Posts Tagged ‘human rights’

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While Loreen sang the Government of Azerbaijan upped the pressure on HRDs

June 2, 2012


Maria Dahle is the Executive director of the Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo (<http://www.humanrightshouse.org>) and helped to organize the press meeting for Eurovision winner Loreen with HRDs in Baku as I reported earlier. She draws our attention to what was said around the same time by Ali Hasanov, head of the socio-political department of the Presidential Administration, in a speech at a conference, “The role of NGOs in the developments of civil society”. One quote tells it all: “Civil society organizations should mobilize its resistance against such groups. You – civic organizations – have to put your stance against all these. These opposition activists, journalists and media outlets shouldn’t feel dared to go out to the city and they should be felt ashamed. They shouldn’t dare to appear in the public places, streets. Public hatred should be demonstrated against to them.”
No further questions your honor!

 

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Human Rights and the Elderly: the future

June 1, 2012

This post is not directly about human rights defenders but rather touches an area where they are not so commonly engaged. My interest in the area is of course to a large extent self-interest as the 65 benchmark is nearing but was piqued by a recent visitor from Australia, my good friends Rodney and Noni Lewis.

Rodney Lewis is a practicing lawyer engaged in resolving legal problems for the aged and the ageing in our community. He is based in Mona Vale, a suburb of Sydney. He has been a practising lawyer for over 40 years. He is the author of the legal text Elder Law in Australia (published by Lexis Nexis Sydney, in 2004). Rodney’s interest in Aged Care came through his wife Noni who is a registered nurse. His inquiries sprang from their discussions and led to his research, writing, lecturing and the preparation of the only text book on the subject. Rodney’s interest in Elder Law and the legal rights of older persons also stems from his interest and commitment to human rights. (Rodney has been active with the International Commission of Jurists, and assisted me greatly in writing the book on Human Rights in Indonesia; he also undertook trail observations missions).

Over the past several decades a massive change has taken place in a key demographic area of the planet’s human population: age. If the current trend of lowering birth rates and lowering death rates continues, by the year 2050 one out of five people will be aged 60 years or older and by 2150, one out of every three people will be aged 60 years or older. Additionally, the older-person support ratio is falling in both more and less developed regions, which could further lessen the ability of societies and governments to care for their aging populations.

These demographic trends create unique challenges for all people, particularly for the governments of nation-states around the globe. Elderly individuals are often subject to discrimination and abuse because they are perceived as easily taken advantage of. There is also a prevalent belief among many that elderly persons are worthless in today’s fast-paced, globalized and increasingly industrialized world. Obviously, with the number of elderly people on earth at any one time rising rapidly, there is an increased urgency to address the rights and roles of elderly persons in our world.

For more on this a good starting point is Human Rights Education Associates on: http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=435
From a cursory glance at the internet it seems that Canada and Australia have gone furthest in organizing elder law, e.g. http://www.elderlaw.com.au/

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Loreen’s meeting also on YouTube

May 28, 2012

Swedish Eurovision contestant Loreen at her own initiative visited IRFS offices to meet with IRFS chairman Emin Huseynov, Human Rights Club chairman Rasul Jafarov, and Norwegian Human Rights House foundation co-coordinator Shahla Ismayilova. Her aim was to learn about the state of human rights in Azerbaijan and in particular the Sing for Democracy campaign. The event took place at IRFS with the support of the Swedish Civil Rights Defenders organization and Norwegian Human Rights House foundation. A number of international press representatives attended.

Jafarov guided Loreen through a photo exhibition depicting illegal housing demolitions, and spoke about the general human rights situation in Azerbaijan. The campaign video along with footage from the afternoon’s protest was also shown.

Loreen meets press and HRDs

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Exceptional: Loreen is a Eurovision winner interested in human rights defenders

May 28, 2012

Loreen supports human rights

Photo: Stian Skaget

It is right to congratulate Loreen as she was the only of the contesting artists who stood up for human rights. During her visit to Baku she visited human rights defenders at risk during a meeting the NGO Civil Rights Defenders arranged. The Government of Azerbaijan may have tried to downplay the issue by saying that music and human rights have to be separate but that did not work.

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/news/loreen-is-a-winner/

See more pictures from Loreen’s meetings with human rights defenders in Azerbaijan, on Civil Rights Defenders Facebook page

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New Global Channel For Human Rights Videos launched

May 26, 2012
Image representing YouTube as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

On 24 May 2012 two NGOs, WITNESS and Storyful, launched a new  channel devoted to human rights videos. The channel specializes in collecting and sharing citizen videos relevant to human rights. “The new human rights channel will give people an ‘on-the-ground’ perspective of underexposed stories often absent from mainstream media, highlight ways to take action and develop new collaborations amongst interested citizens,” says Sam Gregory, WITNESS’ Program Director. The exponential growth of portable video devices – especially in developing countries – has enabled everyday citizens to record otherwise hidden abuses and to advance human rights from the grassroots level.

The channel will feature:

  • Daily updates of breaking stories, alerts and related campaign videos
  • Featured stories through playlists gather videos together to provide insight into an evolving situation or an under covered issue
  • Profiles of videographers and organizations on YouTube who have made a major impact or a significant contribution to video for change
  • Tools and tactics offering 20 years of WITNESS expertise in video for change

This project will offer users new avenues for action and impact on Google+, where the broader human rights community will take part in discussions, share their material, and find collaborators.

