Posts Tagged ‘protection’
June 13, 2013
On 10 June 2013 the Gulf Centre for Human Rights Centre (GCHR) issued a report alleging a widespread pattern of attacks on human rights defenders and journalists in Yemen.
Since Yemen has been engaged in a process of transition to full democracy, the security services have intimidated journalists, allowed the judicial system to be used as a means of attack against them, and failed to investigate violence against human rights defenders. The GCHR has documented multiple cases of attacks, some by the state security forces, but with many being perpetrated by non-state actors. The GCHR calls for an end to the harassment.
Prior to the overwhelmingly peaceful revolution in 2011, attacks were commonplace but easily identified as emanating from the oppressive government of former President Saleh, says the GCHR report. The present pattern of attacks is more unpredictable and their source much harder to identify. “This gives rise to the requirement of even greater vigilance by the authorities to investigate, prevent and punish this wrongdoing, yet the authorities in Yemen have failed to act to investigate the widespread pattern of attacks in the transitional period,” comments GCHR Advisory Board member Melanie Gingell, a British lawyer who carried out a mission to Yemen in April.
– Mohamed Al-Absi is a blogger and journalist who specialises in publishing the documents leaked to him from government departments about corrupt practices. He is now on trial on defamation charges and faces many years in jail if convicted. He has exposed corruption at the highest levels over the years and there are now well-founded concerns for his well-being should he be convicted.
– Judge Ahmed Saif Hashid, currently a member of parliament, has fought for social justice in Yemen but was recently the victim of a brutal beating by security forces when he joined a protest of injured people campaigning for their rights outside parliament. There has been no investigation of this attack.
– A Yemen based organisation, Freedom Foundation, has catalogued 109 attacks on journalists by mid-April 2013, including an attempt to bomb the offices of a newspaper, an attempt to assassinate a local journalist in the south of the country, shots fired at the car of a journalist working for the Times newspaper, and threats to cut out the tongue of a local newspaper editor.
– The journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye remains in prison following his arrest and conviction in relation to an article he wrote exposing the aftermath of an US cluster bomb attack on a suspected Al-Qaeda target, thereby discrediting the previous claim of responsibility for that attack by the government of former President Saleh.
The full report is available online in English and Arabic at: http://www.gc4hr.org/report/view/16
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Tags: Abdulelah Haider Shaye, Ahmed Saif Hashid, freedom of expression, GCHR, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, journalists, Mohamed Al-Absi, protection, reedom Foundation, Yemen
June 13, 2013
Antoine Madelin of the International Federation for Human Rights (OSCE/Shiv Sharma)
A new project to promote the effective protection of human rights defenders through the development of recommendations for governments was launched by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at a two-day expert meeting in Warsaw on 10 and 11 June 2013. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights | 1 Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Europe, harassment, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, judicial harassment, June 2013, Non-governmental organization, ODIHR, promotion, protection, regional organisation, Warsaw
June 11, 2013
On 3 June 2013, an email was sent to Colonel Julián González, Chief of Police for Sucre, Colombia, informing him of a plan to kill human rights defender Juan David Díaz Chamorro, his wife Malena Martínez, and one other person closely linked to the family. Several other human rights defenders were copied in the email. Juan David Díaz Chamorro is the leader of the Sucre branch of the Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado – MOVICE (National Movement of Victims of State Crimes) and the son of Eudaldo Díaz, assassinated Mayor of El Roble, Sucre. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Colombia, death threats, Frontline Defenders, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Juan David Díaz Chamorro, MOVICE, NGOs, paramilitary, protection, PSA, radio
June 6, 2013
ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports on a conference held in Australia on a topic that sounds like it comes straight from the middle ages: sorcery. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Australia, Canberra, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, killings, Pacific, Papua New Guinea, protection, right of women, social custom, sorcery, stigma
June 5, 2013
On 1 June 2013 at dawn, Kenyan human rights defender Ms Lydia Mukami was abandoned in a bush after being abducted by unidentified men who had spent several hours subjecting her to physical assault. Lydia Mukami is the chairperson of Mwea Foundation, a grassroots organisation of rice farmers in the Mwea constituency that has been at the forefront of an ongoing campaign to challenge the constitutionality of Kenya’s 1966 Irrigation Act. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: assault, death threats, environmental issues, Frontline Defenders, human rights, Human rights defender, ill treatment, intimidation, Kenya, land rights, Lydia Mukami, Mwea, Mwea Foundation, Nairobi, National Irrigation Board, protection, woman human rights defender
May 27, 2013
ARTICLE 19 is to launch a programme to protect journalists and human rights defenders in Tunisia, following a series of meetings with media workers and civil society groups in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Article 19, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, impunity, Journalist, journalists, lawyer, media, north africa, protection, traning, Tunis, Tunisia
May 22, 2013
I reported earlier in this blog on the Panic Button idea of Amnesty International. Now I have learned that it has been chosen as a finalist in Google’s Global Impact Challenge for work on a mobile alert system that enables human rights activists to trigger rapid response from their network in an emergency. Four out of ten projects will win £500,000. Public voting is open until 31 May! You can watch the video and vote here: g.co/impactchallenge/amnesty
If AI wins this Challenge, the work could be scaled up substantially. Amnesty and partners would launch the mobile alert system and directly train and support activist networks globally to set-up and use the system safely as part of their security protocols.
