Posts Tagged ‘human rights’

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ATTACK ON HRD OKIYA OMTATAH SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED IMPARTIALLY

November 11, 2012

Reports indicate that Mr. Okiya Okoiti Omtatah was attacked in the evening on 8 November 2012 by unknown assailants at Nairobi’s Central Business District. He suffered broken teeth and a deep cut on the head. He was taken to hospital in Nairobi for medical examination. Mr. Omtatah is a known human rights defender who has been at the forefront of condemning human rights violations in Kenya, corruption and abuse of offices by state officials. Mr Omtatah has recently publicly raised concern regarding the Biometric Voter Registration Kits’ procurement process in Kenya.

The Government of Kenya should ensure that thorough and impartial investigations are carried out into the attack on Mr. Omtatah the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders in Kenya said on 9 November.

This incident has taken place at a period when Human rights defenders in Kenya, including journalists have reported increasing threats, physical attacks and arbitrary arrest in the past few months.
The National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders condemns this incident and ongoing threats and targeting of human rights defenders as they conduct their legitimate work. We call upon the government, particularly the police to assure citizens of safety and protection of all people particularly as the country head towards elections in March 2013.

The National Coalition of HRDs further urges the Government of Kenya to fight impunity by ensuring that impartial, thorough and timely investigations are carried out into this and other incidents, and that the perpetrators are held to account in prosecutions that meet international fair trial standards.

For inquiries, please contact Kamau Ngugi, Coordinator, NCHRD on info@nchrdk.org
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Arms sales to human rights violating regimes? – the UK and Arab world

November 10, 2012

In a letter to the editor of the Guardian of 8 November 2012, Andrew Lovatt puts the question very clearly:

Countries that sell arms to states that have repeatedly violated the human rights of their people should receive universal condemnation from their own citizens for the role they play in furthering the misery and bloodshed around the globe, and Britain’s sale of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and the UAE should be no exception. Human Rights Watch has reported numerous human rights abuses conducted by both states, which have included the assault and intimidation of nonviolent human rights defenders, political activists and civil society actors in an attempt to suppress freedom of expression and protect the regimes from democratic change.

Britain’s long-standing international support for democracy and human rights has already been undermined by the sale of 72 Typhoons to Saudi Arabia. Should Britain prop up these oppressive states further by putting an extra £6bn worth of military hardware into their hands, its position will rightly be viewed as hypocritical by the rest of the world.
Andrew Lovatt
Market Drayton, Shropshire

 

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Human Rights First gives Obama its agenda for human rights

November 8, 2012
Official photographic portrait of US President...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Human Rights First (HRF), a New York based international NGO and member on the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award, reacted with speed to Obama’s reelection and issued a statement of what it thinks is ready for bi-partisan action on human rights:

 

1. Champion Women’s Rights. A record number of women will serve in the U.S. Senate in January. And Republicans and Democrats—men and women—agree on the importance of protecting women’s rights around the world. The Obama administration and Congress should work together to make sure that women’s rights are enshrined in the Egyptian constitution and that women in the region who stood side by side with men in demanding their freedom are fully represented in public life, including in elected legislatures, and not forced out of the public square.

 

2. Support Freedom. Last night, President Obama said, “We can never forget that as we speak people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter.” The United States should stand with those people. That means pressing our allies—like Bahrain—to stop cracking down on dissent. It means working effectively with the international community to bring an end to the human rights crisis in Syria. And it means supporting activists in repressive societies like Russia, China, and Cuba.

 

3. Protect Freedom of Religion. As the recent furor over the anti-Islam film showed, the second Obama administration will have to navigate difficult issues at the intersection of religion and foreign policy. In his second term, the President should push back against efforts to impose an international standard outlawing “defamation of religions,” which would be used, like national blasphemy laws in countries like Pakistan, to persecute religious minorities and restrict freedom of speech, and which would fuel sectarian violence and empower extremists.

 

4. Protect Gay and Lesbian People from Violence. Voters in Maryland, Maine, and Washington voted to legalize same-sex marriage-the first time gay marriage won at the ballot box. Wisconsin elected the first openly gay U.S. Senator. But while the tide of public opinion on gay rights has rapidly turned here, around the world, gay and lesbian people face discrimination and violence. In his second term, President Obama should build on the work of his first to provide protection for gay and lesbian people, including those forced to flee for their safety.

 

5. Provide Safe Haven for Refugees. Washington may finally be poised to tackle comprehensive immigration reform. While this issue has been politically challenging, there is broad bipartisan support for keeping America’s promise to be a refuge for those fleeing oppression. For starters, that means reforming the policies that land those seeking freedom in jail.

