Archive for the 'UN' Category
September 16, 2013
On 12 September 2013 Cynthia Rothschild delivered a statement the Human Rights Council on behalf of World Organization Against Torture, with Amnesty International, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Association for Progressive Communications, Association for Women’s Rights in Development, Center for Women’s Global Leadership, Coalition of African Lesbians, Front Line Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISIS- WICCE, Latin American and the Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights, MADRE, Nazra for Feminist Studies, Urgent Action Fund, WOREC Nepal, and Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice.
“The Council has done strong work in support of the 6/30 gender integration resolution. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Center for Women's Global Leadership, Colombo, Gender identity, gender issues, human rights, human rights of women, OMCT, Sri Lanka, Sunila, Sunila Abeysekera, UN Human Rights Council, women human rights defenders, Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition
September 6, 2013
Truth commission archives are an important part of dealing with the past, which is a long-term process addressing a legacy of human rights violations.
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Tags: archives, documenting, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights violations, impunity, meeting, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, science, side event, Special Rapporteur, Swisspeace, Switzerland, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Truth commissions, United Nations Human Rights Council
September 3, 2013
(Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peacful assembly and of association Maina Kiai. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré)
On 9 August 2013 three independent
United Nations Rapporteurs jointly called on the Government of
Uganda to repeal a new bill that places restrictions on the freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and to prepare a new version that complies with the country’s international human rights obligations.
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Tags: Frank William La Rue, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights obligations, kiai, legal restrictions, Maina Kiai, Margaret Sekaggya, peaceful assembly, police intimidation, Politics of Uganda, Special Rapporteur, Uganda, United Nations, United Nations Special Rapporteur
September 2, 2013
On Saturday 31 August 2013 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said at the end of her long awaited one-week-long fact-finding mission that the Sri Lankan state is becoming more authoritarian. “The war between government troops and Tamil rebels may have ended, but in the meantime democracy has been undermined and the rule of law eroded,” the U.N. commissioner for human rights told a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She visited the former Tamil rebel-held areas in northern Sri Lanka, and met civil society groups, politicians and aid workers before meeting President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Economic Affairs Minister Basil Rajapaksa.” I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction,” Pillay said. The U.N. envoy said that some people she visited in the northeastern part of the country previously held by the rebels had been later visited by military and police officers and questioned again. “This type of surveillance and harassment appears to be getting worse in Sri Lanka, which is a country where critical voices are quite often attacked or even permanently silenced,” she said. Pillay visited Sri Lanka on the invitation of the Sri Lankan government, but some of the members of the government have criticized her and openly ridiculed her, with one of the Cabinet ministers saying he was willing to marry her.Pillay also expressed concern about media freedom, incomplete investigations into disappearances and abductions, attacks on civil protests, issues of sexual harassment of women and harassment of human rights defenders. She is due to submit a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next month. Cabinet Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that the government had invited her to the country genuinely and would await the report to be submitted next month.
via U.N. human rights chief says Sri Lanka increasingly authoritarian – Wire Lifestyle – The Sacramento Bee.
the full version of her very substantive speech can be found at:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/full-speech-un-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-navi-pillay-at-the-press-conference-on-her-mission-to-sri-lanka/
- Sri Lanka ready to probe Pillay’s claims (oneislandtwonationsblogspotcom.typepad.com)
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: Colombo, colombo sri lanka, fact-finding mission, harassment, human rights, Keheliya Rambukwella, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Navi Pillay, president mahinda rajapaksa, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan government, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nation, united nations high commissioner
August 29, 2013
The UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon gave the Annual Leiden Freedom Lecture, in the Netherlands, on 28 August 2013 and made a number of strong points relevant to human rights defenders: Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Ban Ki-moon, Hague, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, lecture, Leiden, LGBT rights, Netherlands, reprisals, Secretary-General of the United Nations, UN Human Rights Council, United Nation
August 14, 2013
Many of us have been looking forward to the first expressions of policy and position by the new US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power. Thanks to Mark Leon Goldberg in UN Dispatch of 12 August 2013 there is now a confirmation that she does not intend to drop her earlier interest in Human Rights Defenders. I decided to copy the piece in toto and let you decide for yourselves: Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: activist community, diplomacy, Foreign Policy, human rights activists, Human Rights Defenders, International Rescue Committee, Invisible Children, Mark Leon Goldberg, Samantha Power, Susan Rice, UN, UN Ambassador, UN Dispatch, United Nations, United States
August 14, 2013
Special Rapporteur Richard Falk. UN Photo/Jess Hoffman
On 13 August 2013 a group of 5 United Nations independent human rights experts expressed deep concern at the alleged ongoing judicial harassment, intimidation and abusive treatment directed against Issa Amro, a prominent Palestinian human rights defender. Mr. Amro, a founder of the non-governmental organizations Youth Against Settlements and Hebron Defenders, was arrested and detained 20 times in 2012, and six times in 2013, without being charged
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Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: Amro, Frank La Rue, harassment, Hebron Defenders, Human right, Human rights defender, Israel, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Issa Amro, Juan E. Méndez, Maina Kiai, Margaret Sekaggya, Non-governmental organization, Palestine, Richard Falk, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Youth Against Settlements
August 14, 2013
On 13 August 2013 the United Nations added its voice to the many to call for his immediate release of Adilur Rahman Khan, the director of Odhikar, a well-known human rights organization in the country. He was arrested at his home in the capital, Dhaka, on 10 August by plainclothes officers reportedly acting without a warrant, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR]. “We are calling on the Government of Bangladesh to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Khan, whose arrest might be linked to his work as human rights defender,” OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva. She said Mr. Khan is reported to have been arrested under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and
section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, accused of publishing false information about violence by Government forces during demonstrations in May by the Islamist movement, Hefazat-e-Islami. Odhikar reported that 61 people had died during these protests, challenging the Government’s version of events, noted Ms. Throssell.She said that the day after his arrest, Mr. Khan was denied bail and ordered to be held on remand for five days. “He was allegedly denied access to a lawyer before his court hearing,” she added.
via United Nations News Centre – Bangladesh: UN urges immediate release of detained human rights defender.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, arbitrary arrest, Bangladesh, Dhaka, freedom of information, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, human rights organization, illegal detention, Khan, Liz Throssell, Politics of Bangladesh, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, united nations news centre
August 2, 2013
Special Rapporteur on Belarus Miklós Haraszti. – Photo: OSCE/Susanna Lööf
2 August 2013 the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Republic of Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, said that the detention of Bialiatski is “a symbol of the repression against human rights defenders.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Belarus, belarusian authorities, Bialiatski, confiscation, FIDH, freedom of association, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Miklos Haraszti, Minsk, Non-governmental organization, OSCE, Special Rapporteur, UN, UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteur
June 27, 2013
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday 27 June said there had been significant achievements since a historic human rights document was adopted in Vienna 20 years ago, but there have also been many setbacks and “the magnificent construction is still only half built.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, International Criminal Court, Navi Pillay, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pillay, politics, Sarajevo, Vienna, Vienna +20 Conference
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 