Posts Tagged ‘students’
January 26, 2018
Ayşenur Parıldak, a 27-year-old reporter from Turkey’s now-closed Zaman newspaper who has been behind bars for 13 months, was named the recipient of the first Shahnoush Award by the Oslo-based Vigdis Freedom Foundation (VFF). [for more on this and other awards: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/shahnoush-award]
“I was subjected to violence and sexual abuse. I was interrogated day and night for eight days. They [police officers] were questioning me while they were under the influence of alcohol […] I am afraid of being forgotten here,” Parıldak said in a letter to the Cumhuriyet newspaper in October 2016.
“The Shahnoush Award will be given every year to a female prisoner of conscience whose courage has not been internationally acknowledged. By doing so, Vigdis brings attention to the suffering of women who languish behind bars for speaking out and whose human rights have been violated. They are not forgotten; they are not alone. Hope is sometimes the difference between life and death. May the [Shahnoush] Award give hope to those who need it most.” said Marina Nemat, a board member of VFF.
Parıldak, also a law student at Ankara University’s faculty of law, was detained while taking exams on Aug. 11, 2016. She was released by the court on May 2, 2017 but was later rearrested by the same court before being freed since a prosecutor objected to the initial ruling. During her trial, she told judges that she had thought of committing suicide several times while in prison. Behind bars since last year, Parıldak faces 15 years in jail under Turkey’s broad anti-terror laws based on her tweets and alleged use of the ByLock mobile app. Turkish authorities believe ByLock indicates links to the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the abortive coup last year. The movement denies all involvement.
https://turkeypurge.com/jailed-journalist-aysenur-parildak-given-courage-award-by-norwegian-rights-group
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Tags: Ayşenur Parıldak, digest of human rights awards, human rights award, human rights lawyer, journalists, Norway, prisoner of conscience, Shahnoush Award, students, Turkey, Vigdis Freedom Foundation (VFF), woman human rights defender, women human rights defenders, Zaman newspaper
December 8, 2017
Former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Announced by UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs earlier this year, the Australian Human Rights Institute will further the interdisciplinary aims of the University’s 2025 Strategy UNSW’s investment in the institute of $13 million to 2025 will allow research to be applied to real-world human rights violations, making an impact on communities in Australia and around the world when they are most in need of innovative responses.
Research will be focused on three areas: human rights and business, human rights and health, and gender justice. Australian Human Rights Institute Director Professor Louise Chappell says the new work will build on the strong foundations of the Australian Human Rights Centre, established in the Faculty of Law in 1986 and led for the past 13 years by Professor Andrea Durbach.
A cross-cutting theme emerging for the institute is the rapid advancement in technology, which has some negative human rights implications but also offers interesting new solutions. “It’s really clear that AI could create further frightening aspects of violence such as remotely controlling what’s happening in someone’s house,” Professor Chappell says. “But that same technology could also be turned around by victims of domestic violence, in this case, so that they’re able to protect themselves and link to support networks faster than ever before.”
Another aim of the Institute is to mentor the next cohort of rights defenders, linking emerging scholars with senior experts and UNSW’s deep networks in the human rights field.
The Institute will launch in early 2018 and is planning a program of lectures and other events to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
If you like to get updates about the Australian Human Rights Institute, sign up for emails here.
