This blog is supposed to be an about Human Rights Defenders, not about self promotion. I know!
However, this very long interview is both and therefore belongs here.
Posts Tagged ‘MEA’
About the MEA, human rights activism and me
May 1, 2025Burkina Faso: Disappeared MEA laureate Daouda Diallo released
April 1, 2024On 1 December 2023, Daouda Diallo, a human rights defender and secretary general of the Coalition Against Impunity and Community Stigmatization, was abducted by security forces in civilian clothes in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, and taken to an unknown location. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/12/04/mea-laureate-2022-daouda-diallo-abducted/
On 28 March, 2024 Amnesty International (Index Number: AFR 60/7830/2024) reported that he was freed on 7 March 2024.
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/ca7f1556-8f73-4b48-b868-b93a3df9b4e1
Cao Shunli, her legacy should not be silenced
February 16, 2024
‘Our impact may be large, may be small, and may be nothing. But we must try. It is our duty to the dispossessed and it is the right of civil society.’ – Cao Shunli
Ten years ago, Chinese woman human rights defender Cao Shunli was a victim of deadly reprisals for engaging with the United Nations.
The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and partners invite you to attend a photo exhibition on 14 March 2024, at Place des Nations to honour her memory.
The photo exhibition will also display cases of Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Hong Kong human rights defenders who have been targeted for upholding the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. See: https://mailchi.mp/ishr/side-event-situation-guatemala-hrc55-7mar-34177?e=d1945ebb90
Who was Cao Shunli?
Cao Shunli was a brave Chinese woman human rights defender and lawyer. She campaigned for the meaningful consultation and contribution of independent civil society to the Chinese government’s national reports for its first and second Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR). On 14 September 2013, one month before this review, while on her way to Geneva to attend a human rights training organised by ISHR and CHRD, she was detained and forcibly disappeared by Chinese authorities for five weeks. When she resurfaced in custody in October 2013, she had been charged with ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’, and it was evident that she was experiencing serious medical issues in detention. Despite repeated international calls for her urgent release over months of being denied adequate medical treatment, Cao Shunli died of multiple organ failure on 14 March 2014, having been granted bail for medical reasons just days before her death. Cao Shunli was one of the finalists of the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2014. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/cao-shunli/ as well as https://www.martinennalsaward.org/hrd/cao-shunli/]
To this day, Chinese authorities have ignored appeals seeking accountability for Cao’s death, including repeated calls by UN Special Procedures experts in 2014 and 2019 for a full investigation into this ‘deadly reprisal’. Her case remains the longest-standing unresolved case in the UN Secretary-General’s annual reports on reprisals. March 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of Cao Shunli’s death. A decade ago, when ISHR and many other human rights groups sought to observe a moment of silence at the Human Rights Council in her memory, the Chinese delegation, together with other delegations, disrupted the session for an hour and a half. China is consistently one of the most frequent perpetrators of reprisals against individuals or groups engaging with the United Nations. Frequently mentioned alongside Saudi Arabia, it has the second highest number of reprisals cases and situations reported by the UN Secretary-General since 2010.
Cao Shunli’s story is a paradigmatic case of reprisals, not only because of her belief in the importance of civil society participation in UN mechanisms, but also due to the array of severe human rights abuses she endured because of this belief, ranging from being barred from exiting her own country, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, lack of due process, torture, ill-treatment, and denial of adequate medical care, to subsequent death in custody without any accountability for these abuses.
https://ishr.ch/events/but-we-must-try-cao-shunli-the-unsilenceable-legacy
Call for Nominations for Martin Ennals Award 2024
January 23, 2024
Nominations are open for the Martin Ennals Award 2024! The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders honours individuals and organizations who have shown exceptional commitment to defending human rights, despite the risks involved. We are proud to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Award in 2024, in partnership with the City of Geneva, the Jury member organizations, the extended family of Laureates around the world, and our wonderful donors. To qualify for the Award 2024, the nominees must:
Be currently active in the promotion and protection of human rights
Not employ or advocate violence
Not be self-nominated
Be in need of protection
We encourage nominations of activists under 30 years of age to reflect the growing number of young persons joining the human rights movements in their countries. Post-humous nominations are not eligible.
For more on this award, and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/043F9D13-640A-412C-90E8-99952CA56DCE
The deadline for nominations is Wednesday February 28, 2024.
