Posts Tagged ‘lawyers’
January 19, 2014
The most recent report by the UN Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, has been made public and will be officially presented to the Human Rights Council in March 2014. It is the last report by this Rapporteur whose mandate will terminate. The report finds that human rights defenders – especially journalists, lawyers, trade unionists and those who work to promote women’s rights and the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons – face ‘extraordinary risks’. It highlights cases of defamation, attacks, detention, torture and even killings. The report also documents an increased incidence of violations against people and communities opposed to mining, construction and development projects, with protesters attacked both by State and private security forces. ‘Human rights defenders play a crucial role in exposing and seeking accountability for violations by both governments and corporations. Their work is crucial to transparency, good governance and justice for victims,’ commented Phil Lynch of the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva.
The report also documents the worsening ‘use of legislation in a number of countries to refrain the activities of human rights defenders and to criminalise them’, with cited examples including laws to ‘curb the promotion of homosexuality’ and to restrict NGO access to foreign funds. ‘In the last four weeks alone, Nigeria, Russia, Uganda, Malaysia and the Ukraine have enacted or applied laws to criminalise human rights defenders and to silence their critical voice,’ Mr Lynch added.
In addition to documenting violations, the report makes a wide range of recommendations to ensure that human rights defenders are protected and can operate in a ‘safe and enabling environment’.
For those too busy to read the whole new UN report [PDF] here are the
V. Conclusions and recommendations: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Civil society, corporate accountability, criminalization, development projects, enabling environment, environmental issues, foreign funding, freedom of association, freedom of expression, funding restrictions, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, journalists, land rights, lawyers, LGBTI, local communities, Malaysia, Margaret Sekaggya, Nigeria, Phil Lynch, Russia, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, trade unionists, Uganda, Ukraine, UN Special Rapporteur, women human rights defenders
October 28, 2013
reports that on 22 October 2013, human rights lawyer André Michel in Haiti was arbitrarily held in police custody after police attempted to carry out a search on his vehicle. He was eventually released the next morning but remains at risk of arrest. André Michel is involved, as legal representative of the complainant, in a case of corruption and embezzlement of public funds allegedly implicating members of the President’s family. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: André Michel, arrest, Arrest warrant, Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers of 1990, Haiti, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, Independence of Lawyers, judicial harassment, lawyer, lawyers, legal profession, Mario Joseph, MEA, police intimidation, Political corruption, threats
September 21, 2013
In the Guardian of Nigeria of 21 September, Joseph Okoghenun writes that the American Bar Association [ABA] yesterday expressed their disappointments on the inability of the Nigerian Government to enforce rule of law and respect the rights of Nigerians, especially of those defending human rights in the country. In letter specifically addressed to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, the Center for Human Rights of the ABA, said it was deeply “concerned at recent events in Nigeria that threaten the rights and activities of human rights defenders and undermine the rule of law.” The letter cited several reports it received from Nigerian NGO Civil Liberties Organisation [CLO] about conduct that “reflect a pattern of ongoing human rights abuses by security forces in Nigeria, including extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and extortion”. The ABA strongly but respectfully urged the minister of justice to look into this matter.
via American Lawyers Write Justice Minister, Seek Enforcement Of Human Rights.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ABA, American Bar Association, attorney general, compensation, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, law enforcement, lawyers, minister of justice, Nigeria, Solidarity, United States
August 27, 2013
Via Front Line some good and bad news on Haiti, the country of one the finalists for the MEA 2013: 
On 22 August 2013, the criminal charges of arson and conspiracy against human rights lawyer Mr Patrice Florvilus were dropped when the original plaintiff stated he would withdraw his complaint. Patrice Florvilus is the Executive Director of Défense des Opprimées/Opprimés – DOP, an organisation which provides legal assistance, in particular to social movements and residents of displacement camps. For more information on this case, please see the urgent appeal issued by Front Line Defenders on 21 August 2013 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/23580 .
