The Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation, in collaboration with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, is organising its annual conference on Thursday 15 May 2014 at 18:30. The main speaker is Mr. José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Guinea Bissau, and Patron of the MEA on the theme of “Preventing conflicts, ending wars, building desirable peace.” The lecture is free and open to everyone at the Maison de la paix, Auditorium Ivan Pictet, Chemin Eugène-Rigot 2, 1202 Geneva.
On 21 April 2014, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network announced the loss of its founding member, Osman Hummaida. Mr Hummaida, who died of natural causes on Thursday 17th April 2014, was a leading Sudanese human rights defender and an inspiration to countless activists in the international and African human rights community. He advocated for human rights in Sudan, challenging the impunity of those responsible for atrocities carried out against civilians. Forced to leave Sudan, having been detained and tortured on account of his work, Mr Hummaida founded the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies in exile. The Centre’s success and strength in documenting and reporting ongoing human rights violations in the country and advocating for justice is a living testament to Mr Hummaida’s vision and determination.
The Wisconsin Gazette of 15 April 2014 carries a good summary of a major report by Global Witnessthat shows that killings of human rights defenders protecting environmental and land rights increased sharply in the last decade due to the intensification of competition for natural resources. The report “Deadly Environment” highlights a severe shortage of information or monitoring of the problem.
“It has never been more important to protect the environment, and it has never been more deadly,” said Oliver Courtney of Global Witness. “There can be few starker or more obvious symptoms of the global environmental crisis than a dramatic upturn in killings of ordinary people defending rights to their land or environment. Yet this rapidly worsening problem is going largely unnoticed, and those responsible almost always get away with it. We hope our findings will act as the wake-up call that national governments and the international community clearly need.”
Key findings in “Deadly Environment”:
• At least 908 people were killed in 35 countries protecting rights to land and the environment between 2002 and 2013, with the death rate rising in the last four years to an average of two activists a week. Read the rest of this entry »
“Like other people, journalists have personal interest in the rights that allow them to live in freedom and to be free from fear or oppression…” said Onesmo Olengurumwa, National Coordinator of Tanzania Human Rights Defenders – Coalition (THRD-C). He was speaking recently in Dar es Salaam at a 3-day seminar for journalists meant to train them in Security Management and Risk Assessment. Similar trainings will be conducted periodically to ensure journalists are equipped with the knowledge on how to best respond and tackle volatile and potentially dangerous situations. “Media owners, editors, journalists, human rights NGOs, community and the government should take security and protection issues for journalists much more seriously,” said Olengurumwa. He also reminded journalists that their personal behaviour, lifestyle and how they approach their work may place them at risk. “Investing on security management and protection for journalists should be undertaken by all media owners,”
group photo of training on Human rights in NBGS. [Gurtong| Abraham Agoth]
On 28 March 2014 Abraham Agoth in “Oye! News from Africa” reported that Journalists and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has completed a Human Rights Defenders training course organised by the Human Rights Protection and Civil Affairs Departments of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Speaking at the closing ceremony, the acting UNMISS state coordinator, Numa Shams urged the participants to apply what they learnt during the training in their daily work so that human rights abuses are minimized. “We hope this work will be incorporated into your daily activities of monitoring human right in your respective working locations and within your communities,” he said. “I have seen your participation and commitments in this training. It clearly shows that you have learnt something and are eager to learn more,” said Mary Makelele, the director general in the state ministry of Information, “My appeal to everyone is that; do not take these skills for granted but instead use them to educate others.” During the training, it was generally observed that human rights have been mostly violated due to negligence and ignorance.
Former President Jimmy Carter (89 years old!!) has incredible stamina but his latest book – A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power– is remarkable not just because of that high age but because it is incredibly blunt in describing how religions have systematically denigrated women, leading to prejudice, infanticide and horrific violence. The highlights of the interview below with KERA’s vice president of news, Rick Holter, about “the human and civil rights struggle of our time”, in too interesting to try and summarize and the same goes for the long excerpt from the book following: Read the rest of this entry »
Those who are planning to organise a film project with human rights films in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Middle East could apply for (modest) funding from the Netherlands-based NGO “Movies that Matter”. The organisation also offers advice to initiate human rights film festivals and helps to circulate and exhibit human rights films. Its support covers projects like mobile cinema projects, human rights film festivals, travelling film festivals, outreach programmes, and educational activities at schools and universities, but it does notsupport film production! The deadline for applications is 15 April 2014.
