Posts Tagged ‘politics’
May 13, 2013
The Heads of State from Mexico, Central America and the United States met for the Summit of the Central American Integration System (SICA) in Costa Rica on May 4 and 5. The Fellowship of Reconciliation, collaborating with Just Associates, the Americas Program, the Guatemala Human Rights Commission-USA and the Latin America Working Group, presented a letter to the meeting signed by more than 145 international, regional and local organizations from ten countries in the Americas. The letter addresses inter alia civil society concerns about security issues, human rights violations, violence against men and women human rights defenders. It is time to refocus regional dialogue and resource investment to address the root causes of violence, understanding that for many citizens and communities, drug trafficking is not the principal cause of insecurity. Harmful “development” policies have similarly caused increased conflict and abuses, while forced migration and criminalization of migrants and human rights activists continues to divide families. Most importantly, the region’s challenges must be addressed without violating fundamental rights and human dignity. The groups said that “the lack of effective gun control in the U.S. has led to the massive and nearly unrestricted transfer of arms to criminal networks throughout the region” and called on the presidents to “take executive action in the United States to stop the flow of assault weapons and other firearms across the U.S.-Mexico border.” The letter also provides analysis and recommendations related to: Militarization in the name of addressing the drug war which has caused unprecedented levels of violence while failing to provide citizen security. The imposition of large-scale extractive projects on marginalized communities do not constitute “development. ”Violations of migrants’ rights and the lack of consideration of root cause of migration in policies. Read the full text of the letter in pdf. on John Lindsay-Polands blog
via 145 Organizations Urge Obama and Mesoamerican Presidents to Change Course | Fellowship of Reconciliation.
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Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Central America, Central American Integration System, Costa Rica, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Foreign Policy, gun control, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, John Lindsay-Polands, Latin America Working Group, Mexico, politics, SICA, United States, war on drugs
April 12, 2013
Via AllAfrica.com I came across a lengthy Opinion piece in the Herald of 11 April 2013 which is basically a rant against human rights in general and human rights defenders in general. Normally I would not want to pay much attention to these outdated views but in all fairness this blog on human rights defenders should also give space to those who are diametrically and fundamentally opposed to human rights.
That the authors write from a nationalistic perspective is clear, not only from the language used and the names mentioned but also from the reference to HRD Beatrice Tele Khalalempi Mnzebele (“a shameless white apologist”) as a foreigner from…. Swaziland. Race is a constant element in the piece by equating ‘western’ and ‘white’. The rest of the terminology is reminiscent of the cold war days (‘neo-liberal prophets of democracy “), cultural relativism (“As Africans, we believe that it is the community that protects and nurtures the individual“) and slogans (“human rights are merely an instrument of Western political neo-colonialism and imperialism“). One of the most striking features is the almost total absence of alternative value systems. The closest the authors come to it is when they state: “It is therefore our argument that the value of human rights should be re-examined by affirming the differences between human beings, in acknowledging that we are all influenced by a myriad of different factors, such as our social, political, and cultural backgrounds. Human rights should be established based on the uniqueness of each and every human being, rather than on myopic neo-liberal assumptions propounded by Beatrice and her Western friends.” It contains a ringing endorsement of the uniqueness of each human being – so dear to the neo liberals – but no much more that could constitute a different overarching system. Not a word about the African Charter, about misled (?) countries such as South Africa or Ghana. Instead the opposition to Mugabe is described as: “thugs and all sorts of assorted MDC-T delinquents”.
But for those who want to read the whole piece here is the link the opinion written by Bowden Mbanje and Darlington Mahuku, who – believe it or not – are lecturers in international relations, and peace and governance with Bindura University of Science Education.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: african charter, Beatrice Tele Khalalempi Mnzebele, Bindura University of Science Education, cold war days, cultural relativism, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, liberation, neo colonialism, politics, revolutionaries, Robert Mugabe, Swaziland, the Herald, western values, Zimbabwe
March 13, 2013
The new International Civil Society Network on Infrastructures for Peace (I4P) is launched today with its website: www.I4Pinternational.org
Many countries lack capacities and structures to deal adequately with on-going and potential violent conflict. This has emerged as a central obstacle to the attainment of equitable and sustainable development. In recent years, the number of conflicts has been increasing once again. What is needed – in the same way as for threatening natural disasters – is a comprehensive, inclusive and long-term approaches to peacebuilding, which involves the main stakeholders. Infrastructures for peace and Local Peace Committees can be important pillars to counter these dangerous developments or substantially reduce their impact. Several local peacebuilding NGOs and practitioners felt the need to exchange experiences and best practices about this approach and make I4P more recognised:the network was born and counts now some seventy members. There is an Interim Steering Committee with members from three continents.
