Archive for the 'UN' Category
December 19, 2015
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst. Photo: MINUSTAH
“Amidst a charged and violent atmosphere over past months in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Palestinian and international defenders are providing a ‘protective presence’ for Palestinians at risk of violence, and documenting human rights violations,” said UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst.
Earlier this month, a group of UN human rights experts urged the Israeli Government to ensure a protective environment where human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory can work without unlawful restriction and without fear of retaliatory acts.
“We recently addressed concerns to the Israeli Government regarding retaliatory acts by Israeli authorities against members of one organisation based in Hebron, Youth Against Settlements, after its Centre was subjected to raids and settlers allegedly called for it to be closed,” noted the UN Special Rapporteur the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Makarim Wibisono. He noted that the Centre has now effectively been shut down as a result of the Israeli military declaring the surrounding area a military zone. “We urge Israeli authorities to lift this military order”.
Source: United Nations News Centre – UN experts urge end to harassment of human rights defenders in Occupied Palestinian Territory
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: harassment, Hebron, Israel, Israeli-occupied territories, Makarim Wibisono, Michel Forst, threats, UN Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, UN Rapporteurs, United Nations Human Rights Council, Youth Against Settlements
December 18, 2015
For the record, the Resolution on the protection of human rights defenders was adopted by the plenary of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday 17 December 2015, with 127 States voting in favour (i.e 10 more than in the Third Committee!). See: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/follow-up-on-the-human-rights-defenders-resolution-in-the-un/.
127 States supported the resolution, including South Africa, which had voted against it in the Third Committee, while 14 States (Burundi, Cambodia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe) continue to vote against it. This list is not surprising (they figure regularly in this blog), although one would have hoped that Myanmar (after the elections) would have had a change of heart while Nigeria’s position remains a mystery.
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Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: diplomacy, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, Protection of Human Rights Defenders, South Africa, UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, UN Resolution, United Nations General Assembly
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
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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
December 16, 2015
Theo van Boven – former Director of the UN Human Rights Division – was asked by the United Nations Association of the Netherlands to express his personal views of the UN and his role in the development of the human rights sector. Under the title “THE UNITED NATIONS AT THE AGE OF 70″ he said inter alia the following:
Theo van Boven 2011
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Posted in OHCHR, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: Civil society, Ethan Films, international human rights law, international organisations, People Matter, standard setting, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Theo van Boven, UN, UNA NL
December 8, 2015
Anneliese Mcauliffe in Al Jazeera on 6 December 2015 reported that two Chinese human rights defenders recognised as UN refugees were forcibly deported from Thailand to China last month and have appeared on Chinese state-run television and confessed to human-trafficking offenses. CCTV reported that Jiang Yefei was arrested for “assisting others to illegally cross the national border”, and Dong Guangping was charged with using a trafficking network to flee China while awaiting trial on sedition charges. It was the first time the two men were seen since being taken from a detention centre in the Thai capital Bangkok in November and deported to China.
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Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Al-Jazeera, Canada, China, deportation, Dong Guangping, forced confession, Human Rights Defenders, Jiang Yefei, OHCHR, persecution, refugee status determination, resettlement, Reuters, Sheng Xue, Thailand, UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
December 5, 2015
Last week I wrote about how the UN Resolution on HRDs did in the 3rd Committee of the UN General Assembly [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/unfortunately-the-un-voted-on-the-resolution-on-human-rights-defenders/] and how South Africa has turned around [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/south-africa-does-about-turn-on-un-resolution-on-human-rights-defenders/]. The date of the vote in the Plenary is not yet confirmed but is likely to be 18 or 21 December. The voting record is available: http://www.un.org/en/ga/third/70/docs/voting_sheets/L.46.Rev.1.pdf
Fourteen States voted no on the resolution (China, Russia, Syria, Burundi, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, North Korea, South Africa, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan). In some of these countries civil society has expressed disappointment. e.g.
In Pakistan the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a statement issued on Tuesday, said: “At the same time, HRCP must express alarm and great disappointment that Pakistan chose to be one of the 14 nations that voted against the resolution.“ “While regretting Pakistan’s decision to oppose the resolution, the civil society is entitled to ask what rights defenders have done to deserve this step-motherly treatment. It is unfortunate that the government wishes to see civil society as an adversary. The civil society cannot, and must not, surrender its role as a watchdog for people’s rights because that constitutes an entitlement, by virtue of citizens’ social contract with the state, and not as a concession” “The HRCP also stresses people’s right to know through an explanation in parliament the reason why the government chose to deny the need for protection for HRDs, who include, besides human rights groups, journalists, lawyers, political and social activists.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: Alec Muchadehama, diplomacy, Fiji, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Human Rights Defenders, international protection, Pakistan, Shamima Ali, Third Committee of the GA, UN General Assembly, UN Resolution, vote, Zimbabwe
December 2, 2015
Kate Gilmore. UN Photo/Amanda Voisard
On 1 December 2015 Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Kate Gilmore of Australia as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, succeeding Flavia Pansieri of Italy. Ms. Gilmore, is currently Deputy Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and before 2012 she was Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International and National Director of AI Australia. Ms. Gilmore started her career as a social worker and policy officer for the Australian Government, establishing the country’s first Centre Against Sexual Assault. She was a member of Australia’s first national committee on violence against women.
