share information on human rights defenders, with special focus on human rights awards and laureates
There have been increased threats on human rights defenders and journalists in the last 6 months. Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) Director Atsango Chesoni says among those who have been threatened are Maina Kiai, Hassan Omar, Ndungu Wainaina and Makau Mutua. She says the threats are directed at those who have spoken out on issues such as the ICC and integrity.
via INCREASING THREATS ON HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND JOURNALISTS | The Star.
On 12 January 2013 the Gulf Centre for Human Rights expressed its concern at the campaign of defamation, threats, and harassment against journalist and human rights defender Samia Al-Agbry. In addition complaint was lodged against her at the Department of Public Prosecution in the city of Damt. The complainant accused Samia Al-Agbry of allegedly insulting religion in an apparently orchestrated ‘multi-tools’ smear campaign against her.
On 31 December 2012, Samia Al-Agbry gave a speech at a peaceful gathering in which she said something to the effect that the reason for the elimination of the dreams of people in Yemen to build a civil state is some corrupt individuals who holed up behind religion, military and tribes. The GCHR thinks it is clear that some persons – for political purposes – have twisted her speech in order to target and stop her human rights activities.
It believes that this fierce campaign against Samia Al-Agbry is part of an ongoing trend of harassment of human rights defenders working in Yemen to stop them from continuing their work in defense of human rights.
From the MacArthur Foundation in the USA comes this short, welcome announcement:
Insecurity in Mexico has resulted in mounting pressures against activists and journalists in Mexico, causing some to flee or cease their work for fear of retaliation. In the fall of 2012, Mexico inaugurated a new government initiative to protect human rights defenders and journalists through transparent protection measures. The initiative’s governing body, composed of government officials and civil society representatives, will receive and analyze reports of threats to advocates and journalists, decide which cases are to be granted protection, and oversee effective implementation of its resolutions, which will be mandatory for government agencies. The initiative was supported by MacArthur grantees Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos “Todos los Derechos para Todos” and the Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia; leaders of these organizations will serve on an Advisory Council responsible for ensuring the initiative’s protection measures are comprehensive, context-specific, and gender-sensitive.
via Mexico Launches Initiative to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders — MacArthur Foundation.
One month after being physically assaulted, human rights defender and journalist António Capalandanda continues to be subjected to threats and acts of surveillance and intimidation. António Capalandanda is a journalist at on-line news and radio site Voz da América (Voice of America) in Angola. His work has focused on human rights and political violence in the country, as well as investigation of corruption cases involving public officials.
On various occasions in early January 2013, António Capalandanda was reportedly followed by unidentified men in a vehicle, who parked close to his residence and followed him as soon as he left for work. During the same period the email of António Capalandanda was hacked by unknown individuals according to his email service provider, which registers the time and Internet Protocol (IP) address when his account is accessed.
On 7 December, 2012, two unidentified men on a motorbike assaulted the journalist and stole his camera, a voice recorder and two notepads. One of the men also attempted to take his backpack, unsuccessfully. On the same day, António Capalandanda filed a complaint at Huambo Provincial Police Directorate for Criminal Investigation. The officer who registered the case stated that this type of assault was unusual in the region and added that it seemed the human rights defender was being subjected to surveillance.
António Capalandanda has previously received a number of death threats from individuals identified as state security agents and has been offered to work for the Government in return for the ceasing of his journalism work. The human rights defender’s family members and friends have also been reportedly subjected to acts of harassment.
On 5 December 2012, two days prior to the abovementioned assault, António Capalandanda was approached by a man who identified himself as an agent of the state security services, and issued death threats against the journalist.
Front Line Defenders expresses serious concern at the continued acts of threats, surveillance and intimidation directed at António Capalandanda, as well as his family members and persons close to him, and believes that these acts are motivated by the legitimate and peaceful activities of António Capalandanda as an investigative journalist and human rights defender in Angola. 
Geneva-based NGO “Media and human rights” reports that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has proclaimed the 13th of February “World Radio Day”. It is a moment to pay homage to one of the most important and resilient media. A time also to remember that local radio journalists are often in the firing line, especially in regions where citizens do not have access, due to lack of infrastructure or resources, to other media like TV or the Internet.
