Archive for the 'organisations' Category
January 17, 2012
Norma Cruz is a human rights defender who received 47 death threats via text messages sent to her mobile phone. As the leader of women’s rights organization Survivors’ Foundation (Fundación Sobrevivientes) in Guatemala she receives repeated threats for simply doing her work to support victims of violence against women and for pursuing prosecutions against those responsible for committing the crimes.
Sauro Scarpelli, Campaign Manager of the Individuals at Risk team, Amnesty International explains “At Amnesty International we are celebrating our 50th birthday and since our inception, we have been fighting for freedom of expression. It was our first campaign and unfortunately 50 years later, despite a very different world, those defending human rights continue to be silenced, imprisoned and threatened with violence in new and different forms.”
Thousands letters to the Attorney General in Guatemala asking for the start of a full and impartial investigation on the threats Norma received had an impact and in September 2011 one of the people who made death threats against Norma Cruz was convicted. The global pressure is working locally! That’s why Amnesty International is kicking off the year with a new action for freedom of expression on 23 January 2012.
picture: Guatemalan human rights defender Norma Cruz (c) Amnesty International
Go to: http://livewire.amnesty.org/2012/01/17/stop-the-death-threats-join-our-campaign-for-freedom-of-expression/
Posted in AI, Amnesty international, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, death threats, freedom of expression, Guatemala, HRDs, Human rights defender, Norma Cruz, Survivors’ Foundation
January 13, 2012
Image by erjkprunczyk via Flickr
The European Union Guidelines on human rights defenders were created to help staff in the embassies of EU member states to protect threatened human rights defenders (HRDs). In short they tell EU diplomatic missions to:
- Produce periodic reports outlining the broad human rights situation, noting specific cases of concern.
- Take urgent local action when needed and make recommendations for further EU involvement.
- Prepare local strategies in co-ordination with HRDs, with special attention given to the protection of women defenders.
- Organise regular meetings between HRDs and missions diplomats
- Maintain contact with HRDs through receiving them in the missions and visiting their areas of work.
- Publicly recognise HRDs and their work through use of traditional and new-media methods of communication.
- Visit, where appropriate, HRDs in custody or under house arrest and attend trials as observers.
- Raise specific cases with third country governments.
- Involve HRDs in the preparation, follow-up and assessment of human rights discussions with third country governments.
- Provide measures for swift assistance of HRDs in danger, including the issuing of emergency visas and the offer of temporary shelter in EU member states.
- Provide access to financial support where necessary.
Urgent local action can be organised through “local working groups”, of which HRDs should be members.Integral to the Guidelines is a duty to “proactively” support human rights defenders on the world stage through political dialogue and promotion of the UN Human Rights Council and its Special Rapporteurs. When, for example, the EU President, High Representative for Foreign Affairs or other relevant official visits a country with human rights issues they should seek to meet with HRDs wherever possible and reflect any concerns in their discussions with third country governments.
This is not news but at the beginning of the new year it is good to have a reminder AND REMIND THE EU DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES of all this laid down in 20 short paragraphs; for full text see: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cmsUpload/GuidelinesDefenders.pdf
Posted in EU, human rights | 4 Comments »
Tags: country governments, diplomatic action, emergency visas, EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, eu member states, European Union, guidelines, Human rights defender
January 13, 2012
Image via Wikipedia
On the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the UN Declaration on human rights defenders (HRDs) on December last year Protection International issued a video interview with the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Ms Margaret Sekaggya. In 1998, after 14 years of negotiations with governments and under continuous pressure of human rights NGOs, the international community finally recognized the need of human rights defenders for a better protection. To support the implementation of the Declaration, the UN created a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, at present Mrs. Margaret Sekaggya.
The interview can be seen on: http://www.vimeo.com/27006290, in which Ms Sekaggya explains her motivations for promoting defenders rights, the difficulties defenders are currently facing and how they can rely on her mandate.
For more information on Protection International http://www.protectionline.org/.
Posted in films, Human Rights Defenders, Protection International | 1 Comment »
Tags: HRD, Human rights defender, Margaret Sekaggya, Protection International, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, United Nations Special Rapporteur, Vimeo
December 15, 2011
Front Line reports that on 4 December Four human rights defenders were acquitted, while charges against three others were downgraded by the Khartoum North District Court.
Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-GasimThe seven human rights defenders had initially been arrested in October and November 2010 for alleged involvement with
Radio Dabanga. In June 2011, they were charged with, inter alia, conspiracy against the state and espionage, crimes which are punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment, for allegedly carrying out illegal broadcasts from a studio in Khartoum. On 4 December 2011, the charges against Messrs Zakaria Yacoub, Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-Gasim (pictured), Khalid Ishaq, and Adam al Nur Adam were dismissed. However, three defenders, namely Messrs Abdelrahman Adam Abdelrahman, Jaafar Alsabki Ibrahim, and Kwather Abdel Haj, remain charged with the lesser crimes of “undermining security and public order” and “spreading lies”, which are punishable by up to three years in prison. Front Line reiterates its call on the Sudanese authorities to immediately drop all charges against all of the aforenamed human rights defenders as Front Line believes they are solely motivated by their legitimate human rights work.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Front Line, human rights, Human rights defender, Khartoum, Sudan
December 12, 2011
On 1 April 2011 I reported on the award given by Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) in the Netherlands and promised to come back to the main topic of the related expert meeting which was the question of the independence of lawyers, and in particular how to raise the status of the “Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers” by making them better known.
