Posts Tagged ‘Arab region’
October 11, 2014
Under provocative title “Can Arabs be Human Rights Defenders?” the on-line newspapers Mada Masr and Jadaliyya published a piece setting out how 3 Arab nominees were suddenly dropped by their nominators in the European Parliament over a few Israeli-bashing tweets that were indeed on the verge of acceptability (even in the context of rough twitter talk) especially when calling for or condoning killing of Zionist civilians.
I referred to the nominations in my post: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/nominees-for-sakharov-prize-2014-announced/.
I consider the post’s title provocative (or perhaps ironic) as even a cursory glance of human rights documentation – including this blog – shows that there are hundreds of human rights defenders in the Arab world whose credentials are not disputed or totally defensible.
Please read the whole piece for yourself as this is both a complicated and sensitive matter.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, EU, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ala Yaacoubi, Alaa Abdel Fattah, Andrei Sakharov, Arab region, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, bloggers, Criticism of the Israeli government, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah, EP, European Parliament, Freedom of speech, hate speech, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Jadaliyya, Mada Masr, members of the european parliament, Mouad Belghouate, Nomination, non-violence, Sakharov Prize, twitter
October 1, 2014
The Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders (EMHRF) today released its 2013 Annual Report detailing its activities in support of individuals, groups and NGOs who are defending human rights in a wide variety of distinctly challenging contexts across the Arab region. In 2013, when access to internal and external funding sources in the region remained limited and difficult, the Foundation faced the dual challenges of protecting defenders in increasingly repressive and violent environments and of consolidating positive civil society dynamics in countries where tentative steps were taken toward democratisation.
In countries such as Syria, Libya, Algeria and Egypt, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in EMHRN, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: annual report 2013, Arab region, Arab spring, Civil society, EMHRF, Euro-Mediterranean Foundation, Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, freedom of association, Human Rights Defenders, international protection, Middle East
September 28, 2014
On September 25, in an event held at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies [CIHRS ] launched a new three-year academic research project on political Islam and human rights. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in CIHRS, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: academic research project, Arab region, Arab world, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, human rights, islamic fundamentalists, Islamism, political islam, political Islam and human rights, research, universality
March 20, 2014
Dublin-based Front Line Defenders seeks to recruit staff and volunteers in an open and transparent manner and to increase cultural diversity within the Front Line Defenders staff. Therefore, all positions are advertised via its website. Due to the volume of requests, it is not possible to keep general applications or CVs on file but it will respond to all applications by email. Two posts are open at the moment:
- Digital Security Consultant Southeast Asia region
- Digital Security Consultant MENA region
Front Line is also looking for:
- Regional internship: Middle East & North Africa, Arabic-speaking
- Regional internship: Europe, Central Asia & Asia, Russian-speaking
- Admin & Publications Internship
- Regional Internship: Africa & Americas Internship, Portuguese speaking
- Frank Jennings Internship 2014/2015 (in Dublin and Geneva)
- Front Line Defenders Internship for postgraduate students of Peking University China (in Dublin)
via https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/about/recruitment
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Arab region, cultural diversity, digital security, Dublin, Front Line (NGO), Front Line Defenders, internships, job opportunity, posts, Regional Internship, South-east asia, vacancy, volunteer
October 4, 2013
Looking back at the 24th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council which came to an end last Friday, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies [CIHRS] is disappointed to see how timid the Council becomes when dealing with human rights in the Arab region. Indeed, the people of Syria, Sudan, Bahrain, Egypt, Palestine, and Yemen need all the support they can get to move their countries towards political stability and the rule of law. The Council should be a driving force in confronting cases of human rights violations and making recommendations to address them.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Arab region, Bahrain, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, CIHRS, Civil society, Council, Egypt, foreign funding, Human right, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights mechanisms, human rights violations, International Criminal Court, Non-governmental organization, reprisals, retaliation, Sudan, Syria, UN Resolution, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations Human Rights Council, Yemen
April 19, 2013
