share information on human rights defenders, with special focus on human rights awards and laureates
A short documentary about the five winners of the Human Rights Tulip Award, the award of the Dutch government for human rights defenders. The winners are from Honduras, Congo, Iran, China and India. The films were done by the True Heroes Foundation (THF).
Dutch newspapers and human rights groups concerned with the Dalits (untouchables) report that the winner of the Dutch Human Rights Tulip of 2012 has been barred from traveling to the Netherlands to receive his award in person on Wednesday 9 January. Marimuthu Bharathan, a Dalit human rights defender from Tamil Nadu, was refused a passport by the Indian authorities, according to a press release by International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN).This is the second year in a row that the recipient of the Dutch Human Rights award will not be present at the ceremony in The Hague [Last year, Chinese activist Ni Yulan was in custody awaiting trial during the award ceremony.]The jury of the Tulip has recognised Marimuthu Bharathan as a “tireless champion of better living and working conditions for his country’s Dalits”. Himself a Dalit, he works against caste discrimination by supporting Dalits who as manual scavengers are condemned to clean dry latrines with their bare hands. He also sets up Dalit organisations, campaigns for reforms of the corrupt police system, and fights for compensation and rehabilitation of Dalits who suffer human rights violations. Mr Bharathan’s work as director of the Human Rights Education and Protection Council in Tamil Nadu has put him on a collision course with the state’s authorities who consistently prohibit demonstrations for Dalit rights organised by him and disrupt his work.
Front Line Defenders reports on 13 November that since 14 October 2012, the Indian human rights defender Mr. Azimuddin Sarkar and his family have been targeted with threats and intimidation on several occasions, which has been exacerbated by unwillingness on the part of the police to investigate the matter. Azimuddin Sarkar is the District Human Rights Monitor of MASUM, a non-governmental human rights organisation based in Howrah, Kolkata, West Bengal.
On 14 October 2012, a group of 20-25 people, of whom four were identified as locally known thugs, raided the house of Azimuddin Sarkar’s older brother, who was home with his family at the time, in Bardhanpur village, West Bengal state. The thugs reportedly issued threats to Azimuddin Sarkar, saying they would “teach him a lesson” as they threatened the family with weapons and looted the house. An hour after the incident, police appeared on the scene and advised the victims to make a complaint. When the human rights defender’s brother went to the local police station at Raninagar the next day, it is reported that the officer on duty refused to file the complaint, insisting instead to register it only as ‘information received’. A written complaint was sent to the Superintendent of Police at Murshidabad.
On 16 October, Azimuddin Sarkar asked a friend from a non-governmental organisation to make a request to the police to arrest the culprits. The Officer in Charge (OC) at Raninagar station responded that they should leave the matter be, as it was related to MASUM. The OC added that MASUM was not the State Human Rights Commission, and as such “had no right to pressurise the police”. The next day, around 11pm on 17 October, four of the same thugs assembled outside Azimuddin Sarkar’s family home armed with lethal weapons and went on to publicly threaten to kill the human rights defender and his family.
On 19 October, the human rights defender filed a written complaint on the incident with the OC and the Superintendent of police at Murshidabad, supported by multiple eye witnesses. On 5 November, after repeated attempts to call the OC at Raninagar police station, a call from a fellow District Human Rights Monitor at MASUM was returned. All the OC offered regarding police actions on the issue was that he could give no detail of whether any case had been initiated or not. The police have reportedly sent a number of messages to the complainants urging them to withdraw their complaints against the assailants.
Azimuddin Sarkar has been involved in campaigns against the use of torture by the police and Border Security Forces in the area. Currently he is unable to move freely and carry out his work due to the threats. It is believed he is being targeted solely for his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.
And even in a basically democratic country such as India the ‘sophisticated’ attack on HRDs is possible. In what is perhaps the first international reaction to the Indian government’s heightened scrutiny of NGOs receiving foreign funds, the United Nations Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya has in a report presented at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva expressed concern about the new regime (introduced by Foreign Contribution Regulation Act). In her report presented on 5 March she observed that some of the provisions of the new Act “may lead to abuse by the authorities when reviewing applications of organisations which were critical of authorities”. Indian law on foreign funds to NGOs worries UN body | Firstpost.
In message marking the UN declaration on Human Rights Defenders on the 9th December, the well-respected National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) has joined the call for making 9 December a special day for HRDs. A small group of bloggers on bloggersunite (www.bloggersunite.org) has been pushing for this since 2009 and the support by the NHRC is most useful. The text of the message is:
“The National as well as international community around the world are increasingly realizing and acknowledging the role and contribution of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in strengthening the human rights regime throughout the globe. The NHRC considers the HRDs as its partner in the endeavour to fulfill its role as an institution for promotion and protection of rights of common man. The NHRC understands that there are many security risks for human rights defenders and they have to tread a very risky and difficult path to perform their duties/tasks as a Human Rights Defender. The problems and harassment of the HRDs are in the knowledge of the NHRC and it has always made sincere efforts to ameliorate the problems. Measures like Focal Point for Human Rights Defenders, dedicated website space for HRDs and sensitization of functionaries of both state and non state actors, through workshops/trainings/seminars/meetings, have gone a long way in making the voice of the HRDs heard and restoration of their identity as promoter and protector of human rights. The Commission believes that 9th December, which is the day when the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders was adopted by United Nations on 9 December 1998, be declared as Human Rights Defenders Day to acknowledge and pledge continued support to the HRDs who are working for the creation and sustenance of a rights aware and rights respecting civil society.”