https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/business-law/new-unsw-institute-takes-shape-world-marks-human-rights-day
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Australia, gender, human rights and business, Human Rights Defenders, human rights institutions, research, students, training, university, University of New South Wales
November 4, 2017
On 4 November, 2017
Tony La Viña published a post in the Standard in the Philippines that is worth reading in full. It describes a quintessential non-governmental and balanced response to the on-going crisis of extra-judicial killings:
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: coalition, Duterte, EJKs, extra judicial killings, Harry Roque, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, MANLABAN SA EJK, NGOs, Philippines, students, Tony La Viña
September 17, 2017
The Daughters for Life Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2017 Scholarships Program. The Foundation is looking for outstanding female students, who would like to take their education to the next level. It is offering up to 10 scholarships for the next academic year for students to follow their dreams at universities in North America, South Asia, and the UK. The foundation’s goal is to represent the interests of young women of all nationalities, ethnicities, and religious affiliations across the Middle East. So far, more than 30 young scholars have enrolled in universities and colleges across North America, the United Kingdom, and Bangladesh. Submission deadline: December 16, 2016
Izzeldin Abuelaish started the Daughters for Life organization after his daughters were tragically killed. Since then he’s devoted his life to promoting the higher education of young women in the Middle East and around the world. He has helped nearly 400 girls since 2010 achieve their dreams. He said seeing these remarkable women move to change the world is keeping his daughters memory alive. I reported earlier that even this kind of approach was considered ‘controversial’ by some [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/04/13/human-rights-museum-controversy-izzeldin-abuelaishfor-palestinian-doctor-gallery/]
Source: Daughters for Life Scolarships program 2017
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Tags: Canada, Daughters for Life Foundation, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Izzeldin Abuelaish, scholarships, students, women, youth
May 10, 2017
The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs gets upset easily as shown by the reaction to the granting of the 2017 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights (South Korea) to detained student activist Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, better known as Pai Dao Din. He has been in prison in Khon Kaen on lese majeste and computer crime charges since 22 December 2015, when 10 Khon Kaen University’s students from “Dao Din” group were arrested at the Khon Kaen Democracy Monument.
Pai Dao Din a day after the Khon Kaen court denied him bail again (FB/Jom Petchpradab)
Now the Thai ambassador to Seoul has written to the human rights award giver in South Korea asking it to ‘reconsider ‘ honouring jailed activist Jatupat Boonpattararaksa.
In a copy of the letter was acquired by the Bangkok Post (copy below):
The detained defender had been hoping to make bail so he could attend the award presentation ceremony in person, but his request was denied. In refusing Mr Jatupat’s bail requests, the Region 4 court and Khon Kaen Provincial Court described him as a flight risk who could tamper with evidence. The laureate is thus unlikely to be abel to travel on 18 May to the award ceremony in Gwangju and Mr Jatupat’s mother Prim Boonpattararaksa and her husband Viboon will represent their son and receive the award on his behalf.
National Human Rights commissioner Angkhana Neelapaijit, who won the Gwangju Award for Human Rights in 2006, described it as a prestigious accolade.
Source: Envoy queries Korea award for Jatupat | Bangkok Post: news
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: 10 Khon Kaen University’s students, Computer Crime Act (Thailand), detention, Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, lese majeste, Pai Dao Din, Somchai Neelapaijit, students, Thailand
January 30, 2017
There is a lot of attention on current and feared loss of human rights attention in Trump-led USA. It is no reason to overlook positive events that continue. E.g. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers and the Tribeca Film Institute, has launched on 25 January 2017 the 6th Annual Speak Truth to Power Video Contest. The short-video contest invites middle and high school students from around the country to create a three-minute video examining a human rights issue or violation while profiling human rights defenders fighting to restore justice. The deadline for entries is March 6, 2017. Participants must be in grades 6 through 12. No prior filmmaking experience is required.
“The lesson that we all have a responsibility to stand up and speak out against inequality and injustice is so important. This video contest will engage students in what it means to be a defender of human rights.”, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (which is also producing an online webinar to share how teachers can use the contest to help students demonstrate independence, judgment and creativity about key human rights issues).
“Past winners demonstrated the transformative impact this contest has on those who participate,” said John Heffernan, Director of the Speak Truth To Power program. “We are thrilled to be able to expand our reach by partnering with the AFT in key cities throughout the US—inspiring even more students to identify with some of the most courageous people on the planet.”
