On 17 September 2013 Pakistani education rights activist, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot and almost killed by the Taliban, received the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience award in Dublin. “I want to live in a world where free, Read the rest of this entry »
Having last week referred to 3 different (and competing?) techno initiatives to increase the security of HRDs, i would be amiss not to note the post of 11 september 2013 by Tanya O’Caroll on the AI blog concerning the development of the Panic button. Over the next couple of months, she will be keeping you posted about the Panic Button. If you want to join the community of people working on Panic Button, please leave a comment on the site mentioned below or email panicbutton@amnesty.org.
On 7 April 2013 I posted on this blog the announcement of the Anti-kidnap alarm for human rights defenders in form of the Natalia braceletlaunched in Stockholm by Civil Rights Defenders.
This was followed 10 days later, 17 April, by a post referring to the Panic Button developed by Amnesty International (“How to turn a mobile phone into an alert system for human rights defenders: AI’s Panic Button”).
While these (and perhaps other tools that I have missed!) may have all different features, the question could be asked who among the hard-pressed human rights defenders on the ground have the time and energy to sort through all this and pick what is most meaningful for them? Competition may well bring out the best but can also be confusing.
Mrinalini Shinde wrote a post in Polymic of 17 August about the human rights situation in Saoudi Arabia in good polemic style under the title: “Starting a Human Rights Association in This Country? Prepare to Face Jail Time”. She is an undergraduate student of law at National Law School of India University, interested in gender and sustainability issues. .. She has volunteered with the Human Right Law Network, and has conducted research in family laws, and gender justice. see: Mrinalini Shinde.
The Greek authorities must act immediately to curb the growing spate of xenophobic and racist attacks Amnesty International said on 14 August 2013. It follows a brutal knife attack by a mob of around 20 men on two Pakistani migrants in Heraklion on the island of Crete Read the rest of this entry »
On 29 June 2012 (yes a year ago) AI published a short video on the Internal Criminal Court, which for some reason I had missed, so here is the link to the video which is a simple but clear assessment of 10 years ICC, it’s successes, it’s failures and the challenges it still faces in bringing to justice those accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This blog tends to mention HRDs who have died mostly in the context of an attack on them. But sometimes it is important to remember also those who passed away from natural causes and honor their legacy. Dmytro Groisman, Read the rest of this entry »
Today Amnesty International urges the Cuban authorities to immediately and unconditionally release five men who have been named prisoners of conscience.
On 4 June this blog referred to the controversy surrounding the question whether Bradley Manning should be a recognized AI Prisoner of Conscience. So it is fair to report that on 30 July 2013 AI USA came out with a statement saying in essence:Read the rest of this entry »
Global Voices reports today that Free Saudi Liberals website founder Raif Badawi was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. Badawi was arrested on 17 June, 2012 in Jeddah and was charged with “setting up a website that undermines general security” and ridiculing Islamic religious figures. The Free Saudi Liberals website was an online forum for public discussions. It was shut following Badawi’s arrest, and it had been blocked within the country for years. In todays sentence, the judge also ordered the permanent shutdown of the website. On December 17, 2012, the case was referred to a higher court, the General Court in Jeddah, after he had been charged with apostasy, which carries the death penalty. Badawi was asked by the judge to abandon his views, but he refused. Amnesty International has considered him “a prisoner of conscience detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression” and demanded his immediate, unconditional release.
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Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 