Posts Tagged ‘FIDH’
October 7, 2013
This blog tends to prioritize news on human rights defenders who are in trouble. This makes one overlook perhaps too often the contribution made by those who are working for the cause in other ways. To rectify I want to pay tribute to another woman who has contributed enormously to the creation and growth of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders: Simia Ahmadi. After 20 years she is leaving the Board of the Foundation on 7 October, just before the 20th ceremony tomorrow.
In 1992 Simia was a young, upcoming human rights worker who had just finished an internship with the UN. To her great regret she never met Martin Ennals in person. Her main motivation was that an award could be effective and volunteered to help it being set up. After successful initial fundraising she was the part-time Secretariat in the first year.
(Simia, left of first Laureate Harry Wu in 1994, Geneva)
After that, she worked several years for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Thereafter she was Programme Coordinator of the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania and from 2006-2009 she served as FIDH’s Representative to the UN in Geneva. After her move to Kenya in 2010, she served as the Chief of Party of the Public International Law and Policy Group in Kenya. Now she devoting her considerable energy to Kahesa, of which she is the Director-Founder and undertakes consultancy work such as evaluations KAHESA is a social enterprise that produces decorative and environmentally-sound paper through the employment of mentally-challenged Kenyans. Check out her www.kahesa.com and Facebook page: Kahesa paper
For being at the cradle of the MEA and making sure that the there is no grave for long time she deserve the deepest thanks from all especially Human Rights Defenders around the world.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: FIDH, Geneva, Harry Wu, human rights, International Federation for Human Rights, Kahesa, Kenya, Legal and Human Rights Centre, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Foundation, MEA, Tanzania, United Nations, woman human rights defender
October 3, 2013
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), reports on 2 October 2013 on the ongoing judicial proceedings against the Anti-Discrimination Centre “Memorial” (ADC Memorial), which has now become the first NGO in Russia facing both administrative and civil proceedings for the same “offence” on the basis of the law on so-called “foreign agents”. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 1 Comment »
Tags: ADC Memorial, administrative rules, FIDH, Foreign agent, foreign funding, Gerald Staberock, Human Rights Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, judicial harassment, Karim Lahidji, Memorial, Non-governmental organization, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, persecution, Prosecutor, Russia, United Nations, World Organisation Against Torture
September 30, 2013
Imprisoned Belarus human rights defender Ales Byalyatski has been awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Ales Bialiatski, Ales Byalyatski, award, Belarus, Bialiatski, Charta 77 Foundation, China, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, FIDH, foreign funding, Georgia, Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, human rights awards, imprisonment, International Federation for Human Rights, Jean-Claude Mignon, Minsk, Rights Defense Network, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Viasna Human Rights Centre
September 24, 2013
On 18 September the Ford Foundation announced $6.25 million in grants to seven leading human rights organizations that will strengthen and diversify the global human rights movement. The 7 grants focus on human rights organizations that operate in numerous countries and international forums, underscoring the foundation’s long commitment to supporting collaboration. Combined with a five-year, $50 million initiative announced last year to support human rights organizations based outside Europe and the United States, Ford is spurring innovative thinking about the way the global human rights system functions and its capacity to address 21st century issues such as economic and social inequality.
“The human rights movement has arguably been the most effective and wide-reaching social movement of our time,” said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. “But the movement faces a notably different set of challenges today than it did even 15 years ago, along with a new set of opportunities for advancing human rights in today’s world. The grants we make today will enable these institutions to more actively adapt, diversify and retool the way the movement works for all of us.”
The seven grants announced today will support: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Africa, Amnesty International, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Civil society, Crisis Action, economic and social rights, equality, FIDH, Ford Foundation, funding, Global Witness, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations, media, non-governmental, Non-governmental organization, Social and Cultural Rights, strategy, the Association for Women's Rights in Development, The International Network for Economic, United States, Witness (human rights group)
September 12, 2013
As concerns grow in Southeast Asia over the use of national security, anti-terrorist and defamation laws to limit freedom of expression on the Internet, a coalition of international and local NGOs and activists from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia urged governments to stop using vague legislation based on ill-defined concepts such as “national security”, “sovereignty” or “lèse-majesté” to intimidate, harass and imprison independent voices. Speaking at an event in Geneva, which coincides with the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council, FIDH, IFEX, Article 19 and PEN International united to call for the urgent revision of these laws to bring them into line with international human rights standards. Independent and dissenting voices, including bloggers and netizens, journalists, activists and human rights defenders, have increasingly been subjected to repression in Southeast Asia.