Find out more on our website: https://www.martinennalsaward.org/call-for-nominations/
Martin Ennals Foundation seeking urgently a Project Coordinator
January 8, 2024After 4.5 years, Isabel de Sola is getting ready to leave her position as Director of the Martin Ennals Foundation by the end of January. The Project Coordinator is envisioned to take over a sub-set of her responsibilities while collaborating with other members of the staff and Jury organizations.
The Award is approaching its 30th anniversary in 2024 – a moment which calls for a celebration of past achievements, as well as for some reflection on the future. The objective of the MEA 30th Anniversary project is to rally the Award’s friends and partners in Geneva to reinforce the message that protecting and bolstering HRDs is fundamental to the realization of UDHR and the HRDs Declaration.
The Martin Ennals Foundation is hiring a Project Coordinator to deliver on the 30th Anniversary project in 2024 and renew the Award for 2025. The Project Coordinator will be at the center of the Award’s activities, providing an essential link between the Board, Jury members, donors, consultants, and partners to the celebration in 2024-2025. An estimated 60% FTE is envisioned for this role, with peak periods at the nominations and Ceremony stages.
The Project Coordinator’s main responsibilities include:
- Primary responsibility for the nominations process and coordination of the Jury for the selection of the 2024 Laureate. Maintenance of the Martin Ennals Award nominations database and oversight of the Jury voting process. Preparing and follow-up to Jury meetings – two or three during the year, as necessary.
- Primary responsibility for the development and execution of the annual Award Ceremony. Liaises with the Ville de Geneve on a concept for the 2024 Ceremony, a new graphic identity, and the agenda of the event. Oversees organizational aspects of the Ceremony in consultation with the Ville de Geneve and event consultants.
- Collaborates with consultants in the development and execution of an Award communication strategy aimed at raising the visibility of the Laureates and celebrating the MEA’s 30 years’ history.
- Facilitates conduct of financial and administrative aspects of the Award project, including fundraising and advocacy-related activities together with the heads of departments and the Program Officer.
- Supports fundraising for 2024-2025 and donor management, in collaboration with the relevant departments.
- Supports the Program Officer in executing an advocacy strategy for MEA Laureates within Geneva-based advocacy and human rights policy development.
- Contributes to monitoring and evaluating the 30th anniversary project, and annual narrative reporting for donors.
The Foundation is looking for a versatile and experienced project-manager who is passionate about human rights and rigorous in their planning and management style. The ideal candidate would bring inter alia, the following qualities and skills:
- A master’s degree or +8 years of work experience in international relations, sustainable development, human rights, security policy, or related fields.
- Familiarity with the international relations, human rights advocacy, and development cooperation ecosystem of Geneva.
- Bilingual or professional fluency in both English and French.
- A track-record in management of complex projects with many moving pieces. Ability to oversee several service providers and consultants simultaneously. Ability to budget and keep-track of financial aspects of the project.
- Event planning experience.
- Exposure to fundraising, monitoring and evaluation, or general reporting on projects.
The Project Coordinator will be offered a two-year contract with possibility of renewal.
To apply, please send your CV, a motivation letter, and a 300-word response to the following question to the MEF Board at barbara-lochbihler@gmx.de by February 2nd, 2024 cob:
“For the 30th anniversary celebration of the Award, the Martin Ennals Foundation and the City of Geneva will conduct a call-for-tender to identify a provider who can deliver a new graphic design for the Ceremony. How would you go about this task? Describe the steps you would take, a check-list of important items to consider, or your overall approach.”
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview in the month of February.
Iran gives the usual treatment to Mahsa Amini’s family: stopped at airport on way to collect award
December 10, 2023
It sounded familiar hearing the BBC News that the family of Mahsa Amini have been banned from flying to France to collect the 2023 EU’s Sakharov Prize [see https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/10/19/mahsa-amini-and-woman-life-and-freedom-movement-in-iran-awarded-eus-sakharov-prize/]. In 2009, as chairman of the MEA, I had to deal with the Martin Ennals Award laureate, Emad Baghi, who could not accept the prize in person due to travel restrictions. The same happened to other awards, including: the Civil Courage Prize (2004), the human rights award from France (2005), and the British Press Award (2008). https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/EA0410ED-BC5A-4436-A3D7-012EF3232C55
Ms Amini’s parents and brother were stopped from boarding their flight and had their passports confiscated, their lawyer said. They were banned from leaving despite having valid visas.
Speaking to the AFP news agency, the family’s lawyer, Chirinne Ardakani, said Ms Amini’s mother, father and brother had been “prohibited from boarding the flight that was to take them to France for the presentation of the Sakharov Prize”.