The Gambian Government must stop immediately intimidation and harassment of HRDs, journalists, lawyers and government critics generally says a joint statement by ARTICLE 19, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Amnesty International. Since the beginning of December, at least nine cases of arbitrary arrest and illegal detention have been documented.
via Human Rights Groups Urge Gambia Govt to Stop Crackdown on Critics.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters without Borders (RSF) have just released their annual counts of killed journalists. Although their figures differ somewhat: 67 killed for CPJ and 88 for RSF, both organizations show a sharp increase in the number of killings.The main reason is Syrian where journalists are also directly targeted by the governemnt security services or jihadist fighters.
For more information:
CPJ report http://www.cpj.org/reports/2012/12/journalist-deaths-spike-in-2012-due-to-syria-somal.php
RSF report http://en.rsf.org/2012-journalists-netizens-decimated-19-12-2012,43806.html
via Media and human rights: End of year: a sharp increase in the number of killed journalists.
Radio Netherlands reports today, 6 November, that a three-day UN-sponsored internet talking shop has kicked off in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) brings together 1,500 delegates from around the world to discuss issues such as identity protection online, how content can be controlled and the role of governments in managing the internet. At the same time, Azeri activists and human rights organisations are using the gathering to draw attention to the lack of freedom in the host country itself.
Dutch Europarliamentarian Marietje Schaake, who has been awarded the title of ‘Most Wired’ MEP, said at a preparatory event: “An open and free internet is an enormous chance for everyone in the world. “We shouldn’t look at internet freedom in terms of nations, but in terms of values.”
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Azeri journalists jailed
Just as they did in May of this year during the Eurovision Song Contest, Azeri activists are seizing on increased international media attention to point out human rights breaches in their home country. In a report issued last week, Human Rights Watch stated that “the government of Azerbaijan has a poor and worsening record on freedom of expression, online and offline”.
Several political activists, human rights defenders and journalists have been jailed, and last week the Azeri parliament adopted amendments increasing fines up to thousands of euros for ‘unsanctioned public gatherings’. In an open letter to the Azerbaijani government published in British newspaper The Independent, activist Emin Milli says, “you once suggested in a speech that the internet is free in Azerbaijan. I am sure you will repeat this message at this global forum. It is true that people in Azerbaijan are free to use the internet, but it is also a fact that they can be severely punished afterwards for doing so.”
Uncensored internet: a human right? | Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” campaign coordinator Valiantsin Stefanovich reports that two more Swedish journalists, one of which is Erik Gonplatten, were denied access.
‘Words of Witness’
The 2012 Human Rights Watch Film Festival (HRWFF) opened on June 14, and runs for two weeks at New York City’s Walter Reade Theater, screening 16 films set in 14 countries. Among the strong slate of documentary features are Alison Klayman’s Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (IFC Films), about the eponymous Chinese dissident and conceptual artist, and Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s Call Me Kuchu, a portrait of Ugandan LGBT activist David Kato, who was murdered in 2011.
Women and girls take center stage in several documentaries, among them David Fine’s Salaam Dunk, a delightful season spent with the first women’s college basketball team in Iraq, and Little Heaven, about a young woman in an Ethiopian orphanage for children with AIDS. In Mai Iskander’s Words of Witness, we meet a female journalist on her first assignment in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
Narrative features include Maggie Peren’s Color of the Ocean, a moving story of a German tourist unable to turn away from illegal immigrants she encounters on the beach, and Kim Nguyen’s War Witch (Tribeca Films), which chronicles the life of a female child soldier in the Congo. The latter screened at HRWFF’s opening-night benefit. Susan Youssef’s Habibi, a love story set in Palestine, made its New York premiere the first weekend of the festival.
HRWFF has been showcasing the work of human-rights filmmakers for 23 years, each year awarding one the Nestor Almendros Prize, named for the late filmmaker-cinematographer who was a festival founder. The winning documentary at HRWFF 2012 is Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War, an emotionally charged look at rape in the U.S. military. The United States is also the focus of Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke’s Escape Fire (Roadside Attractions), in which doctors, insurance executives and patients discuss the failures of our healthcare system.
While HRWFF often features advocacy documentaries, this year it screens several documentary films that are distinguished by their investigative approach and objectivity, compelling viewers to assess their shared responsibility for safeguarding human rights. See the full article below by Maria Garcia below for interviews with five of these filmmaker-journalists
Cinema for change: Human Rights Watch Fest sheds light on injustices.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 