The Arab region is these days mostly known or its turmoil and attacks on human rights defenders. Still there are some more quiet developments that could over time improve the situation. Here are two of them” (1) a conference in Qatar and (2) a new manual The League of Arab States: Human Rights Standards and Mechanisms. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Qatar’
Arab region, behind the violations a glimmer of hope? Qatar regional meeting and a Arab League manual
January 11, 2016Human rights investigators in Qatar are now confirmed as detained
September 8, 2014On 6 September 2014, the Foreign Ministry of Qatar finally confirmed the arrest and detention of Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev, who were at first feared disappeared: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/human-rights-investigators-in-qatar-being-followed-by-the-police-here-looks-like-they-will-give-me-troubles-now/
[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.]
Human rights investigators in Qatar: “being followed by the police here. Looks like they will give me troubles now”
September 4, 2014
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.]
Write for Rights – Amnesty International’s main campaign starts on 6 December
December 2, 2013
“Write for Rights” is one of Amnesty International’s major global campaigns. AI is capable of getting its own outreach and does not need my blog but I want to refer to it anyway as it is such a quintessential human rights action model. Read the rest of this entry »
Citing freedom of expression, UN calls 15-year sentence for Qatari poet Ibn al Dheeb disproportionate
October 23, 2013On 22 October 2013 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights called for the immediate release of a well-known Qatari poet who it says was harshly sentenced for a poem considered to be encouraging the overthrow of the ruling system of the country. Mohammed al Ajami – also known as Ibn al Dheeb – was initially sentenced to life in prison on 29 November 2012 for the poem, which was also considered insulting to the nation’s symbols. His sentence was reduced to 15 years last February during a second appeal. On 20 October, Qatar’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, decided to uphold the 15-year sentence. Mr. al Ajami’s only recourse now is to appeal for clemency to the Emir of Qatar, the home country of Al-Jazeera. “This sentence is clearly disproportionate,” OHCHR spokesperson Cécile Pouilly told reporters in Geneva. “Last January, we already publicly expressed our concerns about the harsh sentencing, the fairness of his trial and about the many months Mr. al Ajami had spent in solitary confinement,” she added.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 