 

6. Close Guantanamo. Before it became a political football, national security experts and elected officials from both parties agreed that Guantanamo needed to close. President George W. Bush said he wanted to close it. Senator John McCain campaigned on it. And on his second full day in office, President Obama, flanked by retired Admirals and Generals, promised to do it. He doubled down on the Daily Show right before the election. Now it’s time to get it done. This is a legacy issue.

 

http://actions.humanrightsfirst.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=6824

 

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Information request by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on peaceful protest

November 6, 2012
sorry text disappeared from post:

 

Civil society organisations are requested to submit information for a report being prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, on ‘effective measures and best practices to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests’. The deadline for these submissions is 15 November. They should be provided in electronic format to registry@ohchr.org and a copy to rhusbands@ohchr.org. Click here to read a letter on this subject.

The report is being prepared prior to the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council, in accordance with Resolution 19/35.

 

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New international training institute for online tactics for HRDs being set up in Florence

November 6, 2012

Normally I would not feel that BBC news (5 November – by Sean Coughlan, BBC News education correspondent) needs to be repeated in my blog but this story is so specifically linked to Human Rights Defenders and so much ‘hidden’ in the education/business section that I want to alert you all anyway. This is a shortened version.

An international training institute to teach online tactics for human rights campaigners is being set up in the Italian city of Florence. The first students, starting in the new year, will be drawn from human rights activists around the world – with the aim of arming them with the latest tools for digital dissent. There is a dangerous, high-stakes, hi-tech game of cat and mouse being played – with protesters needing to balance their secrecy and safety with their need to achieve the maximum public impact.

This training centre, being set up by the European wing of the US-based Robert Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, wants to combine academic study with practical skills and training. With a good dose of irony, the training institute is based in a former prison building, donated by the city of Florence.

Murate, FlorenceFederico Moro, the director of the project, says the intention is to use “technology to promote democracy, human rights and justice”. “The idea is that with social media you can achieve change,” he says. He says campaigners might have passion and belief in their struggles, but they also need practical knowledge. These students will be blog writers and campaigners, who will be able to study in Florence on scholarships provided by the Robert Kennedy Center. Recruiting will be complicated by the need to protect the privacy of people who might be put at risk even by applying.

As well as teaching individuals, the institute wants to provide information for organisations and businesses, advising on areas such as human rights legislation and ethical investment. But what does a digital activist – or a so-called “smart dissident” – need to know? Chris Michael, from the Brooklyn-based human rights group Witness, describes the practical steps that protesters are using to stay ahead.

There are websites that allow for anonymous internet access, allowing people to organise without revealing identities. There are also means of circumventing censors’ attempts at blocking websites. The Tor project software, an unexpected spin-off from military technology, is favoured by human rights campaigners. Mr Michael says there are also “work arounds” to make online video and phone calls more secure from surveillance.

Another practical development is software that can easily pixellate faces in video footage, protecting bystanders who might be put at risk by identification. In terms of posting videos of protests or repression, Witness is working with YouTube on a dedicated human rights channel. It’s already hosting hundreds of user-generated videos from a wide number of countries, at the moment including Syria, Pakistan, Libya, Burma, Chile, Spain, Russia, China and the United States. There’s a daily update of video reports which include anything from student protests to forcible evictions. Selecting and showcasing the most relevant videos is important to make an impact on YouTube’s global audience, Mr Michael says. “Very few people are going to watch for hours. You might be able to get their attention for 45 seconds, that’s the world people live in,” he says.

The spread of mobile phones means there is an unprecedented ability for recording and distributing evidence of violence against citizens. We’re living in a global goldfish bowl. But is this making the world a safer place? Can cheap video and social networking defrost dictatorships? To put it bluntly, could Hitler and Stalin have been exposed at an earlier stage by Twitter and YouTube?

Facebook poster in Cairo protestThe Arab Spring saw social networking becoming a forum for protest. But the question remains whether Facebook really enabled Arab revolutions, or whether it enabled the rest of the world to find out more about a revolution that was going to happen anyway. Stephen Bradberry, a community activist in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, uses the word “slacktivism” – as a caution for the idea that clicking on a “like” button is a sufficient alternative to grassroots organisation. He also makes the point that while the internet makes so much information accessible, the power to find it is handed over to the search engines and their algorithms.

Rana Husseini, a Jordanian activist and journalist who uncovered stories about honour killings, says the internet has given a voice to public opinion. She also shares concerns that digital technology can be used as tools for surveillance and control as well as openness and investigation. But she speaks passionately about the way that ordinary people risk their lives to record video clips on their mobile phones in conflicts such as Syria. “This couldn’t have happened in the past – and probably this person will vanish.”

But the act of documenting is an important statement in its own right, she says. The idea of so many individuals making their own video history in this way is “something new and important”.