Human rights and human rights defenders play a crucial role in this process – even if not spelled out in the main pages of the new website. The local peace groups mentioned as members however frequently refer to the need for human rights and social justice as they realise that lasting peace cannot be the ‘peace of the graveyard’. Moreover, it is the local Human Rights Defenders who suffer most from the absence of peace as this blog and many more sources regularly demonstrate.
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Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Civil society, crowdsourcing, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, I4P, Infrastructure, networking, Non-governmental organization, peace, peace building, politics, prevention
March 6, 2013
Just an example of how politics and elections interact with the role of human rights defenders, always a touchy subject:
After the Zambian Police arrested and charged Zambia’s opposition leader, Hakainde Hichilema, on 27 January 2013, seven 7 Civil Society Organisations in Zambia have called upon the Zambia’s Human Rights Commission, Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union, the Commonwealth and “other human rights defenders” to review Zambia’s human rights record and denounce the violations by the Zambian Government. The organisations have also called upon the Electoral Commission of Zambia to cancel by-elections in Livingstone and Mpongwe in accordance with Section 28 of the Electoral Act No. 12 of 2002. Reading the statement during the Press Briefing at FODEP House in Lusaka on behalf of the 7 organisations the Young African Leaders Initiative President Andrew Ntewewe, called on the Deputy Inspector General of Police to immediately resign for violating fundamental political rights which are guaranteed by the Constitution of Zambia when he banned political rallies in the Livingstone. With a strong sense of exaggeration the organisations have advised the Zambian Police Command to resist the temptation of “turning the Police Service into a unit similar to NAZIs Gestapo under Hitler in Germany”. The 7 organisations have lambasted the Zambia Police for their continued unprofessionalism in handling matters that border on freedom of expression, assembly, movement and association. The organisations that appended their signatures to the statement included; Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), Operation Young Vote (OYV), Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP), Southern Centre for Construction Resolutions of Disputes (SACCORD), Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), the Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) and the Zambia National Womens Lobby Group (ZNWLG).
via allAfrica.com: Zambia: Civil Society Groups Request Review of Human Rights.
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Tags: African Union, allafrica com, civil society organisations, CSOs, Deputy Inspector General of Police, elections, electoral commission of zambia, freedom of assembly, freedom of demonstration, freedom of expression, Hakainde Hichilema, Human right, Human Rights Defenders, Lusaka, Mpongwe, police brutality, politics, Southern African Development Community, Zambia
February 25, 2013
Protection International (PI) is published on 23 February 2013 its first FOCUS report. To commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), the report presents the results from PI’s research on public government policies to protect human rights defenders internationally. It analyzes the development of public policy meant to protect human rights defenders. While acknowledging advances that have clearly enhanced existing regional and international mechanisms, the report adopts a critical approach since States are ultimately responsible for protecting Human Rights Defenders, starting with governments.PI hopes this report will contribute to the discussion on how to improve existing public policies and spur discussion between civil society organizations and governments of countries where protection of human rights defenders is far from being ensured.
The full report can be downloaded in several languages via: FOCUS Report 2013 : “Public Policies for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders: The State of the Art” | | ProtectionlineProtectionline.
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: 2013, Advocacy Organizations, annual report, Civil society, Focus 2013, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, PI, policies, politics, protection, Protection International, UN Declaration, United Nations
February 22, 2013
An impressive list of 20 human rights organizations have signed a statement regarding Omani human rights defenders who are currently in detention, especially those undertaking hunger strikes. 24 defenders and activists including Basma Al-Kiyumi, Bassima Al-Rajhi, Saeed Al-Hashemi, Hamad Al-Kharusi, and Bassam Abu Qasida undertook a hunger strike on 9 February 2013 in Samail Central Prison, protesting the delayed ruling on the appeals that they brought to the Supreme Court against the judgments that were passed against them. Confirmed reports reveal that the conditions of some of the hunger strikers have deteriorated seriously to the point that some are currently at risk of death. Saeed
Al-Hashemi was transferred to the Royal Hospital in Muscat, where a neurologist examined him and confirmed that he is in urgent need of physiotherapy or surgery as a result of an injury on his right side sustained when he was beaten by unknown assailants during peaceful protests in Oman in 2011. The same reports reveal that Hamad Al-Kharusi and Bassam Abu Qasida were transferred to the jail’s clinic due to exhaustion caused by their hunger strike.These human rights defenders were incarcerated following the decisions of the Appeals Court on 5, 12, and 19 December 2012 which upheld sentences of between 6 months and 1 year in prison issued against them by the Muscat Court of First Instance in July and August 2012.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: activists, Al-Haq, Arab Organization for Human Rights, Bahrain, Cairo Institute for Human Rights, coalition, FIDH, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, hunger strikers, hungerstrike, illegal detention, illtreatment, International Federation, judicial harassment, Middle East, Oman, politics
February 22, 2013
On 22 February 2013 Dan Smith published a post on his blog on the ‘state of States’. While not directly touching on human rights defenders, it gives in few words an excellent overview of the formation and deformation of States which provide much of the power and abuse that human rights defenders struggle against. I summarize some of the main issues here, but urge you to read the full text:
First he points out that most states are relatively new. By 1900 there were just 48 states in our modern sense of the term. In the years either side of World War I, with the break-up of the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires, there was considerable state-making. Even so, the UN was founded by just 51 states. Today, 193 states make up the UN, the newest being South Sudan in July 2011.
