The International Service for Human Rights [ISHR] and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre [BHRRC] organize a well-stocked panel on “Business and the protection of human rights defenders” on 14 July 2015 (12h30-14h30) in London: DLA Piper, 3 Noble Street, London. RSVP by Friday 10 July. The discussion.. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Defenders’
Scholars at Risk publishes first Academic Freedom Monitoring Report: Free2Think
June 23, 2015
“Attacks on higher education are at crisis levels”
Today, 23 June 2015, Scholars at Risk [SAR] released the first report of its Academic Freedom Monitoring Project at the United Nations in Geneva,: “Free to Think”. The culmination of four years of monitoring and analysis by SAR staff and researchers around the world, the report analyzes 333 attacks on higher education communities in 65 countries from January 2011 to May 2015, demonstrating the pressing need to raise awareness and document attacks on higher education: Read the rest of this entry »
Martin Ennals 2015 ceremony will be held on 6 October in Geneva
June 22, 2015
MEA 2015 nominees: Robert Aung, Ahmed Mansoor, Asmaou Diallo
A very early “save the date’ announcement: those who need to travel from far away may want to note that the 2015 Martin Ennals Award Ceremony will take place on 6 October, at 18h30 at Uni-Dufour, Geneva. It is the event that opens Human Rights Week hosted by the University of Geneva from 6 – 9 October.
The laureate will be selected from among the three 2015 finalists, shown in the picture above: Read the rest of this entry »
The MOOCs are coming to human rights education (thanks to AI and edX partnering)
June 19, 2015Yesterday (18 June 2015) Amnesty International announced something that is (rather will be) something new in human rights education: a series of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Who knows, the horrible acronym may one day be as normal as HRDs or AI itself. For this to come about Amnesty International is partnering with edX, a global leader in online education founded by Harvard University and MIT. The first MOOCs will be available later this year. The free online courses will be designed by human rights and education experts from across Amnesty International.
Human rights defenders and their organizations are at the heart of the protection of natural resources
June 19, 2015The link between human rights defenders and the exploitation of natural resources was the focus of this year’s report (18 June 20150 by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai. He called for a new treaty binding businesses to respect fundamental human rights, and for States and corporations to fully engage with civil society organizations in the context of natural resource exploitation.
“Corporations play an outsized role in the decision-making processes about exploitation of natural resources. But they are not subject to legally binding human rights obligations,” Mr. Kiai told the UN Human Rights Council during the presentation of his latest report. “It is time to address this issue more robustly; corporations must not escape responsibility to safeguard human rights.”
“I am aware that some would rather strengthen compliance with the Guiding Principles than have a binding treaty. But this should not be an either/or matter: Both should be pursued to protect human rights.”
The Special Rapporteur also highlighted States’ responsibility to recognize civil society organizations, including affected communities, as key actors in the context of natural resource exploitation. “Authorities endeavour to silence individuals and associations that express opposition to natural resource exploitation processes,” the independent expert said.
In his report, the Special Rapporteur argues that States’ and corporations pervasive disregard of communities and associations’ input in the natural resources sector is counterproductive and divisive, and is likely contributing to an erosion of confidence in the world’s prevailing economic system.
“The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are instrumental in achieving sustainable and mutually beneficial exploitation of natural resources,” he said. “These rights help foster increased transparency and accountability in the exploitation of resources and inclusive engagement throughout the decision-making chain.”
During his presentation, Mr. Kiai also warned that authorities have increasingly sought to stifle expressions of criticism and opposition by cracking down, often with unnecessary force, on peaceful protests; arresting, harassing, prosecuting and imprisoning human rights defenders; enacting restrictive legislation on associations; and interfering with the operations of civil society organizations.
“Peaceful protests are banned from sites where natural resource exploitation takes place and the situation is not any better in relation to the right to freedom of association,” he noted. “Individuals and associations who express opposition to natural resource exploitation processes are vilified as ‘anti-development’, ‘unpatriotic’, and even as ‘enemies of the State’”.
