Brussels-based NGO Protection International will be running the third edition of its online course “Security and Protection Management for Human Rights Defenders and Social Organisations”. The course will be in English, French and Spanish, in the period 14 July 2014 – 5 October 2014. For more information: http://protectioninternational.org/2013/09/11/new-e-learning-course-on-security-and-protection-management-for-hrd-and-social-organisations/
Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Defenders’
Iranian human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh speaks to the Guardian
June 2, 2014The Guardian of 1 June 2014 contains a long and fascinating interview with Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian lawyer who won the Sacharov Prize and was a Final Nominee of the MEA in 2012. The now freed Iranian human rights lawyer – in an interview with Simon Tisdall – speaks out in a moving way about why she is a human rights defender and how she coped with the separation from her family. The title of the piece: ‘I’ve a bad feeling about the women I left behind’ is telling of her concern for others.
(Nasrin Sotoudeh with her son, Nima, after being freed from prison last year. Photograph: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images)
“Nasrin Sotoudeh’s seven-year-old son, Nima, wants to go out to play. His mother, the leading Iranian human rights lawyer whose arbitrary imprisonment in 2010 sparked an international campaign to free her, has been talking for ages. Nima is bored. At the door to their apartment in north-west Tehran, Nasrin takes Nima in her arms. The boy stands on tip-toe to embrace his mother. They hold each other for a minute or more. It is as though the two cannot bear to be separated..…….”. For more: Freed Iranian rights lawyer: Ive a bad feeling about the women I left behind | World news | theguardian.com.
other posts on Nasrin: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/nasrin-sotoudeh/
Thai Junta summons human rights defenders
June 2, 2014The Asian Human Rights Commission reports that only a few hours ago (around 9 pm) on 1 June 2014, the National Council on Peace and Order Maintenance [NPCO] in Thailand issued Orders No. 42-44/2014 – broadcast on the radio and television – demanding that 38 persons report themselves to the Jamjuree Room at the Army Club on Thewet Road between 10 am and noon. Similar to earlier orders, the penalty for not obeying the summons carries a prison term and a 40,000 baht fine.The list includes a number of human rights defenders, activists, academics, and journalists, such as:
- Jittra Kotchadet, long-time labour rights activist and human rights defender.
- Tewarit Maneechay, human rights defender and journalist for the independent media site Prachatai.
- Suthachai Yimprasert, a historian at Chulalongkorn University, and
- Kengkij Kitirianglarp, a political scientist at Chiang Mai University; the two academics have consistently acted in support of human rights.
- Pranee Danwattananusorn, the wife of Surachai Danwattananusorn (a former political prisoner) and who has worked to support the rights of political prisoners and human rights defenders.
- Karom Phonpornklang, a lawyer who has defended numerous political prisoners.
The full lists can be found in: THAILAND: Junta summons additional human rights defenders, activists, academics, and journalists — Asian Human Rights Commission.
10 Films Every Human Rights Defender Should Watch in HR Watch
May 31, 2014I announced the HRW film festival in an earlier post [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/human-rights-watch-film-festival-celebrates-25th-anniversary-with-5-films-on-human-rights-defenders/] but now that the Huffington post of 31 May 2014 has listed the 10 films it says every human rights defender should see, I gladly share their pick:
1. Sepideh — Reaching for the Stars (Denmark/Iran/Germany/Norway/Sweden) The story of a teenage girl named Sepideh, living in a rural village outside of Tehran, who dreams of becoming a famous astronomer. The documentary tackles gender roles in Iran while showcasing one young woman’s ambition and strength in the face of her family’s discouragement, university pitfalls and societal expectations. Directed by Berit Madsen. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTzbIc6oiqs?wmode=opaque]
2. Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus (US/UK/Belarus) Made up of smuggled footage and uncensored interviews, this documentary gives audiences a glimpse into Belarus’ dissident movement as it takes the shape of stage performances and public activism. Directed by Madeleine Sackler. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGALySJ3O24?wmode=opaque]
3. Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story (US) A veteran shares her story moving from one identity, a former U.S. Navy Seal named Chris Beck, to another, a transgender woman named Kristen Beck. Directed by Sandrine Orabona. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r21OdLSTfQY?wmode=opaque]
4. A Quiet Inquisition (US) Here you’ll meet OBGYN Dr. Carla Cerrato, who must navigate the perilous territory of Nicaragua’s anti-abortion policies, which prohibit abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman’s life is at stake. Directed by Alessandra Zeka and Holen Sabrina Kahn.
5. Scheherazade’s Diary (Lebanon) This “tragicomic documentary” follows women inmates in Lebanon as they stage a theater/drama therapy project titled “Scheherazade in Baabda,” revealing personal stories of domestic violence, failed relationships and traumas associated with motherhood. Directed by Zeina Daccache. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VnZGmd6EMg?wmode=opaque]
6. Siddharth (Canada/India) One father’s desperate journey to locate his son, a 12-year-old boy who was sent to work in another province to support his family, but did not return and is feared to have been kidnapped or trafficked. Directed by Richie Mehta.
7. The Supreme Price (US) The film covers the evolution of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Nigeria and efforts to increase the participation of women in leadership roles. Directed by Joanna Lipper.
8. Private Violence (US) Questioning the accepted discourse on domestic violence, the documentary introduces audiences to two women survivors who advocate for justice while exploring “the fact that the most dangerous place for a woman is her home.” Directed by Cynthia Hill.
9. The Beekeeper (Switzerland) This is the touching story of Ibrahim Gezer, a Kurdish beekeeper from southeast Turkey who, robbed of his family, possessions and 500 bee colonies, moves to Switzerland to make a new life. Directed by Mano Khalil.
10. Abounaddara Collective Shorts from Syria (Syria) The Abounaddara Collective is a group of filmmakers who came together in 2010 to help provide an alternative image of Syrian society, one not seen in mainstream media. This portion of the festival will showcase 90 minutes of their short films.
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will run from June 12 to June 22, 2014. See a complete schedule of screenings here.
DRC: Human Rights Defender shot and NGO office closed
May 30, 2014The 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/
Facebook bad for your health in Iran
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.
China continues harassment and reprisals against human rights defenders
May 29, 2014The 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.
45 NGOs demand that Syrian militants release Human Rights Defenders
May 27, 2014On 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/
Business and Human Rights Defenders in Side Event on Friday 13 June
May 27, 2014Under 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.
Have human rights defenders encountered the end of their shaming powers?
May 25, 2014It 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.
Why so many rulers are impervious to shame – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 