Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Defenders’
August 27, 2014
A joint letter by 6 international NGOs (International committee of Jurists, Amnesty International, Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development, CIVICUS, the International Movement Against Discrimination and All Forms of Racism, and the International Service for Human Rights) to the UN Human Rights Council and the Sri Lankan government cites a number of recent incidents in which human rights defenders in the country were intimidated. Sri Lanka has vowed not to cooperate with the UN probe saying it infringed on the country’s sovereignty. Sri Lanka has rejected a UNHRC resolution in March that called for an international investigation into allegations that 40,000 civilians were killed in the final months of the civil war that ended in 2009.
The government spokesman and media minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, has reportedly threatened all those who intend to provide information to the UN investigation and promised to “take appropriate action based on the evidence the detractors give“. “We stress that threats, harassment, intimidation and reprisals against persons who engage with the UN are prohibited by international human rights law,” the letter said. “While we affirm the importance of exercising the right to free expression by journalists and others, we stress that the exercise of speech that serves to significantly risk inciting violence, hostility or discrimination against persons is unacceptable“.
via Rights groups ask Sri Lanka to stop intimidating them.
see my earlier: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/sri-lanka-champion-retaliator-against-human-rights-defenders/
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: AI, CIVICUS, Forum Asia, Human Rights Defenders, ICJ, IMADR, international NGOs, investigation, ISHR, Jakarta Post, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, reprisals, retaliation, Sri Lanka, UN Human Rights Council
August 26, 2014
Coup d’etat in Thailand or not, judicial harassment continues to rack the lives of human rights defenders. A Statement of 24 August by the Asian Human Rights Commission [AHRC] concerns Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a human rights defender and director of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), who received a warrant summoning her to report to the police station by 25 August 2014. The warrant is in relation to an investigation carried out pursuant to a legal complaint of libel and defamation filed against her by Army Task Force 41. The complaint accuses Pornpen Khongkachonkiet of causing damage to the reputation of the Army by disseminating an open letter about a case of torture. (The Army has claimed that the young man was not tortured, and so therefore the open letter constitutes libel and defamation.)
The judicial harassment of Pornpen Khongkachonkiet is part of a broader pattern of harassment and legal proceedings against human rights defenders in Thailand, such as the following 3 examples show: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AHRC, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: AHRC, Andy Hall, Asian Human Rights Commission, defamation laws, Human Rights Defenders, intimidation, Kritsuda Khunasen, labour activists, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Suderueman Maleh, Thailand, torture, woman human rights defender
August 21, 2014
The family of MEA 2013 Final Nominee, Mona Seif, continues to be under the greatest strain in Egypt. Front Line Defenders reports that on 18 August 2014, her brother, human rights defender Mr Alaa Abd El Fattah, began a hunger strike to protest his detention [http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/AlaaAbdElFattah] and said that he will remain on hunger strike until he is released. Her sister human rights defender Ms Sanaa Seif also continues to be imprisoned. [https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/26336]. Her father, human rights defender Ahmed Seif El-Islam is in the Intensive Care Unit of Qasr el-Eini hospital. Her family had tried several times to visit the father, but in vain.
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Ahmed Seif Al Islam, Ahmed Seif El-Islam, Alaa Abd El Fattah, Egypt, family, freedom of expression, freedom to demonstrate, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Hunger strike, illegal detention, MEA final nominee 2013, Mona Seif, prison, repression, Sanaa Seif, woman human rights defender
August 21, 2014
The same day as the Indonesian Supreme Court rejects the challenge against president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the Jakarta Post reports that human rights defenders urge him stand firm in advancing human rights in Indonesia immediately after the People’s Consultative Assembly MPR inaugurates him and his vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla on 20 October. International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development [INFID] program officer Hilman Handoni hoped that Jokowi would increase the number of ‘human rights-friendly’ cities in the country (i.e. a city based on the concept of protecting a plural society and facilities friendly to the disabled, women, children and the elderly]. Human rights watchdog Imparsial researcher Swandaru added that he hoped Jokowi would give stronger protection to human rights defenders because many of them were still facing serious threats for advancing human rights in the country. Chrisbiantoro of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence [Kontras] said he hoped Jokowi would strengthen the National Commission on Human Rights’ Komnas HAM capacities, which have been widely criticized for having weakened due to previous government, leaving many rights abuse cases unresolved: “Let’s see unresolved cases such as the murder cases of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib and journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin or Udin. Their killers are still free. That’s Jokowi’s homework ”
via Jokowi urged to enforce human rights | The Jakarta Post.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights friendly cities, Imparsial (NGO), Indonesia, Indonesian Supreme Court, INFID, Jakarta Post, Jokowi, Kontras, Munir, policies, president of Indonesia
August 20, 2014
Yesterday,19 August 2014, three United Nations human rights experts [The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom or opinion and expression, David Kaye] alsoy condemned the growing tendency to prosecute prominent human rights defenders in Azerbaijan, and urged the Government “to show leadership and reverse the trend of repression, criminalization and prosecution of human rights work in the country.” Yesterday I referred to the UN expert group on business and human rights (currently in the country, see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/un-expert-group-on-business-and-human-rights-on-timely-visit-to-azerbaijan/) and reports of several major NGOs (see my post of yesterday: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/azerbaijan-a-hot-summer-in-summary/)
The UN experts highlighted the specific cases of Leyla Yunus, director of the Azerbaijani Institute of Peace and Democracy; Arif Yunus, head of Conflict Studies in the Institute of Peace and Democracy; Rasul Jafarov, coordinator of Art of Democracy and head of Human Rights Club; and Intigam Aliyev, chair of Legal Education Society. “Azerbaijan’s recent membership of the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations does not square well with the authorities’ actions directed at stifling freedoms on the ground,” the UN rights experts noted.
