Posts Tagged ‘Latin America’
March 2, 2018
While all eyes are on the ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) – on 28 February – presented its report “Toward a Comprehensive Policy to Protect Human Rights Defenders,” in the context of the 167th session of the IACHR taking place in Colombia. The purpose of this report is to provide the States in the region with guidance in developing their domestic policies, programs, and protection mechanisms for human rights defenders, in keeping with inter-American human rights standards.
“The work of defending human rights in the countries of the Americas has become extremely dangerous,” said the President of the IACHR, Commissioner Margarette Macaulay. “The levels of violence against people who defend human rights in our region are alarming, and the rates of impunity for these types of crimes are very high. The focus of the IACHR’s concern is on the violent deaths of rights defenders, the impunity that tends to surround these types of crimes, and the remaining vulnerability of all persons and groups on whose behalf the defender had worked. This makes it essential and urgent for the States to adopt effective measures to put an end to this situation,” she added.
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/02/22/amnestys-annual-report-2017-is-out-depressing-but-rays-of-hope/
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/07/15/documenting-the-killings-of-environmental-defenders-guardian-and-global-witness/
…….
“We are aware of and welcome the efforts made by some States to implement different mechanisms, laws, and policies to protect rights defenders, but unfortunately these have not been effective enough,” said the IACHR Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Commissioner Francisco Eguiguren. “That is why the IACHR in this report has laid out the main components of a comprehensive protection policy, so that such a policy can be effective and so that we can manage to stop the killings and other attacks that are putting an end to the lives of rights defenders or preventing them from doing their work. The aim of the IACHR is to provide the States with a guide on developing domestic policies, programs, mechanisms, and practices for the effective protection of human rights defenders, in accordance with Inter-American human rights standards,” he indicated.
A comprehensive protection policy is based on a recognition of the State’s interrelated and interdependent obligations to enable rights defenders to freely and safely carry out their work of defending human rights. In this sense, a comprehensive protection policy refers to a broad, all-encompassing approach that requires extending protection beyond physical protection mechanisms or systems when defenders experience situations of risk. It requires implementing public policies and measures designed to respect the rights of defenders; prevent violations of their rights; diligently investigate acts of violence against them; and punish the perpetrators and masterminds of any attack on human rights defenders.
The report also analyzes the main steps forward and challenges in terms of the efforts underway in some States, such as the national protection mechanisms, legislation, and policies and programs that exist in some countries. It also makes recommendations to the States on how to ensure better implementation of prevention, protection, and investigation measures to achieve a comprehensive protection policy.
..Human rights defenders are an essential pillar for the strengthening and consolidation of democracies in the hemisphere. Acts of violence against human rights defenders not only infringe on the defenders’ own rights as human beings but also undermine the critical role they play in society and in upholding democratic standards.
Contact info María Isabel Rivero
, IACHR Press and Communication Office
mrivero@oas.org
http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2018/039.asp
Posted in books, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Americas, enabling environment, environmental activists, Francisco Eguiguren, Human Rights Defenders, IACHR, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Latin America, Margarette Macaulay, national level, protection of HRDs, report
March 8, 2017
International Women’s Day focuses on many different aspects of the struggle for the human rights of women. I have selected three special actions this year:
(1) a short piece honoring woman who are land rights defenders;
(2) a digital protection tool for women human rights defenders (Cyberwomen);
(3) a documentary film on how rape was made into a international war crime.
[Of course this blog has had many earlier posts on women human rights defenders: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/women-human-rights-defenders/ ] Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ana Mirian Romero, Common Dreams, digital security, FFIDH, Honduras, ICC, Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), international women's day, Josephine Pagalan, Latin America, Melania Chiponda, Philippines, rape, Rwanda, Standing Rock, The Uncondemned (film), USA, women human rights defenders, Zimbabwe
September 1, 2016
The chilling trend of attacking human rights defenders working on environment and land rights continues. The help keep an overview here a summary of a number of relevant items:
On 26 August 2016
Patricia Schaefer of the
Center for International Environmental Law posted a blog in the NonProfitQuarterly website under the Title “
International Collaboration Reports on Violence against Environmental Activists”, summarizing two recent reports (
On Dangerous Ground by
Global Witness and a more recent “
Deadly Shade of Green” by Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), British NGO Article 19, and Vermont Law School).
