Posts Tagged ‘artists’

« Older posts

Artists HRDs Behind Bars

February 20, 2026

Repressive regimes throughout the world deploy the machinery of the state to silence criticism and dissent. It is therefore hardly surprising that artists—whose creative work can expose, ridicule, and condemn in emotive and powerful ways—are common targets of political persecution. Over the past few years, there have been crackdowns on artists and performers in Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Azerbaijan, Egypt, China, and Venezuela, among other countries. The following artists dared to use their creative expression to challenge powerful systems, and have been punished with political imprisonment. From: Political Prisoners Watch February 19, 2026

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is a Cuban artist and activist whose evocative performance art led to government harassment and numerous periods of detention. After the Cuban government enacted Decree 348 in 2018, which required artists to obtain advance approval for even private performances, he cofounded the San Isidro Movement to protest the increasing censorship of free expression. On July 11, 2021—the start of the historic J11 protests—he was arrested and has been detained ever since. In June 2022, he was sentenced to five years in prison for contempt, public disorder, and insulting symbols of the homeland, and remains in prison in Cuba. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2024/09/19/the-rafto-prize-2024-to-cuban-artivist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/]

 

Maykel Osorbo Castillo Pérez is a Cuban musician who cofounded the San Isidro Movement with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Due to his activism and vocal opposition to the Cuban regime, he was subjected to systemic harassment, including being arrested 121 times in a five-month period. He cowrote the 2021 song Patria y Vida(Homeland and Life), which inspired thousands to demonstrate against Cuba’s repressive regime and won two Latin Grammys. He was not able to accept the awards, however—in May 2021, he was arrested, forcibly disappeared for 14 days, and eventually sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of contempt, public disorder, and defamation of institutions and organizations, heroes, and martyrs.

Gao Brothers, The Utopia of the 20 Minute Embrace (2000), modified image via Wikimedia Commons, used under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Gao Zhen is a Chinese artist and US permanent resident who was detained while visiting family in China in August 2024. Avant-garde works by Gao and his brother Gao Qiang—known together as the Gao Brothers—include huge, mirror-like sculptures and other works critiquing Mao Zedong and China’s Cultural Revolution. Authorities allege that Gao committed the offense of “insulting or defaming heroes and martyrs,” though the art in question had been created years before the Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs was enacted. Gao’s wife Zhao Yaliang has been prohibited from leaving China, and she and their young son have remained there since his detention.

 

Galal El-Behairy is an Egyptian poet and singer/songwriter who has faced severe retaliation for his artistic work. He wrote the lyrics for the guitar-driven protest song Balaha, which mocked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the country’s corrupt establishment. Five days after its release in February 2018, he was arrested by the National Security Police and disappeared for a week. In July 2018, he was sentenced to three years in prison by a military court for allegedly spreading false news and rumors and insulting the Egyptian army in his poetry book The Finest Women on Earth. Although his sentence expired in 2021, he was not released, and he is now facing additional charges including disseminating fake news and joining and aiding a terrorist organization.

https://freedomhouse.org/article/political-prisoners-watch-artists-behind-bars

Posted in Freedom House, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ART and HUMAN RIGHTS 2025- minority artists

January 9, 2026

“Art was my existence, my life. Without it, maybe I wouldn’t have survived,” said Kheder Abdulkarim, a Kurdish-Syrian artist based in Germany and former political prisoner, whose work is inspired by his experience of persecution and erasure. He received an honourable mention at the 4th edition of the International Contest for Minority Artists.

The Contest is an initiative organized jointly by UN Human Rights, Freemuse, Minority Rights Group and the City of Geneva. Since 2024, the contest is also supported by the Centre des Arts of the International School of Geneva, the Loterie Romande, as well as by other donors who prefer to remain anonymous.

Each year, the Contest celebrates minority artists whose work bears witness to struggles for dignity, justice and visibility, forming a cornerstone of UN Human Rights’ efforts to uplift artists as human rights defenders.

The 2025 theme — Belonging, Place and Loss — resonated profoundly with artists around the world whose identities have been shaped by displacement, environmental devastation, structural racism, and generational trauma, generating more than 240 submissions this year.

At the award ceremony, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, reminded the audience of what minority artists reveal to societies.

“Tonight, we celebrate eight minority artists honoured in this edition, the power of art and the vital contribution that minority artists make as they shine a light on human rights struggles across the globe, stories and images that unite and anchor us in a shared humanity,” she said.

