Posts Tagged ‘disappearance’
October 11, 2015
Today two posts about children of Human Rights Defenders:
First the case of the 16-year old son of a human rights lawyer Wang Yu, a rights lawyer detained in China. As reported by Louise Watt for AP on 11 October 2015, Bao Zhuoxuan (also known as Bao Mengmeng) and two men helping him were taken away by local police from a guest house in a Myanmar border town on Tuesday. “The plan was for him to travel to Thailand and I would meet him there and help him seek refugee entry into the United States,” Fengsuo Zhou said by phone from San Francisco, adding that friends of Bao’s family who live in San Francisco want to adopt him.
[Bao is the son of Wang Yu, a lawyer who disappeared 9 July 2015 amid a rounding up of dozens of rights lawyers and social activists; see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/wang-yu/]
The two men helping him to leave China were Tang Zhishun, 40, an engineer from Beijing, and Xing Qingxian, 49, a human rights activist in the southwest city of Chengdu, Zhou said. “We’re really worried now. He’s just a 16-year-old boy,” said Zhou, who lives in San Francisco. “We know that the intention is to use him as a hostage against his parents, both of them famous human rights defenders, in particular Wang Yu. She has been very courageous, outspoken, one of the best human rights lawyers in China — she was arrested exactly for that reason.”
Source: Son of Rights Lawyer Missing in Myanmar After Escaping China – ABC News
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: AP, Bao Zhuoxuan, China, disappearance, Fengsuo Zhou, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, missing, Myanmar, rights of the child, Wang Yu
May 5, 2015
On 4 May 2015 Bridget Mananavire of Nehanda Radio in Zimbabwe marked 54 days since the disappearance of human rights activist and journalist, Itai Dzamara, with law enforcement agents continuing to profess ignorance over his whereabouts.
Human rights defender Itai Dzamara, abducted on 9 March by yet unidentified men
Rashid Mahiya, Heal Zimbabwe Trust executive director, said the government’s silence raised suspicion: “Itai Dzamara’s disappearance raises a distressing sense of insecurity among many human rights defenders in the country. The government’s silence vindicates speculation that its security agencies are responsible for Itai’s abduction and disappearance”…….”the State has a presence of abducting citizens, active opposition and human rights leaders and activists, some of whom disappeared and were never found while others were later discovered in police custody. Jestina Mukoko was abducted in 2008 and later discovered in police custody after 21 days while persons like Tonderai Ndira, Betha Chokururama were found dead,”.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said the truth about Dzamara’s disappearance should be revealed so that the perpetrators face their judgment.
The European Union Delegation to Zimbabwe also reminded people that the human rights defender should never be forgotten, calling for his return.
‘Dzamara’s unending abduction worrying’ – Nehanda Radio.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: abduction, disappearance, EU, fear, harassment, Heal Zimbabwe Trust, human rights activist, Human rights defender, Itai Dzamara, Journalist, Nehanda Radio, Rashid Mahiya, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
April 17, 2015
Having just posted about Sandra Kodouda’s disappearance for 4 days [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/human-rights-defender-sandra-kodouda-remains-missing-four-days-after-abduction-in-sudan/ ] I am happy to report that yesterday (16 April 2015), the Sudanese human rights defender was returned home after reportedly being held in custody by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) although they had denied they held her. She suffered a dislocated shoulder and other injuries during her detention.
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: disappearance, Forced disappearance, Front Line (NGO), National Intelligence and Security Service, NISS, release, Sandra Kodouda, Sudan, woman human rights defender
January 28, 2015
The following, reported by Front Line on 28 January is a good illustration of what human rights defenders in China face: a bit of good news (re-appearance) mixed with continued repression:
On 28 January 2015 human rights defender Mr Huang Kaiping returned to his home in Beijing, following a period of over three months’ enforced disappearance. Huang Kaiping is director of the Transition Institute, an independent think tank in Beijing that focuses on economic and political liberalisation. The Transition Institute was founded in 2007 to carry out research into tax reform, business regulation and the development of civil society in China. The Institute was forced to close by the Chinese authorities earlier this year, as they stepped up their campaign of harassment against a number of civil society organisations in China. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, disappearance, freedom of association, freedom of expression, Guo Yushan, Huang Kaiping, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, Kou Yanding, release, Transition Institute
September 8, 2014
On 6 September 2014, the Foreign Ministry of Qatar finally confirmed the arrest and detention of Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev, who were at first feared disappeared: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/human-rights-investigators-in-qatar-being-followed-by-the-police-here-looks-like-they-will-give-me-troubles-now/
[Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev are British citizens working to investigate the conditions of migrant labourers who are constructing facilities for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.]