A lot more detail in Human Rights Council : Stifled Southeast Asian Voices: NGOs Unite … – FIDH.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti-terrorist laws, Article 19, asian voices, Cambodia, censorship, civil society organizations, criminal defamation laws, defamation laws, dissenting voices, FIDH, freedom of expression, Geneva, Human Rights Defenders, IFEX, internet, intimidation, judicial harassment, National security, NGOs, Non-governmental organization, PEN, side event, Thailand, United Nations Human Rights Council, Viet Nam
August 13, 2013
13 NGOs have signed an open letter concerning the situation in Bahrain in the light of the upcoming mass demonstration on 14 August. As it is short and to the point here is the full text copied from the FIDH website: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: AI, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Bahrain Human Rights Society, Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, Bahrain Watch, Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, Bahraini, Barack Obama, David Cameron, European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights, FIDH, freedom of demonstration, Front Line (NGO), Gulf Centre for Human Rights, HRW, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights First, human rights organizations, IFEX, Manama, mass protests, Physicians for Human Rights
August 2, 2013
Special Rapporteur on Belarus Miklós Haraszti. – Photo: OSCE/Susanna Lööf
2 August 2013 the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Republic of Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, said that the detention of Bialiatski is “a symbol of the repression against human rights defenders.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Belarus, belarusian authorities, Bialiatski, confiscation, FIDH, freedom of association, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Miklos Haraszti, Minsk, Non-governmental organization, OSCE, Special Rapporteur, UN, UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteur
June 14, 2013
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint programme of two reputed international NGOs: the FIDH andOMCT) has been informed by the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) about the police harassment of Ms. Electra Koutra, GHM legal counsel, in the framework of police profiling operation against transgender persons in Thessaloniki.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: abuse of power, Electra Koutra, FIDH, Greece, Greek Helsinki Monitor, harassment, human rights, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, illegal detention, Independence of Lawyers, Law, law enforcement, lawyers, LGBTI, Observatory, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Police, Police officer, Police station, Thessaloniki, Transgender
June 10, 2013
During the last week, Turkish citizens, human rights defenders, trade unions and civil society organisations have come under attack by the Turkish government. What started as a peaceful demonstration has turned into a violent clash with the Turkish police and security services. In the protests, at least 3 people died and more than 2800 people were injured in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Reports indicate that about 3000 people were taken into custody and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in EMHRN, FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: EMHRN, European Parliament, European Union, FIDH, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, human rights activists, Human Rights Defenders, illtreatment, Istanbul, NGOs, OMCT, peaceful protestors, police violence, Politics of Turkey, trade unionists, Turkey, Turkish, Turkish government
June 3, 2013
The FIDH Representative to the UN in Geneva (http://www.fidh.org) invites people to a side event entitled: RUSSIA & BELARUS: JOINT OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM, which will be held on 5 June 2013, in room VIII of the Palais des Nations, from 2pm – 4pm.
Participants:
Mr. Miklos Haraszti, Special Rapporteur on Belarus (TBC)
Olga Abramenko, Director of ADC Memorial (Russia) who was recently charged for publishing a report entitled “Roma, Migrants, Activists: Victims of Police Abuse” and submitting it to the UN Committee Against Torture.
Valentin Stefanovitch, Deputy Head of Human Rights Center VIASNA (Belarus) who will provide context on the Belarusian situation and draw comparisons with the harassment of Russian NGOs.
Dimitry Kolbasin, Head of the Information Department of AGORA (Russia) who will focus on the increasing repression of Russian human rights NGOs.
Valery Sozaev, Advocacy Manager, LGBT Network (Russia) who will specifically tackle issues facing LGBT people
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ADC Memorial, AGORA, Belarus, FIDH, human rights, LGBT Network, Miklos Haraszti, Minsk, Non-governmental organization, palais des nations, Russia, russian ngos, side event, Special Rapporteur, UN Human Rights Council
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 