Intervening at the 53rd ordinary session of African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, on 18 April 2013, the FIDH and the OMCT, in the framework of their Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, expressed their grave concern about the situation of human rights defenders in Africa, which they stated had not observed an improvement. Violations of human rights targeting defenders have continued, notably in Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Judicial harassment based on false accusations, accompanied by arbitrary arrests and detentions, remains the most common harassment technique, especially in Algeria and Zimbabwe, but also in Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, The Gambia and Sudan. In several countries, including The Gambia and DRC, defenders have also been subjected to threats and smear campaigns. In late December 2012 / early January 2013, the presence in Goma in the Kivu region of non-State armed groups notably led to increased threats against local defenders, forcing many of them to hide or flee into exile. The targeted defenders are, inter alia, members of NGOs and lawyers in Chad, DRC, Zimbabwe, journalists in Djibouti, trade unionists fighting against impunity in Algeria, Djibouti, DRC, Zimbabwe or defending land rights and the right to a healthy environment in Cameroon; defenders of the right to work in Algeria and the right to health care in Sudan; advocates for the abolition of the death penalty in The Gambia, women’s rights in DRC, The Gambia, and free and fair elections in Zimbabwe; and activists campaigning against arbitrary detention in Egypt. Some excerpts follow but the reference to the full report is below:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Algeria, Arab region, Arab spring, Burundi, congo drc, Djibouti, DRC, Ethiopia, FIDH, funding, Gambia, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, impunity, International Federation for Human Rights, judicial harassment, Non-governmental organization, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, regulation, Sudan, threats, World Organisation Against Torture, Zimbabwe
March 31, 2013
The main aim of this blog is to follow events regarding Human Rights Defenders worldwide, but this time I have something of a ‘scoop’: in the process of doing research for an academic article on human rights awards I came across the Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights, which was thought to be defunct since 2011 with the death of the Libyan leader.
Talking to the North-South foundation in Switzerland, which has administered the 250.000$ award from 1988 to 2010, it turns out that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, from his jail in western Libya, has decided to resurrect as from 1 April 2013 the Prize in honor of his late father under the name: Gaddafi Award for African Governance.
Disappointed with the support received from the Arab world during the uprising in Libya last year, the resurrected award wants to focus on Africa. The rumor is that the first winner – supposed to be announced only tomorrow! – is rather surprisingly President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. When asked whether this would not lead the award to be seen as encouraging ‘bad governance’, the spokesman for the Foundation, T. (Thomas) Yran, refused to comment on Mugabe being the first winner, but said that the new award wanted to clearly distinguish itself from the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership (http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org) which rewards mostly “lackeys of the capitalist system” and anyway has not been given out for 3 years.
http://algaddafi.org/al-gaddafiinternationalprizeforhumanrights/list-of-recipients-of-the-international-prize-for-human-rights
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Posted in human rights | 4 Comments »
Tags: Arab region, awards, governance, human rights, human rights awards, Human rights defender, Libya, mo ibrahim prize for achievement in african leadership, Muammar Gaddafi, president robert mugabe, Robert Mugabe, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, scoop, Switzerland, Zimbabwe
October 7, 2012
On 2 October 2012 the Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHR) published its overview of the last session of the UN Human Rights Council. It concludes that many Arab governments have started a kind of ‘counter-revolution’ by harassing human rights defenders, especially those that engage with the UN:
“Reflecting the ‘counter-revolutionary’ repression we have witnessed being carried out by many Arab governments against democracy and rights activists over the last year and a half, this session of the Council witnessed multiple human rights defenders from Sudan, the United Arab Emirates UAE and Bahrain subjected to attacks by their governments or government-affiliated actors for engaging with the United Nations,” said Mr. Ziad Abdel Tawab, Deputy Director of CIHRS. “We urgently call on the UN and its member states to increase efforts to provide protection for these brave defenders and others like them. Such reprisals against those who cooperate with the UN not only constitute rights violations, but also represent an attack on the UN itself and its ability to function properly.”
via ‘Counter-Revolution’ at the United Nations Human Rights Council? Arab states respond to unprecedented scrutiny with attacks on rights defenders and standards | Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Arab region, Bahrain, Cairo Institute for Human Rights, Geneva, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, Sudan, UAE, UN, UPR
July 7, 2011
The Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders (EMHRF) which has been supporting human rights defenders organized on 2-3 April a discussion seminar on democratic change in the Arab region. This seminar was among the first of its kind to be organized in the wake of the pivotal uprisings that have taken place in the region. I provided space for a preliminary exchange and reflection between key academics, civil society actors, donors, and government representatives working on and in the region. Discussions focused on four major axes: local state actors, international actors, civil society and non governmental actors, and the donors’ community. The resulting document “Democratic Change in the Arab Region: State Policy and the Dynamics of Civil Society” can be found at: http://www.scribd.com/full/59127297?access_key=key-2kvxq3fz0wim07987e8c
Posted in books, EMHRN, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Arab region, NGOs
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 