In the last three days Morocco has been seen using Anti-Terrorism laws against human rights defenders and journalists exercising their freedom of expression. The following two cases come from Frontline: Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘journalists’
Margaret Sekaggya, UN expert, finds situation of human rights defenders in Togo improved, but not good enough
October 18, 2013
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, on 16 October 2013 called on the Togolese Government to ensure a favourable environment in which human rights defenders can carry out their work. The Government can do this by fully implementing the existing legal framework, avoiding stigmatisation and fostering a spirit of dialogue and constructive criticism, she said at the end of her five-day mission to assess progress made in Togo since her last visit in 2008.
Compared to 2008, “The environment for defenders is more enabling now, but important challenges remain” Read the rest of this entry »
WCC consultation urges protection of human rights in Papua, Indonesia
October 16, 2013On 16 October Scoop News reports on a consultation, held on 25 September 2013 in Geneva, entitled Isolating Papua which highlighted the increasing practice of limiting access to the Papuan provinces of Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »
Angola rights groups denounce rising police violence but it continues
September 29, 2013On 4 September human rights groups in Angola denounced an escalation in police brutality against civilians since the start of the year in the oil-rich nation. “In recent months we have seen high levels of police violence in Angola against peaceful protests, street vendors, journalists, activists and human rights defenders,” a group of 20 organisations said in a statement. The groups criticised the “inhumane and cruel” treatment of prison inmates, after a video showing police and firemen beating prisoners in the capital Luanda was widely circulated on social networks. The broad coalition of human rights, environmental and development organisations across the country collaborate under an umbrella organisation, the Working Group for the Monitoring of Human Rights in Angola. The country’s interior ministry has condemned the violence and launched an inquiry to find the culprits. Since the end of a civil war a decade ago Angola’s economy has grown fast, and the country is now Africa’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria. But most of its citizens live in poverty, and civil society groups as well as international organisations regularly complain of police abuse. “Our political governance system was built on violence and the exclusion of the poor or those who are different. That is what we should attack,” said Elias Isaac from the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.
“The arrests and assaults on peaceful protesters and journalists are a heavy-handed attempt to silence people who have every right to express their views. Angola’s government should swiftly reverse course, free those wrongly jailed, and investigate the police officers responsible.” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director of Human Rights Watch on 23 September. On September 19, 2013, police arrested 22 protesters who sought to demonstrate near Independence Square in Luanda and hand out leaflets calling for social justice. Two released that day were quoted in local media alleging that they were beaten and otherwise mistreated in custody. On September 20, three journalists who sought to interview some newly freed protesters were themselves arrested, threatened, and beaten by the police….The three journalists told Human Rights Watch that they were conducting the interviews on the street about three hundred meters away from the court when approximately forty heavily armed rapid intervention police officers arrived in five cars with sirens, including two armored vehicles. They arrested the three journalists, seven of the just-released protesters, and a businessman who had being filming the incident from a nearby office building. All were taken to a rapid intervention police command center where they were ill-treated and threatened. The mistreatment of the journalists was a clear attempt to intimidate the media, Human Rights Watch said.
Since 2011, inspired by popular uprisings in the Middle East, a small, peaceful movement of Angolan activist groups has sought to protest corruption, restrictions on free speech and other rights, and rising inequality in the oil-rich country. Angolan police and security agents have repeatedly disrupted peaceful protests organized by different groups, including youths and war veterans. Police regularly use unnecessary or excessive force and arbitrarily detain protesters. The state media have staged a campaign calling any antigovernment protest an attempt to “wage war.” In a country at peace for the first time in the last decade, such campaigns have raised fear among the population. Journalists and other observers who seek to document the protests and the government’s response have been regularly harassed, detained, and sometimes mistreated.
via Angola rights groups denounce rising police violence | GlobalPost and
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/23/angola-new-crackdown-peaceful-dissent
Related articles
- Angolan journalists arrested and beaten by police (theguardian.com)
Follow on YouTube very interesting debate on Syria and media organised by International Alert
September 20, 2013While not directly dealing with Human Rights Defenders, I want to share with you this fascinating debate organised by International Alert.
