Archive for the 'Human Rights Council' Category
February 29, 2016
A regional update on Asia is based on a submission to United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (15 February) and a report of the Regional Consultation of Citizens’ Voices held in Kathmandu (25/26 February) held under the aegis of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR).
The Asian Legal Resource Centre directs the attention of the Human Rights Council to the critical situation of human rights defenders in China, Bangladesh, and Thailand, who are facing dire threats to their person and profession: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Bangladesh, Basil Fernando, China, Geneva, Gerald Staberock, Ghazi Salahuddin, Hameeda Hossain, India, Nepal, Pakistan, side event, South Asians for Human Rights, Thailand
February 25, 2016
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its 31st regular session at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 29 February to 24 March 2016 (it also marks the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Council). The International Service for Human Rights (see link at the bottom of the post) has published an Alert full of details, but I highlight here the elements that concern human rights defenders most directly:
Human rights defenders: The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, will present his annual report to the Council on 3 March. The report focuses on good practices to promote and protect the rights of human rights defenders. Presentation of the report will be followed by a dialogue. Of significance this session is a substantive resolution that will be presented by Norway on the situation of human rights defenders. The resolution at this session of the Council follows on the heels of the resolution on human rights defenders presented at the General Assembly in November 2015. The General Assembly resolution included a number of new, important and substantive provisions, including on the vital role of advocacy and the work of defenders in contributing to sustainable development and the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights, and the responsibilities of business enterprises with respect to engaging, consulting and protecting defenders. [see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/un-general-assembly-adopts-resolution-on-human-rights-defenders-with-increased-majority/] This latest resolution provides an opportunity to recognise the critically important work of economic, social and cultural rights defenders, and the cross-cutting challenges they face, including restrictions not only on their rights to health, food, housing, social security and work, but also on their rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and life itself. Economic, social and cultural rights activists have been identified by current and previous Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders as among the most isolated and stigmatised defenders. It is integral that the resolution recognises the role of both State and non-State actors in the protection of human rights defenders, and enjoys broad State support for strong language demanding their protection. (On 7 March, ISHR will facilitate a side event on this topic which will be the subject of a separate post) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, OHCHR, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Burundi, China, draft resolution, freedom of assembly, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Michel Forst, Myanmar, Norway, reprisals, side event, social economic and cultural rights, UN General Assembly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteurs, UPR
February 25, 2016
launches its new RightDocs tool with a Demo on 29 February 2016, from 18:00-19:30 in the Palais des Nations, Delegates Restaurant, Geneva.
RightDocs is a new tool to search, sort, filter, and discover resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council online and public.
The RightDocs tool is supported by the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN in Geneva. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, HURIDOCS, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: access, Denmark, documentation tools, Geneva, human rights documentation, HURIDOCS, launch, on-line, RightDoc, UN Human Rights Council
February 8, 2016
Burundi is still one of the basket cases in Africa and since my lats post nothing has improved [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/burundi-what-more-early-warning-does-one-need/]. The Special Session of the Human Rights Council in December 2015 mandated the High Commissioner for Human Rights to put together an expert mission to Burundi, to investigate abuses and make recommendations to the Council and the Burundian government on ways of ending serious human rights violations. But the follow-up is below par: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | 8 Comments »
Tags: Burundi, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Kenya, membership UN human rights council, Michael Ineichen, monitoring, Prince Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein, suspension, threats, UN, UN Human Rights Council
January 20, 2016
A group of five United Nations human rights experts have joined the debate in France on security. Yesterday, 19 January it warned that the current state of emergency in France and the country’s law on surveillance of electronic communications impose excessive and disproportionate restrictions on fundamental freedoms.
UN SG Ban Ki-moon pays tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November. 6 December 2015. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
In a list of concerns to the French Government, the independent experts stressed a lack of clarity and precision on provisions regarding several state of emergency and surveillance laws that relate to the legitimate rights of privacy and freedoms – of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
To guarantee the rule of law and prevent arbitrary procedures, the experts recommended the adoption of prior judicial controls over anti-terrorism measures. Since the recent terrorist attacks in France, the state of emergency law in force, which temporarily expands the executive powers in the fight against terrorism, only allows judicial review a posteriori.
The UN experts also noted that the November 2015 law on surveillance of international electronic communications expands the executive power over the collection, analysis and storage of communications content or metadata – without requiring prior authorization or judicial review.
The UN experts also expressed alarm that environmental activists in France have been under house arrest in connection with the state of emergency invoked following the November attacks. “These measures do not seem to adjust to the fundamental principles of necessity and proportionality,” they said, highlighting the risks faced by fundamental freedoms in the fight against terrorism.
Calling on France not to extend the state of emergency beyond 26 February 2016, they said, that: “While exceptional measures may be required under exceptional circumstances, this does not relieve the authorities from demonstrating that these are applied solely for the purposes for which they were prescribed, and are directly related to the specific objective that inspired them.”
The independent experts – David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; and Joseph Cannataci, Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy – expressed their solidarity and deepest sympathy to the victims of the terrorist attacks committed in France and many other places in the world.