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2013/10/12/rfk-center-expands-human-rights-video-contest-to-students-from-the-whole-usa/
Last year’s grand prize went to a filmmaker from Farmingdale, NJ whose satire “How to Be an American Muslim” asks the audience to reflect on the challenges of being a Muslim in America today, and highlights the work of human rights defender Dalia Mogahed. (http://www.ted.com/talks/dalia_mogahed_what_do_you_think_when_you_look_at_me)
Additional details can be found at http://www.speaktruthvideo.com. Winning videos will be featured on the Speak Truth To Power website and the grand prize video will be shown at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Contact: Eric Duncan, eduncan(at)aft.org
Source: Annual Human Rights Short-Video Contest Open to Students and Schools Across America
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Tags: American Federation of Teachers, awards, Dalia Mogahed, Education, Human Rights Defenders, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, short films, Speak Truth to Power, students, Tribeca Film Institute, USA, video clips, video contest
June 9, 2016
Today, 9 June 2016, Egypt‘s wrongfully detained scholars and students received the 2016 Courage to Think Defender Award during the SAR Global Congress in Montreal, Canada. This is in recognition for their commitment to exercising the right to think, share and question ideas despite tremendous risks. SAR selected student representatives to accept the award in order to recognize their efforts to conduct research and advocacy on behalf of threatened scholars and students around the world. “The students are vital to raising awareness around cases of imprisoned scholars and students like these, and to promoting academic freedom globally and locally,” said Clare Robinson, Advocacy Director at SAR.
Over the past several years, SAR has observed an overwhelming crackdown on Egypt’s higher education community, including the reported use of violence, wrongful prosecutions and imprisonment, professional retaliation and travel restrictions against scholars and students across the country. According to data obtained by the Egyptian NGO, Association for Free Thought and Expression, over 2,000 university students and professors have been detained by security forces since July 2013.
SAR has presented the award only twice before, in 2011 to Aryeh Neier for his long career dedicated to free inquiry and expression including as the chair of the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Foundations, and in 2015 to Dean Habib Kazdaghli of Manouba University in Tunisia for defending his university from extremist pressures after the Arab Spring, including in the face of prosecution and death threats.
[Scholars at Risk: Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of higher education institutions and individuals working to protect threatened scholars, promote academic freedom and prevent attacks on higher education communities around the world since 2000. SAR protects scholars suffering grave threats to their lives, liberty and well-being by arranging positions of sanctuary for those forced to flee, and advocating for scholars facing prosecution, imprisonment or other restrictions through the Scholars-in-Prison Project. SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project identifies and reports attacks on higher education to protect vulnerable scholars and students, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent future violations. Institutions or individuals interested in learning more about SAR and its activities should visit http://www.scholarsatrisk.org or email scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu]
see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/scholars-at-risk-publishes-first-academic-freedom-monitoring-report-free2think/
Posted in awards, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Academic freedom, Courage to Think Defender Award, Egypt, Habib Kazdaghli, human rights award, Montreal, SAR, scholars, Scholars at Risk, students
April 14, 2016
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the Kreuzberger Kinderstiftung, the scholarship sponsor, recognize that there continue to be barriers to entry into the human rights profession that go against the spirit of our work, i.e. when economic or social considerations prevent potential participants from taking part. Therefore they offer young people with limited financial means and/or from underrepresented geographic and social backgrounds the chance to gain professional experience in human rights work.
The call for applications is aimed at students and young professionals (max one year after graduation) who wish to apply for ECCHR’s Legal Training Program but whose personal and financial situation would make it impossible to participate on an unpaid basis. Candidates from the Global South as well as refugees and others with a migration background are especially encouraged to apply.
The deadline for applications is 15 May 2016
More info: http://www.ecchr.eu/en/our_work/education-program/legal-training-program/scholarships.html
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), human rights law, internships, Kreuzberger Kinderstiftung, legal profession, scholarships, students, training course, youth
September 8, 2015
False modesty could have prevented me from making this announcement, but I think that getting the highest number of quality submissions is more important. So please pass this on:
The Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM) invites law graduates to participate in the sixth Thoolen NJCM Dissertation Prize (2015) for the best human-rights thesis on university and higher professional education level.
