On 24 January 2017, thelocal.se published the English version of an opinion piece originally written in Swedish by Civil Rights Defenders executive director Robert Hårdh for newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Like my post published yesterday about the call for Canada to ‘compensate’ for Trumps election [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/01/23/2017-4-canadas-year-of-real-human-rights-action/], this piece argues that Sweden, also as a member of the EU and with its current place on the UN Security council, must step forward and take a greater responsibility to protect human rights on a global level: Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘EU’
Civis Mundi lists free on-line Human Rights training courses
December 4, 2016Civis Mundi published a list of free on-line courses on human rights. I list there the 5 that are (also) in English, without knowing much about the quality: Read the rest of this entry »
EU Mechanism held first meeting: Human Rights Defenders are not criminals
December 2, 2016On 29 November 2016 ‘ProtectDefenders.eu’ – the EU Human Rights Defenders mechanism implemented by International Civil Society – concluded its first annual meeting of beneficiaries: human rights defenders at risk from all regions of the world who have benefited from the project gathered today in Brussels. The meeting aimed at reflecting on this first year of coordinated work to support defenders worldwide and at highlighting the worrying global phenomenon of criminalisation of human rights defenders.[see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/international-cooperative-consortium-protect-the-defenders-launched-on-2-december/]
To conclude the meeting, the twelve partner organisations of ProtectDefenders.eu have issued a public statement urging all national authorities to “publicly recognise the crucial role played by human rights defenders and protect them in all circumstances from any form of judicial harassment“. As stressed by Antoine Madelin, FIDH Director for International Advocacy and Chair of the Board of ProtectDefenders.eu, “Human Rights Defenders are the pillars of democracy and of the rule of law but are too often subjected to unfair criminal prosecution, in an effort to undermine their work in the defence of human rights.”
Since the launch of the project in October 2015, ProtectDefenders.eu has witnessed an increased criminalisation of defenders worldwide in reprisal to the conduct of legitimate human rights activities.
ProtectDefenders.eu held its meeting in Brussels under the motto “Defenders are not criminals” and brought together dozens of human rights defenders at risk supported by the EU mechanism during its first year of implementation, together with prominent representatives of NGOs, European institutions and Representatives of International and Regional Protection Mechanisms, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst. Participating defenders, coming from more than 20 countries such as Burundi, Honduras, Egypt, Bangladesh or the Russian Federation, shared their experiences of resilience in often dangerous and challenging situations and debated on the most effective strategies to counter criminalisation and pursue their work.
This meeting has also emphasised the main achievements and highlights of the first year of ProtectDefenders.eu. In the first twelve months, the EU Mechanism has provided more than 330 emergency grants to defenders at high risk, facilitating a rapid response to their legal, medical, security or emergency relocation needs in pressing circumstances. At the same time, ProtectDefenders.eu has successfully started and run a temporary relocation programme, disbursing more than 700,000 € in support of 74 temporary relocations in favour of 150 individuals, with the collaboration of host institutions worldwide and in the framework of the EU Temporary Relocation Platform.
The Project has also provided institutional and operational support to grassroots organisations, allocating more than 300,000 € through 32 grants. 1,300 defenders worldwide were trained to improve their security and protection in difficult contexts.
Finally, ProtectDefenders.eu has expanded its advocacy and outreach dimension, by conducting fact-finding missions and monitoring trials against defenders particularly in difficult countries, as well as carrying out initiatives to assist and connect isolated and vulnerable defenders throughout the world. ProtectDefenders.eu has coordinated more than 430 urgent alerts aimed at mobilizing the attention of concerned authorities, public and media on behalf of defenders at risk.
Human Rights defenders who attended the meeting positively assessed the first year of implementation of ProtectDefenders.eu. The twelve partners praised the EU strong support through the EIDHR of a project as ambitious and comprehensive as ProtectDefenders.eu. As pointed out by Andrew Anderson, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders and member of the Board of ProtectDefenders.eu, in the closing speech, “human rights defenders in danger around the world do benefit from this strong coordination between international civil society organizations and the institutions of the European Union.”
[ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders mechanism, delivers emergency help and temporary relocation grants for activists at risk, who face threats due to their work and are in need of urgent support. It also provides training and capacity-building for human rights organisations. ProtectDefenders carries out monitoring, advocacy and lobbying to raise awareness about the situation of human rights defenders and their need for protection]
Source: Newsfeed – ProtectDefenders.eu
Sakharov Prize 2016 went ultimately to two Yazidi women
November 1, 2016
Nadia Murad Basee Taha and Lamiya Aji Bashar are survivors of sexual enslavement by Islamic State (IS) and have become spokespersons for women afflicted by IS’s campaign of sexual violence. They are public advocates for the Yazidi community in Iraq, a religious minority that has been the subject of a genocidal campaign by IS militants.
On 3 August 2014, IS slaughtered all the males in the village of Kocho, Aji Bashar and Murad’s hometown in Sinjar/Iraq. Following the massacre, women and children were enslaved: all young women, including Aji Bashar, Murad and their sisters were kidnapped, bought and sold several times and exploited as sex slaves. During the Kocho massacre, Murad lost six of her brothers and her mother, who was killed along with 80 older women deemed to have no sexual value. Aji Bashar was also exploited as a sex slave along with her six sisters. She was sold five times among the militants and was forced to make bombs and suicide vests in Mosul after IS militants executed her brothers and father.
In November 2014, Murad managed to escape with the help of a neighbouring family who smuggled her out of the IS-controlled area, allowing her to make her way to a refugee camp in northern Iraq and then to Germany. A year later, in December 2015, Murad addressed the UN Security Council’s first-ever session on human trafficking with a powerful speech about her experience. In September 2016, she became the first United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking, participating in global and local advocacy initiatives to raise awareness around the plight of the countless victims of trafficking. In October 2016, the Council of Europe honoured her with the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize. [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/10/18/yazidi-survivor-nadia-murad-wins-vaclav-havel-human-rights-prize-2016/]
Aji Bashar tried to flee several times before finally escaping in April with the help of her family, who paid local smugglers. On her way over the Kurdish border, and while racing towards Iraq’s government-controlled territory with IS militants in pursuit, a landmine exploded, killing two of her acquaintances and leaving her injured and almost blind. Luckily she managed to escape and was eventually sent for medical treatment in Germany, where she was reunited with her surviving siblings. Since her recovery Aji Bashar has been active in raising awareness about the plight of the Yazidi community and continues to help women and children who were victims of IS enslavement and atrocities.
However, UNPO reports that there is some controversy over the decision as Crimean Tatar politician and human rights activist Mustafa Dzhemilev seemed to have had a majority in the first round. This may lead to questions about interpreting its procedures (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/home/how-it-works.html). See also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/european-parliaments-sakharov-prize-2016-nominees-announced/
Sources:
EU and Human Rights NGOs urge Bahrain to end crackdown – as reported by Iranian news agency
September 15, 2016The widely-supported call to free Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/nabeel-rajab/]was also taken up by the Iranian Tasnim News Agency (operating in English since 2013). This of course most welcome but begs the question why other such calls for human rights defenders, e.g. in Iran, do not get such attention [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/iran/] or the persist lack of cooperation with the UN is not critically reported [see yesterday’s: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/un-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-states-may-shut-my-office-out-but-they-will-not-shut-us-up/]
The explanation is to be found in ‘about us’, where the agency says: Defending the Islamic Revolution against negative media propaganda campaign and providing our readers with realities on the ground about Iran and Islam, specially current wave of the Islamic Awakening in the region are top on our agenda in Tasnim News Agency. The Islamic nature of the developments in the region and similarities between the Islamic Awakening Movement, which swept the Middle East and North Africa since 2011, and Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution have unveiled Islamic Revolution’s inspiring role in the region. The development came despite efforts made by opponents and enemies of Iran to block the country’s growing influence in the region and in the world……Tasnim News Agency will do its best to bring to light the true aspects of events and developments in Iran and in the world, and will also cover the latest developments regarding the Islamic Awakening Movement.
That Nabeel Rajab is Shia may well be relevant.
Shackled Freedoms : what space for human rights defenders in the EuroMed?
September 7, 2016
The recent report SHACKLED FREEDOMS : WHAT SPACE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE EUROMED? depicts the obstacles and repression against civil society in the region and showcases first-hand accounts from Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories among others. The report also features recommendations by CSOs for joint action and seeks to influence EU policies to that effect. The report also focuses on the impact of security and anti-terrorist policies and lists the growing arsenal of repressive measures – both in law and practice – that civil society organizations (CSOs) face on a daily basis: judicial harassment, surveillance, arbitrary arrests, torture and assassination.