Art can be a human rights language, and a catalyst for positive change in societies which may seek to silence minority voices. Claude Cahn, human rights officer at UN Human Rights’ Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section

For many laureates, art is the only archive that survives war, the only place where memory can remain intact.

Alia Al-Saadi is a Palestinian Syrian dancer and choreographer born a third-generation refugee in Yarmouk Camp, and one of the laureates of the contest’s 4th edition.

Her performances turn the body into an “archive of destruction,” she said, and “a state of psychological numbness, where prolonged exposure to violence renders shock ineffective.” 

A woman performs a dance pose on a rooftop, lifting one leg high while leaning sideways. She wears a light top and green shirt. Behind her are beige stone buildings, satellite dishes and metal structures under bright sunlight.

Alia Al-Saadi, a Palestinian-Syrian dancer exploring exile, memory and the body as archive. ©Alia Al-Saadi

Abubakar Moaz, a Sudanese visual artist based in Kenya, won honourable mention and said his visual language emerged from conflict in the Blue Nile and exile in Nairobi.

A large painting shows a figure in red against turquoise and beige tones. Painted sandal shapes hang from strings in front of the canvas, with several placed on the floor. A potted plant stands to the right in a bright gallery space.

Abdulkarim, imprisoned for nearly six years in the infamous Saydnaya Prison in Damascus, began sculpting there with scraps of vegetable crates. “I lost seven years of my life,” he said. “But I try to produce something from those years, to rebuild them and more.” 

An abstract painting features a textured brown figure with outstretched arms surrounded by white, ghostlike silhouettes. Black, white and gray fields with a pale circular form create a distressed, expressive atmosphere.

Emanoel Saravá, an Afro-Indigenous Brazilian visual and photo-performance artist, winner of an honourable mention, treats water as an archive of Black and peripheral suffering through their project Águas Marginais.

A person stands in front of the camera, extending his arms and clasping his hands together. Their wet skin glistens, and they wear a necklace and patterned shorts. A weathered wall with graffiti appears behind them.

“The waters carry the memory of Black and peripheral communities, but they also bear the scars of environmental racism, climate change and neglect,” Saravá said.

Sead Kazanxhiu, a Roma political artist from Albania and laureate of the 4th edition, rejects narratives that reduce Roma communities to victimhood.

A large mosaic on a public building façade depicts figures marching forward with tools, instruments and a red flag. The golden-toned mural spans the top of a stone structure under a clear blue sky.

“The Nest”, installation, wood, metallic wire, polyurethane foam and paint by Sead Kazanxhiu, a Roma visual artist whose public installations confront exclusion and reclaim Roma presence. ©Sead Kazanxhiu

“We have been always treated as victims; with my work, I want somehow to change this narrative toward active citizenship with equal rights,” he said. 

https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2025/12/minority-artists-transform-loss-resistance-and-belonging

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

International Art Contest celebrates minority human rights defenders

December 1, 2024

27 November 2024, from UN Human Rights:

Mga Nalimutan [The Forgotten], inspired by a photography taken by Joe Galvez New York City, United States, 2017.

© Francis Estrada

The top awards for the 2024 International Contest for Minority Artists were presented to five award winners — Bianca Broxton, Joel Pérez Hernández, Francis Estrada, Laowu Kuang and youth laureate Jayatu Chakma — during a special ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland.

UN Human Rights partnered with civil society organizations, Freemuse, Minority Rights Group International, the City of Geneva, the Centre des Arts of the International School of Geneva, and with the support of the Loterie Romande. The theme, Memory in the Present, celebrates the creativity and cultural expression of minority artists whose artwork explores themes relating to memory and memorialization around the globe.

“Naturally, such collective identities will largely be grounded in a collective memory of events, generating or perpetuating values or traditions that shape the way persons belonging to a minority feel bound together by common experiences,” said Nicolas Levrat, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. “Such memories often define how and why these past experiences shared by persons belonging to a given minority (or by previous generations) make them singular, different from other groups.”

