Ahmed Mansoor, the Laureate of the Martin Ennals Award 2015, was the target of a major hacking attempt. Fortunately it received global coverage on 26 and 27 August 2016 and Apple has immediately issued a security update to address the vulnerabilities. [For those with Iphones/Ipads, you may want to update your IOS software to 9.3.5!]
Image copyrightAP – human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor
The flaws in Apple’s iOS operating system were discovered by Mansoor who alerted security researchers to unsolicited text messages he had received on 10 and 11 August. They discovered three previously unknown flaws within Apple’s code that meant spyware could be installed with a single tap. Apple has since released a software update that addresses the problem. The two security firms involved, Citizen Lab and Lookout, said they had held back details of the discovery until the fix had been issued.
The texts promised to reveal “secrets” about people allegedly being tortured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s jails if he tapped the links. Had he done so, Citizen Lab says, his iPhone 6 would have been “jailbroken”, meaning unauthorised software could have been installed. “Once infected, Mansoor’s phone would have become a digital spy in his pocket, capable of employing his iPhone’s camera and microphone to snoop on activity in the vicinity of the device, recording his WhatsApp and Viber calls, logging messages sent in mobile chat apps, and tracking his movements,” said Citizen Lab. The researchers say they believe the spyware involved was created by NSO Group, an Israeli “cyber-war” company.
The spyware would have been installed if Mansoor had tapped on the links. Image copyright CITIZENLAB
Greek academic Dimitris Christopoulos has been elected president of International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). He succeeds Iranian lawyer Karim Lahidji who headed the international human rights NGO for the last three years. The vote was held during the 39th FIDH Congress in Johannesburg where its 178 member organisations from 120 countries were gathered to elect the new International Board and determine the main orientations for the next three years.
“Fight against terrorism, economic interests and the rise of extremism have precipitated the respect of human rights in depths that we thought had been definitively consigned to the past. Rarely, rights of citizens have been so flouted. It is urgent, and more than ever necessary, that civil societies and activists from the entire world be heard again. Let’s resist and act.” said Christopoulos, right after being elected. The fight against impunity will be at the centre of Christopoulos’ mandate, as will be the mobilization for the respect of human rights in the framework of the economic globalization.
The newly elected International Board is composed of 22 activists from 21 countries, representing all together five continents.
On Wednesday 24 August the 39th Congress of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) closed after two days in Johannesburg. More than 400 delegates from more than 120 countries participated and in the closing session some of the action points taken were recognized by regional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
EU special representative on Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis said: “We need to have the EU itself judged, criticized and advised every day. Because the fact of the matter is, no one is perfect in Human Rights and that includes the European Union”.
ACHPR Chairperson Pansy Tlakula said her organization will continue to support FIDH in their efforts. “The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights values the collaborative and mutual beneficial relationship with FIDH. And on our part we will continue to collaborate with you, we will continue to support you and we also count on your support. Because even if we have to say so ourselves, our commission remains one of the most welcoming inter-governmental organizations to civil society organizations.”
The video below contains excerpts from these statements:
The forum discussed the following topics:
• Restricting freedom of association and human rights in the name of security
• Defending Human Rights principles within heterogeneous societies
• Invoking morals, religious or traditional values to build a new world order: States opposing Human Rights principles
• An unbalanced and unfair globalisation: the consequences of an economy disregarding Human Rights and civil society groups
• Redesigning Human Rights funding
• Civil society influencing global economic projects
• Whistle-blowers: Exposing violence violations and corruption, seeking transparency and the right to freedom of information
• How can the Human Rights movement further engage with the rest of society?
• A shield and a sword: Enforcing rights through the judiciary
• Deploying innovate advocacy
•Using the web and social networks – securely reaching out, accessing new audiences and generating engagement
DatNav, a guide designed to help human rights defenders navigate and integrate digital data into your human rights research, was launched today.
DatNav is the result of a collaboration between Amnesty International, Benetech, and The Engine Room which began in late 2015 culminating in an intense four-day writing sprint facilitated by Chris Michael and Collaborations for Change in May 2016. Based on interviews, community consultations, and surveys the researchers found that in the vast majority of cases, human rights defenders were not using the tools. Why? Mainly, human rights researchers appeared to be overwhelmed by the possibilities.
Still, integrating and using digital data in a responsible way can make a huge and important difference to human rights research. Acquiring, disseminating and storing digital data is also more in reach. DatNav is about navigating these new possibilities.
In May 2016, the 3 NGOs gathered a group of experts to create a guide to help address this problem, and created the foundations of DatNav. Nearly 70 key members of the human rights tech and data community, representing nearly 40 different organisations from around the world, played key roles in the creation of DatNav.
This is just the beginning. If you’re interested in taking the guide forward, whether to inform strategy in your work, to train others, or through translations, or adaptations of the content, the organizers would like to hear from you. The content is all CC-BY-SA licensed and remixes of the content are more than welcome. We’re in initial talks to release an Arabic translation of DatNav, and we’d like to carry out others, too.
You can sign up for The Engine Room’s newsletter to be notified of new updates and releases.
To find out more about the project or give feedback, you can send an email. You can also reach out on Twitter @zararah and The Engine Room @EngnRoom.
