|
Related articles
- HRDs in Latin America get attention from experts on 6 March (thoolen.wordpress.com)
Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Defenders’
Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders must stop, also in UN!
March 20, 2012Exhibit by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams features human rights defenders
March 19, 2012On March 14, 2012 the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center) opened its “Speak Truth To Power” photography exhibition at Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport . “Speak Truth To Power” is a collection of powerful photographs by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams. The images document courage by featuring human rights defenders around the globe. The photography exhibit is an important component of the RFK Speak Truth To Power program, which has traveled to more than 20 cities around the world.
Call for release of political prisoners in Iran for Norooz
March 18, 2012Iranian activists have issued a statement urging the government to release political prisoners for Norooz, the Iranian New Year. Radio Zamaneh reports that 440 Iranian civic and political activists of various stripes have signed a statement demanding that the government at least allow political prisoners to spend the New Year with their families, on the first day of spring in March.
The statement condemns the harsh sentences handed recently to Nasrin Sotoudeh, Nargess Mohammadi and Abdolfattah Soltani, members of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, and it denounces the arrest of journalists, political activists and all prisoners of conscience.
via Iranian activists call for release of political prisoners for Norooz.
Concrete steps towards better protection of human rights defenders
March 15, 2012On March 8 and 9, 2012, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), organised the fourth “inter-mechanisms” meeting, which was hosted by the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, Switzerland. This is a unique informal platform where under Chatham House Rules key actors meet to fine tune standards and mechanisms for Human Rights Defenders.
On this occasion, international and regional mechanisms and programmes for the protection of human rights defenders – operating within the United Nations, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Council of Europe, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights(IACHR) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights – joined by representatives of the European Union, the International Organisation of the Francophonie and various NGOs, discussed the drafting of a joint report on existing standards and recommendations related to the protection of human rights defenders at the international and regional levels. IACHR offered to take a coordinating role in drafting the report, with the back up of the Observatory. This report would be inspired by the 2011 Commentary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and the IACHR Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders. Such a document, the first of its kind, will not only be a useful tool to human rights defenders, States and other relevant stakeholders, but will also demonstrate a unity of approaches among mechanisms.
Participants also shared their experiences and lessons learnt in order to identify possible ways tostrengthen the coordination and cooperation among existing mandates on the protection of human rights defenders. In particular, action-oriented discussions focused on how to ensure accountability for human rights violations against human rights defenders, which is a central issue for all mechanisms and programmes in order to combat impunity.
Participants also discussed core policy challenges affecting the protection of human rights defenders in relation to freedom of association, as well as possibilities of cooperation with the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. A specific focus on the right to receive and access funding, including foreign funding was discussed, reflecting renewed preoccupations by mechanisms on restrictions by States in this regard. These issues should be further discussed during a future inter-mechanisms meeting, to be organised by the Observatory.
For more information, please contact :
• OMCT : Delphine Reculeau : + 41 22 809 49 39
• FIDH : Karine Appy / Arthur Manet : + 33 1 43 55 25 18
Indian law on foreign funds to NGOs could hamper HRDs
March 13, 2012And even in a basically democratic country such as India the ‘sophisticated’ attack on HRDs is possible. In what is perhaps the first international reaction to the Indian government’s heightened scrutiny of NGOs receiving foreign funds, the United Nations Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya has in a report presented at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva expressed concern about the new regime (introduced by Foreign Contribution Regulation Act). In her report presented on 5 March she observed that some of the provisions of the new Act “may lead to abuse by the authorities when reviewing applications of organisations which were critical of authorities”. Indian law on foreign funds to NGOs worries UN body | Firstpost.
Ethiopia’s restrictions on HRDs just the tip of the iceberg: repression becomes more sophisticated worldwide
March 13, 2012Governments are becoming increasingly ‘sophisticated’ in their repression of human rights defenders. Probably as a result of the remarkable worldwide acceptance of human rights as a universal set of standards, Governments that want to continue to suppress criticism are resorting to more and more indirect methods of repression.
The basic universality of human rights is nowadays accepted by the quasi-totality of mankind. In the words of Normand and Zaidi, ‘the speed by which human rights has penetrated every corner of the globe is astounding. Compared to human rights, no other system of universal values spread so fast’. This has not stopped a small number of governments (e.g. Iran, Zimbabwe, North Korea) to continue to oppose the idea and depict human rights as a ‘western’ or ‘foreign’ product, alien to their culture. But the big majority seems to have accepted that there is a crucial distinction between the universality of human rights and its universalisation (or universal application). The first is the moral and legal principle that a core of human rights exists and applies to every person in the world irrespective of his or her culture, country, etc. The second is the process by which these universal standards become a reality. Here one cannot make the same optimistic observation about the speed by which human rights are spreading, but this is not only due to the ever-present gap between rhetoric and reality. The international system itself allows for differing interpretations by giving a margin of appreciation at the regional and national level and by permitting States to make reservations to international agreements. The big question is then, to what extent local cultural, legal and religious practices can be accommodated by the international system without losing its coherence.
In this context one sees increasingly that Governments use ‘tricks’ or at least more roundabout ways to tackle those they want to silence. Recent examples are the disbarment of lawyer Intigam Aliyev in Azerbijan (continuing legal work without license), financial fraud charges against Ales Bialiatski in Belarus (NGO refused recognition, therefore no bank account in Belarus, thus acceptance of grants in neighboring countries illegal), withdrawal of recognition of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Now Amnesty International has come with a report on Ethiopia ‘Stifling human rights work: The impact of civil society legislation in Ethiopia’ (PDF). It describes in detail how the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation imposes heavy restrictions on human rights groups operating in the east African country, and allows for excessive government interference. The result is that Ethiopians have less access to independent human rights assistance. Amnesty International’s Deputy Africa Director Michelle Kagari said: ‘Rather than creating an enabling environment for human rights defenders to work in, the government has implemented a law which has crippled human rights work in Ethiopia. The space to make legitimate criticism is more restricted than ever.’ Human rights defenders risk imprisonment if they violate vaguely defined provisions within the 2009 law, making them afraid to speak out, and often resort to self-censorship, in order to avoid repercussions.