- From 48 to 193 (recognised states, that is) – from The State of the World atlas Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Afghanistan, conflict and peace, Dan Smith, Failed state, Fragile state, fragile states, historical perspective, Human Rights Defenders, Nigeria, non-state actors, Pakistan, politics, Somalia, South Sudan, sovereignty, state power, States, UN, ungoverned spaces, United Nations
February 8, 2013
You can join the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the New Tactics online community for an online conversation on Engaging the United Nations Human Rights Council from February 11 to 15 2013.
When utilized strategically, the HRC can be a powerful force for change. There are several different ways that human rights organizations can engage the HRC, including: providing reports for the Universal Periodic Review, sending complaints to the Special Procedures, and raising situations of human rights violations in the plenary sessions of the HRC. The key is to know when to use which approach, and how to maximize your efforts.
This online conversation will be an opportunity to exchange experiences, lessons-learned and ideas among practitioners who have successfully engaged the HRC. The HRC starts its main session on February 25.
For help on how to participate in this conversation, please check out these online instructions.
Conversation Leaders:
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
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Tags: HRC, human rights, human rights education, international procedures, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, New Tactics online, Non-governmental organization, online conversation, politics, Special Procedures, strategy, UN, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review
February 8, 2013
In the aftermath of the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, at the end of last year, I came across a post that used the word ‘human rights defenders’ to describe those who publicly countered attempts to blame the victims or to scold the teachers for not being religious enough or being too soft. I decided to sit on it for a while as the shock and emotions run too high and is seemed all very political. Now, on reflection I have decided to share it here as it certainly clarifies the climate in which liberal groups (such as People For the American Way) have to operate in parts of the USA. The qualification Human Rights Defenders in the end seems about right to me. The article reads in part:
“..grief stricken and appalled Human Rights Defenders throughout the nation called on citizens Tuesday to reject extremist hate messages American leaders and groups have relayed, as the nation mourns the tragic and horrific loss of 20 children and six adults“, such as “God caused the shooting” and singing “praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.” [Only hours after the tragedy Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church group’s tweeted: “Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.”]
Mike Huckabee and Bryan Fischer (of the American Family Association) both implied that the school shooting occurred on public schools for adhering to the separation of church and state — saying God let the massacre happen because we’ve moved away from things like compulsory prayer (1). Echoing Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson in the wake of 9/11 (who also, in part, blamed that tragedy on People For the American Way), Focus on the Family’s James Dobson said God has ‘allowed judgment to fall upon us’ because the nation has turned its back on him by accepting things like abortion and gay marriage.”(2). The Tea Party Nation has called the teachers “radicals in the classrooms,” accusing them of being part of a liberal plot to “destroy the family” and create a society that “coddled” the shooter (3).
- http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-god-didnt-stop-ct-school-shooting-because-hes-gentleman-who-doesnt-go-where-he-not-w
- http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dobson-connecticut-shooting-was-god-allowing-judgment-fall-upon-us-turning-our-back-him
- http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tea-party-nation-attacks-teachers-over-ct-school-shooting
The references above provide links to the statements mentioned in the article of 19 December 2012 which can be found in full on : http://www.examiner.com/article/god-did-not-cause-it-human-rights-defenders-say-1
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Bryan Fischer, God, gun debate, human rights, Human rights defender, Jerry Falwell, liberal, Newtown, Pat Robertson, People For the American Way, politics, radicals, religion, religious extremism, right-wing, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Shirley Phelps-Roper, Tea Party Nation, United States, USA, Westboro Baptist Church
February 5, 2013
The Jakarta Post of 4 February reports that a group of scholars and rights activists have raised concerns about the radical and worrying change of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) head’s tenure from the previous 2.5 years to only a year. In the picture on the right you see the Head of Komnas HAM Otto Nur Abdullah (second right) in talks with former Komnas HAM executive director Miriam Nainggolan (right), Setara Institute chief executive Hendardi (second left) and former Komnas HAM commissioner MM Billah (left) at Komnas HAM headquarters on Monday .(JP/Jerry Adiguna)
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Tags: human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights commission, independence, Indonesia, Jakarta Post, Komnas HAM, National Human Rights Commission, Otto Nur Abdullah, politics
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 