Posts Tagged ‘Sudan’
June 28, 2017
Anyone can nominate a candidate who they believe has risked their life, health, freedom, reputation or livelihood to make an exceptional impact on preserving human life and advancing humanitarian causes. Nominations for the 2018 Aurora Prize can be submitted before September 8, 2017 at http://www.auroraprize.com.
The 2017 Aurora Prize went to Dr. Tom Catena, a Catholic missionary from Amsterdam, New York who has saved thousands of lives as the sole doctor permanently based in Sudan’s war-ravaged Nuba Mountains where humanitarian aid is restricted. Dr. Catena named the African Mission Healthcare Foundation (U.S.), the Catholic Medical Mission Board (U.S.), and Aktion Canchanabury (Germany) as the beneficiaries of the $1 million award.
The Aurora Prize Selection Committee includes Oscar Arias, Shirin Ebadi and Leymah Gbowee; former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson; former Foreign Minister of Australia, Gareth Evans; President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Vartan Gregorian; former UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani, former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo, and actor and philanthropist, George Clooney.
The Aurora Prize was founded on the principle of Gratitude in Action—those who have been victimized and survived express thanks in a concrete way, by daring to offer help and hope to those in urgent need, and thus initiating a cycle of giving that transforms the saved into saviors. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is represented by three organizations—Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Foundation, Inc. (New York), the 100 Lives Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland) and the IDeA Foundation (Yerevan).
see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/04/25/inaugural-aurora-prize-1-million-goes-to-marguerite-barankitse-founder-of-burundian-orphanage/
Source: Nominations are Open for the 2018 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity | The Armenian Weekly
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Aurora Prize, Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, call for nominations, human rights awards, Sudan, Tom Catena
June 10, 2016
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Africa, Alex de Waal, Alison Des Forges, article, Boston Review, conflict and peace, documentation, genocide, human rights monitoring, Rakiya Omaar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan
May 27, 2016
Attacks on higher education threaten the safety and well-being of scholars, administrators, staff and students; undermine academic work and instruction; and deny everyone the benefits of expert knowledge and scientific and creative progress. Too often such attacks go unreported. Scholars at Risk (SAR) publishes an Academic Freedom Monitor which tracks key attacks with the aims of protecting vulnerable individuals, promoting accountability and preventing future violations. In the period February – April 2016 SAR reports 20 incidents:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Academic freedom, anniversary, Bangladesh, Canada, Human Rights Defenders, human rights monitoring, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, meeting, Montreal, Nigeria, repression, Scholars at Risk, Sudan, Swaziland, Turkey, Venezuela
April 17, 2015
Having just posted about Sandra Kodouda’s disappearance for 4 days [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/human-rights-defender-sandra-kodouda-remains-missing-four-days-after-abduction-in-sudan/ ] I am happy to report that yesterday (16 April 2015), the Sudanese human rights defender was returned home after reportedly being held in custody by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) although they had denied they held her. She suffered a dislocated shoulder and other injuries during her detention.
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: disappearance, Forced disappearance, Front Line (NGO), National Intelligence and Security Service, NISS, release, Sandra Kodouda, Sudan, woman human rights defender
April 17, 2015
reports that on 12 April 2015, human rights defender Sandra Kodouda was forcibly taken from her car by a group of unidentified men in Omdurman, Sudan.
She was speaking to a friend on the phone and the kidnappers were overheard on the telephone line as they refused to show their identification when Sandra Kodouda requested it, and instructed her to switch off her phone. Shortly after, family members found her abandoned car with the keys still in the ignition. When filing a criminal case at the Omdurman Central Police Station alleging the kidnapping of Sandra Kodouda, her family members were informed by the authorities that there was no record of her detention at that time.
[Sandra Kodouda has campaigned on social issues throughout the country. She is a member of the Youth Committee against the Building of Dal and Kajabar Dams, and peacefully partook in country-wide anti-austerity demonstrations in September and October 2013. Sandra Kodouda has previously been targeted as a result of her human rights work. She was detained by the NISS in August 2014 on account of her participation in the No to Women’s Oppression collective, an initiative which has worked to raise awareness of oppression against women and to promote and protect women’s rights through peaceful protest and reporting. She was also detained by the NISS in July 2012 after mobilising support for the release of youth activist Mr Rudwan Daoud, who himself had been detained by the NISS in the same month on the basis of participating in peaceful political protests.]