The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, called on Iran to “retract the decision” to ban the family from travelling. “Their place next Tuesday is at the European Parliament in Strasbourg to receive the Sakharov Prize, with the brave women of Iran,” she said on social media. “The truth cannot be silenced.”
MEA Laureate 2022 Daouda Diallo abducted
December 4, 2023
On 1 December, 2023, at about 4 p.m., four or more unidentified men abducted Diallo, the secretary-general of the Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities (Collectif contre l’Impunité et la Stigmatisation des Communautés, CISC) in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou. Diallo had just left the government’s passport office after a meeting with officers to renew his passport. The CISC issued a statement the same day saying that men in civilian clothes pushed Diallo into a vehicle and drove off. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Diallo, 41, winner of the 2022 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, has long been known for denouncing abuses by government security forces and for demanding accountability.[https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/ca7f1556-8f73-4b48-b868-b93a3df9b4e1] In early November, the Burkinabe security forces used a sweeping emergency law aimed at silencing dissent and notified at least a dozen journalists, civil society activists, and opposition party members, including Diallo, that they would be conscripted to participate in government security operations across the country. Diallo spoke out against these politically motivated conscriptions.[see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/11/10/burkina-faso-emergency-law-targets-dissidents/]
On December 2, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, raised serious concerns about Diallo’s abduction. In a December 3 statement, The People’s Coalition for the Sahel, an alliance of civil society organizations, said that “the abduction of a prominent activist in broad daylight […] demands an immediate government response,” and called on the military authorities to take action.
“Burkina Faso authorities should urgently and impartially investigate the abduction of Daouda Diallo and release him if he is in government custody,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “We are deeply concerned for Diallo’s safety and the safety of everyone working to improve respect for human rights in Burkina Faso.”
Since it took power in an October 2022 coup, Burkina Faso’s military junta has increasingly cracked down on peaceful dissent and the media, shrinking the civic space in the country. National and international journalists, as well as civil society members, face increasing harassment, threats, and arbitrary arrests. On December 2, the military authorities announced the suspension of “all distribution methods” of the French newspaper Le Monde daily, claiming an article published on Le Monde’s website on December 1 about a deadly attack by an Islamist armed group on a military base in Djibo, Sahel region, on November 26, was “biased.”
On 4 December the Martin Ennals Foundation and several other NGOs addressed an urgent letter to the Représentant Permanent de Burkina Faso at the UN in Geneva.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/04/burkina-faso-prominent-rights-activist-abducted
https://www.voanews.com/a/burkina-faso-rights-defender-abducted/7381667.html
https://www.barrons.com/news/ngos-call-for-release-of-burkinabe-rights-defender-4d2b4f83
19 NGOs Call on US to Press the UAE to Release Ahmed Mansoor ahead of COP 28
September 1, 2023On August 29, 2023, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and 16 additional civil society organizations delivered an open letter urging U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to encourage the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government to immediately and unconditionally release Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor ahead of the 28th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) that will take place from November 30 to December 12, 2023. [for more on UAE: see https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/ahmed-mansoor/]
In the letter, the organizations urged Secretary Blinken to call on the UAE government to immediately and unconditionally release Ahmed Mansoor and other jailed human rights defenders and peaceful critics both privately and publicly at the highest levels. The organizations also called on the Secretary to signal deep concern about Mansoor’s well-being and request permission to visit him in prison as soon as possible.
“With the world’s attention on Dubai, the US government should deliver on this administration’s promise to center human rights in its foreign policy and press the Emirati authorities to finally release Ahmed Mansoor,” said Elizabeth Rghebi, Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, “As a participant in COP28, the US government can demand the UAE demonstrate through this high profile release its commitment to the human rights principles required for healthy civic space at this upcoming global gathering.”
Governments have an obligation to protect the civic space for protest, in particular guaranteeing the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. Subjecting human rights defenders and critics to unlawful use of force, arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and abusive detention conditions violate these and other rights. The US government should work to uphold its obligations both at home and when engaging diplomatic partners.
