Posts Tagged ‘Middle East’

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Tunisian and Saudi Human Rights Defenders recipients of the Olof Palme Prize 2012

February 2, 2013

Radhia Nasraoui, human rights defender and lawyer, is awarded the 2012 Olof Palme Prize, for her untiring work against torture and impunity for more than three decades. As a concerned and patriotic citizen, she has under severe pressure defended human rights in Tunisia and challenged authorities under the motto “We must use our voices. Not saying anything makes us accomplices of the oppression”.

Waleed Sami Abu al-Khair receives the 2012 Olof Palme Prize for his strong, self-sacrificing and sustained struggle to promote respect for human and civil rights for both men and women in Saudi Arabia. Together with like-minded citizens and colleagues, Waleed Sam Abu AlKhair does so with the noble goal of contributing to a just and modern society in his country and region.

THE OLOF PALME PRIZE, the Swedish labor movement’s most prestigious award since  1987 when the Olof Palme Fund’s Board decided to establish an annual prize for a particularly significant achievement in the spirit of Olof Palme. The prize consists of USD 75 000.

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Premier of Bahrain receives delegation from Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

December 3, 2012
Most posts in this blog are of a serious nature, but this one is close to comical if anyone has bothered to read previous posts on Bahrain. Just some excerpts:

Manama, Dec. 3.  – His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman asserted that the Kingdom of Bahrain and the High Commissioner for Human Rights share the same goal and mission of protecting human rights and respecting human dignity.

“Bahrain is a democracy, reform and popular participation hub where rights are protected and liberties are respected,” HRH Premier said as he met here today a delegation from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), led by Frej Fennich, Middle East and North Africa Section Chief.

HRH Premier pointed out that “Bahrain is a one-family society and we do not accept that one of our compatriots’ basic rights are abused or dignity undermined,” noting that the government’s main interest is to protect the Bahraini citizens’ rights, including the right to live in security and stability, without intimidation or terrorism.

The Premier emphasized that freedoms are guaranteed in Bahrain by the force of the Constitution, but, he added, when they are used as a pretext to undermine the security of individuals and destabilize countries, jeopardize their economies and pose a threat to their cohesion and civic peace, the matter goes beyond the natural exercise of freedom and becomes “terrorism”, and therefore should be confronted decisively.
………
HRH Prime Minister added that there has been injustice inflicted on the kingdom because of the misleading and incoherent information disseminated by some sides, explaining that Bahrain has invited international organisations in order to allow them to be informed on reality within total transparency.

Perhaps not totally unexpected: the source is the Bahrain New Agency

 

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Alkarama awards on 7 December in Geneva: here already the trailer

November 23, 2012

The Ceremony of the Alkarama Award will be held on Friday 7 December 2012 at 18h30 in Geneva at Centre International Conférences, Genève
This year, the laureates are two human rights defenders from the Gulf region:
– Dr Mohamed Abdullah Al Roken, United Arab Emirates
– Dr Saud Mukhtar Al Hashimi, Saudi Arabia.

For more information: http://www.alkarama.org
award@alkarama.org
+41 22 734 10 06

 

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Arms sales to human rights violating regimes? – the UK and Arab world

November 10, 2012

In a letter to the editor of the Guardian of 8 November 2012, Andrew Lovatt puts the question very clearly:

Countries that sell arms to states that have repeatedly violated the human rights of their people should receive universal condemnation from their own citizens for the role they play in furthering the misery and bloodshed around the globe, and Britain’s sale of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and the UAE should be no exception. Human Rights Watch has reported numerous human rights abuses conducted by both states, which have included the assault and intimidation of nonviolent human rights defenders, political activists and civil society actors in an attempt to suppress freedom of expression and protect the regimes from democratic change.

Britain’s long-standing international support for democracy and human rights has already been undermined by the sale of 72 Typhoons to Saudi Arabia. Should Britain prop up these oppressive states further by putting an extra £6bn worth of military hardware into their hands, its position will rightly be viewed as hypocritical by the rest of the world.
Andrew Lovatt
Market Drayton, Shropshire

 

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