REPUBLICAKATHMANDU reported on 2 April that a high-level delegation of the German parliament [Bundestag] is arriving in Kathmandu on 8 April to get first hand information about latest human rights situation in Nepal. A four-member delegation of German parliamentarians led by Michael Brand, deputy chairman of the Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, will arrive in Kathmandu for a four-day visit to Nepal. “The objective of the visit is to exchange views on the current human rights situation in Nepal with human rights defenders and members of the Nepali civil society. The delegation wants to receive first hand information about the recent developments in Nepal,” said Tika Prasad Dhakal, political advisor at the German Embassy in Kathmandu. During the visit, the delegation is scheduled to meet representatives of government, Supreme Court, trade unions, media, human rights community and political parties as well as the German development coöperation partners. The high level visit of German parliamentarians comes amid protest from various quarters over some of the controversial provisions in the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission TRC. The diplomatic community, including European Union EU, have already expressed strong reservation over the proposed TRC, which they say aims to grant general amnesty even to those involved in serious cases of human rights violations.
Posts Tagged ‘EU’
EMHRN Training Guide and Toolkit on EU Advocacy
January 21, 2013Chris Collier has written a very practical Training Guide for human rights NGOs and activists to help you through the complex maze of EU and its obscure machinery. It is jam-packed with useful tips and brings to you every EU tool available. It helps to spot the most appropriate actors for different types of action. This guide comes with a toolkit that provides you with a compilation of good practices showcasing how other NGOs have achieved the desired impact.
http://www.euromedrights.org/eng/2013/01/15/emhrn-training-guide-and-toolkit-on-eu-advocacy/
On-Line Video contest also in Turkey
November 28, 2012On 23 November I referred to the video contest on human rights in Armenia and wondered where the others were. Here is one more, in Turkey as reported by BIANET on 27 November:
With its slogan “Make a film. Be Viral. Create a Change”, Human Rights Online Video Contest selected five young directors who recorded stories about how they see and interpret human rights issues in the environment. Finalists were selected by a jury including Ece Temelkuran, Melek Özman and Fatih Keskin.
The winner video will be selected following a public voting ending on December 3. Anyone can vote for the contest through http://www.youtube.com/humanrightsturkey. The delegation also urged social media users to share the video through Twitter and Facebook. The winner–the most viral video on social media–will be announced on the delegation website.
A closing ceremony will be held in Ankara to award the winner on December 12.
Short films contest by UN DPI, High Commissioner in Armenia but where are the others?
November 23, 2012Young Armenians aged from 17 to 25 can take part in a short (three minute long) film contest on human rights in the digital age by sending their submissions to the United Nations Department of Public Information (UN-DPI) in Armenia by 5 December. The contest is being organised by the UN-DPI, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Population Fund, the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the Council of Europe in Armenia and the EU Delegation to Armenia, with the support of the Human Rights Defenders Office.
EU needs Digital Freedom Strategy says MEP Schaake
September 24, 2012Dutch MEP for D66, Marietje Schaake wrote a short but good piece in New Europe about the need for a overall EU strategy with regard to ‘digital freedom’. Concerning HRDs she has the following to say: “Generally speaking, the fight for control and power by authoritarian regimes involves a growing ICT component. While training human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents should improve their safety online it also creates a new set of sensitivities and a potentially dangerous dependency on the accuracy and quality of the guidance. Human rights defenders deserve EU support and in any case should not be targeted with tools and technologies developed and exported from within the EU.”
via The need for an EU Digital Freedom Strategy | New Europe.
European Parliament calls – again – for more attention for Human Rights Defenders
May 2, 2012The European Parliament adopts every year a Resolution based on the report it receives on the EU’s human rights action and policy. So, it did again on 18 April 2012.
The official emblem of the European Parliament. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is quite a long resolution and I only copy here the general paragraphs relevant to Human Rights Defenders (the chapter also includes a somewhat ill-fitting paragraph 91 on Western Sahara and a correct but detailed observation re the Sacharov prize in para 93, which you can consult in the full text):
…….
