Posts Tagged ‘Norway’
April 7, 2014
describes a classical but fearsome case of intimidation of a human rights defender, Nasrullah Baloch, who is assisting the Supreme Court in Pakistan with cases of disappearances.
Nasrullah Baloch is the Chairperson of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) and has come to prominence for his work on cases of missing persons and extrajudicial killings. The human rights defender is also assisting the Supreme Court in the context of an investigation into mass graves in Balochistan. Nasrullah Baloch took part in the Supreme Court hearings concerning a number of disappeared persons on 25 March 2014. He also met with the head of the Norwegian Mission to discuss the cases. The hearings were attended by officers of the military and intelligence, who observed the exchange with the Norwegian diplomat Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Baloch, death threats, disappearances, Front Line (NGO), Human rights defender, intimidation, missing persons, Nasrullah Baloch, Norway, Pakistan, police intimidation, security forces, Supreme Court, the Supreme Court
December 4, 2013
The Monitor of the ISHR reports that in the Third Committee there was a serious setback in establishing an high-level ‘anti-reprisals focal point’ in the UN. In an unprecedented move, a group of States, led by Gabon and joined by others such as China and Russia, was successful in securing the passage of a resolution in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly to defer the appointment of such a senior UN official despite Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: anti-reprisals focal point, China, European Union, Gabon, Human right, Human Rights Council, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, Norway, OHCHR, reprisals, retaliation, Russia, Third Committee, Third Committee of the GA, UN, UN General Assembly, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council
November 28, 2013
A UN General Assembly committee has agreed a landmark first resolution on women human rights defenders, but compromise forced some weakening of the text. A Norwegian-led coalition, which prepared the resolution, had to delete language that condemned “all forms of violence against women” to get the text passed by consensus late Wednesday 27 November. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Africa, AP, China, cultural relativism, GA, Geir Sjoberg, Holy See, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, Ireland, Norway, Russia, sexual rights, UN Resolution, United Nations General Assembly, Vatican, Violence against women, women human rights defenders, Women's rights
November 2, 2013
“Women human rights defenders risk violence, prejudice and exclusion for their courageous work. Through this resolution, we want to contribute to their protection,” says Norway’s Foreign Minister Børge Brende. Norway is coordinating the UN General Assembly’s work in New York on the protection of human rights defenders. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, has on several occasions expressed great concern for the challenging working conditions of human rights defenders. This is the first time a resolution on the situation and significance of women human rights defenders has been put on the table. “We want to send a clear signal of support to women who fight for human rights around the world, and we call on member states to enable and allow for their work to make our societies better,” says Brende. The resolution also calls on national human rights institutions, regional organizations and the UN system to take action. The draft resolution was formally presented on Friday 1 November.
via Norway’s Proposal to Protect Women Human Rights Defenders – The Nordic Page – Panorama.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, international protection, Margaret Sekaggya, New York, Norway, UN General Assembly, UN Resolution, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations, United Nations Special Rapporteur, women human rights defenders
October 19, 2013
PLEASE NOTE THAT the website is now suspended!!
Rankings of countries are popular at least with the media and public. That is also true for human rights. There is already the annual Freedom House survey as well as the UNDP development-oriented one. Now, on 17 October, the Global Network for Rights and Development [GNRD] – created in 2008 and based in Stavanger, Norway – has published a new one, that tries to combine all social and economic indicators. It calls itself without much modesty “the Most Trustful and Complete International Human Rights Rank Indicator“, reflecting Live Data on the respect for human rights in 216 countries. The website states that it acts “in cooperation with various international organizations, governments and other NGOs to make the outcomes full and veritable. More than two thousand individuals all over the world are collecting and entering information constantly. The countries’ human rights rank indicator depends on a complex calculation of the respect for 21 interconnected human rights, including the evaluation of respect for human rights abroad, and the rights’ values. The new Indicator’s website offers to any person from any corner of the world an advantage to influence on the countries’ rank and significantly contribute to the protection of the human rights by registering a violation case in the online system….. Thus, we introduced today a real, free of bias, unique in its implementation International Human Rights Rank Indicator ihrri.com.”
The problem is that verification of these claims is not possible without knowing more of the methodology, the data used and especially the ‘authorised organisations’ that are NOT listed. Theoretically the listing is an interesting notion but there must be a reason that most serious human rights NGOs have not done.
