Posts Tagged ‘Geneva’
Honduras in video: “The Law of the Strongest” screening on 6 March in Geneva
March 1, 2013Protection International – based in Brussels – announces the launch of its new documentary, The Law of the Strongest, an in-depth account of the work of Honduran human rights defenders and the many challenges they face. You can watch it now at http://vimeo.com/58640439 (Spanish version with English subtitles). On 6 March 2013, The Law of the Strongest will be screened in Geneva.
“In this country, everything is being sold : water, earth and even oxygen” says Salvador Zúñiga, leader of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) standing on a muddy road. Behind him, a no-trespassing sign bars the way to a dam construction project. “This project will not benefit the local population, but only the private interests”.
Like other members of his organization, Salvador Zuñiga denounces judicial harassment, threats and attempted corruption aimed at putting an end to their peaceful resistance to these mega projects.
Pascale Boosten and Eric Juzen, directors at the PI video team, met with COPINH representatives and other human rights defenders in order to produce the documentary, The Law of the Strongest.
Contact : Pascale Boosten, pboosten@protectioninternational.org
Legislative restrictions on “homosexual propaganda” threaten LGBT human rights defenders
February 27, 2013
Legislative restrictions on “homosexual propaganda” threaten LGBT human rights defenders says the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in Geneva which is concerned by the growing number of laws and legislative proposals in a variety of countries that severely threaten the work of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons and human rights defenders. Ahead of the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council the ICJ today (27 February 2013) submitted a written statement to the UN encouraging the Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to follow up on these laws and legislative proposals. Pointing to unlawful restrictions on the freedoms of association and assembly, and the freedom of expression, in several countries (including Uganda, Ukraine and the Russian Federation), the ICJ encourages the Special Rapporteur to call on governments to protect these rights for everyone and to ensure that any restrictions comply with the requirements of legality, of necessity and proportionality and of non-discrimination on all grounds. Moreover, in the case of laws or legislative proposals that fail to comply with these requirements, Governments should take appropriate action.
To download the statement, go to the press announcement:
Legislative restrictions on “homosexual propaganda” threaten LGBT human rights defenders | ICJ.
Correction: link to Sri Lankan Ambassador’s protest letter re Killing Fields film now working
February 26, 2013With apologies to the early viewers of my post of today regarding the Geneva film festival and the showing of a documentary in the UN building on alleged war crimes committed by both sides in the conflict, the link to the Sri Lankan Ambassador’s letter was faulty. This is now repaired with: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/465065/Letter-to-the-President-Human-Rights-Council-2.pdf.
Related articles
- 11th Human Rights Film Festival starts 1st March in Geneva with a bang that upsets Sri Lanka (thoolen.wordpress.com)
11th Human Rights Film Festival starts 1st March in Geneva with a bang that upsets Sri Lanka
February 26, 2013Since 2003, the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival (with the more complicated French name and abbreviation: le Festival du film et forum international sur les droits humains – FIFDH) takes place in parallel to the UN Human Rights Council. Based on the concept “A film, a subject, a debate”, the FIFDH features documentary as well fiction, on themes linked to human rights such as: violence against women, poverty, torture, international justice and even climate change. During 10 days the public is invited to watch the films, meet film makers, actors, experts and victims of human rights violations. There are special screenings for students, and teachers are issued with thematic material. This year a total of 40 films will be screened. New this year is the competition for international fiction. The Jury includes filmmakers and human rights defenders such as: Ai Weiwei, Patrick Chapatte, Romain Goupil and Fadwa Suleiman, Syrian actress in exile. The longstanding festival director is Leo Kaneman: for the programme see: http://www.fifdh.org/
In the meantime, a big controversy has erupted about the showing of the documentary “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka” in what is called in UN terminology a ‘side event’, organised by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the above-mentioned FIFDH, on the premises of the UN. As reported by AP on 25 February, the Sri Lankan Ambassador has sent a letter to the whole Human Rights Council denouncing the film as “discredited, uncorroborated and unsubstantiated” and warning that the Council would be violating its own rules if the film is screened March 1 in Geneva as planned.