UN experts call on the Government of Azerbaijan | Scoop News.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Azerbaijan, civil society organisations, David Kaye, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, Intigam Aliyev, Leyla Yunus, Maina Kiai, Michel Forst, Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Rasul Jafarov, Special Rapporteur, special rapporteurs, UN, UN Human Rights Council, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
August 18, 2014
In relation to my post this morning about the hot summer in Azerbaijan [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/azerbaijan-a-hot-summer-in-summary/] it is relevant to note that the UN expert group on business and human rights is visiting this country for the first time. The information provided by the different NGOs clearly points to a huge problem in preventing and protecting against business-related human rights abuses.
The United Nations group of independent experts undertakes its first official visit to Azerbaijan from 18 to 27 August 2014 to examine the impact of business activities on human rights in the country. [The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, offer clarity and guidance for authorities and companies to prevent and address adverse impacts of business activities on human rights. They re-affirm States’ existing obligations to protect against human rights abuse by third parties, including businesses. They also clarify the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and the need to ensure that victims have access to effective remedy.]
They group will hold a press conference to share with the media preliminary observations from their visit at 13h30 on Wednesday 27 August 2014 at UN House, UN 50th Anniversary Street 3, Baku. The official report is to be presented to the Human Rights Council in June 2015.
(The Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises was established by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011. The five members are Mr. Michael Addo (Ghana), Ms. Alexandra Guáqueta (Colombia), Ms. Margaret Jungk (USA), Mr. Puvan Selvanathan (Malaysia) and Mr. Pavel Sulyandziga (Russian Federation). The Working Group is independent from any government or organization. Its members serve in their personal capacities. They are not UN staff members and do not receive a salary for their work.)
See: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/WGHRandtransnationalcorporationsandotherbusiness.aspx
Posted in Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Azerbaijan, funding restrictions, human rights abuses, Human Rights Defenders, human rights mechanisms, UN Human Rights Council, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
August 18, 2014
An array of international human rights organisations have over the last weeks focused on Azerbaijan. These four reports together give a shocking picture of the kind of repression that awaits human rights defenders: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Civil Rights Defenders (NGO), Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Abdul Abilov, Azerbaijan, blogger, Civil Rights Defenders – Civil Rights Defenders, corruption, Council of Europe, Emin Huseynov, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), foreign funding, freedom of association, Front Line (NGO), HRW, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights House Foundation, Intigam Aliyev, journalists, Leyla Yunus, Rasul Jafarov, resource extraction
August 18, 2014
On 17 August 2014 Nabeel Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (the MEA Final Nominee of 2012), posted a strong piece in the Huffington Post which contains an impressive stand on why he takes the risks he does as well as a scathing attack on the western governments, especially those of the UK, for putting (arms) business before human rights consideration.
Nabeel Rajab, Final Nominee MEA 2012
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 2 Comments »
Tags: arms sales, Bahrain, Bahrain Center for Human Rights, diplomatic pressure, Huffington Post, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, MEA final nominee 2012, Middle East, Nabeel Rajab, UK, USA
August 11, 2014
Posted in Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, OHCHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti-reprisals focal point, civil society organisations, Human Rights Defenders, international protection, ISHR, legal protection, Phil Lynch, Pillay, Prince Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein, reprisals, retaliation, UN, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid
August 11, 2014
My reference last week to an interview with the new Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/michel-forst-new-special-rapporteur-on-human-rights-defenders-gives-indication-of-his-priorities/] seemed well appreciated judging from the number of views. Therefore I now refer you to a piece by the Director of the ISHR, Phil Lynch, of 16 July, who addresses the incoming UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein as the “human rights defender-in-chief “, saying that he has a particular responsibility to protect human rights defenders, especially so when they face intimidation and reprisals for their efforts to seek accountability at the UN for human rights violations. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, OHCHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti-reprisals focal point, Cao Shunli, civil society organisations, Ford Foundation, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Phil Lynch, Prince Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein, reprisals, reprs, retaliation, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, woman human rights defender
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 