigma, and discrimination on the basis on their sexual orientation and gender identity. See e.g.: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/saudi-arabia/]

Independent human rights monitors, journalists, women’s rights activists, and other peaceful critics are jailed, under house arrest, and cannot safely work in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has severe restrictions on journalists and free expression, a basic requirement for World Cup hosts, Human Rights watch said. In October 2018, Saudi agents murdered and dismembered the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who had been critical of the Saudi government, an assassination apparently approved by the crown prince himself.

“In Saudi Arabia, independent human rights monitoring is not possible due to government repression. This makes it effectively impossible for FIFA to carry out the ongoing monitoring and inspection of human rights its human rights policy requires,” Worden said. 

While welcoming the Saudi bid to host the World Cup in 2034, FIFA has not said anything about how it proposes to assess its human rights conditions.

“With Saudi Arabia’s estimated 13.4 million migrant workers, inadequate labor and heat protections and no unions, no independent human rights monitors, and no press freedom, there is every reason to fear for the lives of those who would build and service stadiums, transit, hotels, and other hosting infrastructure in Saudi Arabia,” Worden said.

“FIFA is failing in its responsibility to the world of football to conduct World Cup bidding and selection procedures in an ethical, transparent, objective, and unbiased way,” Worden said. “If there’s to be any integrity in what remains of this process, FIFA needs to immediately delay and open the bidding process for the 2034 World Cup, make public its labor, human rights, and environment policies, and then make sure protections are fully carried out.”

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/27/fifa-broke-own-human-rights-rules-world-cup-hosts

https://www.forbes.com/sites/minkyworden/2023/11/02/rights-at-risk-as-saudi-arabia-sole-bidder-to-host-2034-world-cup/?sh=394e4fb123de

https://www.ft.com/content/7f86882f-6cc6-4259-9520-6fa07e9669be?segmentId=3f81fe28-ba5d-8a93-616e-4859191fabd8

2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia: Agreeing to repeat human rights violations

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Not the moment for Switzerland to Suspend Funding for Human Rights Defenders in Israel and Palestine

November 2, 2023

On 1 November 2023 Erin Kilbride for Human Rights Watch wrote critically about a rather weird decision by the Swiss Government namely to suspend funding to 11 respected human rights organizations in Israel and Palestine.

The Swiss government says it plans to “carry out a fresh, in-depth analysis of all financial flows” and assess the “relevance and feasibility of programmes.” Earlier this month, European governments suspended more than $150 million in development aid, as Israel cut access to food, water, electricity, fuel, and medicines to more than 2.2 million people in Gaza, an act of collective punishment, which is a war crime under international humanitarian law.

The affected groups are: Adalah; Al-Shabaka; Gisha; 7amleh; Hamoked; Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre; MIFTAH: The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy; Palestinian Center for Human Rights; the Palestinian NGO Network; Physicians for Human Rights, and Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling.

The West Bank, home to several organizations whose funding has been suspended, has seen a significant spike in Palestinians killed or held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

International support for local human rights defenders is a clear way to support protecting rights, documenting atrocities, and securing justice.

Switzerland made unequivocal commitments to stand with defenders in the Swiss Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (2014, revised 2019), the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders (2008), and the OSCE Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (2014). This decision is hard to reconcile with those commitments.

The Swiss guidelines instruct representatives to support defenders’ security through media work, emergency protection programs, and pushing for investigations into attacks. The EU Guidelines provide, “the EU’s objective is to influence third countries to carry out their obligations to respect the rights of human rights defenders and to protect them from attacks and threats.”

Today, the work of Israeli and Palestinian human rights defenders is more critical than ever. Instead of leaving them in limbo, the Swiss government should maintain its funding of defenders while it conducts its review.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/01/switzerland-decides-suspend-funding-rights-defenders-israel-palestine

see also: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/opinion/israel-free-speech-hamas-palestine.html

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Finally recognition for Turkish human rights defender Osman Kavala

October 12, 2023
2023 Václav Havel Prize awarded to imprisoned Turkish human rights defender Osman Kavala

The eleventh Václav Havel Human Rights Prize has been awarded to imprisoned Turkish human rights defender, philanthropist and civil society activist Osman Kavala.

The 60,000-euro prize was presented at a special ceremony on the opening day of the autumn plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg on 9 October 2023. For more on the award and its laureates, see https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/7A8B4A4A-0521-AA58-2BF0-DD1B71A25C8D

Mr Kavala, a supporter of numerous civil society organisations in Türkiye for many years, has been in prison continuously since 2017 following his arrest for his alleged links to the Gezi Park protests.

In a 2019 ruling, the European Court of Human Rights ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated his rights and pursued an ulterior purpose, “namely to reduce him to silence as a human rights defender”, and could dissuade other human rights defenders. In 2022 the Court’s Grand Chamber confirmed that Türkiye has failed to fulfil its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/07/27/kavala-ruling-of-european-court-of-human-rights-infringement-procedure-against-turkey/]

In a letter written from prison, read out by his wife Ayşe, Mr Kavala said he was honoured by the decision, and dedicated the Prize to his fellow citizens unlawfully kept in prison. He said the award reminded him of the words of Václav Havel, writing to his wife Olga from prison in 1980: “The most important thing of all is not to lose hope. This does not mean closing one’s eyes to the horrors of the world. In fact, only those who have not lost faith and hope can see the horrors of the world with genuine clarity.”

Responding to the awarding of the 2023 Václav Havel Prize to Turkish prisoner of conscience, Osman Kavala, by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake, said:

“While we celebrate the fact that Osman Kavala has been recognised with this top human rights award, the fact that he cannot be in Strasbourg to collect it in person is heartbreaking. Instead, having already been in jail for almost six years, he is languishing behind bars in Türkiye on a politically-motivated life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Rather predictably: in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said it was unacceptable for the CoE to award a “so-called” human rights prize to a convict, whose verdict of conviction was approved by one of Türkiye’s top courts.

A group of nine nongovernmental organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said the prosecution of rights defender and businessman Osman Kavala and four codefendants in connection with mass protests a decade ago was unfair and essentially a political show trial from the beginning, calling for an urgent international response.

Rights groups say conviction of Kavala, 4 others requires urgent int’l response

[https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/turkiye-slams-coe-for-awarding-convict-with-human-rights-prize]

https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/2023-v%C3%A1clav-havel-prize-awarded-to-imprisoned-turkish-human-rights-defender-osman-kavala

PACE urges Turkey to uphold Strasbourg court rulings, release Osman Kavala

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Protest follows sentencing of Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasiruddin Elan in Bangladesh

September 15, 2023

On 14 September 2023 the Cyber Tribunal, Dhaka sentenced to two years imprisonment Odhikar’s Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director ASM Nasiruddin Elan for allegedly breaching Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006. They were charged for releasing a report on extrajudicial killings committed on 5 and 6 May 2013, centering around the Hefazat-e-Islam protests.

Immediately, 39 organizations in a joint call said that Bangladesh should quash their convictions, and end all reprisals against them and other human rights defenders for their legitimate human rights work. The Bangladesh Government has persistently targeted and launched a smear campaign against Khan and Elan, the secretary and director, respectively, of prominent Bangladesh human rights organization Odhikar. Following the 2013 publication of Odhikar’s fact-finding report documenting extrajudicial killings during a protest, both defenders were arbitrarily detained; Khan for 62 and Elan for 25 days. After being released on bail, they continued to face prosecution and judicial harassment on trumped-up allegations that their 2013 report was “fake, distorted, and defamatory.”

After years of stalling, Bangladeshi judicial authorities accelerated the hearings in their case following the designation of US sanctions against the country’s notoriously abusive paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and its officials in December 2021, blaming human rights organizations like Odhikar for this outcome. Their case has been marred with due process violations, such as the failure to provide the defense with advance information on the prosecution witnesses or a copy of the Criminal Investigation Department’s further investigation report until the day before a hearing. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/12/21/harassment-of-adilur-rahman-khan-and-other-human-rights-defenders-in-bangladesh/

After the Government reopened the examination of witnesses and presented additional prosecution witnesses in July and August 2023, the judge convicted Khan and Elan to two years in prison and a fine of 10,000 Bangladeshi Taka (equivalent of USD$91.17).

In addition to targeting Odhikar’s leaders, the Government interfered with the organization’s ability to conduct its human rights work by blocking their access to funds and leaving its registration renewal application pending since 2014. Following the US sanction designations, the Government increased surveillance and harassment against those affiliated with Odhikar and ordered the organization to provide sources and proof for its findings of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. On June 5, 2022, the Government’s NGO Affairs Bureau officially denied Odhikar’s application for renewal, stating that the organization’s publications have “seriously tarnished the image of the state to the world.” See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/06/ohchr-says-nobel-laureate-yunus-and-other-human-rights-defenders-being-harassed-through-legal-proceedings/

The Government then continued to besmirch the organization publicly, even criticizing and questioning the credibility of the US Department of State’s 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Bangladesh for relying on Odhikar’s documentation. United Nations human rights experts have expressed their concerns over the Government’s actions, stating that “the defamation of Bangladeshi-based human rights organisations by high-profile public figures is a clear attempt to undermine their credibility, reputation and human rights work in the country.” [see also: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/foreign-affairs/325311/us-embassy-voices-concern-over-verdict-against]

Human rights defenders should be allowed to conduct their necessary and important work without fear of harassment, intimidation, and reprisals. Instead of prosecuting and punishing those who document and expose human rights violations, the Government should investigate and hold the perpetrators of these violations accountable.