As an educational project, the human rights training institute project in Florence is an unlikely collision of influences. It’s a highly individual project. Stephen Bradberry warns of the risk of relying on online campaigns instead of grassroots protests. Inside the sturdy medieval prison walls, in the birthplace of the European renaissance, there is this hi-tech centre for online civil rights, awaiting students from around the world. Into this mix is added the legacy of Robert Kennedy’s 1960s idealism. The foundation was set up in memory of the assassinated senator and is now headed by his daughter, Kerry Kennedy.

The article finishes with a good question “Does online technology help to protect the rights of the individual?” and a range of reactions. Read it and participate.

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Human rights defender of the month: Sapiyat Magomedova from Dagestan

November 6, 2012

The North Caucasian republic of Dagestan is one of the most dangerous places for lawyers today in Russia. In this region Sapiyat Magomedova defends victims of grave human rights violations like enforced disappearances, extra judicial killings and torture. She has taken on cases that many lawyers would reject due to security reasons, and although it is considered almost impossible, she has won several of them. She was chosen by Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders as its HRD of the month. Last week I reported that she had received an important award from Sweden.

When asked about everyday life in Dagestan, local human rights lawyer Sapiyat Magomedova answers straight: ”I would not call it life.” The conflict in Dagestan is bridging on civil war. During the last two years Dagestan is considered to be the most violent region in the North Caucasus, followed by Chechnya. Local human rights defenders constantly face harassment, assaults and threats to their life.

Portrait Sapiyat Magomedova Photo: Private

In 2010 Sapiyat Magomedova was severely beaten by police officers when visiting one of her clients. When pressing charges, she was herself charged with using violence against state officials and insulting police officers on duty. Sapiyat Magomedova had already in 2009 been subjected to an unfounded criminal case for allegedly offending an Investigator from the Prosecutor’s Office. She believes that the case was a form of retaliation for her standing up to law enforcement agencies and fighting impunity. “The criminal case against me was opened to put pressure on me, to force me to retract my statement against the police officers”, Sapiyat Magomedova later said in an interview.

Sapiyat Magomedova represents victims in very sensitive cases, such as allegations that the police have tortured individuals suspected of involvement with the insurgency, and cases of sexual- and gender based violence. Normally, cases of sexual- and gender based violence go unreported in Dagestan. Sexual violence is a taboo subject in a region where honour killings, bride kidnapping, and child marriage occur. There is an absence of debate on the political level on these issues. Women’s rights are not high on the political agenda and gender based violence and other kind of abuses against women occur on a regular basis.

In 2011, Sapiyat Magomedova defended a 13-year-old girl who had been kidnapped and raped for three days by five young men. Two of the suspected rapists were sons of police officers. After strong pressure on the girl and her family, she succumbed and changed her statement. The case, however, got rather great resonance in society and might lead to inspiring other victims to dare press charges. Sapiyat Magomedova further highlighted the case on one of the first conferences on women’s rights in the region. At the conference she spoke about the problem with impunity in cases of sexual- and gender based violence.

Being a woman, Sapiyat Magomedova must also exert much effort just to be taken seriously in her legal profession. Caucasian women are commonly housewives and that “leaves its mark”, as Sapiyat Magomedova puts it. Woman lawyers have a lot of misconceptions to fight against.

Human rights defenders constantly face harassment and threats to their life in Dagestan. Since 2010, Dagestan is considered to be the most violent region in the North Caucasus, followed by Chechnya. The conflict nearly approach the level of civil war. Russian law enforcement bodies are reluctant to investigate cases of human rights abuses. Even though Russia has been convicted approximately 210 times for violations linked to North Caucasus, by the European Court of Human Rights, not even one perpetrator has been put to justice.

In many cases, violations are committed by those who are supposed to uphold the rule of law, under the pretext of fighting terrorism. In order to keep up statistics in terror crimes, it frequently occurs that law enforcement bodies fabricate evidence against innocent people and extract a confession by using torture. This in turn nurtures the insurgency that has been on the rise in the past years. A decade of failure to stabilize the region and deal with the rampant impunity has created an environment where ordinary people live in fear and have almost nowhere to turn to seek justice.

The Russian government invests enormous sums of money each year to dampen the conflicts throughout the North Caucasus. The number of dead terrorists is used as evidence that the Russian government’s initiative leads to results. Military and security forces, and the Police are being rewarded for each person that can be added to the toll of terrorists. This has led to civilians being accused of joining the separatists. Kidnappings, torture and extrajudicial executions are common.

