Archive for the 'organisations' Category

Israel refuses to let HRD Shawan Jabarin travel to receive award in Denmark

November 30, 2011

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On 29 November 29, 2011 Israeli authorities turned West Bank resident Shawan Jabarin, the director of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, back at the Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan, citing a travel ban. Several NGOs, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’Tselem, said that the Israeli authorities violated Jabarin’s rights in imposing the ban and have not produced any evidence that would justify continuing to restrict him from travel.

The travel ban would seem to be clearly linked to his human rights work as Jabarin was stopped since 2006, when he became director of Al-Haq, a leading human rights organization in the West Bank, while Israel had allowed him to travel abroad eight times in the previous seven years. The Israeli military previously claimed in court that Jabarin was an activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel considers a terrorist organization, and that his travel abroad for even a limited period would endanger Israel’s security. However, Israeli authorities have not charged Jabarin with any crime or given him an opportunity to confront the allegations against him. The Israeli High Court of Justice has upheld Jabarin’s travel ban on security grounds, but did so based on secret information that Jabarin and his lawyer were not allowed to see or challenge. “It is hard to believe any claim that Jabarin’s travel to Denmark to receive a human rights award would harm Israeli security, the more so when any evidence is kept secret,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “While civil society groups recognize Jabarin’s courageous work, Israel is punishing him with a travel ban.”

The ban has prevented Jabarin from leaving the West Bank to receive a human rights prize from the Danish PL Foundation (Poul Lauritzen), participate in a European Union forum on human rights, and attend a Human Rights Watch meeting in New York City. “The ban preventing Shawan Jabarin from traveling abroad to receive an award is emblematic of the arbitrary restrictions placed on Palestinian human rights defenders and civil society activists,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s MENA Programme Director. “It must be lifted, and the Israeli authorities must stop using unspecified security concerns to obstruct the work of Palestinian human rights activists.” Nina Atallah, the head of Al-Haq’s monitoring and documentation department, will try to travel to the prize ceremony.

It is a pity that Israel,in this respect, is emulating Iran, which is the only country until now to prevent the MEA Laureate Emad Baghi to travel to his ceremony in 2009.
Related articles

Israel: Lift Travel Ban on Human Rights Defender (hrw.org)

Posted in AI, HRW, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: AI, Al-Haq, award, B’Tselem, Denmark, EU, freedom of movement, HRW, Israel, Jabarin, Palestinian, PL Foundation, Shawan Jabarin, travel ban, West Bank

French-Yugoslavian filmmaker Stanojevic pays tribute to Martin Ennals with short film

November 6, 2011

Back in 1983 the Yugoslav-born filmmaker Stacha Stanojevic made a human rights film under the title ‘Illustres Inconnus’ (Notorious Nobodies as the English language version would be called much later). One of the personalities in this multi-story film is a human rights activist, the inspiration for whom came from Martin Ennals who had then just left his post as Secretary General of Amnesty International and met Stacha several times. Now the filmmaker has drawn from his full-length film a short version focusing on the international human rights defender for whom, unknowingly, Martin Ennals stood as model. The scenes are mostly shot in Geneva and have the feel of this diplomatic city in the early 80s. The end is a bit of a surprise but highlights the essential human element in the unending quest for human rights. Unfortunately only in French for now, but english-speakers can still get the gist of it. See http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlt5bv_indignation-revolte-1983_shortfilms?start=0#from=embed

Martin Ennals Award ceremony 2011 now on-line: martinennalsawrd.org (thoolen.wordpress.com)

Posted in Amnesty international, films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Geneva, Illustres Inconnus, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Stanojevic

