Posts Tagged ‘Russia’

SAVE THE DATE: MARTIN ENNALS AWARD CEREMONY IN GENEVA ON 8 OCTOBER

September 8, 2013

poster 2013 nominees MEA English

2013 Martin Ennals Award ceremony
October 8th, 2013, 6 pm
Please subscribe online: http://www.martinennalsaward.org

The Martin Ennals Foundation and the City of Geneva announce the 20th ceremony of Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders. This event is integrated within Human Rights Week, a four-day event organized at the University of Geneva. This ceremony is open to the public. All who are interested in human rights are welcome to come and pay tribute to these men and women who are engaged in the defense of human rights, often risking their lives. It is crucial that the public knows the work of these individuals, not only in Geneva but also at the international level, in order to ensure that they can benefit from a certain degree of protection.

The following 3 nominees were carefully selected by the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award, made up of ten of the world’s leading human rights organisations:

  • Ms Mona Seif (Egypt) who is one of the core founders of the ”No To Military Trials for Civilians”, a grassroots initiative that aims to stop military trials for civilians in Egypt.
  • The Joint Mobile Group (Russia) seeks accountability for human rights abuses in Chechnya, notably enforced disappearances, torture in custody, and extra-judicial executions.
  • Mr Mario Joseph (Haïti) has been referred to as Haiti’s most prominent human rights lawyer, and has worked on some of the most important cases including the one against former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.

Ms Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will present the award to one of these nominees. The ceremony will be held in French and in English at Uni-Dufour, Jean-Piaget auditorium, U-600 at 6 pm. A live broadcast will be given in the Charles-Rouiller auditorium, U-300, located in the same building and it should also be streamed on the internet.


6 Most Oppressive Laws passed since Putin became President again

September 6, 2013

In a piece in the Huffington Post of 9 September Frank Jannuzi, dep director of Amnesty International USA gives a good overview of the the 6 most damaging laws passed in Russia since President Putin was inaugurated last year, effectively criminalizing criticism: Read the rest of this entry »

Human Rights Defenders from Russia, US, Libya, Chad named for Alison des Forges Award

August 29, 2013

Clockwise: Hassan al-Amin, Consuelo Morales, Natalia Taubina, Jacqueline Moudeïna, Alina Diaz, and Abbé Benoît Kinalegu.

On 28 August Human Rights Watch announced the 2013  recipients of its Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism: Read the rest of this entry »

Ecuador: Clampdown on Civil Society | Human Rights Watch

August 13, 2013

On 12 August Human Rights Watch issued a report on Ecuador and urged it to revoke a presidential decree that grants far-reaching powers to the government to oversee and dissolve nongovernmental organizations.HRW_logo

On June 4, 2013, President Rafael Correa adopted a decree [a similar decree in December 2010 was shelved after criticism] that creates new procedures for Ecuadorean nongovernmental organizations to obtain legal status and requires international organizations to undergo a screening process to seek permission to work in Ecuador. Read the rest of this entry »

Phil Lynch of ISHR expects UN Human Rights Council to enhance protection of HRDs

August 9, 2013

In a piece published in the Alaska Dispatch of 8 August 2013, Phil Lynch, the Director of the Geneva-based International Service for Human Rights, contemplates what the next session of the UN Human Rights Council could do to improve the fate of HRDs.ISHR-logo-colour-high Read the rest of this entry »

Snowden gets one year asylum – Kenneth Ross makes good suggestion

August 2, 2013

HRW_logo

In the ongoing saga concerning the asylum request by Snowden, Kenneth Ross, the director of Human Rights Watch, makes on 2 August an interesting and courageous comment on Twitter: “Instead of trying to extradite Snowden, Congress should ask him to testify by video as spur to end mass NSA snooping.

Defiant Russia Grants Snowden Year’s Asylum – NYTimes.com.

SAVE THE DATE: MEA 2013 CEREMONY ON 8 OCTOBER IN GENEVA

June 29, 2013

The City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation announce the 2013 edition of Martin Ennals Award, which will take place on Tuesday 8 October 2013 at 18h00 at the Uni-Dufour, Geneva. The Laureate will be announced Read the rest of this entry »

Russian Rights Defender Gannushkina Fined For Refusing Documents

June 26, 2013
Svetlana Gannushkina(Svetlana Gannushkina)
Prominent Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina has been fined for refusing to provide documents demanded by prosecutors. A court in Moscow ruled late on June 18 that the chairwoman of Moscow-based Civic Collaboration Committee must pay 2,000 rubles (50 Euro) for failing to turn over papers related to the financial activities of her organization. Gannushkina, a Soviet-era veteran rights defender, has been refusing to provide the documents to investigators since April. Prosecutors made the request under the new law requiring all nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funding and engage in political activity to register as ‘foreign agents’. [Last week, a Moscow court rejected an appeal by Russia’s independent election monitor, Golos, against the 300,000 ruble $9,500 fine imposed on the group under the legislation.] Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS

via Russian Rights Defender Fined For Refusing Demand For Documents.

 

Russian NGO “For Human Rights” forcibly evicted from offices

June 25, 2013

Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders condemns the brutal use of force against the Russian NGO ‘’For Human Rights’’ and its chairman Lev Ponomaryov, during the organisation’s forcible eviction Saturday night, 22 June 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

Snowden a human rights defender? – Russia seems to think so

June 13, 2013
Human Rights activist, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is a national her, anti-fascism New Yorkers said at a rally on June 10
(Getty Images)

Yesterday I referred to the difficulty of defining human rights defenders in relation to a Nigerian politician, and here comes another, maybe more difficult one:

As the United States Justice Department prepare charges against  Edward Snowden, former federal government contractor who revealed the NSA’s secret surveillance program rights violation, as ABC News reportedRussia said Tuesday 11 June that it would consider a request from him for safe haven and The Guardian reported tuesday that Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says any appeal from whistleblower Edward Snowden for asylum will be looked at ‘according to facts,’

Aleksey Pushkov, chair of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said Snowden is a “human rights activist.” Referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Pushkov said, “In this sense, Snowden — like Assange — is a human-rights activist.”

I’m willing to sacrifice all that because I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people all around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building,” Snowden himself told The Guardian.

Russia might aid Snowden human rights activist – National Human Rights | Examiner.com.