The winners and honourable mentions at the awards ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland (shown from left to right) — Francis Estrada, Maganda Shakul, Jayatu Chakma, André Fernandes, Bianca Broxton, Joel Pérez Hernández, Chuu Wai, Laowu Kuang. © OHCHR/Irina Popa

The contest serves as a platform for minority artists human rights defenders who play a key role worldwide to build bridges of understanding, dialogue and empathy through creative and artistic means. It celebrates minority artists who have made significant contributions to raise awareness, inspire action, and foster deeper understanding of human rights across diverse communities.

The Winners

Bianca Broxton in one of her performance pieces, A Conversation, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She invited audience members to engage in a dialogue about their personal relationships with hair, racism, and beauty, while she crocheted dreadlocks to add to the piece. © Bianca Broxton

Bianca Broxton is an American interdisciplinary artist who focuses on raising awareness of health inequalities among minority women in the United States. She frames historical narratives and memories around the marginalized voices using sculptures and collages to portray minorities with dignity and a focus on restorative justice.

“My experience as a Black woman drives me to tell the histories of those who have faced systemic oppression and to portray them positively. I refuse to have my subjects seen only as victims of systemic injustice,” she said.

Visual artist Laowu Kuang accepting his award at the ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. © OHCHR/Irina Popa  

Laowu Kuang is a visual artist belonging to the Tibetan minority in China. Through a vivid interplay of colors and textures displayed on large canvases, his artwork navigates themes of memory and memorialization in contemporary China, through traditional Tibetan symbols and motifs.

“In contrast to Western painting, with its excessive color scale, and Han Chinese painting, with its muted and elegant concept of applying colors, Tibetan painting has a strong and intense contrast of colors,” he said. “The stone carvings of Tibetan folk art are a perfect combination of religion and nature, which is a communication and dialogue between human beings and gods, between heaven and earth.”

Joel Pérez Hernández is a visual and plastic artist from the Maya Tseltal people, born in the Lacandón jungle of Chiapas, Mexico. Hernández has dedicated years to studying traditional techniques and motifs with elder artisans and creators of his community.

“Much knowledge is asleep in our mountains, voices are trapped in the rivers, colors sleep under the stones, and in our collective memory, as well,” he said. “My people nourish me and motivate me to awaken all that; that is what I include in my works. I find no need to sign my pieces, because my people, my family, my friends make up the essence of each one of them.”

Born in the Philippines, Francis Estrada is a visual artist and educator, currently residing in the United States. Estrada’s artwork focuses on culture, history, and perception, and questions the influence of historical photographs, mass media, political propaganda, and personal archives on social narratives and collective memory.

“My art is a tool through which I confront how our understandings of culture are mediated, and the methods through which history and memory are created and perpetuated,” he said. “I think of my work as partial narratives for the viewers to complete based on their own experiences and associations.”

Youth laureate Jayatu Chakma is an artist belonging to the Chakma Indigenous community of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region in Bangladesh. His artwork features ink, acrylic, watercolor, and natural elements like mud and colors from leaves, as a way to reflect on the life of his community in relation with forced displacement and the loss of their lands.

“Chittagong Hill Tracts is a part of Bangladesh which represents a culture of variation in terms of people and landscape,” he said. “But there are stories hidden behind the decorated valleys of Chittagong Hill Tracts: my artworks are influenced by the stories of being displaced, losing belongings and relatives. I want to create artworks that show a different side of Chittagong Hill Tracts, besides its natural beauty and cultural diversity that we see on TV.”

https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/11/international-art-contest-celebrates-minority-human-rights-defenders

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dublin festival sees human rights defenders and artists stand up in solidarity

October 9, 2024

Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival showcases dozens of events from 11-20 October

The Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival, Ireland’s only annual festival celebrating the intersection of the arts and human rights, is back for a sixth year, with events taking place in the capital, around Ireland and online from 11-20 October.

Under the slogan, “In Solidarity: An International Celebration of Arts and Human Rights,” Front Line Defenders and Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality – alongside a range of partners – will bring an exciting and innovative line-up of events that promote equality, human rights and diversity through the arts.

“We are delighted to be back for a sixth year of the Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival, with another strong lineup of innovative and thought-provoking events that use the arts to shine a light on a range of human rights issues,” said Laura O’Leary, International Events and Promotions Coordinator at Front Line Defenders, and the festival’s human rights curator.

“The festival highlights the extraordinary work of human rights defenders in Ireland and around the world, who courageously work to promote human rights and justice for all.”

Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, this year’s festival takes place over 10 days and includes events in Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Kerry, Cork, Leitrim, Roscommon and Galway, with artists and speakers in attendance from multiple countries. With an exciting blend of events happening in person and online, the festival reaches audiences locally, nationally, and internationally

Front Line Defenders hosts and co-sponsors a range of events during the festival, including (click the links for full event and booking details):

  • Memorial Monologues – The Path of Memory (1-2pm on 18, 19 and 20 October). This play by Mary Moynihan is adapted from the words of four brave and inspirational human rights defenders from around the world who were murdered because of their peaceful work defending the rights of others. Created as a promenade, ‘walk-in-the-park’ show with theatre, poetry and music, the performance features four of the stories of human rights defenders who are commemorated at the Memorial to Human Rights Defenders in the Iveagh Gardens.
  • Open Mic Night (7-10:30pm on 17 October). A night of poetry and music related to themes of solidarity, human rights and social justice. We will have special guests featuring curated poetry and music for the night, which will be announced closer to the event and the floor is also open for anyone who would like to sign up to perform.
  • Guardians of the Land: The Colombia Migrant Film Festival Launch (7-9pm on 16 October). Join us for the launch of the Colombia Migrant Film Festival, where we will be screening a two short documentaries. This year, we welcome the film festival in its Environmental and Migrant Justice edition, an edition that recognises the importance of speaking with urgency about the direct relationship between environmental impacts and migration. This is the year in which migrants, exiles, refugees and artists, positioning themselves from a perspective of the Global South, reaffirm their connection with the territory and recognise that to remember the armed conflict in Colombia is to remember nature itself: victim, scenario and instrument for war.
  • “Where should they go?” Migrants and Refugee rights Panel Discussion (4-5pm on 20 October). This is a shared discussion on Migrants and Refugees rights, organised by Front Line Defenders with guest speakers including Haneen Boshosha, a woman human rights defender from Libya; Ieva Raubiško, a woman human rights defender from Latvia and Lorena Zambrano, a woman human rights defender from Chile. During this panel, speakers look at the challenges migrants and refugees face around the world but also what their strategies are to build responses and alternatives.

Click here for the full programme of events on the official web page of the Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival 2024.

And https://www.coe.int/fr/web/commissioner/-/the-artist-as-defender-of-human-rights

Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent 2024 goes to: Iranian hip-hop artist, Uyghur poet and Venezuelan pianist

May 25, 2024

Iranian hip-hop artist Toomaj Salehi, Uyghur poet and activist Tahir Hamut Izgil, and Venezuelan pianist and recording artist Gabriela Montero.

On 22 May 2024) The Human Rights Foundation announced the recipients of the 2024 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent: Iranian hip-hop artist Toomaj Salehi, Uyghur poet and activist Tahir Hamut Izgil, and Venezuelan pianist and recording artist Gabriela Montero.

“Their work stands as a testament to extraordinary bravery and ingenuity,” HRF Founder Thor Halvorssen said. This year’s laureates will be recognized during a ceremony on Tuesday, June 4, at the 2024 Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) in Oslo, Norway. Montero will be performing the European and Scandinavian premiere of “Canaima: A Quintet for Piano and Strings” at the Oslo Konserthus.
The Havel Prize ceremony will also be broadcast live at oslofreedomforum.com.

Toomaj Salehi is an Iranian hip-hop artist known for lyrics protesting the Iranian regime and calling for human rights. In September 2022, at the height of the nationwide “Women, Life, Freedom” protests, Salehi released several songs supporting women’s rights. One song, “Divination,” with the lyrics, “Someone’s crime was that her hair was flowing in the wind. Someone’s crime is that he or she was brave and…outspoken,” grew in popularity and was sung throughout the protests. Salehi was first arrested in October 2022 and was released on bail in November 2023 after the Iranian Supreme Court overturned his charges of “corruption on Earth,” “propaganda against the system,” “collaboration with a hostile government,” “inciting people to murder and riot,” and “insulting the leadership.” On November 27, 2023, he posted a YouTube video describing the torture and forced confession he experienced during his detention. Three days later, armed plain-clothes agents abducted Salehi. He was subsequently charged in two trials. On April 24, the Isfahan Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death.