The channel can be found at the following link:  http://www.youtube.com/humanrights

And the conversation continues on Google+:  https://plus.google.com/100621536540324323611/posts

WITNESS  http://www.witness.org.

from: WITNESS And Storyful Launch New Global Channel For Human Rights Video – PR Newswire – The Sacramento Bee

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MEA nominee Luon Savath just been released

May 24, 2012

We have  just learned that the Venerable Luon Savath been released and is now at the office of the NGO LICADHO. But not sure that this is the end of the story and will keep you posted.

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Bahrain defends itself at the UN: the usual verbage

May 22, 2012

At the session of the Universal Periodic Review on Bahrain in Geneva this week, a large number of countries (such as France, the UK and USA) and NGOs (such as Human Rights Watch and Frontline) confronted the government of Bahrain with its flagrant shortcomings in respecting its human rights obligations and in implementing the recommendations of its own investigation.

The Bahraini Human Rights Minister, Salah Bin Ali Mohamed Abdulrahman, in response said “radical measures and progressive steps” had been taken to overcome the “sad and unfortunate events” of March 2011. Some of the recommendations required legislative amendments and this “may take some time,” he said. The minister told the meeting Bahrain held no prisoners on charges relating to freedom of expression. “Any such charges have been withdrawn. The only cases (remaining) are criminal cases” ..and …”These cases are being looked at by the judiciary therefore the government cannot interfere”.

No further questions your honor….

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http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=52376

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Africa: Strong Stand Taken By the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights

May 22, 2012
Français : Logo de la Fédération International...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) welcomes the strong stand taken by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on the political, security and humanitarian confllicts and crises raging on the continent, at its 51st Session. FIDH now urges African Union (AU) Member States to give immediate effect to the recently adopted resolutions. The document published by allAfrica.com refers to the recent conflict between Sudan and South Sudan  the unconstitutional changes of government that lately occured in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, the territorial integrity of Mali and a West African region where several armed groups, like in Nigeria, still perpetrate violations. On HRDs the document of FIDH states the following:

“The African Commission considered with a particular attention the civil and political rights’ violations happening in several countries. The Commission condemned the recurring impediment to Human rights defenders’ action in countries like Ethiopia – where the Charities and Civil Societies Proclamation adopted in 2009 continues to place excessive restrictions on Human rights organisations’ work – Swaziland – where authorities keep opposing the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association – and Somalia, where journalists are taken in the grip of the ongoing armed conflict and are openly murdered. The FIDH welcomes the African Commission’s clear call for the amendment of the Ethiopian Charities and Civil Societies Proclamation, for the respect of the rights to fundamental freedoms in Swaziland and for justice to be rendered to the murdered journalists in Somalia. All these recommandations were supported by our organisation.”

for the full document go to: allAfrica.com: Africa: Strong Stand Taken By the African Court On Human and Peoples Rights On the Crises Situations Raging On the African Continent.

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Amnesty publishes video on forced evictions in Africa

May 17, 2012
List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Amnesty International shows its ‘new’ broadened mandate with this short video on forced evictions in Africa. In 4 languages on YouTube: video by AI on forced evictions in Africa. It highlights the kind of human rights violations that the 2012 nominee of the MEA in Cambodia is dealing with: see short film on the multimedia monk on http://www.martinennalsaward.org

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UN High Commissioner preparing report on reprisals agains Human Rights Defenders

May 15, 2012

On 23 March 2012 I reported on the harassment of HRDs – especially from Sri Lanka- who were in Geneva to testify at the Human Rights Council. The High Commissioners Office took a firm stand against this and the Council asked for a report on “Reprisals against persons cooperating with United Nations human rights mechanisms” to be submitted to the Council in September.

That this being taken seriously is shown by the request for information sent out to all NGOs.

Dear All,

In preparation of the Secretary-General’s forthcoming report to the Human Rights Council (September 2012) on reprisals against persons cooperating with United Nations human rights mechanisms, information is invited about cases of reprisals. Please send submissions by 15 June 2012 to reprisals@ohchr.org. The next report is expected to cover the period between June 2011 and June 2012.

Submissions should:

– fall within the scope of Human Rights Council resolution 12/2 – http://goo.gl/Ulvwo

– give attention to the necessity to preserve the security of the persons concerned; please indicate if the victim (or his/her family) has agreed to be mentioned in this report and has been informed accordingly;

 – indicate if the alleged reprisal has been referred to in any UN documents (provide citations);

– in addition, follow-up information (e.g. any developments, whether additional reprisals took place, whether measures were taken by the State to investigate, etc.) is invited on the cases included in the 2011 report. Cases in 2011 referred to Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, India, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Sudan.
 

Get the 2011 report –  http://goo.gl/LDg9p (Deadline 15 June 2012)

Please share widely.
 
***
 
Background:
 At its 12th session, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on “Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights”. The resolution invites the Secretary-General to annually submit a report to the Council, containing a compilation and analysis on alleged reprisals against persons cooperating with UN human rights mechanisms (see para. 1 of the resolution), as well as recommendations on how to address the issues of intimidation and reprisals. In addition to cases of reprisals regarding cooperation with the Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteurs and Treaty Bodies, the report can also include cases of reprisals due to cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, its field presences and human rights advisers, United Nations Country Teams, the human rights components of peacekeeping missions, etc.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights

Twitter – http://twitter.com/UNrightswire

YouTube –  http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR

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