Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Defenders’
May 30, 2014
The Democratic Republic of Congo remains a terrible place for human rights defenders. These two recent events reported by Front Line make it abundantly clear:
1. Attempted murder of human rights defender Mr Leonard Lusimba
On 22 May 2014, human rights defender Mr Leonard Lusimba was shot in an attempted killing by a member of the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo – FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo). He underwent surgery on 25 May, and a second operation will be necessary in the coming days. Leonard Lusimba is the regional representative of Collectif d’Actions pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme – CADDHOM, an organisation which, since the 1990s, has worked to promote human rights and peace education in different regions of the DRC, in particular in the Eastern provinces of the country where a number of armed groups are still active.
[Over recent years, numerous Congolese human rights defenders have been killed as a result of targeted attacks. In the rare cases where serious investigations have been undertaken, they have often failed to lead to results, favouring impunity.]
2. Closure of the office of human rights organisation Solidarity for Social Advancement and Peace
On 21 May 2014, the Congolese human rights organisation Solidarité pour la Promotion Sociale et la Paix – SOPROP (Solidarity for Social Development and Peace) was closed by the Direction Générale des Impôts – DGI in relation to an investigation into allegations of tax fraud. The DGI declared that it needed time to reach a compromise with SOPROP, and proposed a settlement to SOPROP of 20% of the amount it allegedly owed in unpaid taxes. SOPROP rejected the proposal on the grounds that there was no basis for the amount originally demanded. The same day, SOPROP brought a complaint to the local Prosecutor’s Office, which identified irregularities in the procedure and ordered that the medical centre be reopened. The office, however, remains sealed, and it is unknown when it will be reopened
[SOPROP is an organisation which, since its foundation in 1994, has supported victims of torture and other violence through medical, social and legal assistance. The organisation is also known for its activities in human rights education, particularly in schools, as well as for its investigations into human rights violations and corruption. In 2011, SOPROP had published a report on the corrupt practices of state companies in Kinshasa, which highlighted agencies of the DGI, amongst others.]
For previous posts on DRC: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/congo-drc/
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti corruption, CADDHOM, Civil society, closure, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, impunity, Leonard Lusimba, shooting, SOPROP
May 29, 2014
(Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA)
The Guardian reports that eight people have been jailed in Iran on charges including blasphemy and insulting the country’s supreme leader on Facebook. The opposition website Kaleme reported that two of the eight, identified as Roya Saberinejad Nobakht, 47, from Stockport (Iranian/UK national), and Amir Golestani, each received 20 years in prison and the remaining six – Masoud Ghasemkhani, Fariborz Kardarfar, Seyed Masoud Seyed Talebi, Amin Akramipour, Mehdi Reyshahri and Naghmeh Shahisavandi Shirazi – between seven and 19 years. They were variously found guilty of blasphemy, propaganda against the ruling system, spreading lies and insulting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
[The relevant backdrop is that there is a growing row between President Hassan Rouhani’s administration, which favours internet freedom, and hardliners wary of relaxing online censorship. Last week, Iran’s national TV paraded six young Iranians arrested for performing a version of Pharrell William’s hit song Happy and posting a video of it on the internet. The arrests caused global outrage and prompted Rouhani to react in their support. The performers were soon released, but the video’s director, Sassan Soleimani, remains in jail. The arrests highlighted the challenges Rouhani faces in delivering his promise of allowing people greater access to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, which remain blocked in Iran….In recent weeks Rouhani has stepped up his rhetoric in support of internet freedom. “The era of the one-sided pulpit is over,” he said recently at a conference in Tehran, endorsing social networks and asking his communications minister to improve bandwidth in the country. He intervened when the authorities blocked access to the mobile messaging service WhatsApp, ordering the ban to be lifted. Iran’s judiciary, which is a political institution independent of the government, has since moved to challenge Rouhani’s intervention and orderered WhatsApp to be banned. Until two years ago, Iran’s ministry of information and communications technology was in charge of policing the country’s online community, but in 2012 Khamenei ordered officials to set up the supreme council of virtual space, a body that is closer to the supreme leader than to the government. This means Rouhani is not the sole decision-maker in the future of Iranian web. With help from Iran’s cyberpolice, the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guards have identified and arrested Iranians because of web-related issues, including several employees of the Iranian gadget news website Narenji, who have been in jail since December.]
via Briton among eight jailed in Iran for web insults | World news | The Guardian.