“This intolerance is reflected in countries in the global North, and the global South,” the Special Rapporteur said. “Nevertheless, I remain optimistic because of the incredible courage and determination of activists and ordinary people who refuse to be cowed or defeated, even if it means paying with their lives.”
The Special Rapporteur’s full report (A/HRC/29/25/Add.3) is at: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=189
For the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/Tools.aspx
Natural resources sector: UN expert calls for binding human rights treaty for corporations.
Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk about (self)censorship under the junta
June 19, 2015
On 26 May 2015, at the 2015 Oslo Freedom Forum, Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk describes his fight for democracy in his home country following the May 2014 military coup. Talking about his own arrest, Rojanaphruk denounces the limitations to the right to assembly, expression and movement in Thailand, as well as the regime’s efforts to build the illusion of a happy Thailand. Rojanaphruk concludes his presentation by reminding us that tolerance and dialogue are essential if Thailand is to become a democracy again.
for more on Thailand: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/thailand/
Human rights defender Emin Huseynov allowed to leave Azerbaijan!
June 15, 2015One ‘winner’ of the Baku Games is known: Front Line reports that on 13 June 2015, human rights defender Mr Emin Huseynov left Azerbaijan, ending his 10 month-long refuge in the Swiss embassy in Baku. [see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/azerbaijani-human-rights-defender-emin-huseynov-hides-in-swiss-embassy/. Read the rest of this entry »
Crucial Side Event “Attacks and Reprisals against Defenders” tomorrow in Geneva
June 15, 2015OMCT and FIDH (within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) in cooperation with the ISHR organise on 16 June (16:00-17:30, room XXII, Palais des Nations – Geneva) a side event on Attacks and Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders, focusing on the issue of reprisals and accountability. As readers know by now, I believe that this is the topic which the human rights movement HAS TO TAKE more serious lest all progress of the last decades will be lost. My blog contains quite a few posts on reprisals (https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/reprisals/), but the key one is: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/zero-tolerance-for-states-that-take-reprisals-against-hrds-lets-up-the-ante/.
The objectives of the side event are: Read the rest of this entry »
Nominations for Human Rights Tulip open as from today
June 15, 2015Nominations for the 2015 Human Rights Tulip award for human rights defenders are now, Monday 15 June, welcome. For more information on this award see: http://www.brandsaviors.com/thedigest/award/tulip-award.
Deadline for nominations 16 July, to tulip@hivos.org which is hosting the logistic secretariat.
There is a short video on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD3KD-jniuM can help encourage people to nominate.
Please see also: Home | Human Rights Tulip.
Tibetan protesters in Switzerland object to Beijing’s bid to 2022 Winter Olympics
June 13, 2015In case the focus on the Baku Games is seen as too partial, here a reference to a protest against China‘s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics
Tibetan Protesters in Switzerland Disrupt Beijing’s Bid to 2022 Winter Olympics
The Tibetan Youth Association of Europe (TYAE) organized a demonstration outside the IOC hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland on 10 June, 2015. Some of the protesters outside the hotel acted a scene of Chinese human rights violations inside Tibet, while a few others managed to get inside the hotel and chant slogans such as “Free Tibet” and “No More Bloody Games”, just as the Chinese officials were making their case for Olympic bid in front of the International Olympic Committee members.
Golok Jigme, a former Tibetan political prisoner who participated in the protest said in a statement to IOC President Bach, “I stand here today as a witness of Chinese repression in Tibet. But this is not only about me. Many Tibetan human rights defenders and protestors were jailed and killed in 2008. If the Olympic Games 2022 should be awarded to China again you will be co-responsible for such atrocities. If you cannot support us, don’t treat us like toys for the sake of flattering the Chinese Communist Party. We the Tibetan people are also citizens of this world and our dignity and rights must be respected.”
On Thursday, China’s foreign ministry condemned Wednesday’s protest in Switzerland calling it, provocative:”Their behavior will not shake the resolve of the Chinese government and people to apply to hold the Winter Olympics in Beijing“.
via Tibetan Protesters in Switzerland Disrupt Beijing’s Bid to 2022 Winter Olympic.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 