Posts Tagged ‘human rights’
February 5, 2013
The Palestinian News Network on 4 February 2013 reported that in the early hours of Wednesday 23rd January 2013, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested Hassan Yasser Karajeh, a 29 year old youth activist in the Stop the Wall Campaign, violently breaking into his home in the West Bank village of Safa, west of Ramallah. Since then he is in interrogation without access to his lawyer or family. He is part of a new generation of active Human Rights Defenders. ‘Stop the Wall‘ asks solidarity groups, social movements, human rights organizations and concerned citizens to act together to free Hassan Karajah and stop the repression of human rights defenders in Palestine.
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Tags: Hassan Yasser Karajeh, human rights, illegal detention, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Middle East, Palestine, Palestinian people, Ramallah, Stop the Wall, West Bank
February 5, 2013
The Jakarta Post of 4 February reports that a group of scholars and rights activists have raised concerns about the radical and worrying change of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) head’s tenure from the previous 2.5 years to only a year. In the picture on the right you see the Head of Komnas HAM Otto Nur Abdullah (second right) in talks with former Komnas HAM executive director Miriam Nainggolan (right), Setara Institute chief executive Hendardi (second left) and former Komnas HAM commissioner MM Billah (left) at Komnas HAM headquarters on Monday .(JP/Jerry Adiguna)
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Tags: human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights commission, independence, Indonesia, Jakarta Post, Komnas HAM, National Human Rights Commission, Otto Nur Abdullah, politics
February 2, 2013
Under the title “Urgent Appeals, theory and practice“, the NGO ‘Asian Human Rights Commission‘ reflects on the need and increasing practicality (especially thanks to IT) of conducting urgent appeals. The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations and it now concludes that “Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies. The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region”.
for the full text of the reflection go to: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals
To illustrate the point the AHRC comes at the same time with a call for action against what it calls a “witch hunt” by the Indian authorities against human rights defender Madhuri Krishnaswami of the Jagrat Dalit Adivasi Sangthan. In the most recent attack, the District Magistrate has written a letter to the Divisional Commissioner that found its way to Chief Secretary accusing the organisation to have links with Maoists and have demanded an inquiry into the issue. The attack is not a stray one but comes high on heels of an externment notice served on her by the same district administration in May, 2012 and subsequent attack on a JADS rally by the local goon with the administration looking away. Interestingly, the charge has been refuted by the police with the Inspector General of Police, categorically denying the presence of any Maoists activities in the reason.[The administration, evidently, is working on the behest of deeply entrenched vested interests whose corruption Madhuri and the organisation have continuously been exposing. The current attack, too, is an attempt to divert attention from the massive scam in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the area tipped to be worth more than 150 crore INR.]
At the same time the AHCR expresses great concern over the abduction of 4 human rights defenders in Pakistan by (probably) members of an outlawed religious organization. The unknown armed persons abducted six workers of a NGO including, two lady workers. However, after some time they threw the two women out of the vehicle. It is feared that the abducted workers would be assassinated as has happened in the past. Many health workers and human rights defenders have been killed after their abduction by such ‘religious groups’. The NGO, ‘HAND’, works under the UN programme. The abducted persons and female workers who were working in the Noor Mohammad Village Goth, Mauripur, Karachi, where they have been distributing medicines and rations to the residents for some time. The male abductees were Engineer Amjad Ali Siyal, Mohammad Ashfaq, dispenser, Khurram Ahmad Abbas, dispenser and driver Humayun Ahmad, driver. The released women, Miss. Shakila and Miss. Rashida told police that the kidnappers had taken the four abducted workers in a car towards Balochistan. The police claim that they were abducted by one of the banned Muslim extremist groups who are opposed to the polio vaccination programme and this incident due to the campaign against NGO volunteers. It is believed that the abductors are convinced that they are working for the interests of America or the West.
Posted in AHRC, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: AHRC, Asian Human Rights Commission, dalits, HAND, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, India, Madhuri Krishnaswami, NGO, Non-governmental organization, Pakistan, United Nations, urgent action, urgent appeals
February 1, 2013
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. on Thursday 31 January launched an appeal for US$130.4 million in 2013, telling donors that the UN Human Rights Office could respond to more of the many requests for assistance she receives if additional resources were made available. Despite reducing its expenditure by more than 7.5 percent in 2012, the UN Human Rights Office experienced a funding shortfall for the third year in a row. “As a result, 46 posts have been cut or frozen, a decision which will affect our ability to respond to ongoing challenges, such as discrimination, climate change, HIV-related issues, protection of human rights defenders and support for various key human rights bodies”, Mrs Pillay said.
“Clearly, preventing crises costs vastly less than responding to them once they have occurred,” the High Commissioner said. “It is a disturbing paradox that raising funds to respond to crisis situations is so much easier than raising funds to prevent crises from happening in the first place. Imagine all the suffering, destruction and loss of life that could have been avoided if we were able to prevent or mitigate only some of the crises the world is witnessing today……… This prevention role – which is generally less visible than our responsive role – is of crucial importance and deserves strong donor support and attention.”