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amir Golestani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blasphemy, facebook, freedom of expression, Hassan Rouhani, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, internet, Iran, islamic fundamentalists, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kaleme, Pharrell William's Happy, Saberinejad Nobakht, Sassan Soleimani, the Guardian, video clips
May 29, 2014
The Treaty Body that oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, composed of independent experts, recently completed its review of China‘s compliance. In its conclusions (called ‘Concluding Observations’), the UN committee expressed serious concern about ‘instances where labour and human rights activists, and their lawyers, have been victims of repression and reprisals while taking up cases of violations of economic, social and cultural rights’ and said that China is obliged under international law ‘to protect human rights and labour activists, as well as their lawyers, against any form of intimidation, threat and retaliation‘.
[The ISHR had briefed the treaty body experts on the case of Chinese human rights defender, Cao Shunli, on of the 3 Final Nominees of the MEA 2014, who died in detention after being denied access to adequate health care. In its briefing, ISHR also expressed concern at ongoing intimidation and reprisals against other human rights defenders, saying, ‘The Chinese Government again restricted human rights defenders from travelling to Geneva to attend this session, a pattern which is widespread. We call on the Committee to recommend that the government immediately cease its harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, and that it guarantee the right of everyone to safely access and communicate with international bodies, such as this Committee. Further, we request that the Committee remain vigilant about reprisals, and that it recommend that the Government investigate all cases of alleged reprisals, and hold perpetrators to account.’] [http://www.ishr.ch/news/china-un-committee-demands-respect-human-rights-activists-and-end-reprisals]
Two days earlier, 26 May, the NGO Chinese Human Rights Defenders reported that Chinese authorities have detained a top rights lawyer and questioned dozens of activists and family members of victims of the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement after they held a seminar to mark the sensitive 25th anniversary.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Cao Shunli, China, China Human Rights Defenders, Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Cui Weiping, Front Line (NGO), harassment, Hu Jia, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, inner mongolia, International Service for Human Rights, Liu Shihui, MEA final nominee 2014, Pu Zhiqiang, Renee Xia, reprisals, retaliation, Tiananmen Square
May 27, 2014
On 27 May RIA Novosti picked up the press release by Human Rights Watch calling for four prominent human rights defenders allegedly in custody of an armed opposition group in Syria to be immediately released. HRW together with 45 co-signing organizations states that irregular armed opposition groups in Syria are threatening and harassing journalists and human rights defenders.“Abductions of human rights defenders by armed groups in Syria are an assault on the very freedoms the armed opposition groups claim to be fighting for”. Almost six months a group of armed men kidnapped human rights defenders Razan Zeitouneh [or Zaitouneh], Wael Hamada, Samira Khalil, and Nazem Hammadi in a city outside Damascus, then controlled by a number of armed opposition groups, but there has been no information on the status or whereabouts of Zeitouneh and her colleagues, and no group has claimed responsibility for their abduction.
See previous post with video message by Zaitouneh: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/human-rights-defender-razan-zaitouneh-still-missing-in-syria-after-one-month/
via HRW Demands Syrian Militants Release Rights Defenders Working to Expose Rebel Abuses | World | RIA Novosti.
Posted in films, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: disappearances, freedom of expression, HRW, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, journalists, kidnapping, Razan Zaitouneh, Razan Zeitouneh, rebel groups, reporting, RIA Novosti, Syria
May 27, 2014
Under the title “From threats to opportunities: Business and Human Rights Defenders” the International Service for Human Rights [ISHR] organises a side event on Friday 13 June 2014, 12h15 – 13h45 in Room IX of Palais des Nations, Geneva. Note that it will be the first public appearance of the new Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Michael Forst. (https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/finally-it-is-final-michel-forst-the-new-rapporteur-on-human-rights-defenders/). For those unable to attend, a live webcast will be available at www.ishr.ch/webcast. You may also follow the event on Twitter @ISHRGlobal, using the hashtag #HRDs.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alice Harrison, corporate accountability, environmental activists, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, Land issues, Michel Forst, Mining, Phil Lynch, Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, resource extraction, side event, streaming, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, webcast
May 25, 2014
It is late in the weekend but perhaps you still find time for an interesting long read by Suzanne Nossel, the Executive Director of the PEN American Center. She wrote this for Foreign Policy and it was reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post of 25 May. The article is a good overview with what has gone wrong recently with an increasing number of world leaders showing not to care much about human rights (accusations), an attitude which she dubs “imperviousness”. I am personally not convinced that this is an unstoppable tendency but we seem indeed to be in quite a dip compared to say a decade ago when it comes to the restraining power of the human rights movement. So the depressive conclusion of this relatively long piece is not too unexpected: “The traditional tools of human rights activism — exposes, media attention and pressure from mostly credible Western governments — are falling short when it comes to some of the major challenges of the day. It is as if an expanding group of leaders has built up antibodies and these leaders can now resist where they previously would have succumbed. While it’s not time to give up on the traditional treatments, human-rights defenders need to get into the lab quickly and develop some new tactics before the virus of imperviousness spreads even further.” It would be interesting to get views from others on this question.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2014/05/25/Impervious-to-shame/stories/201405250049#ixzz32l7PrPqD