Observatory for HRDs comes out with annual report

October 27, 2011

IPS reported that on Monday 24 October a symbolic empty chair was at the launch of a report on the repression of human rights defenders, a physical reminder that its would-be occupant – Ales Bialiatski, president of Human Rights Centre Viasna in Belarus – has been languishing in prison since August. Bialiatski is charged with tax evasion, but supporters say it is clear that the charges are in retaliation for his long and distinguished career of human rights activism in the country. The chair was also empty for the hundreds of other human rights defenders across the world who have been deprived of their freedom and fundamental rights, leaving a void in the communities they worked to protect.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), published its 600-page report on individual human rights defenders and organisations that faced repression between January 2010 and April 2011. It covers 70 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, The Americas and Europe. The abuses cited include the ‘usual’ harassment, threats and arrests, arbitrary detention, defamation campaigns, and restrictions in terms of freedoms of association and expression, but also notes Antoine Bernard, of FIDH, a trend to the criminalise social protests. “That is a very universal trend, to use the law not as a protecting tool, that is supposed to be its role, but law as a repressive tool to arbitrarily provide the legal basis for silencing human rights defenders”, he said to InterPress Service (IPS). “A threat to a human rights defender very often transcends beyond the individual case, it carries a shadow to society at large,” concluded Gerald Staberock, secreterary-general of OMCT.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation for human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggaya, underscored the importance of implementing the Declaration for Human Rights Defenders that the General Assembly adopted back in 1998, and the importance of disseminating information about it. “It is still an instrument that is not sufficiently known, either to those who should shoulder the main responsibility for its implementation, namely states, or to those whose rights it sets out to protect, human rights defenders,” Sekaggaya said.

Posted in books, FIDH, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ales Bialiatski, Antoine Bernard, FIDH, Gerald Staberock, Margaret Sekaggaya, Observatory, OMCT

Prayer for Human Rights Defenders by Robert Fulghum

October 23, 2011

At the luncheon in honor of MEA Laureates of the MEA Kasha J. Nabagesera and Muhanad Al-Hassani on 13 October in Geneva, Robert Fulghum, well-known author and Patron of the MEA, asked me to read what he would have said if he could have come to the event. I think it is so beautiful and pertinent to human rights defenders and their supporters worldwide that I share it with you here. I am sure Robert Fulghum would have no problem with anybody using it as long as credit is given:

Please do not bow your heads, but allow your eyes to look around the room and notice those present.

Know that the finest blessing a meal can have is the presence of great company.

With such companions as these this meal could not be more blessed.

What the gods may do is often difficult to discern or understand.

What people like you do and continue to do is clear :

to lift and set free the human spirit

to keep alive the flame of basic rights

and to support those men and women are willing to live and to die for the sake of human freedom.

May the meal sustain your bodies as your values sustain meaning in your lives.

May those who are not here to share this meal know that bread is being broken here for their sake.

May the cause of human rights never end, but go on as long as human beings are on the earth.

Let us continue . . .

Amen.”

Posted in Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: al-Hassani, Kasha, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, prayer, Robert Fulghum, support

NOMINATIONS FOR THE MEA 2012: DEADLINE 9 DECEMBER

October 23, 2011

Nominations for the 2012 MARTIN ENNALS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (MEA) can be made on the new website of the MEA: http://www.martinennalsaward.org where forms can be filled out electronically (in English, French and Spanish). Deadline is 9 December. Please pass this on to all who need to know, thanks

Posted in Human Rights Defenders, MEA, nominees | 2 Comments »
Tags: award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, nominations

As from Tuesday 11 October the Martin Ennals Award will have a new website

October 10, 2011

With a bit of delay, I am immensely glad to announce that at the eve of the ceremony for Kasha (on 13 October) the MEA has a completely re-designed website up and running as from tomorrow morning (Tuesday). This joomla-based site was designed for us – free of charge – by a team from Pacosoft (Paul, Ivo, Goice) with additional input from Nat Daudrich and I would like to thank them most warmly. Completely new are the biographies of all previous Laureates (in English, French and Spanish), while some other information was also re-written and translated. Some features (such as the Forum) are still under construction. Any comments or suggestions for improvement would be most welcome: please let me have your feedback: http://www.martinennalsaward.org.

Posted in human rights, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: Joomla, Kasha, MEA, Pacosoft, website

Posters of Kasha, MEA Laureate 2011, all over Geneva

October 7, 2011

Posters of MEA Laureate 2011 Kasha at the entrance of Geneva university

Posted in Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: Geneva, posters

Belarus Side event during Human Rights Council in Geneve

October 6, 2011

While on the topic of Belarus I forgot to mention another event: on 20 September, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Oslo-based Human Rights House Foundation held a side event in Geneva on the prosecution of vice-president of the Federation and Chairman of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, Ales Bialiatski, who was arrested on 4 August 2011. The participants watched a short film about Ales Bialiatski. Later, vice-chairman of “Viasna” Valentin Stefanovich and Director of the Belarusian Human Rights House in Vilnius Anna Gerasimova made a speech.

Representatives of EU countries, the Head of EU mission to the UN Human Rights Council, Dimitris Iliopoulos, and NGOs such as AI all highlighted the political motivation of the criminal case against this prominent human rights defender and called upon the Belarusian authorities to immediately release Mr. .

Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: AI, arrest, Belarus, Bialiatski, Human Rights House Foundation, persecution, United Nations Human Rights Council

Arbitrary arrest and detention of 31 human rights defenders in Turkey

October 4, 2011

Several important human rights NGOs, including AI and HRW, have in recent days expressed concern about the situation of human rights defenders in Turkey. I base myself here on the appeal issued on 28 September by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

The Observatory has been informed by the reliable Human Rights Association (İnsan Haklari Derneği – İHD) about the arbitrary arrests of 31 members and executives of İHD Şanlıurfa Branch, the Education and Science Workers Trade Union (Egitim-Sen), the Health and Social Service Workers Trade Union (SES) as well as the searches by the police of the houses of the chairpersons and executives of the above mentioned organisations and their offices.

In the morning of September 27, law-enforcement officers raided İHD, Egitim-Sen and SES Şanlıurfa Branch offices as well as the houses of their chairpersons and executives and arrested 31 members of these organisations. The police was in possession of a warrant from the Şanlıurfa Chief Public Prosecution Office mentioning allegations of “propaganda for an illegal organisation” and “participating in activities in line with the action and aims of that organisation” and has denied to release information on the reasons of the raids and arrest, on the basis of legal provisions pertaining to the fight against terrorism.

Among those arrested were İHD Şanlıurfa Branch President Cemal Babaoğlu, İHD executivesMüslüm Kına and Müslüm Çiçek, Eğitim-Sen Branch President Halit Şahin, Eğitim-Sen former Branch President Sıtkı Dehşet and Eğitim-Sen executive Veysi Özbingöl.

The Observatory denounces the continuing policy of arbitrarily arresting human rights defenders in Turkey, and particularly İHD members and members of trade unions, which seems to merely aim at sanctioning their human rights activities. To that extent, the Observatory recalls that other İHD members are in pre-trial detention, notably Mr. Muharrem Erbey, İHD General Vice Chairperson and Chairperson of its Diyarbakir Province branch who had been detained since December 2009, Mr. Arslan Özdemir and Ms. Roza Erdede, İHD members in Diyarbakır, or that others remain in provisional release pending the outcome of criminal trials on alleged terrorism charges.

Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the Turkish authorities to put an end to the continuing harassment against human rights defenders, including members of İHD, and urges the Turkish authorities.

for more detials and suggested actions you can take, see:

Arbitrary arrest and detention of 31 human rights defenders – TUR 001 / 0911 / OBS 114 – FIDH – Worldwide Human Rights Movement.

Posted in AI, FIDH, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 2 Comments »
Tags: arrest, detention, FIDH, HRDs, Observatory, OMCT, Turkey

Iran again: HRD Narges Mohammadi gets 11 years prison sentence

September 30, 2011

Narges Mohammadi, who became ill after being detained by security officials, was convicted by a court in Tehran to 11 years in jail. Narges Mohammadi, 39, the deputy head of Iran’s Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), a rights organisation presided over by the Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, was picked up last year by security officials who raided her house without a warrant for her arrest. She was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison where she was kept in solitary confinement but was released after a month and taken to hospital. It emerged on Tuesday that a court in Tehran has now convicted her on three charges: acting against the national security, membership of the DHRC and propaganda against the regime.

“I’m not involved in politics, I’m only a human rights activist,” Mohammadi said by phone from Tehran. “I was informed of the 11-year sentence through my lawyers, who were given an unprecedented 23-page judgment issued by the court in which they repeatedly likened my human rights activities to attempts to topple the regime.” In March the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a US-based non-governmental organisation, reported that security forces had stolen Mohammadi’s medical records from the hospital. Her husband, Taghi Rahmani, a political activist, has spent a third of his life in jail.

Amnesty International reacted with outrage to Mohammadi’s conviction. “The verdict claims that Narges Mohammadi is a liar and has tarnished the image of Iran,” said Drewery Dyke, Amnesty’s researcher on Iran. “However, this latest verdict regrettably does exactly that by showing what Iran’s judiciary thinks of the government’s so-called commitment to uphold human rights in the country, and indeed exactly how it deals with those advocating international human rights standards.”

for more info see inter alia:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/28/iranian-activist-narges-mohammadi-jailed?newsfeed=true

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/leading-iran-rights-activist-sentenced-11-years-2011-09-28

Posted in Amnesty international, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, Human rights defender, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Iran, Narges Mohammadi, Shirin Ebadi

Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards