Posts Tagged ‘MEA’
November 27, 2013
(High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. UN Photo/Sarah Fretwell)
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, had hardly pronounced herself on the new ‘demonstrations law’ in Egypt, issued on Sunday, and a number of high-profile demonstrators was arrested. Yesterday Mona Seif, the MEA Nominee of 2013, and a group of other human rights defenders were arrested when they were protesting in-front of the Shura Council against the suggested constitutional article that guarantees the continues referral of civilians to military trials. Observers believe that the authorities want to send a message in the context of the new law referred to above. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: arbitrary arrest, Cairo Institute for Human Rights, Egypt, final nominees 2013, freedom of assembly, freedom of demonstration, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Law, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Mohamed Abdelazia, Mona Seif, Navi Pillay, no military trial, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, woman human rights defender
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
October 22, 2013
Nominations for the 2014 MARTIN ENNALS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (MEA) can now be submitted electronically at http://www.martinennalsaward.org. Deadline: 9 December 2013.
The Award is granted annually to an individual, or exceptionally an organisation, in recognition of their commitment and ongoing efforts in the defence and promotion of human rights. Nominees must be currently involved in work for the promotion and protection of human rights. Special account is taken of those who are at risk and have demonstrated an active record of combating human rights violations by courageous and innovative means. The MEA aims to encourage individuals or organisations, particularly those who are working in conditions hostile to fundamental human rights and who are in need of protection.
The present value of the annual Award is 20’000 Swiss Francs, to be used for further work in the field of human rights. The following organisations participate in the Jury that selects the award: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Front Line, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture, International Commission of Jurists, International Service for Human Rights, Protestant Agency for Diakonia and Development (Germany) and HURIDOCS.
The Ceremony is hosted by the City of Geneva in late 2013. They provide each of the final three nominees with project funds of 11’650 CHF and a 5’000 CHF travel grant.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: AI, awards, call for nominations, Diakonie, FIDH, Frontline Defenders, Geneva, HRF, HRW, Human right, human rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, HURIDOCS, ICJ, ISHR, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, nominations, OMCT
October 14, 2013
Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip, protest in support of executing criminals in Gaza City, on October
9, 2013. (AFP/Mohammed Abed)
Human Rights defenders at an Abolish the Death Penalty meeting in Gaza were confronted with a demonstration of death penalty supporters days after Hamas hanged a convicted murderer. “The death penalty is Islamic law – implement it against all criminals,” one banner read. Mohammed Shurab, spokesman for Gaza’s “Families of the Victims” movement, urged “the government in Gaza to continue carrying out the death sentence against those who are killing our sons.” But speakers at the conference said the death penalty went against both international humanitarian law and the principles of Islam. “Islam doesn’t allow the death penalty or the killing of anyone,” said Suleiman Awda, a lecturer in Islamic law at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University. “It is a religion of forgiveness.” This position has been defended rigorously by several scholars including MEA 2009 Laureate Emad Baghi.
UN experts warned it was “not possible to correct a mistake… There’s no going back once the death penalty has been carried out.”
Last week’s hanging was the first time since July 2012 that Hamas has carried out capital punishment for murder. But on June 22, the Islamist movement hanged two men accused of collaborating with Israel. Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel, murder and drug trafficking are all punishable by death. Hamas has executed 17 people since taking over Gaza in 2007, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
via Gaza protesters demand death penalty as anti-NGOs meet | Maan News Agency.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Capital punishment, death penalty, Emad Baghi, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, islamic fundamentalists, islamic law, Israel, Ma'an News Agency, MEA, Non-governmental organization, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Suleiman Awda
October 14, 2013
Mario Joseph, Haiti – Final Nominee MEA 2013
An unintended consequence of the MEA ceremony on 8 October was that Mario Joseph – one of the 3 Final Nominees for this award – used his speech to make clear how disturbed he was by the UN’s refusal to assume its responsibility for the cholera epidemic caused by UN troops in Haiti. Mrs Pillay – the UN High commissioner for human rights – in her speech replied to the challenge by repeating an earlier position that had mostly gone unnoticed: “I have used my voice both inside the United Nations and outside to call for the right — for an investigation by the United Nations, by the country concerned, and I still stand by the call that victims of — of those who suffered as a result of that cholera be provided with compensation”. Associated Press reported this on 8 October but left out the context by just stating: ‘Pillay said at an awards ceremony for human rights activists in Geneva… streamed live on the Internet.’ So, now you know!
via UN human rights official urges compensation for Haiti cholera victims – Washington Post.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 2 Comments »
Tags: Associated Press, Cholera, compensation, Geneva, Haiti, immunity, Mario Joseph, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, MEA ceremony, MEA nominees 2013, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, Washington Post
October 10, 2013
24 hours after the event, those who missed the 2013 ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders can already see the highlights on Vimeo. Gives absolutely good impression of the impressive evening.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: 2013 ceremony, Advocacy Organizations, Chechnya, City of Geneva, Egypt, Haiti, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Joint Mobile Group, Mario Joseph, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Mona Seif, Russia, Vimeo
October 7, 2013
This blog tends to prioritize news on human rights defenders who are in trouble. This makes one overlook perhaps too often the contribution made by those who are working for the cause in other ways. To rectify I want to pay tribute to another woman who has contributed enormously to the creation and growth of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders: Simia Ahmadi. After 20 years she is leaving the Board of the Foundation on 7 October, just before the 20th ceremony tomorrow.