Source: United Nations News Centre – UN experts urge France to protect fundamental freedoms while combatting terrorism
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti-terrorist laws, Ben Emmerson, David Kaye, environmental activists, France, Joseph Cannataci, Maina Kiai, mass surveillance, Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, state of emergency, UN Special Rapporteurs
January 13, 2016
Ted Piccone, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, at The Brookings Institution published on 12 August 2015 a post entitled: “5 Myths About the UN Human Rights Council”. A bit belatedly I repeat it here for those – especially in the USA – who need a coherent statement in favour of continued engagement by the US in the UN Human Rights Council:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Brookings Institute, Foreign Policy of the USA, Huffington Post, Ted Piccone, UN Human Rights Council, USA
December 16, 2015
Tomorrow 17 December there will be a
Special session of the Human Rights Council on preventing further deterioration [now that is diplomatic language!] of the human rights situation in
Burundi. The International Service for Human Rights
(ISHR) is using the occasion to organize a side event on: “Escalation of Violence in Burundi: Human rights defenders voices from the ground” from 09.00-10.00 am in Room XII, Palais des Nations, Geneva. It will be webcast live on
www.ishr.ch/webcast. Follow on twitter using the hash-tag #BurundiHRDs.
Panelists (moderator Nicolas Agostini of FIDH):
- Mr Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Incarcerated Persons (APRODH), MEA Laureate 2007.
- Ms Margaret Barankitse, Maison Shalom
- Mr Anschaire Nikoyagize, Ligue ITEKA
- Ms Carina Tertsakian, Human Rights Watch
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: African Union, Anschaire Nikoyagize, Burundi, Centre for African Journalists, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Front Line (NGO), Geneva, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Journalist, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, side event, special session, UN Human Rights Council, webcast, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
November 19, 2015
from Special Issue on Business and Human Rights by the ISHR, October 2015
For human rights defenders interested to find their way in the myriad of procedures and soft law surrounding the issue of business and human rights:
The key mandate of the Working Group is to promote the effective and comprehensive dissemination and implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, using the usual range of tools available to Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council (country visits, thematic reports, and individual communications).In order to discuss the trends and challenges in the implementation of those Guiding Principles and to promote dialogue and cooperation on issues linked to business and human rights, a Forum on Business and Human Rights has been held every year since 2012 and is open to all relevant stakeholders, including in particular human rights defenders. There is an increasing focus on human rights defenders in the agenda of the Forum, with two specific panels dedicated to human rights defenders in 2015 focusing on women human rights defenders and on the role of business in protecting defenders respectively.
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association have both expressed concern about human rights defenders working on these issues, with the previous Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders devoting a report to the issue of human rights defenders working on major development projects and the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association devoting a report to the issue of freedom of association and the extractive industries.
In June 2014, the Human Rights Council mandated an Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG), tasked with commencing work towards the drafting of an international legally binding treaty on business and human rights. In July 2015 the IGWG had their first session, more information and reports can be found here.
Finally, the UN Global Compact initiative, is intended as a practical framework for the development, implementation, and disclosure of sustainability policies and practices by businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: business, Business and human rights, environmental issues, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, protection, United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
November 10, 2015
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa is President of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH) in Burundi. He was the Laureate of the MEA 2007 and on 27 October 2015 he received the Pan African Human Rights Defenders Network’s East Africa Shield Award. What happened to him in the last months is telling (for earlier items see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/pierre-claver-mbonimpa/):
MEA Laureate Mbonimpa, Burundi
- On 3 August 2015, prominent human rights defender Pierre Claver Mbonimpa – laureate of the MEA 2007 – was shot in the face and neck. He was forced to seek medical treatment abroad.
- His son-in-law, Pascal Nshimirimana, was shot dead outside his home in Bujumbura on 9 October.
- On 6 November, the body of Welly Nzitonda, the son of Mbonimpa, was found dead a few hours after he was arrested in the Mutakura neighborhood of Bujumbura where protests have taken place.
- Just before that – on 3 November – Mbonimpa spoke out on a video message from the place where is recovering: https://www.defenddefenders.org/2015/11/voices-that-cannot-be-silenced-pierre-claver-mbonimpa-speaks-out-on-burundi/
On 9 November 2015 eleven leading human rights NGOs addressed an Open Letter to the UN Human Rights Council urging them to organize a special session to prevent (further) atrocities in Burundi.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, FIDH, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, OHCHR, UN | 4 Comments »
Tags: attack, Burundi, east africa, Extrajudicial killing, FIDH, Human Rights Defenders, MEA 2007, NGOs, Pascal Nshimirimana, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, special session, UN Human Rights Council, Welly Nzitonda
September 25, 2015
On Tuesday 29 September (15h30 – 17h30, Palais des Nations, Room XXII, Geneva), the CMDPDH, Asociación Civil and ISHR organise a side event about the situation for human rights defenders in Mexico. [A Mission of International Observers visited Mexico in November 2015 and will present its conclusions – under the title “In Defense of Life” – to the Mexican Government within the framework of the 30th session of the Human Rights Council.]
Panelists in the event are::
- Rosario Figari Layús – Researcher in the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at the University of Bielefeld, Germany.
- Carola Hausotter – Coordinador of the German Network for Human Rights in Mexico (Deutschen Menschenrechtskoordination Mexiko)
- Ben Leather – Advocacy, Training and Communications Manager of the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
- Olga Guzmán Vergara – Advocary Director of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH)
- Ambassador Jorge Lomónaco Tonda – Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN in Geneva (TBC)
- Christina Kokkinakis – Head of Human Rights section from the Permanent Delegation of the European Union to the UN in Geneva
Download the flyer: HUMAN RIGHTS IN MEXICO
see previous posts: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/mexico/
Posted in books, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ben Leather, Carola Hausotter, Christina Kokkinakis, Geneva, Human Rights Defenders, killings, Mexico, Observer, Olga Guzmán Vergara, Rosario Figari Layús, side event, UN Human Rights Council
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