List of signatories: 

  1. Advocacy Forum Nepal 
  2. Amnesty International
  3. Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network (ADPAN)
  4. Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
  5. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  6. Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
  7. Association of Family Members of the Disappeared, Sri Lanka
  8. Capital Punishment Justice Project, Australia 
  9. Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR)
  10. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  11. Defence for Human Rights Pakistan (DHR)
  12. Desaparecidos – Philippines
  13. Eleos Justice, Monash University, Australia 
  14. Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
  15. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
  16. Forum ONG Timor-leste
  17. Free Jonas Burgos Movement
  18. HAK Association, Timor-leste
  19. Human Rights First
  20. Human Rights Hub
  21. Human Rights Watch 
  22. Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared Families (IKOHI)
  23. International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED)
  24. International Federation of ACATs (FIACAT)
  25. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
  26. Karapatan Alliance Philippines (KARAPATAN) 
  27. KontraS (the Commission of the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) 
  28. Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM)
  29. Legal Literacy – Nepal
  30. Liga Guatemalteca de Higiene Mental
  31. Madres de Plaza de Mayo – Linea Fundadora, Argentina
  32. Martin Ennals Foundation
  33. Nonviolence International Canada
  34. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights 
  35. Sindhi Foundation
  36. The Asian Alliance Against Torture (A3T) 
  37. Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, Washington DC
  38. We Remember-Belarus
  39. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Odhikar itself denounces the arrest, trial and imprisonment of these two human rights defenders and added that “It believes that justice has not been served. As an organisation Odhikar has drawn the sustained wrath of the establishment for becoming the voice of the victims of human rights violations, including those of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention and against the suppression of free expression and assembly; and for its engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms. Earlier the government arbitrarily deregistered the organisation. Today’s judgement is likely to have a chilling effect on human rights defenders and civil society organisations around the country.“

Also: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/human-rights-bangladesh-european-parliament-moves-resolution-expressing-concern-3418651

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/14/bangladesh-quash-conviction-and-release-rights-defenders

https://www.newagebd.net/article/212570/switzerland-canada-27-rights-groups-condemn-jailing-adilur-elan

but then on 16 October “Bangladesh rights activists Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan were released on bail Sunday evening after being in prison since Sept. 14 in a cybercrime case.”: https://www.voanews.com/a/top-bangladesh-rights-activists-released-on-bail-/7313942.html

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Iran: One year after uprising in Iran the international community must combat impunity says Amnesty

September 15, 2023

The international community must pursue pathways for justice at the international level to address systemic impunity for Iranian officials responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings of protesters and widespread torture, Amnesty International said on 13 September 2023, as Iran marks the one-year anniversary of the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising.

Over the past year, Iranian authorities have committed a litany of crimes under international law to eradicate any challenge to their iron grip on power. These include hundreds of unlawful killings; the arbitrary execution of seven protesters; tens of thousands of arbitrary arrests; widespread torture, including rape of detainees; widespread harassment of victims’ families who call for truth and justice; and reprisals against women and girls who defy discriminatory compulsory veiling laws.

“The anniversary of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ protests offers a stark reminder for countries around the world of the need to initiate criminal investigations into the heinous crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction. Government statements calling on the Iranian authorities to halt the unlawful use of firearms against protesters, stop torturing detainees, and release all individuals detained for peacefully exercising their human rights remain as crucial as ever. These actions show victims they are not alone in their darkest hour.”

The anniversary of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ protests offers a stark reminder for countries around the world of the need to initiate criminal investigations into the heinous crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction. Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

The Iranian authorities have waged an all-out assault on the human rights of women and girls over the past year. Despite months of protests against Iran’s compulsory veiling laws, triggered by the arbitrary arrest and death in custody of Mahsa/Zhina Amini, the authorities have reinstated “morality” policing and introduced a raft of other measures that deprive women and girls who defy compulsory veiling of their rights.

These include the confiscation of cars and denial of access to employment, education, healthcare, banking services and public transport. Simultaneously, they have prosecuted and sentenced women to imprisonment, fines and degrading punishments, such as washing corpses.

This assault on women’s rights is taking place amid a spate of hateful official statements referring to unveiling as a “virus”, “social illness” or “disorder” as well as equating the choice to appear without a headscarf to “sexual depravity.”

The authorities are also working on new legislation that will introduce even more severe penalties for defying compulsory veiling.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3w-20lqbY8Y%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Mass arbitrary detentions and summons

During the uprising and in the months that followed, the authorities arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of men, women and children, including protesters, human rights defenders and minority rights activists.  Those arrested include at least 90 journalists and other media workers and 60 lawyers, including those representing families of individuals unlawfully killed. Scores of other lawyers were summoned for interrogations. [see e.g. https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/05/11/now-it-is-the-turn-of-the-iranian-journalists-who-reported-on-mahsa-amini/]

Ahead of the anniversary, the authorities have intensified their campaign of arbitrary arrests targeting, among others, family members of those unlawfully killed, and forcing thousands of university students to sign undertakings not to participate in anniversary protests.