Twenty years ago, when the Office of the High Commissioner was created, the international community made the decision to invest more in human rights, but this sector remains severely underfunded, especially compared to the high degree of public recognition the UN gets for its human rights work.
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Tags: appeal, budget, funding, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, Navanethem Pillay, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pillay, staff, UN, United Nations
February 1, 2013
Two NGOs, Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders and Dublin-based Front Line Defenders, have expressed concern for the safety of two human rights defenders in the Transnistria, the internationally unrecognised separatist republic of Moldova. Stepan Popovsky andVladimir Maimust are the subject of judicial harassment and threats by the local administration.
On 9 January 2013, Stepan Popovsky, a private lawyer and chairperson of the Republican Social Movement for the Protection of Property and Social Rights of Peasants, held a meeting where he provided legal support to local peasants. The meeting was interrupted by police officers accusing him of trespassing on a private area, although the Criminal Code of Transnistria does not define trespassing as a criminal offense. One week after the incident, Stepan Popovsky was informed that a criminal case had been initiated against him. He responded with a letter of complaint to the local Minister of Internal Affairs. Since then, Stepan Popovsky has been repeatedly threatened by Transnistrian region’s law enforcement officers while performing his profession as a lawyer. A few months earlier, Stepan Popovsky was the subject of a defamatory media campaign that presented him as a foreign spy earning millions of dollars by buying local real estate.
The human rights lawyer Vladimir Maimust is also under pressure from the Transnistrian authorities. He is the lawyer of a person who was detained by the Transnistrian authorities on 23 June 2012 and who later died from suffocation in jail on 21 November 2012. Vladimir Maimust filed a complaint to the local Investigation Committee and to the Transnistrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk, in which he accused the investigator of abuse of power and negligence that led to the death of his client. Vladimir Maimust was later threatened by KGB agents “to be included in the list of persons whose activity on the territory of the republic has to be undermined” and that criminal charges can be brought against him. During a working visit to the Investigation Committee on 11 January 2013, the human rights lawyer was beaten and injured by four men in police uniform who also tried to slip an unknown package into his pocket, accusing him of being drunk although medical expertise later confirmed that there was no sign of alcohol consumption. A criminal case has been recently opened against Vladimir Maimust for conspiracy. If found guilty, he may face up to 12 years in prison.
Civil Rights Defenders and Front Line Defenders believe that the threats and the fabricated criminal cases against Stepan Popovsky and Vladimir Maimust are directly related to their human rights work. The organisations urge the representatives of the Transnistrian administration to launch an immediate and impartial investigation into the threats against the human rights defenders, to protect them from any further threats or attacks, and to ensure that all human rights defenders in the region can carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.
http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/21494
http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/news/statements/threats-against-human-rights-defenders-must-be-condemned-and-investigated/
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Tags: Civil Rights Defenders, Front Line Defenders, harassment, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, KGB, lawyers, Moldova, Stepan Popovsky, threats, Transnistria, Vladimir Maimust
January 31, 2013
On 29 January 2013 the Association for Progressive Communications(APC) released its new resource “Digital security first-aid kit for human rights defenders.”
It is an interactive website publication available online at http://rights.apc.org/infosec
In the face of increased human rights surveillance of ever-growing
online traffic and the multiplication of commercial interest in user
data, APC’s Connect Your Rights! campaign is today putting out tips and
tricks for human rights defenders to circumvent threats to their privacy
and their information.
The kit is meant to help people working to defend human rights to act
quickly to straighten-out situations in which their personal data is
compromised or in which they suspect they have fallen victim to online
wiretapping. Relying on eight different scenarios, information is
presented to users in-need using an accessible format. The digital
security first-aid kit advises on tactics such as how to access blocked
websites and how to encrypt electronic mail.
The Digital security first-aid kit is a living project – New topic areas
will be added to the kit in future.
“We want to be sure that this toolkit will actually help human rights
activists wherever needed,” Mallory Knodel of APC says. “We are working
through our network of local technology groups in more than 40 countries
to achieve this”.
Connect Your Rights! – an awareness-building and advocacy campaign aimed
at framing internet rights as human rights – has produced issue papers,
infographics and many articles about internet rights violations. It monitors internet rights via its online platform. Please visithttp://rights.apc.org
*Digital security First Aid Kit* <http://rights.apc.org/infosec>
*Connect Your Rights!* <http://rights.apc.org>
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international
network and non-profit organisation founded in 1990: <http://www.apc.org>
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, APC, Association for Progressive Communications, cyber activism, digital security, First aid kit, HRDs, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, intenet, protection, wiretapping
January 29, 2013
On 28 January 2013, a number of Brazilian civil society organisations and social movements addressed an open letter to the Coordinator of the National Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (NPPHRD) and the Presidency regarding the security situation for human rights defender Alexandre Anderson de Souza.
