Posts Tagged ‘harassment’
January 24, 2015
Human rights lawyers and their clients stage a picket at the Supreme Court to mark the ‘Day of the Endangered Lawyer’ (photo courtesy of NUPL)
Human rights lawyers in the Philippines on Friday 23 January 2015 protested publicly against the growing death toll within their ranks as they marked the “Day of the Endangered Lawyer” by trooping to the Supreme Court. The protest spearheaded by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers [NUPL] and joined by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines was joined by lawyers’ and support groups that staged pickets or held dialogues at Philippine embassies and consulates in 23 cities in 11 European countries.
Figures show that, since attacks on legal professionals began being recorded in 1977, “100 lawyers have been attacked (57 since 2001) while 50 lawyers have been killed (41 since 2001).” “Nineteen judges have been murdered, 18 since 2001”
“Government must simply do its job: protect its citizens, categorically condemn these attacks on lawyers as human rights defenders; seriously and credibly investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators; and uphold human rights because the attacks on lawyers is not only an attack on the individual lawyer, it is an attack on the legal profession, and most fundamentally — in the context of the targeted assaults on human rights and public interest lawyers — an attack itself on the rights and interests of the mostly poor and oppressed in our country”
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/103685/a-deadly-profession–human-rights-lawyers-count-the-costs-on-day-of-the-endangered-lawyer
A petition <http://www.advocatenvooradvocaten.nl/wp-content/uploads/Petition-Day-of-Endangerd-Lawyer-2015.pdf> signed by lawyers organizations from Asia, Canada Europe and the United States calls on the Aquino government to prevent extrajudicial killings and all forms of harassment of lawyers and to end impunity by prosecuting perpetrators of rights violations. The petition also calls on the Aquino government to protect the safety of lawyers as provided for in the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1990. Underlying causes for extrajudicial killings. The practice of labeling (classifying victims as ‘enemies of the state’), the involvement of the military in politics, the proliferation of private armies and vigilante groups and the culture of impunity have been identified by national and international fact-finding bodies as the main root causes for the alarming rate of extrajudicial killings, including the extrajudicial killings of lawyers, in the Philippines.
Away from the capital human rights violations against indigenous people and their human rights defenders also continue as demonstrated in 2 film documentaries:
“Gikan sa Ngitngit nga Kinailadman” (From the Dark Depths) records grave rights violations using interviews and recollections of the survivors and witnesses. The cases featured in the film remains unresolved; the perpetrators waiting for the next human rights defender to hunt. The film shows the atrocities of the military and paramilitary troops, including the armed agents of the agro-industrial corporations in the hinterlands of Mindanao.
-The first case presented in the film is the assassination of Gilbert Paborada—a Higaonon farmer in Bagocboc, Opol, Misamis Oriental. Daisy Paborada, the wife of Gilbert, and Joseph Paborada, his brother, reiterates how the struggle of their community against the entry of palm oil plantations of A Brown Company led to Gilbert’s death.
-The film also shows interviews about the harassment of the Lumad community in Opol as they suffer from the goons of A Brown Company. The harassments and intimidation breed the culture of fear and terror among the people who opt to protect their ancestral domain vis-à-vis the environment over money.
PHOTO taken during the shooting of “Gikan sa Ngitngit nga Kinailadman” in the mountains of Pantaron in Bukidnon. (RMP-NMR)
Dalena is also the director of Alingawngaw ng mga Punglo (Echo of Bullets) that exposed the criminal acts of the military under the infamous General Jovito Palparan, also known as ‘The Butcher.’ Palparan now is in jail, facing allegations of murder against human rights defenders.
Sr. Maria Famita Somogod, regional coordinator of Rmp-Nmr, said the film highlights political repression. The spate of human rights violations featured in the film is the reaction of the government to quell the legitimate dissent of the lumads against the entry of agro-industrial corporations in their ancestral domain. Somogod said the dissent of the lumads and farmers is legitimate. Their demands are to protect their ancestral domain against the encroachment of foreign corporations in the hinterlands. “Instead of seeds, bullets. Instead of food, bombs. Instead of peace, forcible evacuation. Instead of life, death,” Somogod said, adding this is what the ordinary lumads and farmers get for protecting the land of promise.
In the words of the author Anjo Bacarisas, in Sunstar of 25 January: at the end of the film one asks: How should we stop this appalling cruelty against the lumads and farmers?
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/feature/2015/01/25/underbelly-land-promise-388461
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, L4L | Leave a Comment »
Tags: agro-business, corporate accountability, Dalena, Documentary film, Echo of Bullets, extrajudicial killings, From the Dark Depths, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, impunity, Independence of Lawyers, Indigenous People, Lawyers for Lawyers, Lumad community, Maria Famita Somogod, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, Philippines, repression
December 15, 2014
A staff report in the Daily Times of 13 December 2014 mentions a report by the Democratic Commission for Human Development (DCHD) in Pakistan which concludes that 62% of human rights organisations received threats from one quarter or another, including religious extremist groups, feudal, political groups and law enforcement agencies.
