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 »
Archive for the 'UN' Category
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons Statements
August 29, 2013Samantha Power’s First Week: Activist or Diplomat
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 »
Five UN experts urge Israel to stop harassment of human rights activist Issa Amro
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 Read the rest of this entry »
Pillay urges immediate release of detained human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan in Bangladesh
August 14, 2013On 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.
UN Rapporteur joins chorus to urge freedom for Bialiatski in Belarus
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 »
Pillay discusses 20 years Vienna
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 »
Visiting Serbia and Kosovo, UN High Commissioner urges political will to solidify human rights and support HRDs
June 21, 2013In June 2013, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visited former Yugoslavia. In both Serbia and Kosovo she mentioned that human rights defenders have a key role to play:
New UNHCR report “Beyond Proof” looks at the Credibility Assessment in Asylum procedures in the EU
June 17, 2013
Human Rights Defenders are involved in asylum claims in many ways. The asylum seeker may be a victim of persecution or the people who help them are human rights defenders. Anyway the new UNHCR report “Beyond Proof – Improving Credibility Assessment in EU Asylum Systems” should be a relevant tool for all of them:
Special Rapporteur’s next report focuses on HRDs and large-scale development projects: you can contribute!
June 14, 2013The next thematic report of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, to the General Assembly in October 2013 will focus on the links between large-scale development projects and a safe and enabling
- environment for human rights defenders, with a particular emphasis on the challenges of the human rights-based approach to development and the role of human rights defenders. This is indeed – as also shown in this blog – a growing area of concern with many HRDs working on e.g. land grabbing, forced evictions, environmental issues or the protection of indigenous minorities under constant threats and many having been killed .
To this end, the Special Rapporteur is requesting Member States, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and regional human rights mechanisms to answer a questionnaire. If you would like to contribute to this exercise, kindly complete the questionnaire and send it to defenders@ohchr.org. Deadline: 24 June 2013!. Should you have any question, please send an e-mail to the same address. Questionnaire to be found via Questionnaire on large-scale development.
State surveillance and freedom of expression as seen by UN Rapporteur Frank La Rue
June 7, 2013
For those who missed it or did not want to read the whole report, Carly Nyst wrote on 4 June 2013 an excellent summary of the recent landmark report by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the Right to Privacy, Frank la Rue.