There are surely many other examples and it goes to show that those of us who want to assist HRDs in their work have to become also more sophisticated and cut through the maze of legalistic and bureaucratic measures to unearth the truth about the situation of HRDs. We have our work cut out!
Related articles
- Ethiopia: Human rights work crippled by restrictive law (ethioandinet.wordpress.com)
MEA Jury to meet on 7 March in Geneva to select the nominees for 2012
March 2, 2012On Wednesday 7 March, I have honor to preside over the Jury meeting of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA). The Jury is composed of ten leading international human rights NGOs and comes together in Geneva in the Palais Eynard (put at our disposal by our main partner the City of Geneva) to select from a shortlist of 10 candidates the 3 nominees. The names of the nominees will be made public on 24 April 2012 at a press conference in Geneva. All three nominees will be invited to the MEA ceremony on 2 October in Geneva, where they will be honored and a film on their work shown. The Jury meets again on 2 october to select the final Laureate of 2012 whose name will be announced at the ceremony.
New Google Privacy Policy Raises Concerns over User Protection | Human Rights First
March 1, 2012According to Human Rights First, Google’s new privacy policy will impact users all over the world including human rights defenders in the Middle East who use the internet to organize and advocate for freedom and democracy. The piece is short on detail regarding the risks but deserves attention:
New Google Privacy Policy Raises Concerns over User Protection | Human Rights First.
Geneva event: Human Rights Defenders combating impunity in the Philippines
February 29, 2012
“Human Rights Defenders Combating Impunity in the Philippines” will be the discussion topic of a parallel event on 6 March 2012 from 13h00 to 15h00 during the 19th Session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Since the Philippines’ Universal Periodic Review in 2008, numerous human rights defenders have been killed, abducted, tortured and continue to be threatened in the Philippines. Often, human rights lawyers, journalists, members of small opposition political parties, trade unionists and anti-mining
and church-based activists are targeted. In many cases the suspected perpetrators are alleged to be members of the state security forces, state-sponsored paramilitaries and private armed groups.
President Benigno Aquino, elected in May 2010, has vowed to end political motivated killings and enforced disappearances, but almost two years after, perpetrators of these human rights violations persist with impunity as very few cases are efficiently investigated and prosecuted in court. In 2011,
the Philippine Commission on Human Rights reported a total of 64 victims of “summary killings”, indicating an upward trend under the new administration.
The event will include short films (personal accounts of a survivor of torture and enforced disappearance and a journalist survivor of a politically-motivated massacre that killed 58 people including 33 journalists). There will also be a panel of human rights defenders from the Philippines presenting their reports about the current human rights situation in the Philippines and the hindrances they have experienced in combating impunity in the country.
What are the deficits within the judicial and security sectors and what concrete measures need to be implemented immediately? The following debate with participants shall offer concrete questions and recommendations which may be useful for stakeholders before and during the interactive dialogue at the May 2012 UPR.
The event is co-sponsored by Aktionsbündnis Menschenrechte Philippinen/Action Network Human Rights Philippines, Franciscans International and Amnesty International.
Franciscans International: Human Rights Defenders combating impunity in the Philippines.
Human Rights Groups Welcome Spanish Court’s Decision to Acquit Judge Baltasar Garzón
February 28, 2012On 27 February 2012 an impressive array of international NGOs welcomed the decision by the Criminal Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court to acquit the judge and human rights defender Baltasar Garzón. The organizations include: the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Asociación pro Derechos Humanos de España (APDHE), Asociación Española para el Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos (AEDIDH), the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) and Rights International Spain (RIS). The stated: “… We have previously issued a statement https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByBM8_x9YdxiOTllZTE4YzYtNGQ1Mi00NGQ1LWJlNTgtMDhjNDliMDE4MzYx/edit?pli=1 warning the international community and Spanish society of the danger that the process posed to both judicial independence and access to justice for victims of crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime. We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to finally acquit Judge Baltasar Garzón of the malfeasance charges against him. However, at the same time, we strongly reaffirm that grave damage has been done to both Judge Garzón and judicial independence more broadly. Judge Garzón should never have been prosecuted for complying with the clear obligation under international law to investigate grave violations of human rights.”
The organizations added that the critical question that motivated the prosecution of Judge Garzón has not been adequately answered: “Who has the legal authority to investigate crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime?” “We remind the Supreme Court of its obligation to rule on this issue of legal authority or competency raised before it. Determination of this pressing issue was inexplicably subordinated to the malfeasance prosecution against Judge Garzón and as a result has unjustifiably remained pending for over two years. Our organizations call on the Supreme Court to consider and determine, in accordance with its constitutional mandate and principles of international law, what courts have the authority to investigate and provide effective remedy for the 114,266 enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings committed during the Civil War and Franco regime that followed. We also call on the Court to confirm the applicability of national and international law to the investigation and redress of these and other serious crimes against international law.”
Along with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee, the NGOs call on Spain to repeal its 1977 Amnesty Law as it violates the international law obligations Spain has assumed since that year and the Spanish Constitution itself (articles 1.1, 9, 10.2, 95 and 96).
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 