Source: United Nations News Centre – Veteran Australian rights official appointed deputy UN human rights chief
Posted in Amnesty international, human rights, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Flavia Pansieri, Kate Gilmore, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN, UNFPA
November 30, 2015
The Huffington Post of 29 November 2015 carried a good piece by Brian Dooley (Human Rights First) under the title “When Closing Civil Society Space Means Killing Human Rights Defenders”. He states that “what sometimes gets overlooked in the discussion around “shrinking civil society space” are direct, violent attacks on human rights defenders.”
He refers to this year’s Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs) which details killings of HRDs in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. And a Note by the UN Secretary-General in July this year included how “defenders also describe their sense that they are often on their own, with the media showing little interest in reporting acts of aggression against them and with little support from political figures…”
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Posted in Front Line, HRF, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 3 Comments »
Tags: Brian Dooley, Dublin Platform, extra judicial killings, Front Line Defenders, Huffington Post, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights First, illegal detention, murder, UN Resolution, USA
November 30, 2015
In relation to my post of 26 November [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/unfortunately-the-un-voted-on-the-resolution-on-human-rights-defenders/] there is an interesting development. South-African media, NGOs and human rights defenders (e.g. http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/11/27/We-join-the-bullies) criticized heavily the position taken by Government in voting against. Today Barry Bateman reports that the South African government appears to have done an about-turn on its position and will now support the resolution when the matter is referred to the full General Assembly in the next few days. The Department of International Relations says the Africa group of members’ states had about 39 proposed amendments to the resolution following intense negotiations. The department raised concerns around the definition of a human rights defender, the responsibilities placed on sovereign parliaments and issues of NGO funding. It says the resolution’s main sponsor introduced oral amendments at the last-minute without informing South Africa. These amendments rendered the country’s concerns redundant.
India‘s Yes-vote was circumscribed by its statement that “stressed” that it does not feel it necessary to not create “any new obligations at national level”. Counterview of 28 November takes issue with this citing examples of where human rights defenders in India are still missing protection. [see also: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/yes-minister-it-human-rights-issue/india-uk-narendra-modi-david-cameron-visit-human-rights]
In the meantime Khoo Ying Hooi writing in a post in the Malaysian Insider of 30 November welcomes the Yes-vote by Malaysia, but shares the skepticism of many local human rights defenders that it is mostly window-dressing way. (“Malaysia has in many instances not walked the talk when it comes to international commitments on human rights affairs. One glaring example is their lack of commitment to the peer-review mechanism, Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the United Nations Human Rights Council. At this point of time, Malaysia’s adoption of the UN resolution in protecting human rights defenders does not reflect the reality back home. It was obvious that it is, at least for now, nothing more than diplomatic window dressing. While a UN resolution such as this would help in many ways, human rights protection must start at home.“)
Sources: Govt does ‘about-turn’ on its human rights defenders position
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/khoo-ying-hooi/article/malaysias-vote-on-protecting-human-rights-defenders-diplomatic-window-dress
http://www.counterview.net/2015/11/india-doesnt-need-new-legal-mechanism.html
Posted in AI, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Barry Bateman, diplomacy, Human Rights Defenders, India, Malaysia, Malaysian Insider, NGOs, South Africa, Third Committee of the GA, UN General Assembly, UN Resolution, vote
November 26, 2015
The answer to yesterday’s post [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/will-the-un-today-adopt-the-strongest-possible-resolution-on-human-rights-defenders-ask-over-100-ngos/] is that the UN did vote in favor but UNFORTUNATELY did have to vote at all. The unanimity by which UN resolutions on this topic were adopted since 1999 is now lost. But at least there is clarity: Russia and China were the main opponents.
“In New York today, China and Russia broke the unanimity of the international community by requesting a vote on the resolution presented by Norway,” commented Florian Irminger, Head of Advocacy at the Human Rights House Network. The vote by 117 in favour of the resolution, against 14, and with 40 abstentions, in fact reflects the situation in which human rights defenders work in the countries that voted against the resolution.
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Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 3 Comments »
Tags: China, Florian Irminger, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights House Foundation, international protection, national level, NGOs, Norway, reprisals, Russia, social media, Third Committee of the GA, UN Resolution