In the meantime governmental Gulfnews has already picked up on it: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/society/uae-top-for-human-rights-in-arab-countries-1.1244390
via http://www.gnrd.net/vnews.php?id=297
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Civil and political rights, Emirates, Freedom House, Global Network For Right And Development, GNRD, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, indicators, International Human Rights Rank Indicator, Non-governmental organization, Norway, ranking, social and economic rights, Stavanger, UEA, UNDP
September 27, 2013
On 26 September 2013 many countries attended the first ministerial meeting held at the United Nations on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals.
(UN Photo/Amanda Voisard)
Foreign ministers attending the meeting, held on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, adopted a declaration pledging not just to protect LGBT rights but also to counter homophobic and transphobic attitudes. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay commended
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: argentina, Brazil, Croatia, equality, European Union, France, homophobia, HRW, Human right, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, LGBT, LGBT rights, LGBTI, meeting, Navi Pillay, Netherlands, non-discrimination, Norway, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, sexual identity, United Nations, United States Secretary of State
March 26, 2013
Last Saturday I referred to the new Resolution on Human Rights Defenders in the UN Human Rights Council. Now there is an interesting interview with Counsellor, Geir Sjøberg of the Norwegian Mission to the UN, done by the International Service for Human Rights and reported by Reliefweb. The interview contains such so much meat that I have reproduced it here in full:
- The Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution which some have called a landmark in furthering the protection of human rights defenders. Are you satisfied with the results?
Let me first of all thank the ISHR and other human rights organizations for the invaluable advise and support throughout the process we have had here in Geneva. In 2011, the General Assembly expressed grave concerns about the serious nature of risks faced by human rights defenders due to threats, attacks and acts of intimidation against them. Regrettably, the situation has hardly improved since then. On the contrary, current trends are largely negative, as reported by the Special Rapporteur and others. Against this background, the Council had to respond with a clear message. The resolution ‘Protecting Human Rights Defenders’ should be seen as such, as the collective voice of the international community in 2013. On balance, we see the resolution as an appropriate response by the Human Rights Council at a very difficult time for human rights defenders in all regions of the world. The unanimous adoption of this resolution sends an important signal of support to all the courageous people who are fighting against human rights violations all over the world. We must now work to ensure that this resolution is translated into concrete results on the ground and leads to an improvement in the situation of human rights defenders.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: funding, Geneva, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, legal restrictions, Norway, protection, Reliefweb, Special Rapporteur, UN Resolution, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council
March 23, 2013
On Thursday 21 March 2013 a resolution, led by Norway was adopted by consensus by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It calls on all States to support the work of human rights defenders and to protect them from harassment, threats and attacks.
The use and abuse of national laws to impair, restrict and even criminalise the work of human rights defenders is a contravention of international law and must end, according to a landmark resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council today.
Introducing the resolution, Norway’s Ambassador to the UN, Steffen Kongstad, said he was ‘gravely concerned by the serious nature of risks faced by human rights defenders’ and called on all states to ‘facilitate their work’ and ensure it is not ‘criminalised or stigmatised’.
‘The resolution is a clear affirmation that national law must conform with international human rights law. The resolution demands the amendment of national laws which target human rights defenders, including laws which restrict NGOs from receiving foreign funding, which criminalise “homosexual propaganda”, or which limit freedom of expression or assembly on discriminatory grounds.’ Michael Ineichen of the ISHR, expressing an opinion similar to that of many other human rights NGOs.
Posted in human rights | 2 Comments »
Tags: Geneva, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, legal restrictions, Non-governmental organization, Norway, UN Declaration, UN Resolution, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council
March 1, 2013
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: Geneva, Human right, Human Rights Council, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights House Foundation, legislation, Non-governmental organization, Norway, protection, Special Rapporteur, UN Resolution, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council
February 15, 2013
The UN Human Rights Council’s 22nd session will be held from 25 February to 22 March 2013 and consider a range of significant thematic and country-specific human rights issues and actions. The ISHR provides timely and expert information especially as for human rights defenders there are several relevant initiatives. Norway will lead negotiations on a resolution focusing on legislation that affects human rights defenders with the goal of improving the protection of human rights defenders and eliminating laws which impair their work. ISHR has watched the development of this resolution closely. The resolution will build on the report of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Ms Margaret Sekaggya, to the UN General Assembly in 2012. This report considered the issue of the ‘criminalisation’ of human rights defenders Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | 8 Comments »
Tags: criminalization, freedom of demonstration, freedom of expression, human rights, Human Rights Council, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, Margaret Sekaggya, national institutions, Norway, Special Rapporteur, UN, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
describes a classical but fearsome case of intimidation of a human rights defender, Nasrullah Baloch, who is assisting the Supreme Court in Pakistan with cases of disappearances.