Re Human rights defenders
87. Welcomes the EU’s political commitment to supporting human rights defenders, as a long-established component of the EU’s human rights external relations policy, and the many positive examples of demarches, trial observations, prison visits, and other concrete actions undertaken by EU missions and delegations, such as regular, institutionalised meetings with human rights defenders, but remains concerned at the lack of implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders in some third countries; considers that the VP/HR should make recommendations for enhanced action to those missions where implementation has been noticeably weak;
88. Urges the EU and its Member States to encourage EU missions and delegations to show their support and solidarity for the work undertaken by human rights defenders and their organisations, by regularly meeting and proactively engaging with them and incorporating their contributions into the development of the specific country strategies on human rights and democracy, and regularly engaging with Parliament;
89. Reiterates its call on the EU to systematically raise individual cases of human rights defenders in the ongoing human rights dialogues it has with those third countries where human rights defenders continue to suffer harassment and attacks;
90. Stresses the importance of systematic follow up to contacts with independent civil society, as well as more direct and easier access for human rights defenders to EU Delegations in third countries; welcomes the appointment of liaison officers, in the Delegations and/or in Member State embassies, for human rights defenders, and stresses that these should be experienced and appropriately trained officials whose functions are well-publicised both internally and externally; very much welcomes the fact that the VP/HR has indicated that she will always meet with human rights defenders in the course of her visits to third countries and calls for this practice to be followed by all Commissioners with responsibilities in the external relations field, and for reports on these contacts to be made available to Parliament;
91…….
92. Reiterates its call for greater inter-institutional cooperation on human rights defenders; considers that the EU’s response capacity and the coherence between the actions of the different institutions on urgent crises for human rights defenders would be well served by a shared alert system based on focal points, and encourages the EEAS and the Commission to explore this avenue further with the European Parliament;
93. ……
94. Undertakes to include women’s rights more systematically in its own human rights debates and resolutions and to use the Sakharov Prize network, and especially female winners of the Prize, to advocate women’s rights in the world;
Asia: Fund For Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defenders At Risk
January 9, 2012A specialised but very concrete source of assistance is announced : the Fund for Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defenders at Risk for urgent needs of indigenous human rights defenders, funded by the EU
via Asia: Fund For Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defenders At Risk.
Israel refuses to let HRD Shawan Jabarin travel to receive award in Denmark
November 30, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
On 29 November 29, 2011 Israeli authorities turned West Bank resident Shawan Jabarin, the director of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, back at the Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan, citing a travel ban. Several NGOs, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’Tselem, said that the Israeli authorities violated Jabarin’s rights in imposing the ban and have not produced any evidence that would justify continuing to restrict him from travel.
The travel ban would seem to be clearly linked to his human rights work as Jabarin was stopped since 2006, when he became director of Al-Haq, a leading human rights organization in the West Bank, while Israel had allowed him to travel abroad eight times in the previous seven years. The Israeli military previously claimed in court that Jabarin was an activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel considers a terrorist organization, and that his travel abroad for even a limited period would endanger Israel’s security. However, Israeli authorities have not charged Jabarin with any crime or given him an opportunity to confront the allegations against him. The Israeli High Court of Justice has upheld Jabarin’s travel ban on security grounds, but did so based on secret information that Jabarin and his lawyer were not allowed to see or challenge. “It is hard to believe any claim that Jabarin’s travel to Denmark to receive a human rights award would harm Israeli security, the more so when any evidence is kept secret,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “While civil society groups recognize Jabarin’s courageous work, Israel is punishing him with a travel ban.”
The ban has prevented Jabarin from leaving the West Bank to receive a human rights prize from the Danish PL Foundation (Poul Lauritzen), participate in a European Union forum on human rights, and attend a Human Rights Watch meeting in New York City. “The ban preventing Shawan Jabarin from traveling abroad to receive an award is emblematic of the arbitrary restrictions placed on Palestinian human rights defenders and civil society activists,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s MENA Programme Director. “It must be lifted, and the Israeli authorities must stop using unspecified security concerns to obstruct the work of Palestinian human rights activists.” Nina Atallah, the head of Al-Haq’s monitoring and documentation department, will try to travel to the prize ceremony.
It is a pity that Israel,in this respect, is emulating Iran, which is the only country until now to prevent the MEA Laureate Emad Baghi to travel to his ceremony in 2009.
Related articles
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 