But…on 23 August 2013, the home of human rights defender Ms Malya Villard Apollon was attacked by a group of armed men, who fired gunshots at the gate. Malya Villard Apollon is the co-director of the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV), a grassroots women’s organisation working in the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince to prevent and redress sexual assault, care for survivors and build a movement for human rights in Haiti. The attack took place in the early hours of 23 August 2013, at 1.30 am. The armed men fired gunshots at the gate of Malya Villard Apollon’s home, damaging the gate and the doorbell. The human rights defender called the police who rushed to her home, but by the time they arrived the group had fled the scene. However, the armed men returned shortly thereafter, and upon seeing the police they fired at them. Despite chasing the attackers, the police was unable to apprehend them. This attack is the latest in a series of escalating threats and acts of intimidation against Malya Villard Apollon and other members of KOFAVIV. While they have received threats for a number of years, threats and acts of intimidation have intensified since Malya Villard Apollon was nominated as one of the CNN Heroes in 2012. Her dog has been poisoned, unknown individuals have visited her home and office inquiring about her whereabouts, and both Malya Villard Apollon’s as well as KOFAVIV co-director Marie Eramithe Delva’s children have been followed and have been the subject of attempted kidnappings.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: death threats, Duvalier, Frontline, Haiti, harassment, human rights, Human rights defender, lawyers, legal aid, Malya Villard Apollon, MEA, Patrice Florvilus, Port-au-Prince, woman human rights defender
July 5, 2013
On 25 June the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) published the trial observation report concerning its Executive Committee member, human rights defender and trade unionist M. Osman İşçi. He was arrested in Ankara, Turkey, one year ago on 25 June 2012, and detained at the high-level security prison of Sincan, Ankara, along with another 27 trade unionists arrested on the same date facing proceedings for allegedly supporting a terrorist organization.
The first hearing of Osman İşçi’s trial took place on 10 April in the Ankara Special Court, after ten months of pre-trial detention. Following this hearing, M. Osman İşçi and 21 other trade unionists and human rights defenders were released, however the charges against them remain and a new hearing is scheduled for the 8 July 2013. The trial observers noted that it had been conducted with courtesy by all participants, and defendants and their lawyers had been permitted to take an active part in the hearing. Nevertheless they noted with concern that a number of central features of international fair trial standards appeared to be absent from the hearing, and from the proceedings generally. To read the trial observation report please control/click here
via Observation of the trial of Osman İşçi, human rights defender and trade-unionist | Euromedrights.
Posted in EMHRN, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Ankara, EMHRN, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, Hearing (law), human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, labour movement, lawyers, Osman İşçi, terrorism, Trade union, trade unionists, trial observation
June 14, 2013
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint programme of two reputed international NGOs: the FIDH andOMCT) has been informed by the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) about the police harassment of Ms. Electra Koutra, GHM legal counsel, in the framework of police profiling operation against transgender persons in Thessaloniki.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: abuse of power, Electra Koutra, FIDH, Greece, Greek Helsinki Monitor, harassment, human rights, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, illegal detention, Independence of Lawyers, Law, law enforcement, lawyers, LGBTI, Observatory, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Police, Police officer, Police station, Thessaloniki, Transgender
June 5, 2013
This blog tries not to keep track of all the personal appointments in the human rights movement – that would be impossible – but the additions to the Board of the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) in Geneva announced on 30 May 2013 are too impressive to leave unmentioned: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Board, Egbert Myjer, European Court of Human Rights, Hina Jilani, human rights, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, lawyers, Nicolas Bratza, personalities
May 21, 2013
Canada LRWC is a committee of Canadian lawyers and law professors who campaign internationally for advocacy rights and advocates in danger and on rule of law issues. The following is both an illustration of professional solidarity and giving information on a Sudanese woman human rights lawyer, Asma Ahmed: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, Asma Ahmed, Canada, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Jalila Khamis Koko, lawyer, lawyers, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, legal profession, National Security Service, Solidarity, Sudan
May 21, 2013
(Magamed Abubakarov)
Magamed Abubakarov, a Russian human rights lawyer specialized in terrorist cases in the North-Caucasus, will receive the Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2013. Magamed Abubakarov will accept the award on 31 May at the end of a seminar called ‘Lawyers controlled, independence at stake?’ in Amsterdam. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, L4L | 1 Comment »
Tags: Amsterdam, awards, Chechnya, Egbert Myjer, Els Swaab, Gustaf Kawer, Hague’s Shelter City Program, Heikelien Verrijn Stuart, human rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, Independence of Lawyers, Indonesia, Kabardino-Balkaria, L4L, lawyers, Lawyers for Lawyers, Magamed Abubakarov, Nalchik, North Caucasus, Olga Hamadi, Pakistan, Russia, Shahzad Akbar, Theo van Boven
March 14, 2013
(Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré)
On 11 March 2013 the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, voiced serious concern about the general situation of human rights in Iran, pointing to “widespread and systemic” torture, as well as the harassment, arrest and attacks against human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists. “The prevailing situation of human rights in Iran continues to warrant serious concern, and will require a wide range of solutions that are both respectful of cultural perspectives and mindful of the universality of fundamental human rights promulgated by the treaties to which Iran is a party,”.
Presenting his report to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, Mr. Shaheed said that Iran has made some “noteworthy advances” in the area of women’s rights, including advancements in health, literacy and in enrolment rates on both the primary and secondary levels. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ahmed Shaheed, Geneva, human rights, Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran, journalists, lawyers, MEA, Middle East, persecution, Shaheed, torture, UN Report, United Nations Human Rights Council, United Nations Special Rapporteur
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 