Global Witness stated that worldwide, in 2015, there were 185 individuals killed in 16 countries while defending their land, forests, and rivers against industrial encroachment. At the top of the list were Brazil (50 killings), the Philippines (33), and Colombia (26). Global Witness recounts, “Conflicts over mining were the number one cause of killings in 2015, with agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and logging also key drivers of violence. In 2015, almost 40 percent of victims were from indigenous groups.” [Global Witness’ earlier report: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/environment-deadly-for-human-rights-defenders-says-global-witness/].
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 4 Comments »
Tags: Berta Cáceres, Brazil, Center for International Environmental Law, Deadly Shade of Green, Ecuador, environmental activists, Front Line (NGO), Global Witness, Gloria Capitan, HRW, Human Rights Defenders, killings, land rights defender, Latin America, Nilce de Souza Magalhães, Patricia Schaefer, Philippines, resource extraction, World Bank
February 27, 2016
The criminalization of human rights defenders in the context of the extraction of natural resources and megaprojects is becoming a very worrisome phenomenon in Latin America, denounces the Observatory in a report published today in Mexico. Entitled “The criminalization of human rights defenders in the context of industrial projects: a regional phenomenon in Latin America”, this document points to the role of businesses, civil servants, public prosecutors, judges, and the State. The report issued by OMCT and FIDH (in the context of their Observatory for Human Rights Defenders) on 25 February 2016 describes the specific cases of human rights defenders criminalized in eight Latin American countries (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru).
The report especially stresses two core issues common to all the countries studied: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in books, FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 3 Comments »
Tags: Brazil, Colombia, criminalisation, criminalization, Ecuador, environmental issues, FIDH, Honduras, Human Rights Defenders, independence of the judiciary, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT, Peru, regional NGOs, resource extraction
January 16, 2016
Santiago Canton will be leaving his post as Executive Director of RFK Partners for Human Rights at the end of this week as he has accepted the position of Secretary for Human Rights for Buenos Aires in Argentina. He started in 2012.
[Santiago Canton is also an Adjunct Professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, the Georgetown University Law Center, and the Universidad de Buenos Aires. In 2013, Mr. Canton served as a member of the World Bank Panel of Experts on Human Rights, part of a process that reviewed the bank’s environmental and social safeguard policies. From 2001 to 2012, Mr. Canton was the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 1998, he was elected as the first Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression in the Inter-American System. From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Canton was Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. Mr. Canton was a political assistant to President Carter in democratic development programs in countries in Latin America. In 2005, Mr. Canton was awarded the Chapultepec Grand Prize for freedom of expression throughout the Americas.]
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: argentina, Buenos Aires, career, freedom of expression, Human rights defender, Latin America, RFK, RFK Human Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, Santiago Canton
January 6, 2016
The latest statistical report released by Front Line Defenders revealed the appalling reality that human rights defenders all over the world are at great risk to be victims of extreme forms of violence. And based on the organization’s annual report, 157 human rights activists were killed or died in detention in 25 countries in 2015. Latin America, Philippines are named as most dangerous places for Human Rights Defenders. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 6 Comments »
Tags: annual report 2015, asian region, enabling environment, environmental issues, EU, Human Rights Defenders, Ireland, killings, Latin America, Latin Post, LGBTI, Mary Lawlor, Philippines, resource extraction, restrictions, statistics
December 3, 2014
Brussels-based Protection International‘s Focus Report provides detailed monitoring of developments in the field of national public policy on the protection of Human Rights Defenders. This year’s edition of Focus highlights the renewed interest in adopting legal instruments for the protection if HRDs in Latin America (in Honduras and Guatemala) and in Sub-Saharan Africa (in Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi and Mali).