The report on “Human Rights Organizations in Pakistan: Risk & Capacity Assessment” was launched on Friday 12 December 2014 in Lahore in the presence of the Minster for Human Rights Punjab Khalil Tahir Sindhu, journalist Hussain Naqi, Director National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) Peter Jacob, human rights defender Dr Fauzia Waqar, Sandra Petersen from Norwegian Human Rights Fund and large number of civil society representatives.
Women rights, child rights, minority rights (blasphemy cases), labour rights, and gender-based violence emerged as thematic areas increasing risk for HRDs. Human rights defenders generally face high risks, with increasing volatile political climate and growth of religious fundamentalism. Yet, 57% of organizations made no changes in work strategies after being threatened.
‘62% organisations received threats from different quarters’.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Democratic Commission for Human Development (DCHD) Pakistan, Fauzia Waqar, gender issues, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, killings, Norwegian Human Rights Fund, Pakistan, security, threats
December 14, 2014
AFP, Front Line, Human Rights Watch’ Moscow office report that the office of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) in Grozny, Chechnya, was torched after they criticised the Kremlin-supported Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, who had called for collective punishment against families of Islamist insurgents (such as burning their houses). It is only the latest chapter in years of harassment and murder of human rights defenders investigating torture, kidnapping and war crimes in Chechnya. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Joint Mobile Group | 1 Comment »
Tags: AFP, arson, Chechnya, collective punishment, Front Line Defenders, Grozny, harassment, HRW, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, Igor Kalyapin, intimidation, Joint Mobile Group, MEA Laureate 2013, Natalya Estemirova, Ramzan Kadyrov, threats
December 11, 2014
On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called on all OSCE participating States to do more to protect human rights defenders in the OSCE region: “It is time for all OSCE participating States to move from words to deeds and to provide more effective protection to those who strive to promote and safeguard human rights in our countries.”
The words must refer to the Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders which OSCE adopted this year: see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/osce-publishes-guidelines-on-the-protection-of-human-rights-defenders/
“Unfortunately, in 2014 we have witnessed numerous attacks and threats against human rights defenders,” the ODIHR Director said. “This includes human rights defenders with whom ODIHR has worked, and I am particularly disturbed that those standing up for human rights in the OSCE region may be being targeted for activities they carry out in partnership with our Office.”
At the Budapest Summit, in 1994, OSCE participating States emphasized the need to protect human rights defenders, and at the OSCE Summit in Astana, in 2010, they underscored the important role played by civil society in helping to ensure full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms. “That the environment in which human rights defenders operate has become more, not less, restricted across the region over the past few years is disturbing,” Link said. “Determined action is needed to reverse this trend.”
Human Rights Day 2014: Better protection of human rights defenders needed across the OSCE region, ODIHR Director says | OSCE.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Europe, harassment, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, international human rights day, international protection, legal protection, Michael Georg Link, ODIHR, OSCE, OSCE Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders
December 9, 2014
(Vidulfo Rosales (Center) | Photo: Clayton Conn/ teleSUR)
A lengthy report entitled: “
Ficha Cisen a abogado de normalistas” written in the electronic investigative journal,
Reporte Indigo, shows that
Mexico’s Intelligence Agency (CISEN) has opened dossiers on human rights defenders from the Human Rights Center of the Mountain “
Tlachinollan” calling them “dangerous to governance.” The report details that
Vidulfo Rosales, lawyer and representative of the 43 families of the Ayotzinapa students as well as Tlachinollan’s director,
Abel Barrera are “elements” that pose a “threat” to the government and that the two participate in “subversive” activities. Telesur of 8 December refers to a public letter signed by over a dozen reputable human rights organizations:
“It is outrageous that public resources are used to weaken the human rights movement instead of using intelligence capabilities to combat infiltration and corruption by narco-governments and guarantee that serious human rights violations do not go unpunished”.
Mexico Intelligence Agency Investigates Rights Defenders | News | teleSUR.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Abel Barrera, Ayotzinapa, CISEN, disappearances, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights organizations, intimidation, Mexico, Reporte Indigo, state security agency, students, Surveillance, Telesur, Tlachinollan, Vidulfo Rosales
December 5, 2014
Radio Free Asia reported on 27 November that Vietnamese human rights defenders and foreign diplomats went ahead with a planned human rights conference in Hanoi on Wednesday, defying efforts by police to harass and intimidate. The conference, titled “U.N. Protection Mechanisms for Human Rights Defenders in Vietnam,” was held at the Thai Ha church in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, and was attended by over 70 members of civil society groups, together with representatives of the United Nations and embassies of Australia, the U.S., the UK, and the European Union.After being warned by police that the rare gathering was considered “illegal” by authorities, event organizer Nguyen Quang A was repeatedly blocked in his efforts to arrive at the church, he told RFA’s Vietnamese Service on Wednesday. It took him 4 hours to reach the meeting place after having been blocked several times from taking public transport.