Despite legal safeguards and the human rights “shared values” rhetoric in the EU, EuroMed Rights argues that European civil society is under increasing pressure. Austerity measures and anti-terrorism laws are increasingly used to legitimise practices that go against individual freedoms and rights of assembly, association and expression, such as in France, Spain or the UK, for instance. The report – published on 7 September 2016 – is the result of a seminar organised in April 2016 as an open dialogue between EU representatives, South Mediterranean activists and Brussels-based CSOs.
2016 FIDH Congress concludes in Johannesburg: FIGHTING BACK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
August 25, 2016
On Wednesday 24 August the 39th Congress of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) closed after two days in Johannesburg. More than 400 delegates from more than 120 countries participated and in the closing session some of the action points taken were recognized by regional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
EU special representative on Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis said: “We need to have the EU itself judged, criticized and advised every day. Because the fact of the matter is, no one is perfect in Human Rights and that includes the European Union”.
ACHPR Chairperson Pansy Tlakula said her organization will continue to support FIDH in their efforts. “The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights values the collaborative and mutual beneficial relationship with FIDH. And on our part we will continue to collaborate with you, we will continue to support you and we also count on your support. Because even if we have to say so ourselves, our commission remains one of the most welcoming inter-governmental organizations to civil society organizations.”
The video below contains excerpts from these statements:
The forum discussed the following topics:
• Restricting freedom of association and human rights in the name of security
• Defending Human Rights principles within heterogeneous societies
• Invoking morals, religious or traditional values to build a new world order: States opposing Human Rights principles
• An unbalanced and unfair globalisation: the consequences of an economy disregarding Human Rights and civil society groups
• Redesigning Human Rights funding
• Civil society influencing global economic projects
• Whistle-blowers: Exposing violence violations and corruption, seeking transparency and the right to freedom of information
• How can the Human Rights movement further engage with the rest of society?
• A shield and a sword: Enforcing rights through the judiciary
• Deploying innovate advocacy
•Using the web and social networks – securely reaching out, accessing new audiences and generating engagement
for earlier posts on the FIDH, see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/fidh/
Graduate Institute in Geneva celebrated human rights defenders with meeting and march
June 24, 2016To mark the tenth anniversary of the Human Rights Council, the Graduate Institute, together with the European Union Delegation to the UN and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, held an event on 15 June to honour Human Rights Defenders across the world. [see; https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/06/13/15-june-2016-human-rights-defender-berta-caceres-academy-geneva/]
The debate, moderated by Professor Andrew Clapham, featured Human Rights Defenders Taslima Nasrin and Aida Khemiri, as well as Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Special Representative for Human Rights.
“Too many people are dying for protecting human rights,” Mr Lambrinidis said, while promising that “the EU is committed to defending the defenders.”
“There is a price on my head,” revealed Taslima Nasrin, a Bangladeshi author and blogger who has been targeted by radical Muslim groups who have condemned her writing as blasphemous. “It’s been 22 years since I have been allowed to return to my country, not even in times of sickness and death of my closest family.”
Aida Khemiri, an LGBTI activist from Tunisia drew attention to the psychological challenge of having to lie to her friends and family for their protection. “As a Human Rights Defender, I have to live a double life. I cannot tell my family all I am doing, I have to protect them.”
Following the debate, participants and panelists marched past the UN Palais des Nations to express their support to Human Rights Defenders who were not able to walk freely. The event concluded at the Ariana Museum, with a spectacular show of the Violonissima Duo, performing from a hot air balloon. A playlist with photos from the event can be found through the link below.
Consilium EU adopts conclusions on business and human rights
June 21, 2016On 20 June 2016, the EU Council adopted its conclusions on business and human rights [its 3477th meeting – COHOM 78]. The full document is available through the link below. The main paragraph mentioning human rights defenders is no 19: “The Council recognises the importance of building capacity both within EU Delegations and Member States’ embassies to work effectively on business and human rights issues, including supporting human rights defenders working on corporate accountability and providing guidance to companies on the Guiding Principles. The Council invites the High Representative and the Commission to develop the necessary tools for EU Delegations to help meet these needs, including through building on the support and best practices of Member States.”
Source: Council conclusions on business and human rights – Consilium
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 