Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’
October 11, 2014
More on awards: The winner of the 2014 Raw in War Anna Politkovskaya award is Kurdish Yazidi member of Iraq parliament Vian Dakhil .On Monday 6 October, RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) selected Vian Dakhil who has courageously spoken out and campaigned to protect the Yazidi people from the terror of Islamic State. She is the only ethnic Yazidi in the Iraqi Parliament and, despite being injured in a helicopter crash while delivering aid to survivors on Mt Sinjar, she continues to advocate and to mobilize support for her people, for the refugees and for those trapped in towns and villages under the regime of Islamic State. “I make no secret of the fact that I’m proud to be honored with your esteemed award, but the real way to honor someone is by protecting their freedom and rights. It is by bringing our prisoners back,’ said Dakhil in her speech while receiving the award.
Previous women human rights defenders who received this award: Malala Yousafzai 2013, Marie Colvin 2012, Razan Zaitouneh 2011, Dr. Halima Bashir 2010, Leila Alikarami on behalf of the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality in Iran 2009, Malalai Joya 2008 and Natalia Estemirova 2007. See also: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards
via Kurdish Yazidi Woman Wins International Award | BAS NEWS.
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Anna Politkovskaya, conflict and peace, digest of human rights awards, human rights awards, Iraq, ISIS, islamic fundamentalists, Islamic State, Kurdish cause, Kurdish Yazidi, Malala Yousafzai, RAW in WAR, terrorism, Vian Dakhil, woman human rights defender, women human rights defenders, Yazidi
September 26, 2014
The United Nations human rights High Commissioner for human rights today condemned the recent brutal, cold-blooded slaying by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) of Iraqi human rights defender Sameera Salih Ali Al-Nuaimy, as well as the continuing detention, sexual exploitation and sale of hundreds of women and girls in areas captured by the militant group. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: arbitrary execution, conflict, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, Iraq, ISIL, killing, Middle East, Mosul, repression, Sameera Salih Ali Al-Nuaimy, UN, WNN, woman human rights defender, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
March 25, 2014
reports that on 22 March 2014, human rights defender and director of Radio Free Iraq, Mr Mohammed Bedaiwi, was shot dead, allegedly by an officer of the Presidential Regiment, in Baghdad. Mohamed Bedaiwi was a professor at the University and, for the past two years, the director of the Baghdad office of Radio Free Iraq. The station broadcasts from Prague. Mohammed Bedaiwi was stopped at a checkpoint on his way to work. An argument began between an officer and the human rights defender, and other officers reportedly began to beat Mohammed Bedaiwi. The incident culminated in the killing of the human rights defender. Reports indicate that the officer has been arrested but his identity has not been disclosed, leading to fears that the case may end in impunity. Mohammed Bedaiwi was very well-known and local sources consider it unlikely that the officers did not recognise him. On 23 March 2014 over 40 media institutions, including newspapers, radio stations and satellite TV channels, refrained from publishing or broadcasting in protest at the killing of Mohammed Bedaiwi. There have also been vigils and marches around the Iraqi capital in honour of the human rights defender. The press syndicate has expressed its concern about the killing of a journalist by an armed officer of the Presidential Guard.
[Since 2003 approximately 274 media professionals have been killed in Iraq; in the last four months alone, 11 journalists have been killed]
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: baghdad, Extrajudicial killing, Front Line (NGO), Human rights defender, Iraq, Journalist, killing, media professionals, military, Mohammed Bedaiwi, police beatings, Radio Free Iraq
June 12, 2013
The US State Department announces today, 12 June 2013, the winners of its annual human rights awards: The Human Rights Defenders Award is given to individuals or non-governmental organizations that have shown exceptional valor and leadership in advocating for the protection of human rights and democracy in the face of government repression: Syrian human rights activist Hanadi Zahlout organized peaceful protests in the beginning of the Syrian revolution and continues to work for a peaceful democratic transition. The second recipient of this award, Iraqi NGO Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, has fearlessly advocated for human rights and was critical in concrete achievements in the protection of female detainees, as well as taken on critical work on curriculum reform to promote religious freedom.
At the same time the State Department announced as the winner of the Diplomacy for Human Rights Award its Ambassador, John Tefft, in the Ukraine. And for the Human Rights and Democracy Achievement Award (which honors a U.S. Department of State employee who has implemented creative strategies to support human rights and democracy) Erin Webster-Main from the Embassy Rangoon, Burma.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: awards, Burma, Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, Hanadi Zahlout, human rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, human rights organization, Iraq, john tefft, Non-governmental organization, Syria, syrian human rights, Ukraine, US State Department, USA, Yangon
February 15, 2012
Gulfnews reports that Iraq’s first human rights film festival,
Baghdad Eye, will be launched on February 25. The films selected for the inaugural festival are documentaries and feature films, addressing human rights issues in three major areas: violence and discrimination against women, children’s rights and freedom of thought and expression. Screenings will be followed by discussions involving academics, researchers and people specialising in Iraq ‘s human-rights issues. Organisers hope it will help Iraqis understand and claim their rights. Some of festival events will be taken to the cities of Basra, Najaf and Salahuddin. Baghdad Eye was launched with the support from the Czech non-government organisation, People In Need, as well as the
United Nations Development Programme,
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Iraqi Association for the Support of Culture, an independent, non-profit organisation that supports cultural activity and production in the country, was founded in 2005 by a group of Iraqi intellectuals, including the late artists Mohammad Ghani Hikmet and Muayid Ni’meh. The Independent Film & Television College was founded in 2004 by Iraqi filmmakers Kasim Abid and Maysoon Pachachi, as a free-of-charge TV and film training and development centre that supports students, provides them with equipment to make their own films and informs them of training courses inside the country and abroad. source: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/iraq-to-hold-first-human-rights-film-festival-1.981075
Posted in films, human rights, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Baghdad Eye, film festival, human rights, Iraq, People in Need, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Unesco, United Nations Development Programme
December 6, 2011
Ahmed Khaleel, an Iraqi citizen who is taking a PhD at York University, gave a talk about Arab poets as human-rights defenders for the Scarborough group of Amnesty International. Dr Jay Prosser, reader in humanities at Leeds University, spoke about his recent co-authored book, Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis. Royalties from his book sales are being donated to Amnesty.
The seminar, at Hull University’s Scarborough campus, was attended by more than 40 people including the deputy mayor, Helen Mallory, who said: “The work Amnesty is doing now is as valuable as it’s always been but possibly more so because there are more human-rights violations taking place around the world. Their work will be neverending because, sadly, atrocities will always be committed. I’m quite humbled by the work they do.”
Not world-shocking news perhaps but a fine example of the day to day work for HRDs that local groups can do…
source: Amnesty seminar on human rights – News – Scarborough Evening News.
Posted in AI, Amnesty international, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Ahmed Khaleel, AI, HRD, Hull university, Iraq, Jay Prosser, Scarborough
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 