Vietnam Rights Conference Goes Ahead Despite Police Harassment.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: conference, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, Hanoi, harassment, human rights conference, Human Rights Defenders, intimidation, land rights, Nguyen Quang, Radio Free Asia, RFA, Vietnam
November 25, 2014
(Independent Expert on Human Rights Michel Forst. Photo: Jean-Marc Ferré)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: Burundi, Civil society, freedom of association, freedom of expression, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, Isidore Rufyikiri, MEA Laureate 2007, Michel Forst, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, Special Procedures, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, UN
November 22, 2014
On 24 November 2014 the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) published a letter expressing concern by all 10 NGOs on the Jury about the charges against its 2012 Laureate. Here is the text:
The Martin Ennals Award Jury (Listed Below) is extremely concerned about the flawed and protracted judicial proceedings being used to threaten renowned human rights defender (HRD) Venerable Loun Sovath. He is scheduled to face trial on November 25, 2014. Venerable Sovath is internationally known as the “multimedia monk,” and his efforts to voice the human rights abuses suffered by land communities and HRDs in Cambodia have been recognized globally. The charges brought against Venerable Sovath are groundless and must be dropped immediately.
Venerable Sovath was awarded the 2012 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. The award was created in 1993 to honor and protect individuals who demonstrate exceptional courage in defending and promoting human rights.
Despite international recognition Venerable Sovath has continually been targeted by religious and legal authorities in Cambodia. He has been subjected on numerous occasions to threats of imprisonment, verbal abuse, death threats, and defrocking, among others.
As part of a wave of arrests, trials, and convictions of social activists and peaceful demonstrators, this case is the renewal of an old case in which Venerable Sovath was charged with incitement to commit a felony [1] for allegedly inciting and leading demonstrations by victims of land conflicts against government authorities in Chi Kreng, Siem Reap, and Boeung Kak lake, Phnom Penh. The trial is now scheduled for November 25, 2014. If convicted, Venerable Sovath faces up to two years in prison and a fine of US$1,000, equivalent to over 4,000,000 Cambodian Riels.
….. The vagueness of the charges and lack of clarity surrounding the legal process raise significant concerns. The Martin Ennals Award Jury calls on the Government of Cambodia to ensure any legal processes are handled in accordance with the principles of the rule of law.
Martin Ennals Award Jury:
– Amnesty International,
– Human Rights Watch,
– Human Rights First,
– Int’l Federation for Human Rights (FIDH),
– World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT),
– Front Line Defenders,
– International Commission of Jurists,
– EWDE Germany,
– International Service for Human Rights,
– HURIDOCS.
[1] Cambodia Criminal Code, Article 495 (imposing criminal liability for “Incitement to commit a felony or to disturb social security…”).
see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/cambodian-mea-laureate-2012-luon-sovath-charged-with-incitement/
Posted in awards, Human Rights Defenders, Luan Sovath, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: Cambodia, fabricated charges, fair trial, freedom of expression, harassment, Human rights defender, intimidation, Jury MEA, land disputes, Loun Sovath, Luon Sovath, MEA laureate 2012, multi media monk
July 8, 2014
A National Secretariat functioning under Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has issued a curious letter on 1 July 2014. The following is the letter in full:
“MINISTRY OF DEFENCE AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT National Secretariat for Non Governmental Organizations
To All Non Governmental Organizations
Non Governmental Organizations acting beyond their mandate
It has been revealed that certain Non Governmental Organizations conduct press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and dissemination of press releases which is beyond their mandate.
We reiterate that all Non Governmental Organizations should prevent from such unauthorized activities with immediate effect.
D.M.S. Dissanayake
Director/Registrar”
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), which made the letter public, adds the understandably sarcastic comment that the next letter may well read: “It has been revealed that certain Non-Governmental Organisations have members who are breathing and still moving. We hereby call upon all of them to cease from such unauthorized activities with immediate effect.”
For the full context see this Statement online on AHRC’s revamped website: www.humanrights.asia.
Posted in AHRC, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: censorship, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, intimidation, Ministry of defence, Sri Lanka
June 14, 2014
Bangladesh is trying to restrict human rights defenders such as Adilur of the NGO ODHIKAR, final nominee of the MEA 2014. The cabinet has approved the “Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulations Bill, 2014”, which will likely become law soon. The Bill empowers bureaucrats to decide the fate of NGOs. All individuals or collectives, from NGO’s to volunteer groups, receiving foreign funds for implementing projects will be under constant surveillance under this law.
In a statement of 13 June the Asian Legal Resource Centre says that the law will usher even more arbitrary executive actions in Bangladesh. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AHRC, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, AHRC, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Bangladesh, Civil society, foreign funding, freedom of association, freedom of expression, funding restrictions, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, MEA final nominee 2014, NGOs, Odhikar