In 1992 Simia was a young, upcoming human rights worker who had just finished an internship with the UN. To her great regret she never met Martin Ennals in person. Her main motivation was that an award could be effective and volunteered to help it being set up. After successful initial fundraising she was the part-time Secretariat in the first year.
(Simia, left of first Laureate Harry Wu in 1994, Geneva)
After that, she worked several years for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Thereafter she was Programme Coordinator of the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania and from 2006-2009 she served as FIDH’s Representative to the UN in Geneva. After her move to Kenya in 2010, she served as the Chief of Party of the Public International Law and Policy Group in Kenya. Now she devoting her considerable energy to Kahesa, of which she is the Director-Founder and undertakes consultancy work such as evaluations KAHESA is a social enterprise that produces decorative and environmentally-sound paper through the employment of mentally-challenged Kenyans. Check out her www.kahesa.com and Facebook page: Kahesa paper
For being at the cradle of the MEA and making sure that the there is no grave for long time she deserve the deepest thanks from all especially Human Rights Defenders around the world.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: FIDH, Geneva, Harry Wu, human rights, International Federation for Human Rights, Kahesa, Kenya, Legal and Human Rights Centre, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Foundation, MEA, Tanzania, United Nations, woman human rights defender
October 7, 2013
This blog tends to prioritize news on human rights defenders who are in trouble. This makes one overlook perhaps too often the contribution made by those who are working for the cause in other ways. To rectify I want to pay tribute to a woman who made an enormous contribution to the creation and development of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders: Leah Levin. After 20 years she is leaving the Board of the Foundation today, 7 October, just before the ceremony on October.
Leah was there from the start; from the now ancient looking logo of the first years
to the current one:
When the MEA came into being in 1992, a year after Martin died, Leah was already an ‘old hand’ and a well-known name in the international human rights movement. She was one of Martin’s closest friends and felt very strongly motivated by the idea of making sure his legacy was honored and made useful.
(one of the last pictures where Leah and Martin are seen together – 1979 Bellagio)
But Leah is more than the MEA. She has a OBE and is Hon. Doctor of the University of Essex. She served on the Boards of United Nations Association, Anti-Slavery and International Alert. Was Director of JUSTICE from 1982-1992 and is currently on Boards of Redress, Readers International and The International Journal of Human Rights. She is the author of UNESCO’s ‘Human Rights : Questions and Answers’, one the world’s widely disseminated books on human rights.
Twenty years of active Board membership in any enterprise is impressive; doing it on a voluntary basis without always getting the recognition deserved is outright admirable. We all owe her a lot.
Posted in Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: Board of the Martin Ennals Foundation, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, International Alert, International Journal of Human Rights, Justice (NGO), Leah Levin, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, REDRESS, Unesco
October 5, 2013
The 20th Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders will take place on Tuesday 8 October and can be followed live on www.martinennalsaward.org as from 18h00 Central European (Geneva) time. The moment of the announcement of the laureate will be approximately 18:30.
As a reminder, the 3 Final Nominees are: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: broadcast, Chechnya, City of Geneva, Egypt, Final Nominees for the Martin Ennals Award 2013, Geneva, Haiti, human rights, human rights abuses, human rights activists, human rights awards, international community, internet, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Joint Mobile Group, Mario Joseph, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, MEA ceremony, media, Micheline Calmy Rey, Mona Seif, Russia, streaming
September 26, 2013
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, whose founder and director are both jailed, wins Norway’s Rafto Prize for rights defenders. The award hopes to “turn the spotlight on systematic violations of human rights in a region where abuse is too often met with silence from Western governments,” the Rafto Foundation said in a statement on 26 September. The founder of the centre, Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja, is serving a life sentence in jail after he and several other leading opposition figures were convicted of plotting to overthrow the monarchy. They were arrested in April 2011, in the wake of the Sunni-monarchy’s crackdown on a month of Shiite-led protests that demanded political reforms. Meanwhile the centre’s director, Nabeel Rajab, has been in jail for more than 14 months, serving a three-year jail term for taking part in unauthorised protests. The prize jury commended the rights group for its non-violent protests and documentation of human rights violations, despite government attempts to shut it down. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights was, inter alia, also one the Final Nominees for the MEA of 2012 and received the Baldwin Medal
The annual Rafto award was founded in 1986 in memory of Norwegian economic history professor Thorolf Rafto, a longtime human rights activist. The 15,000 Euro prize will be presented on November 3 in Bergen.
via Bahrain rights group wins Norwegian award | GlobalPost.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, GlobalPost, human rights activist, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, judicial harassment, MEA, Middle East, Nabeel Rajab, Rafto award, Roger Baldwin Medal, Thorolf Rafto
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 