Posted in human rights | 1 Comment »
Tags: Forced disappearance, Human Rights Defenders, kidnapping, NISS, Rudwan Daoud, Sandra Kodouda, Sudan, woman human rights defender, Youth Committee against the Building of Dal and Kajabar Dams
April 16, 2015
On 15 April 2015 the New York based Human Rights Foundation announced that the laureates of its 2015 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent are:
- the Sudanese nonviolent resistance movement Girifna,
- the Indonesian stand-up comedian Sakdiyah Ma’ruf, and
- the Cuban graffiti artist and activist El Sexto.
Girifna, Arabic for “we are fed up,” is a nonviolent resistance movement founded in 2010 by pro-democracy youth activists. Thousands of Girifna members work together to monitor crackdowns on protests and defend dissidents in spite of constant surveillance by the Sudanese authorities. “While the international press focuses its attention on Sudan’s history of armed conflict, Girifna has challenged the al-Bashir regime in novel ways—from producing humorous commercials to teaching citizens the art of nonviolent protest…” said jury chairman Thor Halvorssen.
Sakdiyah Ma’ruf is a stand-up comedian from Indonesia whose comic routine advocates for individual rights and challenges Islamic fundamentalism. She grew up watching U.S.-based comedians and decided to use the same medium to talk about issues plaguing her own country. Television producers have asked her to censor her jokes, but Ma’ruf, who believes comedy mirrors a culture’s hypocrisy, has refused to be silenced. “Sakdiyah Ma’ruf is marshaling the use of parody to challenge oppression and extremism—no small risk for a woman in Muslim culture. She is an inspiration,” said Amnesty International Norway Secretary General John Peder Egenæs.
El Sexto, whose real name is Danilo Maldonado, is a Cuban graffiti artist and activist whose public work has turned him into a formidable dissident, evidenced by the ongoing repression he suffers. This past December, El Sexto was arrested on his way to put on a performance art piece called “Rebelión en la Granja,” with two pigs decorated with the names “Fidel” and “Raúl.” El Sexto was charged with contempt and remains in prison awaiting trial. “Through his art, El Sexto reveals the intolerance of the Cuban regime,” said former Romanian President Emil Constantinescu.
For more information on the award see: http://www.brandsaviors.com/thedigest/award/václav-havel-prize-creative-dissent
The ceremony on 27 May will be broadcast live online at oslofreedomforum.com beginning at 16:00 CET; for more info contact: Jamie Hancock, (212) 246-8486, jamie@thehrf.org
2015 Havel Prize Awarded to Girifna, Sakdiyah Ma’ruf, and El Sexto | News | The Human Rights Foundation.
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation | 1 Comment »
Tags: art, awards, cartoons, comedy, Cuba, Danilo Maldonado, digest of human rights awards, El Sexto, Emil Constantinescu, Girifna, human rights award, Human Rights Foundation, Indonesia, John Peder Egenæs, Sakdiyah Ma’ruf, Sudan, THF, Thor Halvorssen
March 23, 2015
From 21-13 February 2015, the Lemkin Summit: A National Gathering of the Next Generation of Human Rights Defenders took place in Washington DC. During the three-days students networked with one another, developed their advocacy and movement-building skills, and engaged with experts on current conflict areas including Burma, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, and Syria. Participants were from 28 States, including D.C., as well as the UK, Canada, India, Rwanda, and South Sudan, with 48 different high schools, colleges, and universities represented.
Students arrived Saturday night for a screening of Watchers of the Sky, as well as two special presentations by community leaders. Sunday’s program included panels on sexual & gender based violence, the financial leverage of combatting atrocities, and conflict-specific overviews; advocacy trainings, communications and storytelling workshops; and an Open Space for students to capitalize on the collective knowledge they brought to the Summit themselves. Sunday’s program included student participation in a Keynote Discussion with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, who skyped into the Summit, moderated by John Prendergast.
The final day of the Summit was an advocacy day on Capitol Hill, during which students discussed these ongoing issue areas with various congressional offices, and urged Congress to support the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and additional expert capacity to the Treasury Department to investigate and enforce sanctions on people in the DRC, Sudan, South Sudan, and Central African Republic. Students met with 43 offices in the House, 27 in the Senate, and one at the State Department, with Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region and DRC Russ Feingold.
