[Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev are British citizens working to investigate the conditions of migrant labourers who are constructing facilities for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.]
Two British human rights workers investigating the plight of migrant labourers constructing facilities for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup have disappeared and are feared to be held incommunicado by the Gulf state’s security forces reports the Independent. Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev vanished on Sunday 31 August after sending texts to colleagues saying they were being followed by plain clothes police officers and feared they arrest as they tried to leave Qatar on flights that day. The two men, who are of Nepalese extraction and both carry British passports, had been in the Qatari capital Doha to record interviews with Nepali labourers and investigate conditions in accommodation camps. They were working in cooperation with Nepalese diplomats in the city.
The Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD), employing the men, said it believed its employees were being held by the Qatari police and were at risk of maltreatment or torture: “We are deeply concerned that our employees, both British citizens, may have been subjected to enforced disappearance and are currently at risk of torture.”
[Qatar has been strongly criticised for the working conditions of its 1.4m migrant labourers as it races to spend £123bn on new infrastructure ahead of the 2022 World Cup. More than 400 Nepalese, the vast majority of them in Qatar to work on construction projects, died in the Gulf state between January 2012 and this May – a death rate of one worker per day. Qatar has insisted that none of the deaths occurred on World Cup sites. Qatar has been criticised for routinely holding detainees incommunicado for weeks or months at a time. Amnesty International has described the tactic as “standard practice” and said it can be followed by lengthy further detention without charge or trial.]
Via the Thomson Reuters Foundation Katherine Ronderospublished on 23 August 2013 a detailed study on women human rights defenders [WHRDs] in Nepal. She writes that a decade-long conflict, sluggish peace and reconciliation process and delays in developing a new constitution, leave women human rights defenders in Nepal at great risk. Read the rest of this entry »
On 23 May 2013, the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) submitted a detailed statement to the UN concerning the increased pressure on HRDs in Nepal. Here are some highlights:
1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to highlight the continuing need for closer monitoring by the Human Rights Council and the international community of the renewed threats and attacks that human rights defenders working in Nepal have had to face since the beginning of the year. Worries about potential reprisals from the former belligerents have arisen following progress in the investigation and prosecution of cases of human rights violations committed during the conflict. Read the rest of this entry »
The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) is a resource and advocacy network for the protection and support of women human rights defenders worldwide, which is looking to recruit a full-time Coordinator to liaise with members, represent the Coalition, carry out fundraising activities and facilitate and steer the WHRD IC in meeting its strategic objectives. The position will be primarily based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Salary and conditions will be commensurate with skills, experience and cost of living in the host country (with current funding until the end of 2013). Deadline for applications: 23rd April
To apply: send CV and a letter of interest to: whrd@apwld.org(withthe names and contact details of two referees who will not be contacted without permission). For more information on the WHRD- IC and its work: http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/index.php
REPUBLICAKATHMANDU reported on 2 April that a high-level delegation of the German parliament [Bundestag] is arriving in Kathmandu on 8 April to get first hand information about latest human rights situation in Nepal. A four-member delegation of German parliamentarians led by Michael Brand, deputy chairman of the Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, will arrive in Kathmandu for a four-day visit to Nepal. “The objective of the visit is to exchange views on the current human rights situation in Nepal with human rights defenders and members of the Nepali civil society. The delegation wants to receive first hand information about the recent developments in Nepal,” said Tika Prasad Dhakal, political advisor at the German Embassy in Kathmandu. During the visit, the delegation is scheduled to meet representatives of government, Supreme Court, trade unions, media, human rights community and political parties as well as the German development coöperation partners. The high level visit of German parliamentarians comes amid protest from various quarters over some of the controversial provisions in the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission TRC. The diplomatic community, including European Union EU, have already expressed strong reservation over the proposed TRC, which they say aims to grant general amnesty even to those involved in serious cases of human rights violations.
Women human rights defenders in Dhanusha, a district in Nepal’s southern Terai region, are often subjected to threats and attacks due to their work. In the summer of 2010, Peace Brigades International, a non-governental organization working for the protection of Nepalese human rights defenders since 2006, visited Dhanusha to profile their struggles, as well as to bring to light the special needs of women human rights defenders across Nepal.
“Carrying the Ideal: Women Human Rights Defenders” documents the courageous and often dangerous work of women defenders carried out in a climate of impunity and injustice and in a social strata supportive of caste and gender discrimination.
The Women’s Rehabilitation Center (WOREC) in Nepal began documenting cases of violations of women’s human rights in the context of armed conflict in 62 districts between 2005 and 2006. During the documentation process, it became clear that Women Human Rights Defenders themselves were at risk. They have been the target of specific threats and harassment in their work, torture, beatings, arbitrary arrest and detention, death threats, harassment and defamation, as well as restrictions on their freedoms of movement, expression, association and assembly. Defenders have been the victims of false accusations and unfair trial and conviction. WOREC-Nepal has been systematically documenting incidents of violence perpetrated against female defenders. WOREC Nepal has documented total of 105 cases of violations done to the HRDs committed by state and non state actors. Some of the 105 cases go back as far as 2004 but the majority of the cases documented have occurred in the last three years. The 105 documented cases of violations of HRDs’ rights, illustrate the extent of the sufferings of HRDs due to the lack of specific protection mechanisms for ensuring their right to defend. There are incidences of Women Human Rights Defenders being raped, murdered and intimidated for their work in strengthening a culture of democracy and human rights in the country. For the full statement see: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/alrc-news/human-rights-council/hrc16/ALRC-CWS-16-09-2011
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 