Execution of protesters

Over the past year, the authorities have increasingly used the death penalty as a tool of political repression to instil fear among the public, arbitrarily executing seven men in relation to the uprising following grossly unfair sham trials. Some were executed for alleged crimes such as damage to public property and others in relation to the deaths of security forces during the protests. All were executed after Iran’s Supreme Court rubber stamped their unjust convictions and sentences despite a lack of evidence and without carrying out investigations into their allegations of torture. Dozens remain at risk of execution or being sentenced to death in connection with the protests.

A crisis of impunity

The authorities have refused to conduct any thorough, independent and impartial investigations into the human rights violations committed during and in the aftermath of the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising and have failed to take any steps to hold those suspected of criminal responsibility to account.

Instead, authorities have applauded the security forces for suppressing the unrest and shielded officials from accountability, including two officials who admitted raping women protesters in Tehran. They have also dismissed complaints from victims and/or their families, threatening them with death or other harm if they pursued their complaints.

Amnesty International welcomed the establishment of a Fact-Finding Mission on Iran by the UN Human Rights Council in November 2022, yet much more is needed to combat the crisis of impunity for serious crimes in Iran – and to deter further cycles of bloodshed.

Amnesty International urges all states to consider exercising universal and other extraterritorial jurisdiction in relation to crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations committed by Iranian authorities, irrespective of the absence or presence of the accused in their territory. This includes initiating adequately resourced criminal investigations aimed at disclosing the truth about the crimes, identifying those suspected of responsibility, including commanders and other superiors and issuing, when there is sufficient admissible evidence, international arrest warrants. States should also contribute to achieving reparations for the victims.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/15/iran-crackdown-dissent-ahead-protest-anniversary

see also:

https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/iran/iran-statement-on-the-un-fact-finding-mission-s-oral-upda

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1141017

Iran’s women, digital rights and human freedoms

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/iran-un-experts-denounce-crackdown-public-commemoration-jina-mahsa-aminis

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More join Maryam Al-Khawaja’s solidarity trip to Bahrain……to be continued

September 14, 2023

On 7 September 2023, Maryam Al-Khawaja announced that she would return from exile to Bahrain to try and save her father Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/11/maryam-al-khawaja-risks-prison-by-returning-to-bahrain-to-press-for-her-fathers-release/]. Now Front Line’s Interim Director Olive Moore announced that she will accompany Maryam on the trip to Manama this week to press the Bahraini authorities to release him. Other leading human rights figures have announced their participation in the trip, including Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General; Tim Whyte, Action Aid-Denmark’s Secretary General; and Andrew Anderson, former Front Line Defenders Executive Director and Amnesty International staff member.

“Front Line Defenders owes a debt of gratitude to Abdulhadi, both as a former staff member and friend to many in the organisation, but more importantly as a principled and trailblazing human rights defender in Bahrain and the region. We will not rest until the Bahraini authorities free him and the human rights defenders Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace and Naji Fateel, both also unjustly imprisoned for over a decade.” said Moore.

The exact timing of the solidarity trip is not being publicised, but it comes the same week as the Bahraini Crown Prince visits Washington, DC, and more than a dozen human rights organisations, including Front Line Defenders, have also called on President Biden’s administration to demand the release of human rights defenders.

“Now is the moment for the Biden administration to step up to the plate and show solidarity with human rights defenders in Bahrain. In meetings with the Crown Prince this week, the US government must be unequivocal in its calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and other unjustly imprisoned human rights defenders,” said Olive Moore.

Human Rights Watch stated on 11 September: “If Maryam al-Khawaja can have the courage to risk her life for democracy and human rights in Bahrain, the least the Biden Administration can do is show the political strength to use its leverage to call on its allied government to free its political prisoners.“

The same day Human Rights First’s Brain Dooley blogged about two prisoners (among the hundreds on hunger strike) that have told him about the daily reality of the protest.

One of them is 49-year-old Ahmed Jaafar Mohammed Ali, who has been in prison since he was extradited from Serbia in January 2022 and Sayed Sajjad who has been in prison since September 2013, and is one of the inmates negotiating with the prison authorities. See more at: https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/two-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-in-bahrain-tell-of-their-ordeal/

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/front-line-defenders-director-join-solidarity-trip-bahrain-free-abdulhadi-al

https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/audio/2023/09/11/bahrain-brutality-and-biden

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230914-bahrain-activist-says-to-return-home-for-father-despite-arrest-fears-1

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