Posted in films, Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: 2022 World Cup, disappearance, film, Front Line, Ghimire Gundev, illegal detention, Krishna Upadhyaya, labour rights, monitoring, Nepal, Qatar, UK
May 19, 2014
Interesting to note that this piece found its way into the Tourism Section of the Thai newspaper Phuket Wan [“This is the first site on the island dedicated especially to tourism, property, restaurants and nightlife, and jobs”] of 19 May 2014. “The European Union EU must make the strengthening of bilateral relations with Laos contingent upon the Lao governments ability to make tangible progress in addressing key human rights issues, FIDH and it member organisation, the Lao Movement for Human Rights, said .” The paper then summarizes the briefing paper titled ‘Laos: The government’s failure to reform and address serious human rights issues call for EU action‘, released ahead of the 5th Laos-EU Working Group on Human Rights and Governance, held in Brussels today. [Foremost issues: rampant land grabbing and restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion as well as a credible investigation re human rights defender Sombath Somphone.
via EU Asked to Push for Improved Human Rights in Laos – Phuket Wan
Posted in EU, FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Dialogue on Human Rights, disappearance, EU, FIDH, freedom of expression, human rights issues, Land issues, Lao Movement for Human Rights, Laos, Laos-EU Working Group on Human Rights, Phuket Wan, Sombath Somphone, tourism
March 16, 2014
While the whole of the Syrian population suffers terribly, it is important to recognize that human rights defenders, activists, media and humanitarian workers have been particularly targeted for their work since the beginning of the Syrian uprising three years ago. Many have been arrested or abducted by either government forces and pro-government militias or by non-state armed groups. The channels for obtaining reliable information are drying up and that is certainly not a coincidence.
Now several international NGOs such as Amnesty International, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, FIDH, Frontline Defenders, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have come together to work jointly, with other international, regional and Syrian organizations, to campaign for the release of these Silenced Voices of Syria. The campaign is starting with the documentation of 37 emblematic cases.
This campaign will use a three-pronged strategy of 1. Research and Documentation, 2. Information/Sensitisation and 3/ Mobilization.
via FREE SILENCED VOICES OF SYRIA | Civil society activists, media and medical workers targeted for their work.
https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/one-more-disappearance-in-syria-roshdy-el-sheikh-rasheed/
Posted in AI, Amnesty international, EMHRN, FIDH, films, Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: AI, Amnesty International, campaign, civil society organisations, coalition, disappearance, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, FIDH, Front Line (NGO), Frontline Defenders, HRW, human rights campaign, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, humanitarian workers, illegal detention, journalists, lawyers, media, Reporters without Borders, RSF, Silenced Voices of Syria, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Syrian population, Syrian uprising
December 13, 2013
62 regional and international organizations expressed their outrage over the Lao Government’s ongoing failure to shed light on the enforced disappearance of prominent human rights defender Sombath Somphone. Sunday 15 December 2013 will mark the one-year anniversary of Sombath’s disappearance. Sombath was last seen on the evening of December 15, 2012 in Vientiane. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed that police stopped Sombath’s car at a police post. Within minutes after being stopped, unknown individuals forced him into another vehicle and drove away. Analysis of the CCTV footage shows that Sombath was taken away in the presence of police officers. This fact supports a finding of government complicity. Despite the Lao Government’s pledge to “thoroughly and seriously” investigate Sombath’s disappearance, the authorities’ probe has been inadequate and unproductive and there has been no progress in the investigation.
Sombath’s enforced disappearance is not an isolated incident. To this day, the whereabouts of nine people, two women, Kingkeo and Somchit, as well as seven men, Soubinh, Souane, Sinpasong, Khamsone, Nou,Somkhit, and Sourigna, arbitrarily detained by Lao security forces in November 2009 in various locations across the country remain unknown. The nine had planned peaceful demonstrations calling for democracy and respect of human rights. Also unknown are the whereabouts of Somphone Khantisouk, the owner of an ecotourism guesthouse and an outspoken critic of Chinese-sponsored agricultural projects that were damaging the environment in the northern province of Luang Namtha. He disappeared after uniformed men abducted him in January 2007. Signed by: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Asia, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Burma, CCTV, civil society organisations, disappearance, Forced disappearance, Human right, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, kidnapping, NGOs, Sombath Somphone, Vientiane
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 