The 90-minute documentary alleges government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels engaged in war crimes during the final stages of the conflict in 2009. The film shows interviews with eyewitnesses and original footage of alleged atrocities against civilians including summary execution, sexual violence and torture. The film director Callum Macrae denied that it distorted the facts: “We believe that our film contains very important evidence about the terrible events in the last few months of this war and we believe we have a duty to make that evidence available to the diplomats and country missions at the U.N. Human Rights Council who must make important decisions about how to ensure accountability and justice in Sri Lanka“. See: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sri-lanka-opposes-screening-critical-film-18590958. The Sri Lankan Ambassador’s letter which certainly will help to attract a larger audience is to be found on: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/465065/Letter-to-the-President-Human-Rights-Council-2.pdf.
Related articles
- Ai Weiwei heads jury of Geneva’s human rights film festival (worldradio.ch)
UN Human Rights Council opened today with Pillay calling for protection of human rights defenders
February 25, 2013
(High Commissioner for Human Rights Navy Pillay addresses the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré)
Call for Nominations 2013 for the Nansen Refugee Award now open
January 24, 2013Do you know of anybody who has gone beyond the call of duty and shown outstanding dedication and service to the refugee cause? Or maybe a group of people or an organization? Any person can nominate candidates (individuals, groups of people or organizations) but self-nominations and nominations of current or former UNHCR staff are not encouraged.
Each laureate for the Nansen Refugee Award is selected in line with the following:
- The deed for which the person/entity is nominated should either take place outside the framework of normal professional duties and/or go beyond the call of duty;
- It should demonstrate courage;
- It should raise awareness for refugees; and
- It should, in a significant way, benefit the beneficiaries the Awardee serves and possibly also the country/area where the Awardee operates.
The independent Nansen Refugee Award Committee, chaired by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, selects the annual laureate by a unanimous or majority decision.
Ms. Ingrid Prestetun, Coordinator, Nansen Refugee Award Programme, UNHCR Geneva.
Download the nomination form here (English, French) and send it to: Nansen@unhcr.org
Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafda temporarily freed in Bahrain
January 21, 2013In an earlier post of 18 December I reported that Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafda was detained (again). After the arrest of most leaders, he was one of the few left to continue the work of the courageous group, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, and came to Geneva in October last year to represent the NGO as 2012 nominee of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
A court in Bahrain on Thursday released him on bail pending trial for charges of spreading false news to harm security, according to Amnesty International. Al-Muhafda is scheduled to appear in court on January 29 2013 when witnesses are expected to testify. In view of earlier experience with HRDs on trial in Bahrain one should not expect too much.
Related articles
- Bahraini human rights defender Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha arrested again! (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- Bahrain court releases human rights activist on bail pending trial (jurist.org)
- Bahrain court grants bail to activist: Amnesty (dailystar.com.lb)
Harassment and illegal arrest of HRD in Sri Lanka – backlash against testimony in the UN
November 30, 2012Today Front Line Defenders reports the case of arbitrary arrest of human rights defender Mr Sanjeewa Samarasinghe in Sri Lanka.
On 27 November 2012, human rights defender Mr Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and questioned for 13 hours without a reason given or a lawyer present, before being released. Sanjeewa Samarasinghe is a journalist and the chairman of the State Media Workers’ Association, which defends press freedom and the rights of media workers in Sri Lanka. The human rights defender was taken to the CID office in Colombo 1 with a friend present, although his friend was told to leave the interrogation after 15 minutes. The defender asked the police officers to wait for his lawyer to arrive before questioning him, but this request was ignored and the police proceeded to question him in the absence of his lawyer. The defender’s lawyer was not permitted to enter the CID premises for the entire duration of the interrogation. It is reported that Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was subsequently questioned throughout the night for a period of 13 hours until he was eventually released around 9.30am the following morning on 28 November. Although no reason was given for the arrest, he was reportedly asked during the questioning whether he had been supplying information on human rights violations in Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Sanjeewa Samarasinghe works as a journalist and leads the State Media Workers’ Association, which works on issues related to media freedom, the right to freedom of expression, and which holds conferences, campaigns, and demonstrations on the rights of media workers.
It would seem another case of backlash against those HRDs who testify in the UN on which I reported previously and which has been condemned in the strongest terms by the United Nations.
Alkarama awards on 7 December in Geneva: here already the trailer
November 23, 2012The Ceremony of the Alkarama Award will be held on Friday 7 December 2012 at 18h30 in Geneva at Centre International Conférences, Genève
This year, the laureates are two human rights defenders from the Gulf region:
– Dr Mohamed Abdullah Al Roken, United Arab Emirates
– Dr Saud Mukhtar Al Hashimi, Saudi Arabia.
For more information: http://www.alkarama.org
award@alkarama.org
+41 22 734 10 06