Mansoor was arrested by Emirati authorities in March 2017 for “spreading false news” to “harm the reputation of the state.” All the charges on which he was convicted were based solely on his human rights advocacy, including using email and WhatsApp to communicate with human rights organizations. Following more than a year in isolation in pre-trial detention and a grossly unfair trial, an Emirati state security court sentenced Mansoor to 10 years in prison. Mansoor is a laureate of the MEA [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/074ACCD4-A327-4A21-B056-440C4C378A1A]
Throughout his imprisonment, Mansoor has been subjected to treatment that violates the prohibition against torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, including being held in solitary confinement without access to reading materials, television, or radio. Since December 2017, he has been denied eyeglasses, most personal hygiene items and, at least until recently, a bed or mattress in his cell.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/30/cop28-us-should-press-uae-activists-release
Pressure on India continues to clear father Stan Swamy’s name
July 10, 2023On 6 July 2023 UCA News reporter reported on efforts at the second death anniversary of the Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, who was falsely charged with terror-related laws, See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/10/11/the-indomitable-father-stan-swamy-defending-the-adivasis-and-the-dalits-a-cause-of-arrest/
A group of rights activists in India have urged President Droupadi Murmu to withdraw terror-related cases against late Jesuit Father Stan Swamy and 15 other accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case.
“It is a false case registered against Father Swamy and others and it should be withdrawn,” said Father Antony P.M, a social activist at a gathering to mark the second death anniversary of the priest, on July 5 in the eastern Jharkhand state. Tributes were paid to the Swamy across the country.
He said a group of activists is appealing to the president, who hails from an indigenous community in eastern India, to use her good office to withdraw “the totally false case registered against right defenders,” Antony told UCA News on July 6.
The activists had gathered in front of the Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Jharkhand governor, in the state capital Ranchi. It was organized by the Shahid Father Stan Swamy Nyaya Morcha (Martyer Stan Swamy Justice Forum).
“Father Swamy, who fought for the rights of indigenous people in Jharkhand finally had to die for want of medical care as a prisoner,” said Antony, the director of Bagaicha, a Jesuit social center in Jharkhand, where Swamy lived and worked.
Murmu served as the governor of Jharkhand when Swamy’s residence in Ranchi was raided twice and the federal terror investigative agency arrested him in 2020.
He was accused of having links with outlawed Maoists along with 15 well-known human rights activists accused in a case linking them to a violent clash in Bhima-Koregaon village in western Maharashtra state in 2018.
The late priest and others including rights activists, lawyers, academicians, and writers, were also charged under the provisions of a draconian anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), alleging they had conspired to unleash violence in Bhima-Koregaon.
The priest was also accused of sedition and conspiring with Maoist rebels to overthrow the federal government.
The 85-year-old activist priest died as an under trial prisoner in a private hospital in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra.
“We hereby request Your Excellency to take cognizance of the entire Bhima-Koregaon case wherein the intention of the state and the investigation agencies is highly suspicious and does not inspire any confidence in common citizens,” they said in a memorandum.
“Several independent investigations, including by US-based Arsenal Consultancy, have exposed how the case, based on fabricated evidence, is just a witch-hunt by the state,” it said.
“We request that all the human rights activists be immediately released on bail, the case and prosecution be withdrawn and criminal proceedings be initiated against those responsible for fabricating and planting evidence,” the memorandum added.
It also briefly provided details of the findings from Arsenal Consultancy, a digital forensic lab, that said digital evidence was planted on the computer of Father Swamy and others, leading to their arrest and incarceration.
Antony further demanded the scrapping of the draconian UAPA, under which Swamy was arrested.
“Once a person is charged under the UAPA, he/she is not treated well in jail even if there is no connection with the case remotely,” the priest said, citing the example of Swamy.
Despite suffering from Parkinson’s and other age-related diseases, Swamy was denied bail by both the trial court and the high court before his death.
“If the jail authorities cared for him well or the courts had granted bail in time, I think he would have been with us,” Antony, also a Jesuit, observed.
“The investigating agency has still not filed the charge sheet and activists are languishing in jail. This is a gross violation of human rights,” the priest said.
Indian Jesuits have approached the Mumbai High Court seeking “to clear his name from the false cases” that led to his arrest, imprisonment and death in custody.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/activists-urge-indian-president-to-clear-stan-swamys-name/101875
For those who missed it: relive the moving MEA 2023 ceremony
February 24, 2023You can now relive the MEA ceremony which was held on 16 February 2023 and get inspired by the 2023 Laureates, three outstanding human rights defenders:
-Feliciano Reyna, Venezuela
-Delphine Djiraibé, Chad
-Khurram Parvez, Kashmir.
See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/01/19/breaking-news-laureates-of-the-mea-for-2023-announced/
The Ceremony was live-streamed directly from the Salle Communale de Plainpalais, Geneva, co-hosted with the City of Geneva.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 