Why so many rulers are impervious to shame – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Civil society, diplomatic pressure, Foreign Policy, human rights activism, Human Rights Defenders, human rights movement, human rights violations, imperviousness, impunity, PEN American Center, Suzanne Nossel
May 23, 2014
With the introduction: “Human rights defenders are people like you – people who stand up for the right of others in the face of risk. In the U.S., human rights defenders face specific threats that impact their collective ability to work and seek justice“, five NGOs based in the USA and working for human rights in the US call on other human rights defenders to register for a training course on human rights education on Wednesday 28 May 2h00 pm to 3h00 pm (EDT). Dream Defenders, Maryland Legal Aid, the US Human Rights Network [USHRN], the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Center for Reproductive Rights come together to teach about the work of U.S.-based human rights defenders and the special protections they have under international law; and to have the opportunity to hear from fellow human rights defenders about how they have successfully used these international protections and other forms of international advocacy to protect themselves and their ability to work. Speakers:
- Ejim Dike, Executive Director of the US Human Rights Network
- Sunita Patel, Staff Attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights
- Karla Torres, Human Rights Fellow at Center for Reproductive Rights
- Ahmad Abuznaid, Legal and Policy Director at Dream Defenders
- Reena Shah, Director of Human Rights Project at Maryland Legal Aid
For more information and to download the flyer in PDF: Defending the Defenders | US Human Rights Network.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Centre for Constitutional Rights, Centre for Reproductive Rights, defend the defenders, Dream Defenders, Human Rights Defenders, international human rights, international procedures, Maryland Legal Aid, training course, United States, US Human Rights Network, US Human Rights Network [USHRN], USA
May 21, 2014
FIDH and OMCT, in the framework of their Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, express their grave concern about the situation of human rights defenders in Africa. They do so in a 7-page written statement before the 55th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights [ACHPR] on 20 May in Luanda. It can be read in full on: Situation of human rights defenders in Africa – Contribution to the 55th ordinary session of ACHPR Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 4 Comments »
Tags: Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Civil society, death threats, detention, FIDH, freedom of association, freedom of expression, Human Rights Defenders, intimidation, judicial harassment, LGBTI, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, statement
May 21, 2014
From 20-21 May 2014 there was in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a Regional Workshop on Implementing the Human Dimension Commitments and Enhancing the role of Civil Society. An important contribution was the joint statement by six NGOs containing recommendations to protect human rights defenders in Central Asia. The text in its totality follows below: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Central Asia, Club Flaming Hearts, detention, foreign agent law, freedom of association, freedom of expression, human rights activists, Human Rights Defenders, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, ODHIR, OSCE, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, violations
May 20, 2014
Yesterday, 19 May 2014, EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels for the Foreign Affairs Council on Development, reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to promoting all human rights, whether civil and political, or economic, social and cultural, in all areas of its external action without exception, as part of working towards a rights-based approach to development coöperation. “The implementation of a rights-based approach to development cooperation should be based on the universality and indivisibility of human rights and the principles of inclusion and participation in decision-making processes; non-discrimination, equality and equity; transparency and accountability. The application of these principles should be central to EU development cooperation, thereby also ensuring the empowerment of the poorest and most vulnerable, in particular of women and girls, which in turn contributes to poverty reduction efforts,” said the Council conclusions. The Council also stressed the need for continued EU support for human rights defenders, capacity-building of local civil society organisations and promoting a safe and enabling environment in both law and practice that maximizes their contribution to development. Being closer to citizens and interacting with civil society, local authorities also play a crucial role in the effective implementation of a rights-based approach.
Moreover, the Council underlined that investment and business activities in partner countries should respect human rights and adhere to the principles of corporate social and environmental responsibility and accountability.
Posted in EU, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Civil society, corporate accountability, Development Cooperation, EU, eu policy, European Union, foreign ministers, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, support
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 