Tahir Hamut Izgil is a prominent Uyghur poet, filmmaker, and activist. He is known for his avant-garde poetry, written in Uyghur and influenced by Uyghur life. Originally from Kashgar, Izgil led the 1989 student movement at the Central Nationalities Institute in Beijing. In the late 1990s, he was arrested on charges related to the possession of sensitive literature, leading to a three-year sentence in forced labor camps. He is among the few Uyghur intellectuals who successfully escaped the region in 2017.Izgil’s new memoir, “Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide,” documents his journey living in and escaping the Uyghur Region, sharing a rare testimony of the Uyghur genocide with the broader world. His book has been listed as one of the “50 notable works of nonfiction” by The Washington Post and as one of the “10 0 Must-Read Books of 2023” by Time Magazine

Gabriela Montero is a Grammy Award-winning Venezuelan pianist and recording artist. Celebrated for her exceptional musicality and ability to improvise, Montero has garnered critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. Montero’s recent highlights include her first orchestral composition, “Ex Patria,” a tone poem that grew from the human rights struggle in Montero’s native Venezuela. The piece powerfully illustrates and protests Venezuela’s descent into lawlessness, corruption, and violence, winning her first Latin Grammy® for Best Classical Album.Montero is a committed human rights advocate, using her gifts of composition and improvisation as tools of creative dissent. In 2015, she was named an Honorary Consul by Amnesty International. Montero was awarded the 2012 Rockefeller Award for her contribution to the arts and was a featured performer at Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Inauguration. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/10/15/venezuelan-pianist-gabriela-montero-wins-the-2018-beethoven-prize/]

For more on this Havel Prize and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/438F3F5D-2CC8-914C-E104-CE20A25F0726

https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/announcing-the-2024-havel-prize-laureates?e=f80cec329e

Posted in awards, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Young artists raise awareness of human rights

December 20, 2023

Meet the winners of the Kids 4 Human Rights International Art Contest, an initiative of the Queen Sofia Children’s Art Museum of the Gabarrón Foundation, in collaboration with UN Human Rights, to raise awareness of the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Posted in films, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,

Dissident painter Xiao Liang sentenced to jail

December 14, 2023

Hu Zimo in Bitter Winter of 12 December 2023 tells bout Peng Lifa. He is the “Bridge Man” who on October 13, 2022, managed to hang two banners with anti-Xi-Jinping slogans on Beijing’s Sitong Bridge. He was promptly arrested and his present whereabouts are unknown. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/05/human-rights-lawyer-gao-zhisheng-and-the-practice-of-enforced-disappearances-joint-letter/]

Less well-known is the name of painter Xiao Liang, although “Bitter Winter” reported in December 2022 that he had been detained for “painting the portrait of a dangerous person.” The “dangerous person” was Peng Lifa. At that time, neither “Bitter Winter” nor the painter’s wife and friends knew what exactly happened to Xiao Liang after the police took him away from his home in Nanchang city, Jiangxi province. But the repressive system of the CCP did not forget him. 

On December 7, 2022, Xiao was formally arrested by the Donghu District Procuratorate of Nanchang City with the accusation of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” now a popular charge against all kind of dissidents. His wife was submitted to long interrogations as the police tried to prove that Xiao was part of an organized anti-CCP group.

Relatives and friends have now learned and posted on social media that Xiao was sentenced to one year and three months in jail for the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” In addition to his portrait of Peng Lifa, the painter was considered a “troublemaker” by the authorities for his paintings and posters supporting the Ukrainian resistance against Russia, a staunch ally of the Chinese regime.

https://bitterwinter.org/xiao-liang-dissident-painter-was-sentenced-to-1-year-and-3-months-in-jai

Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

5th Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival in October 2023

October 12, 2023
Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival marks 5th anniversary
Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival marks 5th anniversary

Dublin’s only annual festival dedicated to celebrating the intersection of the arts and human rights marks its fifth anniversary this year as it hosts 10 days of events in the capital, around Ireland and online this October.

Dozens of events promoting equality, human rights and diversity through the arts will be coming to Dublin between October 13 and October 22. Front Line Defenders’ Laura O’Leary said the festival will feature “a range of innovative and thought-provoking events exploring how art and human rights interact in our world today“.

by Taboola

The Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival is an annual, international festival organised by Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality and Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based international organisation working to improve the security and protection of human rights defenders at risk, in partnership with Amnesty International, National Women’s Council of Ireland, as well as other arts and human rights partners.

