Posts Tagged ‘right to freedom of expression’

“Today Is The Day We Fight Back”: 11 February – Day Against Mass Surveillance

February 11, 2014

 

today joins the worldwide campaign against mass surveillance. It its newsletter is states why: “Privacy is a human right: People need it, governments have to protect it and business has to respect it. Too often, this is not the case.Today is the day we fight back. Thousands of individuals, international experts and a coalition of NGOs from all around the globe demand an end to unchecked mass surveillance. Privacy is dear to everyone of them: It enables them to speak freely. To meet others without being watched. To know that it is their decision to share information about themselves.They are people like you.These people will take the streets in protest in the Philippines, Copenhagen, Stockholm and San Francisco. They will call or write their elected representatives in United Kingdom, Canada, Colombia and Poland. They will hold news conferences or join the online protest in Uganda, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. And they will endorse the Necessary and Proportionate Principles demanding the protection of human rights and an end to mass surveillance.Do you want to join them? Spread the word. Tell your family and friends about the day we fight back. Make them care as you do. Sign the 13 Principles, join a global movement. Call your legislators, email them – ask them what they are doing. Join a protest near you. Be creative, blackout your website, create memes, make others laugh – and take action.

via Privacy Is A Right – Today Is The Day We Fight Back.

to sign the campaign go to: https://necessaryandproportionate.org/take-action/privacyinternational

Human rights defenders describe lack of freedom of expression in Africa

November 2, 2013

A three-day Forum on the participation of African NGOs at the 54th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights [ACHPR] and also the 28th African Human Rights Book Fair concluded on Sunday, 20th October, 2013 in Kololi. The forum brought together stakeholders dealing with various human rights issues from different parts of Africa. Various reports were presented that touched on media freedom and freedom of expression as well as on laws and principles governing media practice such as defamation, sedition and other draconian laws that prevail in many African countries. Kebba Jeffang reports in the Foroyaa newspaper of 21 October on the results:

Read the rest of this entry »

Malaysian NGO Suaram notes culture of impunity, intolerance, and missing reforms

October 1, 2013

On 26 September the NGO Suaram released its “Malaysia Human Rights Report 2012: Civil and Political Rights” in Kuala Lumpur. The report highlights several key trends in human rights in 2012, including:

1 the increasingly serious and repeated cases of abuses of power by the police and law enforcement agencies with impunity;

2 the heightened intolerance towards dissent; and

3 the government’s cosmetic approach to reform and compliance with human rights standards.

Suaram’s 2012 report is launched to honour human rights defenders in Malaysia and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and of Association, Maina Kiai in his foreword writes: “This annual report is a critical tool to support civil society actors in their effort to advocate and contribute to strengthened implementation of human rights. Its continued publication is vital to a vibrant democracy in Malaysia”.

via Putrajaya tarnished by culture of impunity, intolerance, and missing reforms — Suaram | What You Think | The Malay Mail Online.

Example of unclear thinking about the role of human rights defenders

September 11, 2013

On 22 August 2013 Mekki Elmograbi (makkimag@gmail) published a piece in the Sudan Vision Daily which tries to make a distinction between ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ practice of journalism with the consequent distinction that in the first case human rights defenders should defend the journalists but in the second case use dialogue techniques to defuse the situation. It is a rambling article and the categorization cannot be easily understood. However, I am sharing it anyway as it is in order to illustrate the state of thinking in parts of the world: Read the rest of this entry »