After 32 years, the NGO “INTERIGHTS” [International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights] ceases to exist as from 27 May 2014 due to lack of funding. This is bad news but at least there is a clear public statement. Too often human rights NGOs or awards are announced with great pomp but their demise is muffled. The Executive Director John Wadham made the following clear-headed statement: Read the rest of this entry »
How can human rights defenders lead and manage human rights organisations well? How can human rights defenders practice rights-based approaches and principles in their workplace? What key issues do human rights defenders face when working in organisations? These are the questions that inspired the Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York, United Kingdom, to run a 10-week course from 23 April to 1 July 2014. This module is aimed at human rights defenders and practitioners interested in leading and managing organisations more effectively.
This course is part of CAHR’s Defending Human Rightsdistance learning programme delivered wholly online in a fully supported environment. Students can take one, two or three modules as a continuing professional development (CPD) student, without academic credit, or complete all three modules as a postgraduate student, with academic credit. Postgraduate students who complete all three credit-bearing modules are awarded a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Defending Human Rights.
Partial scholarships (50 percent of fees) are available for both types of students in non-OECD countries who are:
actively involved in human rights work; and
either hold a leadership position in a civil society organisation or demonstrate strong potential for such leadership.
The NGO Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower) is deeply saddened by the passing of Irene Fernandez. This is how her colleagues reacted:
“Many of us knew her as a comrade and friend, stretching back years to the beginnings of our lives as activists and human rights defenders Irene Fernandez has had a long and vibrant engagement with human rights since the 1970s. She worked tirelessly for the rights of people whose causes were unpopular even among more sympathetic Malaysians: migrant workers, domestic workers, sex workers, and people living with HIV. She was there at the birth of the women’s movement in Malaysia in the 1980s and became a founder member of All Women’s Action Society (Awam) as well as Women’s Development Collective. Empower and Tenaganita, under her direction, collaborated on a one-year project in 2010. We were looking forward to many more such collaborations with Irene before her unexpected passing.
Irene was a hero to many for her deep commitment to her principles. She could be stern and unyielding, but these were qualities that served her well in fighting against relentless State persecution. Neither the 13-year criminal trial nor the 2012 sedition case succeeded in breaking her will. Empower regrets that should her harassers be one day brought to account for their actions, she did not live to witness it. We must believe, as she did, that the struggle to reaffirm our democratic rights is universal. It is our right and our responsibility to stand up for justice and equality. No human being is unimportant, no matter the gender, ethnicity, wealth, or social status. In carrying her legacy to the future, we must find in ourselves the courage she showed in standing up to those who deny the common humanity of our brothers and sisters.”
On 7 March 2014 UNHCR published a series of 6 videos on female genital mutilation (FGM), Too Much Pain, with stories of refugee women who have undergone FGM and have become human rights defenders engaged to end this practice. These women explain their experiences of flight, asylum and integration in the EU. These video clips deserve much wider recognition.
In Part 1, refugee women talk about why they had to flee because of their commitment to end the practice. The other videos explain that FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health and physical integrity; the right to be free from torture and other rights. FGM is harmful not cultural; it has life-long consequences and can be a ground for asylum. (See all videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtPw-Y91GlmWvO9wxMUW-Ey3eMY2vwWYZ )
This video complements the UNHCR publication Too Much Pain: Female Genital Mutilation & Asylum in the European Union – A Statistical Overview, and updated in March 2014 (see here: http://goo.gl/lDnCRJ).
![Journalists, CSOs, Human Rights and CBOs representatives posing for a group photo during the two-day training on Human rights in NBGS. [Gurtong| Abraham Agoth]](http://www.gurtong.net/Portals/0/GlobalResources/EN/images/Editorial2/journalists%20and%20Human%20Rights%20Defenders.jpg)
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 