It takes place in Dublin, Kerry, Donegal, and Cork, with artists and speakers in attendance from multiple countries. Events are taking place across 17 different venues, involving 29 different organisations nationwide.

The festival comprises 21 live performances, six exhibitions, nine talks or panel discussions, four installations, three workshops, three film screenings, two partner exchanges, one podcast, and one radio documentary. Some of the events include:

https://www.dublinlive.ie/whats-on/dublin-arts-human-rights-festival-27884655

Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dua Lipa and other artists do the right thing by not going to Qatar

November 14, 2022
Flags of the countries participating in the World Cup on display in Doha, Qatar, this week.

According to the Guardian of 14 November 2022, singer says she will not be playing at 2022 opening ceremony. The chart-topping 27-year-old singer, born in London to parents from Kosovo, said she would only play in the country if it improves its record on human rights.

Controversy has surrounded the upcoming football tournament with Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and criminalisation of same-sex relationships under the spotlight. See also my recent: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/11/11/geneva-the-base-from-where-qatar-pursued-its-world-cup-bid/

BTS star Jung Kook is the only official act confirmed for the opening ceremony, which will be held at Al Bayt stadium on 20 November. US rapper Diplo, DJ Calvin Harris and Jamaican singer Sean Paul will also be performing at the Fifa Fan festival, which will run over the 29 days of the tournament.

Lipa is not the first musician to make a point of avoiding playing concerts in Qatar. On Sunday, Sir Rod Stewart revealed he turned down more than US$1m to play in the country last year.

After reports linking her to the event, Lipa shared a statement on Instagram, writing: “There is currently a lot of speculation that I will be performing at the opening ceremony of the world cup in Qatar. I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiation to perform.

“I will be cheering England on from afar and I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup.” He told the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper: “I turned it down. It’s not right to go. And the Iranians should be out too for supplying arms [to Russia].”

Also on Sunday, comedian Joe Lycett told David Beckham he would shred £10,000 if the sportsman didn’t pull out of his Qatar World Cup deal. The footballer is reportedly being paid £10m to be an ambassador for the event, and has been heavily criticised for accepting the money, given that he has previously been viewed as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community..

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/14/dua-lipa-denies-shes-performing-at-the-qatar-world-cup

Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Shelter City and Artists’ Safe Haven; a call for applications

September 24, 2022

Justice & Peace Netherlands is launching a new call for applications for its initiatives: Shelter City and Artists’ Safe Haven initiative. The deadline for applications for both initiatives is 2 October 2022 at 23:59 CET. Please note that special conditions may apply due to COVID-19.

Shelter City is a global movement of cities, organizations and people who stand side by side with human rights defenders at risk. Shelter City provides temporary safe and inspiring spaces for human rights defenders at risk where they re-energise, receive tailor-made support and engage with allies. The term human rights defender is intended to refer to the broad range of activists, journalists and independent media professionals, scholars, writers, artists, lawyers, civil and political rights defenders, civil society members, and others working to advance human rights and democracy around the world in a peaceful manner. From March 2023 onwards, several cities in the Netherlands will receive human rights defenders for a period of three months. At the end of their stay in the Netherlands, participants are expected to return with new tools and energy to carry out their work at home. For last year see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/04/20/shelter-city-netherlands-call-for-applications-for-september-2022/

Artists’ Safe Haven initiative

Through its Artists’ Safe Haven initiative, Justice & Peace Netherlands aims to contribute to the promotion of freedom of artistic expression globally, including the right to create art, admire it, critique it, challenge it, be provoked by it, and respond to it free of governmental censorship, political interference or the pressures of non-state actors. Through the provision of temporary relocation and tailor-made support for artists at risk, Justice & Peace aims to promote the safety of these artists, and in particular women artists, worldwide so that they can build new strategies and continue their important work for freedom of artistic expression in their country of origin. With support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Justice & Peace will be able to provide three temporary safe spaces in The Hague in March, June or September 2023 for artists or art practitioners at risk.

https://7a2pv.r.a.d.sendibm1.com/mk/mr/K_x49f0_LN6hMWyukmyZin_8nFjvyvxEZ64oBYmy0mcrornzARhZf2MMVMohYTcigMvb7fOgyE8_v0NpVjJ007RkNxvaOwa970jiH0-_rgbyYyAtoTgTtlTVcOhkQ5AFqLqJihg

Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

« Older posts