Mary Lawlor has only just announced her departure (see announcement published yesterday) and already an article on Colombia of 11 July 2016 shows what insights we may miss in the future. The link between the peace process and the role of human rights defenders in Colombia was referred to in earlier posts [e.g. https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/human-rights-defenders-squeezed-by-geo-politics-the-cases-of-colombia-iran-and-cuba/] Mary Lawlor here welcomes the agreement as historic, offering the Colombian people an opportunity to make a break with the endemic violence of the past. The direct reference to the protection of human rights defenders in the peace agreement is one more reason to celebrate. Here the piece in full:
Human Rights Defenders Critical for Post-Accord Justice in Colombia
I have long argued that we should take another look at the possibility of using the suspension clause when members of the UN Human Rights Council go too far (see e.g. in the case of persistent reprisals https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/zero-tolerance-for-states-that-take-reprisals-against-hrds-lets-up-the-ante/in the reprisals ). On Wednesday 29 June 2016, the two leading human rights NGOs, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have urged UN member-states to suspend Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council over the killing of civilians in Yemen and repression at home. It will be a long shot but worth seeing how it works out: Read the rest of this entry »
Sebnem Korur Fincanci, president of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, and Erol Onderoglu, Turkey’s representative to Reporters Without Borders, are to remain free pending trial on charges of “propaganda for terror organization PKK,” or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. The first hearing is scheduled for November 8. A different court is handling the case against writer and journalist Ahmet Nesin and there has been no decision yet on the possibility of his release pending trial, according to Anadolu.
The three had participated in a solidarity campaign taking turns as co-editors in support of Ozgur Gundem, a pro-Kurdish publication subject to multiple investigations and lawsuits.
The debate, moderated by Professor Andrew Clapham, featured Human Rights Defenders Taslima Nasrin and Aida Khemiri, as well as Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Special Representative for Human Rights.
“Too many people are dying for protecting human rights,” Mr Lambrinidis said, while promising that “the EU is committed to defending the defenders.”
“There is a price on my head,” revealed Taslima Nasrin, a Bangladeshi author and blogger who has been targeted by radical Muslim groups who have condemned her writing as blasphemous. “It’s been 22 years since I have been allowed to return to my country, not even in times of sickness and death of my closest family.”
Aida Khemiri, an LGBTI activist from Tunisia drew attention to the psychological challenge of having to lie to her friends and family for their protection. “As a Human Rights Defender, I have to live a double life. I cannot tell my family all I am doing, I have to protect them.”
Following the debate, participants and panelists marched past the UN Palais des Nations to express their support to Human Rights Defenders who were not able to walk freely. The event concluded at the Ariana Museum, with a spectacular show of the Violonissima Duo, performing from a hot air balloon. A playlist with photos from the event can be found through the link below.
Bahrain does everything it can to keep itself in the spotlight of human rights concern. A coalition of NGOs, as well as the UN and (reluctantly) the USA have recently come out with criticism over travel bans, reprisals, denationalization and other violations:
When the 32nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council opened in Geneva on 13 June 2016, Nabeel Rajab, Bahrain’s best-known human rights defender, was arrested after dozens of police officers raided his home at around 5am and confiscated his electronic devices. The day before, Bahraini human rights defenders and victims of violations were prevented from flying to Geneva. On 16 June21 NGOs signed a statement of serious alarm by Bahrain’s restrictions civil society especially preventing them from engaging with the UN.
[Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR – nominee of the MEA 2012), founding Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and Deputy Secretary General of FIDH, was reportedly arrested under order from the Ministry of Interior’s Cybercrimes Unit. Bahraini officials had imposed a travel ban on Rajab a year ago, and since April 2015 have maintained charges against him for crimes related to freedom of expression online. Despite the submission of several appeals against the ban, authorities remained unresponsive. On 14 June 2016, Rajab was transferred to the public prosecution; and new charges were brought against him of allegedly ‘publishing and broadcasting false news that undermines the prestige of the state’. The public prosecution remanded him to seven days in detention pending investigation.]
In a new escalation of its crackdown against civil society, Bahraini authorities have now also banned other human rights defenders from leaving the country. The bans were imposed as the activists were attempting to travel to Geneva to participate in the Human Rights Council.
In light of this escalated attack on civil society in Bahrain, the 21 NGOs call for the immediate release of all human rights defenders in Bahrain, including Nabeel Rajab, and for the removal of the imposed travel bans which unfairly restrict activists’ freedom of movement. We also request that the President of the HRC, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association call on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally lift the travel ban imposed on Bahrain’s civil society activists and guarantee Bahraini human rights defenders are free from intimidation and restrictions on their work, including at the UN. We also call on the international community to hold the government of Bahrain to its commitments and obligations to foster a safe environment for the peaceful enjoyment of universal human rights. The government of Bahrain must immediately stop the ongoing reprisals against human rights defenders who are engaging with international mechanisms including the UN system. [21 signatories to be hound at the bottom of this post.]
On 21 June 2016, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stepped in with an expression of great concern over this intensification of a crackdown on free expression and association, and the right to a nationality: Read the rest of this entry »
Image copyrightAP – human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 