Posts Tagged ‘human rights violations’
October 4, 2013
Looking back at the 24th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council which came to an end last Friday, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies [CIHRS] is disappointed to see how timid the Council becomes when dealing with human rights in the Arab region. Indeed, the people of Syria, Sudan, Bahrain, Egypt, Palestine, and Yemen need all the support they can get to move their countries towards political stability and the rule of law. The Council should be a driving force in confronting cases of human rights violations and making recommendations to address them.
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Tags: Arab region, Bahrain, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, CIHRS, Civil society, Council, Egypt, foreign funding, Human right, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights mechanisms, human rights violations, International Criminal Court, Non-governmental organization, reprisals, retaliation, Sudan, Syria, UN Resolution, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations Human Rights Council, Yemen
September 29, 2013
The Ogaden OnLine reports the following on 29 September:
We, the peoples of Benshangul, Gambella, Ogaden Somali, Oromo, Shakacho and Sidama nations unanimously agree to form Human Rights Advocacy Group [HRAG] in order to advocate for the Human Rights of the member communities and other oppressed peoples by the Ethiopian government. HRAG will tirelessly campaign harnessing the combined resources of the aforementioned communities and other support groups. It will expose the crimes the Ethiopian government is committing against the defenceless communities of these peoples, including land grabbing and displacement, mass executions, extra-judicial killings, rampant rape, mass detentions and use of aid as a weapon to gain compliance to the regime marginalization policies. HRAG will conduct targeted advocacy campaign that includes data gathering, advocacy works directed at countries of the world, Human Rights defenders, the AU and the United Nations, and will encourage more vigorous and joint campaigns by all the communities concerned. HRAG informs that the current situation in Ethiopia is very dire and unless urgent measures are taken, a crisis far worse than any seen so far in Africa will unfold. Therefore, HRAG calls the international community, in particular Donor countries, the AU and the UN and EU to make the Ethiopian government accountable for its flagrant Human Rights violations.Finally, HRAG calls upon all peoples in Ethiopia to stand up together and confront the perpetrators.Justice for all nations and nationalities.
While any new group with a focus on the defense of human rights is welcome – and in view of the means employed by the Ethiopian government also needed – the statement would have gained from a clear position that violent means will not be employed or advocated.
via Ogaden Online: The official homepage of Ogaden on the Internet – Human Rights Advocacy Group HRAG.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: advocacy work, Africa, African Union, announcement, current situation in ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Government, EU, extra judicial killings, Horn, HRAG, human rights, human rights advocacy, Human Rights Advocacy Group, human rights violations, new organisation, NGO, non-violence, Ogaden, ogaden online, Oromo people, UN, United Nations
September 19, 2013
(Sudanese IDPs – (c) AI private)
In a long letter to the UN Human Rights Council now in session a group of 13 NGOs urges the Council to continue monitoring Sudan. The letter has two main chapters on:
Conflicts in Darfur, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile, ………and
Repression of Civil and Political Rights……….
The letter ends with urging the Human Rights Council to:
- condemn the human rights violations in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, as well as the government’s continued use of indiscriminate bombing in all three states, attacks on civilians, and other abuses by government forces and allied militia;
- establish an independent investigation into ongoing human rights violations in Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur, and report back to the Human Rights Council promptly;
- urge Sudan to grant humanitarian agencies access to Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, in compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law obligations;
- express concern over the continued restrictions of basic civil and political rights, and the continued harassment of critics of the government, including the practice of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, preventing meaningful public dialogue on critical issues at a time when Sudan is preparing to adopt a new constitution and for national elections in 2015;
- urge Sudan to reform its repressive National Security Act of 2010 and other laws granting immunity to officials, seriously investigate allegations of human rights violations and hold perpetrators to account;
- renew the special procedure country mandate on Sudan for at least three years under Item 4 with a clear mandate to monitor and report twice a year to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly on violations of human rights in all parts of Sudan.
——-
Earlier on AI’s Global Blog, Khairunissa Dhala, Researcher on Sudan/South Sudan team at Amnesty International has answered her own question: “Does the human rights situation in Sudan still require a UN-mandated Independent Expert to monitor and report back on developments?” as follows: “Given Sudan’s dire human rights situation – ongoing armed conflicts in three different states, restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and assembly, including arbitrary arrest and torture of human rights defenders and activists – it is hard to imagine that there is even a question on whether this is needed. But we’ve been here before.
Two years ago, I attended the HRC’s 18th session where members of the Council reached a “compromise” on human rights monitoring in Sudan. It was a “compromise” because, while the Independent Expert’s mandate was renewed, it solely focused on providing technical assistance and capacity-building support to the national authorities. In other words, the Independent Expert would no longer be asked to monitor the human rights situation in Sudan. [….]Compromising on the Independent Expert’s mandate was seen as a concession to Sudan by the international community. A concession given to a country where widespread and systematic violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law are taking place.