Alexandre Anderson de Souza is head of the Associação dos Homens do Mar – AHOMAR (Association of Seamen), an organisation set up to defend the rights of the fisherfolk working in Rio de Janeiro, and particularly those affected by the construction of a gas pipeline for Petrobras. AHOMAR argues that there are reports of environmental permit irregularities in the construction of the pipeline and it will have a negative impact on local flora and fauna as well as on the livelihood of those who fish in those waters in the Guanabara Bay.
Alexandre Anderson de Souza has suffered a number of threats to his life and has been under the NPPHRD since 2009, but the federal government has delegated the responsibility to authorities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where he and his family live. However, the human rights defender and a number of Brazilian civil society organisations and social movements that support him, have been repeatedly expressing their discontent with the protection offered by the state programme and the conditions in which Alexandre Anderson de Souza, his wife Ms Daize Menezes and their children have been forced to live. As the situation has worsened the human rights defender and his family have had to relocate to different hotels in the city of Rio de Janeiro but the locations were highly insecure. The buildings did not have 24-hour reception personnel and the rooms they were accommodated in had no telephone. The protection programme has been unable to ensure Alexandre and his family’s return to their residence in Magé, and as a result the human rights defender remains unable to resume his work at AHOMAR. Four members of AHOMAR have been killed to date.
Another point of discontent with the state protection programme has been the unsatisfactory level of legal support provided to the human rights defender by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Projeto Legal (Legal Project). Projeto Legal has signed an agreement with the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, in the context of the state protection programme, to provide legal support and advice to the human rights defenders included in the programme. After repeated complaints about the NGO’s inaction in several instances, Alexandre Anderson de Souza received information from a reliable source that one of Projeto Legal’s main funders is Petrobras, the same oil company whose actions the human rights defender and his organisation AHOMAR have been trying to hold accountable for environmental damages. The information was confirmed on the websites of both Petrobras and the NGO, but neither they, nor the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, have clarified the terms of the agreement, raising doubts over the impartiality of the organisation and a conflict of interests.
The open letter signed by several civil society organisation addressed the main concerns of Alexandre Anderson de Souza and other NGOs working with human rights defenders in the country. While welcoming the formal establishment of the state of Rio de Janeiro’s protection programme for human rights defenders through the Decree 44.038 signed on 18 January 2013, the letter asks for Alexandre and his wife Daize, as well as other human rights defenders who are currently under the protection of the state, to have their security ensured by the National Protection Programme until the state protection programme is fully operating and able to fully ensure the safety of human rights defenders in the territory of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned following reports of the vulnerable security situation of human rights defender Alexandre Anderson de Souza and his family, and of other human rights defenders under the protection of the state of Rio de Janeiro. 
http://racismoambiental.net.br/2013/01/carta-aberta-ao-coordenador-nacional-do-programa-de-protecao-aos-defensores-de-direitos-humanos-sr-igo-martini/#more-85964
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Alexandre Anderson de Souza, Brasil, environmental issues, Front Line, Front Line Defenders, human rights, Human rights defender, Non-governmental organization, Petrobras, protection, threats
January 28, 2013
On 24 January 2013, human rights defender Martha Díaz was targeted again with a death threat.
On 24 January, a package in a manila envelope was delivered to the residence of Martha Díaz, which contained a mass card and note with letters cut from a newspaper. The letters stated: “You are dead, you are a collaborator of the guerilla, we are not joking, one of you is going to die”[translated from Spanish]. On 22 January, the human rights defender had already received a pamphlet sent by a group who identified themselves as “Los Rastrojos”.
Martha Díaz is Director of AFUSODO, an organisation of relatives of victims of extrajudicial executions and a member organisation of MOVICE (National Movement of the Victims of State Crimes). Since its creation, AFUSADO has received some 27 threats. Front Line Defenders issued an urgent appeal https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/20842 on death threats received by Martha Díaz on 14 November 2012, and has issued previous appeals on threats against human rights organisations in the Cauca and Valle del Cauca departments.
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Colombia, Death threat, death threats, Front Line, human rights, Human rights defender, impunity, Martha Diaz, MOVICE
January 28, 2013
ShabanoYanomami.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This 30-minute film, directed by Daniel Schweizer, is part of OMCT’s sponsorship project “Defend the Defenders”. The film follows a mission of OMCT in Brazil, accompanied by the sponsor and actress Noémie Kocher, showcasting human rights defenders of indigenous peoples rights, Megaron and Davi Yanomami Kopenawa. The documentary – available through VIMEO – illustrates the challenges and threats facing the indigenous Yanomami and Kayapo and their defenders on the construction of Belo Monte hydroelectric dam and illegal mining in Amazonia. http://protectionline.org/2013/01/23/documentary-by-omct-amazon-indians-on-borrowed-time/
For more information on the Sponsorship project “Defend the Defenders”, visit OMCT website:bit.ly/u8puEj
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Tags: Amazon rainforest, Brazil, Daniel Schweizer, documentary, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, Indigenous People, OMCT, video, Vimeo, World Organisation Against Torture
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 