Posts Tagged ‘Geneva’
November 21, 2013
The legal recognition and protection of human rights defenders is crucial to ensuring that they can work in a safe, supportive environment and be free from attacks, reprisals and unreasonable legal restrictions. Despite this, governments in all regions are increasingly enacting laws which restrict and even criminalise the work of human rights defenders and NGOs. In response the Geneva-based International Service for Human Rights [ISHR] in partnership with regional, sub-regional and national human rights defender groups from around the world announces its plan to develop a model national law on human rights defenders to be enacted locally.
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Tags: African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, criminalization, foreign funding, Geneva, harassment, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, International Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, international protection, International Service for Human Rights, model law, Non-governmental organization, reprisals, restrictive laws, retaliation, UN Human Rights Council, United Nations Human Rights Council
October 31, 2013
reports that on 30 October human rights lawyer, Ms Wang Yu, was finally permitted access to Chaoyang Detention Centre in Beijing in order to see Cao Shunli, who had reportedly been detained since 14 September 2013.
Wang Yu reported that Cao Shunli is extremely thin and has not received any medical attention in the detention centre. According to Wang Yu, Cao Shunli has been detained on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.
[On 14 September 2013, two security agents prevented Cao Shunli from boarding a flight from Beijing Capital Airport to Geneva. She was flying to take part in a training on UN mechanisms]
[In the months leading up to China’s Univeral Period Review (UPR) on 22 October 2013, Cao Shunli had been campaigning for greater civil society involvement in the UPR process]
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Beijing, Cao Shunli, China, detention centre, freedom of expression, Front Line Defenders, Geneva, ill treatment, illegal detention, United Nations, UPR, Wang Yu, woman human rights defender
October 26, 2013
Two hundred and eighteen human rights defenders in Shanghai signed a public appeal urging the United Nations not to elect China to the 47-member Human Rights Council. The election will be held on 12 November in the General Assembly.
China is one of the five candidates for the four seats to be filled by Asia-Pacific states. The other candidates are Jordan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Among the voluntary pledges made by China for its membership are: “To continue to strengthen the development of democracy and the rule of law [and] push forward the reform of the judicial system.” The appeal is dated October 21, 2013, the day before China’s Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Below are copies of the original signature sheets. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: boycott, China, elections, Geneva, human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in China, Shanghai, the United Nations, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review
October 26, 2013
On 26 October 2013, the Geneva-based Alkarama human rights organisation announced that Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haidar Shaye will receive the 2013 Alkarama Award for human rights defenders. The Director of Alkarama’s Legal Department, Rachid Mesli, said that Shaye was awarded the prize because he personifies the struggle against human rights abuses in Yemen and for his courageous investigative reporting in this regard. Since last year, the Alkarama Award for Human Rights Defenders is presented every year to a human rights defender or organization in recognition of their contribution to the protection and the promotion of human rights in the Arab world.
via Saba Net – Yemen news agency.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Abdulelah Haidar Shaye, Alkarama, Arab world, awards, Geneva, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights awards, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Journalist, Rachid Mesli, reporting, Shaye, Yemen
October 23, 2013
On 22 October the BBC and others reported that many member states of the UN Human Rights Council expressed concern at the arrest of dissidents, the continued use of the death penalty and the use of torture in prison, but Chinese officials maintained major progress had been made in improving social and economic rights. Julie de Rivero, of Human Rights Watch, told the BBC that China’s focus on economic progress was a way of avoiding the real issues: “The question is why does China continue to torture people in prisons and why is it systematic? Why do they not allow human rights defenders to raise questions that party members are even raising, about corruption? When it comes from the mouth of a human rights defender it earns them a place in prison”. Members of the UN panel also expressed concern about the treatment of a number of Chinese human rights activists in recent weeks.
(Activists from Students for a Free Tibet defied security to display a banner
on scaffolding in front of the United Nations (via BBC))
Under the UPR system, all UN member states undergo the review by the UN once every four years. [The UN panel – with a rotating membership of 47 states that does not currently include China – has no binding powers.] The report on China is expected later this week.
via BBC News – UN criticises Chinas rights record at Geneva meeting.
Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: BBC, China, corruption, freedom of expression, Geneva, HRW, human rights, human rights activists, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in China, Human Rights Watch, reprisals, UN Human Rights Council, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, UPR
October 23, 2013
On 22 October 2013 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights called for the immediate release of a well-known Qatari poet who it says was harshly sentenced for a poem considered to be encouraging the overthrow of the ruling system of the country. Mohammed al Ajami – also known as Ibn al Dheeb – was initially sentenced to life in prison on 29 November 2012 for the poem, which was also considered insulting to the nation’s symbols. His sentence was reduced to 15 years last February during a second appeal. On 20 October, Qatar’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, decided to uphold the 15-year sentence. Mr. al Ajami’s only recourse now is to appeal for clemency to the Emir of Qatar, the home country of Al-Jazeera. “This sentence is clearly disproportionate,” OHCHR spokesperson Cécile Pouilly told reporters in Geneva. “Last January, we already publicly expressed our concerns about the harsh sentencing, the fairness of his trial and about the many months Mr. al Ajami had spent in solitary confinement,” she added.
via United Nations News Centre – Citing freedom of expression, UN calls for release of Qatari poet given 15-year sentence.
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Tags: Al-Jazeera, freedom of expression, Geneva, Ibn al Dheeb, imprisonment, Mohammed al-Ajami, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights, poet, Qatar, release, sentence, Sentence (law), United Nations
October 22, 2013
Nominations for the 2014 MARTIN ENNALS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (MEA) can now be submitted electronically at http://www.martinennalsaward.org. Deadline: 9 December 2013.
The Award is granted annually to an individual, or exceptionally an organisation, in recognition of their commitment and ongoing efforts in the defence and promotion of human rights. Nominees must be currently involved in work for the promotion and protection of human rights. Special account is taken of those who are at risk and have demonstrated an active record of combating human rights violations by courageous and innovative means. The MEA aims to encourage individuals or organisations, particularly those who are working in conditions hostile to fundamental human rights and who are in need of protection.
The present value of the annual Award is 20’000 Swiss Francs, to be used for further work in the field of human rights. The following organisations participate in the Jury that selects the award: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Front Line, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture, International Commission of Jurists, International Service for Human Rights, Protestant Agency for Diakonia and Development (Germany) and HURIDOCS.
The Ceremony is hosted by the City of Geneva in late 2013. They provide each of the final three nominees with project funds of 11’650 CHF and a 5’000 CHF travel grant.
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Tags: AI, awards, call for nominations, Diakonie, FIDH, Frontline Defenders, Geneva, HRF, HRW, Human right, human rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, HURIDOCS, ICJ, ISHR, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, nominations, OMCT
October 21, 2013
The New York Times of Monday 20 October carries a post by Chris Buckley which looks at the documentation submitted for today’s UPR session on China and concludes that it seems as if there are two different countries facing scrutiny in Geneva. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, China, Chris Buckley, Geneva, Government of the People's Republic of China, Human right, human rights, Human Rights Watch, illegal detention, New York Times, NGOs, reprisals, retaliation, United Nations Human Rights Council, universal human rights, Universal Periodic Review, UPR
October 18, 2013
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, on 16 October 2013 called on the Togolese Government to ensure a favourable environment in which human rights defenders can carry out their work. The Government can do this by fully implementing the existing legal framework, avoiding stigmatisation and fostering a spirit of dialogue and constructive criticism, she said at the end of her five-day mission to assess progress made in Togo since her last visit in 2008.
Compared to 2008, “The environment for defenders is more enabling now, but important challenges remain” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: defamation laws, fact finding, Geneva, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, journalists, LGBT, Margaret Sekaggaya, Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur, Togo, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, United Nations Special Rapporteur
October 16, 2013
A group of United Nations experts has expressed serious concern at reports that Chinese human rights defenders have suffered reprisals for seeking to participate in a major UN human rights assessment of China. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 5 Comments »
Tags: Cao Shunli, Chen Guangcheng, Chen Jianfang, China, Civil society, Frank LaRue, Geneva, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in China, illegal detention, Maina Kiai, Margaret Sekaggaya, reprisals, retaliation, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, UPR, woman human rights defender, Zhao Zhenjia
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Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 