As Syria stays in the news, Read the rest of this entry »
Amnesty International calls on Cuba to Release five prisoners of conscience
August 5, 2013Today Amnesty International urges the Cuban authorities to immediately and unconditionally release five men who have been named prisoners of conscience.
The cases of the five men Read the rest of this entry »
Civil Society of South Sudan expresses concern in Human Rights Council
June 25, 2013On 12 June 2013 Rachel Nicholson, on behalf of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP), delivered an oral statement to the UN Human Rights Council. It started by congratulating South Sudan Read the rest of this entry »
Results of G-Media course ‘Media Empowerment on Human Rights’ of May 2013
June 17, 2013Gmedia concluded its 4th workshop in its Media Empowerment on Human Rights programme held in Geneva from 13 to 17 May 2013 in collaboration with OMCT and with the participation of thirteen journalists, four from Guatemala and nine from Kenya. As part of the programme, Gmedia makes its workshops run in parallel with the UN Committee on Torture (CAT) sessions. Journalists participated in debates and discussions conducted by Human Rights experts from the academia, Media, UN Agencies, Permanent Missions and International NGOs on such topics as the Human Rights doctrine, monitoring mechanisms and institutions, sharing experiences and good practices, and challenging the role of media as a human rights defender. Journalists had also the opportunity to attend and report on the Committee against torture session concerning their respective countries.
As a result, the course can point to 37 published articles, video broadcasted and radio programs by participants in Guatemala and Kenya and 3 live coverage on CAT broadcasted in Kenyan television. Gmedia is currently working on the development of its next workshop to follow the sessions of the UPR in October 2013.
via Newsletter June 2013.
YEMEN- PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND STOP ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS.
June 13, 2013
On 10 June 2013 the Gulf Centre for Human Rights Centre (GCHR) issued a report alleging a widespread pattern of attacks on human rights defenders and journalists in Yemen.
Since Yemen has been engaged in a process of transition to full democracy, the security services have intimidated journalists, allowed the judicial system to be used as a means of attack against them, and failed to investigate violence against human rights defenders. The GCHR has documented multiple cases of attacks, some by the state security forces, but with many being perpetrated by non-state actors. The GCHR calls for an end to the harassment.
Prior to the overwhelmingly peaceful revolution in 2011, attacks were commonplace but easily identified as emanating from the oppressive government of former President Saleh, says the GCHR report. The present pattern of attacks is more unpredictable and their source much harder to identify. “This gives rise to the requirement of even greater vigilance by the authorities to investigate, prevent and punish this wrongdoing, yet the authorities in Yemen have failed to act to investigate the widespread pattern of attacks in the transitional period,” comments GCHR Advisory Board member Melanie Gingell, a British lawyer who carried out a mission to Yemen in April.
– Mohamed Al-Absi is a blogger and journalist who specialises in publishing the documents leaked to him from government departments about corrupt practices. He is now on trial on defamation charges and faces many years in jail if convicted. He has exposed corruption at the highest levels over the years and there are now well-founded concerns for his well-being should he be convicted.
– Judge Ahmed Saif Hashid, currently a member of parliament, has fought for social justice in Yemen but was recently the victim of a brutal beating by security forces when he joined a protest of injured people campaigning for their rights outside parliament. There has been no investigation of this attack.
– A Yemen based organisation, Freedom Foundation, has catalogued 109 attacks on journalists by mid-April 2013, including an attempt to bomb the offices of a newspaper, an attempt to assassinate a local journalist in the south of the country, shots fired at the car of a journalist working for the Times newspaper, and threats to cut out the tongue of a local newspaper editor.
– The journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye remains in prison following his arrest and conviction in relation to an article he wrote exposing the aftermath of an US cluster bomb attack on a suspected Al-Qaeda target, thereby discrediting the previous claim of responsibility for that attack by the government of former President Saleh.
The full report is available online in English and Arabic at: http://www.gc4hr.org/report/view/16
State media in Sri Lanka lead attacks on Human Rights Defenders
June 4, 2013According to a statement from the Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on 4 June there is an ongoing attack in Sri Lanka on Human Rights Defenders, NGOs & opposition politicians through the Independent Television Network (ITN). The statement give concrete and detailed indications to show that ITN – in spite of its name – has continued to follow the government line and started a fresh round of attacks in May this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 