To be considered eligible, the dissertation must have been written in the last two academic years (2013-2014 or 2014-2015) and must have received at least a Dutch ‘8’ grade equivalency by an internationally recognized university. The submitted dissertation must be written in either Dutch or English, concern a human-rights based subject and be in a direct relation to internationally recognized human rights.
The winning dissertation will be published by the NJCM!
Deadline
The dissertation must be handed in before the 1st of November 2015 at NJCM’s secretariat. Send four copies of your dissertation before this date to: NJCM P.O. box 778, 2300 AT Leiden.
For more information and the full text of the Regulation for the Thoolen NJCM – Dissertation Prize go to: http://www.njcm.nl <http://www.njcm.nl/site/njcm/scriptieprijs/deelname>
The jury
* Mr. H. (Hans) Thoolen
Co-founder and first Chair of the NJCM; Secretary of the Board of the Martin Ennals Foundation
* Dr. (Michiel) van Emmerik
Associate Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law at Leiden University
* Prof. C. (Kees) Flinterman
Honorary professor of human rights law at Utrecht University and Maastricht University
* Prof. J.E. (Jenny) Goldschmidt
Honorary professor of human rights law at Utrecht University; director Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) from 2007 to 2014
* Prof. N.M.C.P. (Nicola) Jägers
Professor of International Human Rights Law of Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University; Commissioner of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights
* Prof. R.A. (Rick) Lawson
Dean of the Leiden Law School; professor of European Law at Leiden University
* Prof. B.E.P. (Egbert) Myjer
Professor emeritus of human rights law at VU University Amsterdam; judge of the European Court of Human Rights from 2004 to 2012; Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists from 2013
Previous prize winners are:
2013: Suzanne Poppelaars
Het recht op bronbescherming: Hoe verder na Voskuil en Sanoma?
2011: Laura Henderson [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/media-framing-and-the-independence-of-the-judiciary-the-case-of-water-boarding/]
Tortured reality. How media framing of waterboarding affects judicial independence
2009: Erik van de Sandt
A child’s story for global peace and justice. Best practices for a child-friendly environment during the statement- and testimony-period in respect of the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Code
2007: Shekufeh Jalali Manesh
Het recht van het kind op behoorlijke huisvesting en het BLOEM-model
2005: Janine de Vries
Sexual violence against women in Congo. Obstacles and remedies for judicial assistance
Copies of the winning dissertations can be purchased through NJCM’s secretariat: NJCM@law.leidenuniv.nl
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Tags: award, dissertation, Dutch Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Hans Thoolen, international human rights law, master thesis, media framing, NJCM, publications, research, students, Thoolen NJCM prijs, university
May 12, 2015
It may not be news to the readers of this blog but it is good to heart the Office of the Un High Commissioner for G+Human Rights say it: “Movies are powerful” said Elena Ippoliti, Human Rights Officer for the UN Human Rights Office. “Sometimes, young people can open their eyes more through an eight-minute film, than through a two-hour lecture.”
For a decade the Office has partnered with the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in carrying out an educational programme, which takes place during the annual film festival. It provides screenings and discussions of a selection of human rights films for students mainly attending the secondary schools in Geneva. The festival was getting good audiences, but films were being seen by people who were already familiar with the issues. He said reaching out to schools seemed a natural fit.
Ippoliti said the education programme is also a chance for the Office to work at a local level in the headquarters host city of Geneva: “We, OHCHR Geneva, work at the global level. But by working with schools here, we also reach out to the local level,”.
Films help educate students about human rights.
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Tags: City of Geneva, Elena Ippoliti, FIFDH, Geneva, human rights education, human rights films, images, International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH), Office of the United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights, OHCHR, students