But there should be no compromise on human rights. Since then, the Independent Expert’s mandate has successively been renewed to provide technical assistance, while the awful human rights situation in Sudan calls for a clear need for monitoring.. Conflict remains ongoing in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, to the detriment of the civilian population. Over the past two years I have interviewed numerous men, women and children from these two states. They have shared harrowing accounts of how their loved ones were killed when bombs dropped by Antonov aircrafts, from high altitudes, by the Sudanese Armed Forces, landed on their homes. Coupled with ground attacks by Sudanese forces and the armed opposition group the SPLA-N, this conflict has led to more than 200,000 people fleeing to refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia, in addition to the tens of thousands of internally displaced people in the two areas. The Sudanese authorities are still denying unhindered humanitarian access to all affected areas. Meanwhile, in Sudan’s Darfur state, a decade after the start of the armed conflict, the crisis is ongoing and violence has again intensified. This year alone, more than 300,000 people were forced to leave their homes behind, fleeing violent clashes between predominantly ethnic Arab groups.
Across Sudan, freedom of expression, association and assembly also remain restricted. Journalists and activists face constant harassment, arbitrary arrests, as well as torture and other forms of ill-treatment by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service. Given the critical human rights situation, any compromise on the Independent Expert’s mandate is an abdication of the Human Right Council’s duty to promote and protect human rights in Sudan…..The Independent Expert should have their mandate strengthened to monitor Sudan’s human rights situation under item 4 (Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention) and report twice a year to the Council and the UN General Assembly on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law taking place anywhere in the country.”
Read more:
Sudan: Letter to the UNHRC regarding the renewal and strengthening of the special procedure mandate on the situation of human rights in Sudan
Why monitoring human rights in Sudan still matters | Amnestys global human rights blog.
Posted in AI, FIDH, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, Blue Nile, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Darfur, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, experts, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in Sudan, human rights violations, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, international human rights and humanitarian law, Khairunissa Dhala, killings, South Kordofan, Special Procedures, Sudan, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations Human Rights Council
September 6, 2013
Truth commission archives are an important part of dealing with the past, which is a long-term process addressing a legacy of human rights violations.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: archives, documenting, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights violations, impunity, meeting, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, science, side event, Special Rapporteur, Swisspeace, Switzerland, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Truth commissions, United Nations Human Rights Council
May 3, 2013
Bahrain’s crackdown on human rights defenders continued today with the arrest of another prominent figure,
Naji Fateel. The arrest is the latest in a string of recent events calling into question the Kingdom’s claims of reform and progress. On 2 May 2013 at dawn, police arrested human rights defender Naji Fateel at his home in the village in north-west Bahrain. He is being held without formal charges at a location which is still unknown. Naji Fateel is a board member of the
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights and a blogger who has been active in reporting human rights violations in Bahrain. The human rights defender gives daily speeches during marches in villages in which he discusses the importance of documenting violations and calls for people to form monitoring committees.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, HRF, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, Bahrain, blogger, Brian Dooley, Front Line Defenders, HRF, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights First, human rights violations, illegal detention, Middle East, Nabeel Rajab, Naji Fateel, unlawful arrest, Zainab Al-Khawaja
April 29, 2013
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, will carry out an official visit to Ethiopia and Djibouti from 30 April to 9 May 2013 to collect information directly from Eritrean refugees on the human rights situation in their country. As in the case of Iran, Eritrea refuses access to the UN Rapporteur. “Due to lack of access to Eritrea, I will engage with all others concerned by human rights in Eritrea, including those who consider themselves to be victims of alleged human rights violations, human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” Ms. Keetharuth said. Another case of non-cooperation with UN mechanisms that should not be rewarded.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in Eritrea, human rights violations, Politics of Eritrea, refugees, Sheila B. Keetharuth, UN, United Nations Special Rapporteur
April 25, 2013
(EU) High Representative Catherine Ashton should publicly raise concerns over ongoing and persistent human rights violations in China when she visits Beijing, said Human Rights Watch. “As EU’s top foreign policy official, Ashton cannot ignore the deteriorating human rights environment in China,” said Lotte Leicht, European Union advocacy director. “She needs to make it a central part of her agenda in Beijing.” Ashton should also urge top Chinese officials to stop obstructing Security Council action on Syria, including humanitarian access to all civilians in need, and referring jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court.
In recent months the EU has issued strong statements, including ones at the United Nations Human Rights Council, on China’s use of the death penalty and the crisis of self-immolations in Tibet, among other issues.
The EU also provides some support to human rights defenders in China…..Yet, the EU’s engagement on human rights in China has been extremely weak since Ashton was nominated as the EU’s first foreign policy chief. The more than thirty rounds of the official EU-China dialogue on human rights have had little discernible positive effect for those standing up for human rights in China, and at other levels of political dialogue the EU has failed to give human rights and the rule of law a degree of public attention commensurate with the importance of these issues in China…
…Although the new Chinese leadership has expressed rhetorical support for reform on some key human rights concerns, such as re-education through labor, abuses remain rampant throughout the country. The Chinese government denies people the full exercise of basic rights such as freedom of expression, association, and religion, and systematically suppresses dissidents and human rights activists…
“Ashton should be prepared to tell her Chinese government interlocutors who speak of the need for reform that a good start would be freeing Liu Xiaobo and lifting the appalling and abusive house arrest imposed on Liu Xia,” said Leicht.