Read more in Civil Rights Defenders country report: Human rights in Russia

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South Sudan: UN Condemns Expulsion of Its Human Rights Investigator

November 6, 2012

On 4 November, All Africa reports that the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) condemns the expulsion of its human rights officer who carried out investigations into human rights situations in the young nation. The Head of the UN office in Juba described it as a “breach of legal obligations” of the country.   (The expelled official, identified as Sandra Beidas, was reportedly given 48 hours by South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to leave the country.) Her expulsion is probably linked to a UN report of August, which accused South Sudan army (SPLA) of incidents of torture, rape, killings and abducting civilians during the civilian disarmament campaign in South Sudan’s Jonglei State.

….

In recent months, similar reports from Amnesty International and locally-based civil human rights group in the country have accused South Sudan’s security forces of human rights violations in the country, allegations the government has repeatedly denied. However, already in August last year the former head of the United Nations human rights division in South Sudan, Benedict Sannoh, was badly beaten and taken from his hotel room by 10 South Sudanese police officers. The police left the UN official at a hospital after he was beaten, kicked and punched him while he was “in a sustained fashion while he was in a fetal position on the floor” the UN said at the time.

allAfrica.com: South Sudan: UN Condemns Expulsion of Its Human Rights Investigator Page 1 of 2.

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Palestinian HRD Nariman Tamimi speaks out on repression of peaceful protest in AI video

November 5, 2012

In Greece there is a frequently heard ‘complaint’ that international human rights groups – in particular AI – have the same agenda as the USA. At a recent meeting with friends in Chania, AI’s position on Pussy Riot was quoted as evidence.

I countered by pointing out that AI on many occasions has taken a stand that seems to go against US policy, from the death penalty to Guantanamo Bay and the Israeli occupied territories. A recent video referred to here makes that clear again in the case of Israel. Perhaps even more shocking are some of the comments that seems to confirm the existence of an orchestrated response [by whom?] to equal any criticism of Israel to anti-Semitism.

Every Friday since December 2009 residents of al-Nabi Saleh and solidarity activists gather around noon in the village centre and march peacefully towards the spring. They have been met repeatedly with unnecessary and excessive force by the Israeli army including the use of stun grenades, pepper spray, batons and guns. Demonstrations are dispersed as soon as they begin and are usually not allowed to reach the spring. The Israeli army raids the village regularly, usually during the night, and conducts house searches and arrests, including the arrest of children under the age of 15.

Israeli military laws in place in the West Bank impose sweeping and arbitrary restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, requiring people to obtain advance permission from the Israeli military for any proposed gathering of 10 or more persons “for a political purpose of for a matter that could be interpreted as political”.  Nariman Tamimi told Amnesty International that in al-Nabi Saleh and all areas where there is popular resistance, police use extreme violence, noting that “there is nothing [to the protests] except that you chant and express your opinion.” As one of the organizers of the al-Nabi Salneh protests and a coordinator of the village’s popular committee, Bassem Tamimi and his family have been the target of harsh treatment by the Israeli army.  For more see the excellent film:

AI video on Palestinian protest

 

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Simple but effective video on human rights by Edeos: part 1 out in several languages

November 2, 2012

A small Berlin based NGO has brought out a 8 mn video that is very basic but also very clear. I think it could be especially useful for educators in at the secondary school level or as introduction for a basic class in human rights. The first part (focusing on history and civil and political rights) exists in several languages. I am interested to see what they come up with when dealing with social and economic rights and collective rights.

OOPS there was a link to alternative energy – also important but not what I meant: better go to edeos animated video on human rights part 1 in YOU TUBE 

iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/3L4r47WiqMw&#8221; frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe

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Barbara Hendricks – a human rights defender of a special kind

November 2, 2012

Barbara Hendricks at MEA ceremony 2003 with late Sergio Vieira de Mello and Alirio Uribe Munoz

The trigger to write about this very special person is that she has just been celebrated as UNHCR’s Goodwill ambassador for 25 years.

“You are really the princess of the humanitarian and human rights world,” High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said at a special UNHCR staff ceremony in Geneva. “The authority of your voice is a precious instrument for our fight,” he added. “Twenty-five years – it’s a long time and the cause of refugees has been a part of my life since my first mission,” said Hendricks, adding that it had been an honour to work for UNHCR. She praised the refugees who inspire her and the UNHCR staff who help them. “Thank you so much. It has been a fantastic journey and I look forward to continuing for as long as I can.”

What many people do not know is that Barbara Hendricks has not only been a dedicated and outspoken advocate for refugees for the past 25 years, but also been a strong supporter of other causes including human rights, e.g. as a Patron of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders or in giving her support to creating the True Heroes Foundation, Films for Human Rights Defenders in 2007.

The American-born Swedish citizen was inspired by the struggle for civil rights in the USA as a child and never let off. The human rights world needs celebrities but even more it needs celebrities with real and long-term commitment. This is what makes Barbara Hendricks a Human Rights Defender in her own name! Thanks.

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