via Danna Ingleton, Research and Policy Adviser, Individuals at Risk.
Posted in Amnesty international, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, AI, Amnesty International, google, Human right, human rights activists, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, information technology, networking, Panic Button, policy adviser, protection, security, security protocols
May 20, 2013
Sagaing Region in Burma (credit: Wikipedia)
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns in the strongest terms the announcement of the commander of the Sagaing Region Police Force, Myanmar, that the police will arrest and charge eight human rights defenders whom it blames for inciting protests against the army-backed copper mine project in Monywa. The Commission also condemns the latest round of needless police violence against demonstrators there. According to an undated announcement just issued by the regional commander of the Myanmar Police Force, a copy of which the AHRC has obtained, the police will lodge charges against eight persons for allegedly provoking demonstrations and other supposedly illegal actions. The persons named include six members of the Yangon Peoples Support Network. The other two persons are Han Win Aung of the Political Prisoners Families Beneficial Network and Thaung Taik Oo of the Yangon Institute of Technology Students Union (18 charges!). The announcement goes on to warn that failure to provide information leading to the apprehension of these persons or harbouring of them constitute criminal offenses. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AHRC, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: activists, AHRC, asian human rights, Asian Human Rights Commission, Burma, copper mine, criminalization, Han Win Aung, Human Rights Defenders, impunity, Myanmar, Myanmar Police Force, police brutality, police violence, protection, Sagaing Region, Yangon
May 20, 2013
According to the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the work of human rights defenders is little known and recognized in Mexico. In many cases, the authorities themselves are guilty of defaming those who defend human rights. In recent years, human rights defenders have been threatened, monitored, harassed, slandered, and physically assaulted as a result of their work in support of victims and various causes. Defamation and under-appreciation of the work of human rights defenders have allowed these violations to continue. In 2012, the Mexican Congress approved the Law for the Protection of Defenders and Journalists, which requires the federal government to implement measures that are intended to prevent attacks against defenders. In this context, the Red TDT has launched “Defend Hope: A National Campaign in Support of Human Rights Defenders.” The campaign will disseminate information on various organizations’ efforts to defend and promote human rights. Each organization will be able to showcase its history and the voices of those that tirelessly defend human rights. Through these stories, the campaign will highlight not only the organizations’ work, but also the efforts of victims and their family members, as well as the fact that each case featured in the campaign remains in impunity. The campaign will last for one year and will boost public awareness through activities throughout the country. http://www.redtdt.org.mx/
via Defend Hope: National Campaign in Support of Human Rights Defenders | Washington Office on Latin America.
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Tags: Advocacy Organizations, campaign, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Mexico, protection, Special Rapporteur, Washington Office on Latin America, WOLA
April 30, 2013
(Professor Paul Gready at York University with Nagi Musa, a human rights activist from Sudan)
Sheena Hastings reports in the Yorkshire Post of 30 April 2013 on the programme offered by York University that lets human rights defenders stay on a fellowship that provides a safe haven and adds to their skills .
“In the few months that Nagi Musa has lived in York, he has not lost the learned panicky response to the odd creaking noise in the night, and he does still find himself scanning any group of people in case there’s someone who looks like a threat. He tends to position himself where he can see the nearest exit, too. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Advocacy Organizations, CAHR, fellowship, Human right, human rights activist, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Karak Denyok, Nagi Musa, Paul Gready, protection, Protective Fellowship Scheme for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, safety, South Sudan, Sudan, UK, York university, Yorkshire Post
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 