Even the new leadership’s commitment to robustly grappling with rampant corruption – identified as a high priority – is already being called into question. In early April, eight activists were arrested for their involvement in a grass-roots anti-corruption campaign.
China: EU Commitments Demand Tough Response | Human Rights Watch.
Posted in human rights | 3 Comments »
Tags: Beijing, Catherine Ashton, China, dialogue, European Union, HRW, Human right, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, Human Rights Watch, International Criminal Court, Liu Xiaobo, Lotte Leicht, repression, Syria, United Nations Human Rights Council
April 16, 2013
UNHCR’s Refworld 2013 goes live this week at http://www.refworld.org. The website has undergone significant changes based on a feedback received from internal and external users over the years.
Refworld started almost 20 years ago as an ever-expanding series of DVD’s containing the different databases of documentation centre of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. With the wider availability of broadband it switched in 2007 to internet only. It was already then considered an advanced protection information resource which aims to facilitate evidence-based and effective decision-making in refugee status determination procedures. Now it functions more broadly as a key tool for evidence-based advocacy relating to resettlement, statelessness, internal displacement, as well as specific protection concerns. The database, updated on a daily basis, now contains more than 167,000 documents relating to countries of origin or asylum, case law, legislation and policy. Especially the ‘country of origin’ information is relevant to human rights defenders as it is in fact a selection of human rights violations documentation. Also the legal information section is a unique collection of worldwide documentation concerning refugee law and statelessness.
Refworld 2013 features a number of improvements, such as: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: databases, documentation, DVDs, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights violations, information, internal displacement, refugee law, refugee status determination, refugees, Refworld, refworld 2013, search tool, statelessness, technology, text search engine, UNHCR, united nations high commissioner, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, User experience
February 5, 2013
The goal of the
International Centre for supporting Rights and Freedoms (ICSRF) is “
the provision of legal assistance to human rights activists in all countries of the world and its commitment to establish a new generation of cadres working in the field of defense of human rights“, although strangely its website
http://www.icsrf.org/ is at the moment only in Arabic and the scope of its activities seems to be restricted to the Arab-speaking world.
The creation of the new network was announced at the conclusion of a regional training course entitled “supporting skills of the defenders of human rights in the Arab countries”, held from 24 to 25 January 2013 in Kuwait with the participation of 32 participants from Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman including human rights organizations, human rights defenders and activists monitoring and documenting human rights violations.
The ‘Freedom – Network of Human Rights Defenders’ is established under the management of the International Centre for supporting Rights and Freedoms (ICSRF) and the members of the network will be selected from the participants who attended one of the training courses of the ICSRF or from those who work closely with the ICSRF. They will be trained on how to use international law and communication skills with media – both at the theoretical and practical level – in addition to the role of each member in monitoring and documenting violations. The ICSRF aims to create “a new generation of human rights defenders who are able to practice human rights work in a professional manner in line with the international law and the latest international developments as well as to establish a network of human rights defenders.”
Although everything points more to a regional than an international network, one can only wish them success as the Middle East is a region where Human Rights Defenders require support and freedom.
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Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Bahrain, freedom, human rights, human rights activists, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights organizations, human rights violations, information technology, International Centre for supporting Rights and Freedoms, Kuwait, legal assistance, media, Middle East, network, Oman, protection, Saudi Arabia
January 15, 2013
The Stockholm-based NGO Civil Rights Defenders hosts regular morning seminars called “One Hour of Human Rights” at its head office in Stockholm. These seminars are broadcasted live on its Bambuser channel and are also available to be viewed afterwards. The next one will be on 23 January 2013 on Burma/Myanmar: “Strengthened or weakened rights in the advancement of foreign investment?” [Burma/Myanmar is opening up after decades of military dictatorship, isolation and conflict. Rich natural resources and low production costs attract international companies. In the process there is a real risk that human rights may be disregarded. Hear Donna Guest, leading expert on human rights in Burma, speak about the challenges facing investors.]
The latest was on 28 November 2012: Silence over Eurovisionland
As the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was disappearing from people’s minds, the Azeri government has put all its efforts on controlling freedom of expression, assembly and association in the country. Rasul Jafarov is Chairman of the Human Rights Club and Campaign Coordinator for Sing for Democracy, spoke about human rights in Azerbaijan. Special guest: Loreen.
http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/category/events/
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Tags: Azerbaijan, Azeri government, Bambuser channel, Burma, Civil Rights Defenders, Eurovision Song Contest 2012, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in Azerbaijan, Human rights in Burma, human rights violations, Loreen, Stockholm
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 