The report (second year running) draws attention to the recent publication of guidelines on the protection of HRDs by OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The work of several Latin American civil society organisations (CSOs) that have presented cases concerning murdered HRDs before the regional mechanisms has been of great value. These efforts have led to the development of jurisprudence by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Finally, this edition includes contributions by external collaborators:
- the Preface, prepared by Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders;
- an analysis of advances in the field of protection in the Americas, by Jesús Orozco H., President of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) and Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders;
- an overview of the topic in Africa by Reine Alapini Gansou, the Commissioner and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders of the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR); and
- contributions by representatives of local CSOs in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, countries that have pioneered the effective implementation of public policies for the protection of HRDs.
- PI hopes to enrich the discussions on the adoption of appropriate policies in countries where they do not exist and to help authorities and civil society organisations implement them where they do.
For last year’s report: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/protection-international-publishes-focus-report-2013-on-policies-concerning-human-rights-defenders/
Focus 2014 Report: http://files.flipsnack.com/ /embed.html?hash=fd152nkz0&wmode=window&bgcolor=EEEEEE&t=14174580301417458119
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Protection International | 2 Comments »
Tags: annual report 2014, civil society organisations, Focus 2014, Jesús Orozco, Latin America, Michel Forst, national mechanisms, ODHIR, Protection International, protection mechanisms, Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders (ACHPR), Reine Alapini-Gansou, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders (ACHPR), UN Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
September 25, 2014
From 17-20 September 2014, took place in Manila, Philippines, an inter-regional conference, which tackled the imperative for truth, justice, reparation, memory and guarantees of non-repetition. The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) organised the “Sharing Best Practices in Advocating for Legislation Against Enforced Disappearances” and human rights defenders came from Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and the United States of America
The Conference Statement – available in full through the Asian Human Rights Commission link below – describes disappearance in several countries and then concludes with the following lessons:
- We underscored the vital importance of documentation as the most basic requirement in our search for truth and justice and in our campaign to get the widest possible support in this difficult work;
- The importance of forming associations of families of the victims in the struggle for justice and of ensuring that the struggle against disappearances in whatever ways has to be owned by the families of the victims and the rest of society;
- The work against enforced disappearances is jointly done by victims, lawyers and other members of civil society;
- On the aspect of reparation, it is important to fully maximize existing forms of reparation and not limit these to material and monetary aspects. Reparation of dignity of the victims for a damage done because of human rights violation is of paramount importance;
- Media and communication work are very important to disseminate information and to make enforced disappearance a social concern;
- In view of the global character of the crime, international solidarity is imperative to strengthen response. This will complement the work at the national and regional levels;
- In Asia, the signing and the ratification of the Convention and the recognition of the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances should be given prime importance.
“Losing our hope is a bigger crime than the actual crimes perpetrated against us. Therefore, in this conference, we resolve that we are the agents of hope.”
PHILIPPINES: Sharing best practices in advocating for legislation against enforced disappearances — Asian Human Rights Commission.
Posted in AHRC, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Asian Human Rights Commission, asian region, best practice, conference, disappearances, Forced disappearance, Human Rights Defenders, Latin America, Philippines, reparation
September 19, 2014
(From left to right — Charles Harper, Estela Barnes de Carlotto, Ambassador Alberto D’Alotto and Bishop-emeritus Aldo Etchegoyen. Photo: Argentinian mission in Geneva)
A former World Council of Churches (WCC) official from Brazil, Rev. Charles Harper, has been honoured with the Order Comendador de Mayo, a high decoration of the Argentine government for his emblematic legacy of struggles for human rights in the ecumenical movement. Harper, was WCC’s director of the Human Rights Resource Office for Latin America from 1973 to 1992. He received this honour in a ceremony held on 16 September in Geneva, Switzerland. Harper, born to an American missionary father working in Brazil, joined the anti-colonial struggle through the Committee for Assistance to Evacuees (CIMADE). At CIMADE, he worked with young people and Algerian immigrants in Marseille, France, in the early 1960s. With CIMADE and later as director of the John Knox International Reformed Centre, Harper supported church leaders persecuted in Mozambique, Angola and Cape Verde. Many of those become key actors in the independence struggles of their countries. At the WCC, Harper coördinated a number of systematic international initiatives denouncing human rights violations in Latin America. He created strong networks to protect the persecuted, imprisoned and tortured people in the region.