The organization has kept its word and created before the end of the year a database that brings together all information on the Basic Principles, which are basically soft law but are an important set of international standards. The database contains documents in which references are made to the Basic Principles, such as documents of the UN, special rapporteurs, non-governmental organisations, (regional) courts and so on. You can have a preview of this database on the L4L website http://www.advocatenvooradvocaten.nl/basic-principles/
There is also a booklet Building on Basic Principles, in which all the papers from the expert meeting, are published, which can be ordered from LAWYERS FOR LAWYERS, Adrie van de Streek, Executive Director mailto:info@lawyersforlawyers.nl.
Moreover, the International Commission of Jurists organized on 5-6 December 2011 an important seminar on the “Strengthening the Rule of Law in Times of Transition – The Role of Lawyers and Bar Associations”. One of the participants was Muhannad Al-Hassani, the 2010 MEA Laureate, who was disbarred by his less courageous colleagues in the Bar Association. For more information on this event please contact: Graham Leung at graham.leung@icj.org.
Posted in books, Human Rights Defenders, L4L | Leave a Comment »
Tags: al-Hassani, Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, database, International Commission of Jurists, Lawyers for Lawyers
December 8, 2011
Amidst the many violations and massive repression reported from Syria, there is the risk that individual cases will go unnoticed. Therefore your attention is drawn to the arrest on 4 December of 31-year old Razan Ghazzawi at the Syrian-Jordanian border. She was arrested by the Syrian immigration police while she was heading to Amman in order to attend the “Forum of defenders of freedom of expression in the Arab region” in her capacity of media officer of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), a non-recognized Syria-based human rights organization. On her blog <http://razanghazzawi.com/> – note that she courageously uses her real name !– Razzan Ghazzawi has been advocating for freedom of opinion in Syria and in the Arab region. Since the beginning of the unrest in Syria, Razzan has extensively covered violations of freedom of expression, including arbitrary arrests of journalists, bloggers and covered the political situation from a cultural perspective.
The Euro-Mediterrean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) fears that Razzan Ghazzawi may be subjected to ill treatments or acts of torture.
For more information, please contact:
In Brussels, Hayet Zeghiche hze@euromedrights.net <mailto:hze@euromedrights.net>
In Cairo, Shaimaa Abou Elkhir shy@euromedrights.net <mailto:shy@euromedrights.net>
Posted in EMHRN, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: blogger, EMHRN, HRDs, Razzan Ghazzawi, Syria
December 6, 2011
Note in your diary that you can join:
- US Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Baer,
- Doug Rutzen of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and
- Brian Dooley of Human Rights First
for a discussion about supporting human rights defenders and civil society. The event will be live-streamed on 15 December 2011 at 8:00AM (EST) and available through the CO.NX Portal: https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/hr
from: Upcoming Human Rights Day Events « humanrights.gov.
Posted in HRF, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Brian Dooley, HRDs, HRF, State department, streaming, USA, webchat
December 6, 2011
Ahmed Khaleel, an Iraqi citizen who is taking a PhD at York University, gave a talk about Arab poets as human-rights defenders for the Scarborough group of Amnesty International. Dr Jay Prosser, reader in humanities at Leeds University, spoke about his recent co-authored book, Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis. Royalties from his book sales are being donated to Amnesty.
The seminar, at Hull University’s Scarborough campus, was attended by more than 40 people including the deputy mayor, Helen Mallory, who said: “The work Amnesty is doing now is as valuable as it’s always been but possibly more so because there are more human-rights violations taking place around the world. Their work will be neverending because, sadly, atrocities will always be committed. I’m quite humbled by the work they do.”
Not world-shocking news perhaps but a fine example of the day to day work for HRDs that local groups can do…
source: Amnesty seminar on human rights – News – Scarborough Evening News.
Posted in AI, Amnesty international, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Ahmed Khaleel, AI, HRD, Hull university, Iraq, Jay Prosser, Scarborough
December 6, 2011
Human Rights First recently returned from an assessment trip to Jakarta where they met with activists to learn from them whether the Indonesian government has prioritized human rights through its treatment of human rights defenders. They had the following to say, which will be included in an alternative report to the Universal Periodic Review of Indonesia slated for next summer before the UN Human Rights Council:
- Impunity for past human rights abusers, particularly those involved at the highest levels in the 2004 assassination of leading human rights defender Munir, continues to be a central concern for human rights defenders and adds to an environment where defenders feel unprotected in their work.
- Human rights defenders acknowledge that outright violence against them has declined in recent years, but attacks and other forms of intimidation and harassment continue especially in conflict areas such as Papua and West Papua. Tactics used include surveillance and threats of violence and arrest that increase around the release of reports, trainings and before and after visits by international human rights groups.
- Human rights defenders in conflict areas are also subject to excessive use of force by police when exercising their freedoms of assembly and expression. Most recently, in October 2011 police, backed by a military detachment, fired assault rifles over a demonstration in Jayapura, Papua, killing at least three. Over 300 protesters were arrested and witnesses report the use of torture.
- The work of human rights defenders, particularly those working on exposing corruption and past human rights abuses, has been impeded by criminal and civil defamation cases brought against them.
President Yudhoyono should make clear that past and future attacks against human rights defenders will not go unpunished and publicly support a renewed independent investigation into Munir’s death that would lead to recommendations for prosecution and a case review of past criminal proceedings. The Government should repeal or amend legislation that criminalizes the work of human rights defenders, including journalists.
for more info see: Indonesia on the Right Path, But Still Has a Long Way To Go | Human Rights First.
Posted in HRF, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: HRDs, Human Rights Council, Human Rights First, impunity, Indonesia, Munir
Norma Cruz is a human rights defender who received 47 death threats via text messages sent to her mobile phone. As the leader of women’s rights organization Survivors’ Foundation (Fundación Sobrevivientes) in Guatemala she receives repeated threats for simply doing her work to support victims of violence against women and for pursuing prosecutions against those responsible for committing the crimes.
Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-Gasim