For a visual representation of the students’ experience over the weekend through social media, check out the Storify below or click here.
via Students Take Action in D.C. as part of The Lemkin Summit: A National Gathering of the Next Generation of Human Rights Defenders | Enough.
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Burma, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic Congo, Enough Project, Foreign Policy of the USA, Human Rights Defenders, Lemkin Summit, meeting, Rachel Finn, Samantha Power, South Sudan, students, Sudan, Syria, USA, Washington DC, Watchers of the Sky
February 26, 2015
Getty Images
Whatever your opinion of George Clooney as an actor, there is no doubt that he is one of the most willing to use his celebrity for human rights causes. The latest example is his Op-Ed piece in the The New York Times, entitled, “George Clooney on Sudan’s Rape of Darfur” (together with John Prendergast and Akshaya Kumar, published on 25 February 2015) .
“Because Sudan’s government routinely blocks journalists from going into the Darfur region and severely restricts access for humanitarian workers, any window into life there is limited,” Clooney says. “The government has hammered the joint peacekeeping mission of the United Nations and African Union into silence about human rights concerns by shutting down the United Nations human rights office in the capital, Khartoum, hampering investigators of alleged human rights abuses and pressuring the peacekeeping force to withdraw.”
The 53-year-old actor then explains the evidence that has been received from citizen journalists and local human rights defenders with that videos have been smuggled out.
Read the complete piece here.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Akshaya Kumar, celebrities, Darfur, George Clooney, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, John Prendergast, New York Times, rape, sexual violence, star power, Sudan, United Nations, video
January 26, 2015
On 16 February 2015, the York Press carried a feature story by Stephen Lewis about 5 human rights defenders in the temporary shelter programme at York University. The aim of the placements is to give those fighting for human rights around the world a breather, as well as the chance to forge contacts with other human rights workers and organisations around the world.
In York, Hikma can wear jeans – something she’d never be able to do in her own country. “Sudan is a very patriarchal society,” the 33-year-old human rights lawyer says. “Women cannot wear trousers, and I cannot go out in public without a scarf on my head. I want to wear my trousers.“
Born in North Darfur, she graduated with a law degree from Elnileen University in Khartoum in 2002, then started work as a protection officer at a refugee camp in South Darfur for civil war victims. In 2009, her organisation was closed down by the government.
Hikma Rabih
Undeterred, in 2011 she set up a legal aid centre in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. Her organisation provides legal aid and representation for women who would otherwise have no chance of getting justice. Because of strict adultery laws, women who have sex outside marriage face 100 lashes, she says: married women who commit adultery can be stoned. If a woman is raped, but fails to prove it in court, she can be given 100 lashes as an adulteress. “The men always go free,” Hikma says.
5 human rights defenders in York tell their incredible stories (From York Press).
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Centre for Applied Human Rights at York University, Darfur, Hikma Rabih, human rights lawyer, islamic fundamentalists, legal aid, refugees, rights of women, Sudan, woman human rights defender, York Press
December 7, 2014
On the evening of 6 December, 2014, the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested Dr. Amin Mekki Medani, a renowned human rights activist, President of the Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SHRM) from his house in Khartoum. Dr Medani was arrested shortly after he returned from Addis Ababa. There are serious concerns for the safety of Dr. Medani who is 76 years of age and suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes. According to the information received, the NISS refused to allow him to take his medications with him when he was arrested.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders strongly denounces the arbitrary arrest and detention of Dr. Medani and considers it as a reprisal to sanction his legitimate human rights activities. [On December 3, 2014 Dr. Medani signed the “Sudan Call”, on behalf of civil society organisations. The “Sudan Call” is a Declaration on the “Establishment of a State of Citizenship and Democracy”, under which co-signatories committed to work towards the end of the conflicts raging in different regions of Sudan and towards legal, institutional and economic reforms. The Declaration, which commits signatories to end wars and conflicts as a priority, was co-signed in Addis Ababa by representatives from political and armed opposition parties, including the National Umma Party, the National Consensus Forces and the Sudan Revolutionary Front. Dr. Medani co-signed the Sudan Call on behalf of the Civil Society Initiative.]
Sudan: Arrest of the President of the Sudan Human Rights (…).
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amin Mekki Medani, arbitrary arrest, FIDH, Human rights defender, illegal detention, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Sudan, Sudan Call, Sudan Monitor, Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS)
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 