Accompanying human rights movements in the 1970s, the WCC was able to respond to the calls for solidarity at regional and global levels. Harper’s work at the WCC was initiated by the WCC member churches in Latin America, following a dialogue held with the WCC’s Commission on International Affairs, chaired then by the renowned jurist Dr Theo van Boven, who also received an honour from the Argentine government in 2012.
In his speech Harper pointed out the current global challenges that a new generation of human rights advocates has to deal with. “Thirty years later – today – the challenges facing the world community of nations, both as international and ecumenical family, not only persist but become more intense: The World Council of Churches, an instrument of unity and service to humanity, strives to accompany churches and groups related to them in critical situations to defend human rights and human dignity, fighting impunity, demanding punitive justice, and building just and peaceful societies.”
At the ceremony, Ambassador Alberto D’Alotto said, “Protestant churches have played an important role in defending human rights and in starting movements for human rights in my country. They helped in founding human rights organizations and sponsored their consolidation, and managed international financing much needed in the beginning…..The churches helped to find ways to overcome the information blockade imposed by the military authorities, giving international visibility to what was happening in Argentina and denouncing the military repression in international forums,” he said.
via Human Rights Defender Charles Harper Honoured by Argentinian Government – Standard Newswire.
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alberto D'Alotto, argentina, awards, Brazil, Charles Harper, CIMADE, Geneva, Harper, human rights violations, Latin America, recognition, Theo van Boven, WCC, World Council of Churches
March 26, 2014
It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that a great human rights defender from France, Louis Joinet, is honored with a colloque on the topic “Is sovereignty still the basis of international law?”. It coincides with the publication of his book: “Mes raisons d’Etat” [‘My reasons of state’ or better ‘How I saw the national interest].
Had he been fluent in English (he picked it up too late in life) he would have been probably one of the most famous human rights experts in the world. His nicknames range from “Louis le Juste” to “the Obstinate”. He played a major role within the French state apparatus as from the 1960s. One of the founders of the ‘Syndicat de la magistrature‘ in 1968 (sometimes called the ‘red judges’), he became the first director of the National Commission on Informatics and Freedoms [Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés]. He served five different Prime Ministers during the 1980s as advisor. It was during those days that I met him regularly to set up and run a number of Committees dealing with the military regimes in the Southern Cone of Latin America (e.g. SIJAU, SIJADEP). We travelled often to the region and on many occasions I saw returned refugees come up to Louis to embrace and thank him for the support he gave them in exile.
In the meantime during 33 years he was an expert in various UN bodies, travelling all over the world. Most pronounced was his leading role in the Sub-commission for Human Rights and the Protection of Minorities (now renamed and relegated to a research role for the new Council), where he spearheaded a great many and daring innovations, concerning many issue including disappearances, torture, international crimes and amnesty. His popularity with (certain) States suffered, but most NGOs considered him to be a hero.
Together with his late and much-beloved wife Germaine he had a less-known but rewarding social life that includes assisting young street criminals and a passion for circus and street theater. His musical talent is illustrated in the picture below from my private collection, where he is seen playing the accordion with Argentinian Leandro Despouy watching (August 1988).
The colloque in Louis honor is taking place on 27 Mars 2014, 18h30, at Université Panthéon-‐Assas, Centre Panthéon, Salle des Conseils, in the series of lectures under Professor Olivier de Frouville.
The book “Mes raisons d’Etat. Mémoires d’un épris de justice” is published by La Découverte: http://www.editionsladecouverte.fr/catalogue/index-Mes_raisons_d_etat-9782707178459.html
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Amnesty, book, colloque, Commission on Human Rights, Forced disappearance, France, Haiti, human rights, Latin America, Leandro Despouy, Les Juges Rouges, Louis Joinet, Louis le Juste, memoires, Mes raisons d'Etat, military dictatorships, Olivier de Frouville, Paris, raisons d’Etat, SIJADEP, SIJAU, sovereignty, Sub-commission, Syndicat de la magistrature, theater, torture, UN, Université Panthéon‐Assas
