Sometimes it is good to look at how people can support human rights defenders elsewhere. Here an example from West Sussex, UK, where – using a script compiled exclusively from the first-hand accounts of Afghan women human rights defenders – Crawley’s Pitchy Breath Theatre Group voices testimony, underlining the risks to women’s freedom posed by any resurgence of the Taliban. The reading – on Monday 19 May – will be followed by an opportunity to ask questions and discuss the issues raised with Chris Usher, Amnesty International UK’s Country Co-ordinator for Afghanistan. There will also be the opportunity to take part in actions in support of Afghan women. This event forms part of Amnesty International UK’s campaign on women’s rights in Afghanistan. The local AI Group are hoping that “Even If We Lose Our Lives” can inspire the local community and contribute to more action protecting these women and the rights they are fighting fight for.
[Afghan women are too often portrayed as faceless, passive victims who are powerless to change the grave human rights abuses which regularly affect them. The script is based on the actual accounts of three women – Parween, whose teenage son was kidnapped and killed because she runs a girls’ school, Dr D, a gynaecologist whose son was injured in a bomb blast, and Manizha, who runs the largest Afghan organisation working on violence against women and girls at great personal cost.]
Former US intelligence contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden’s latest allegations point to a very real risk that human rights defenders have been the targets of mass surveillance by the US and British spy agencies. Snowden, who is living in exile in Moscow, made the remarks this afternoon, 8 April 2014, via a videoconference link to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France. When asked if the US National Security Agency (NSA) or its British counterpart Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) were actively spying on human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others, he said: “Without question, yes, absolutely …The NSA has in fact specifically targeted the communications of either leaders or staff members in a number of purely civil or human rights organizations of the kind described”.
After 32 years, the NGO “INTERIGHTS” [International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights] ceases to exist as from 27 May 2014 due to lack of funding. This is bad news but at least there is a clear public statement. Too often human rights NGOs or awards are announced with great pomp but their demise is muffled. The Executive Director John Wadham made the following clear-headed statement: Read the rest of this entry »
How can human rights defenders lead and manage human rights organisations well? How can human rights defenders practice rights-based approaches and principles in their workplace? What key issues do human rights defenders face when working in organisations? These are the questions that inspired the Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York, United Kingdom, to run a 10-week course from 23 April to 1 July 2014. This module is aimed at human rights defenders and practitioners interested in leading and managing organisations more effectively.
This course is part of CAHR’s Defending Human Rightsdistance learning programme delivered wholly online in a fully supported environment. Students can take one, two or three modules as a continuing professional development (CPD) student, without academic credit, or complete all three modules as a postgraduate student, with academic credit. Postgraduate students who complete all three credit-bearing modules are awarded a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Defending Human Rights.
Partial scholarships (50 percent of fees) are available for both types of students in non-OECD countries who are:
actively involved in human rights work; and
either hold a leadership position in a civil society organisation or demonstrate strong potential for such leadership.
(Professor Paul Gready at York University with Nagi Musa, a human rights activist from Sudan)
Sheena Hastings reports in the Yorkshire Post of 30 April 2013 on the programme offered by York University that lets human rights defenders stay on a fellowship that provides a safe haven and adds to their skills .
“In the few months that Nagi Musa has lived in York, he has not lost the learned panicky response to the odd creaking noise in the night, and he does still find himself scanning any group of people in case there’s someone who looks like a threat. He tends to position himself where he can see the nearest exit, too. Read the rest of this entry »
As an illustration of how ill-conceived or ill-executed immigration policies can affect Human Rights Defenders, the following:
Last week Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera – who is the Laureate of the 2011 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, – was denied entry to the UK where she was invited to attend as a special guest the Northern Ireland Pride festival in Derry this weekend. The visa denial was apparently based concerns over her financial status. Foyle Pride chairwoman Shay Gillespie said at the time: “I can’t understand why the UK is the only country to deny her entry and deny the opportunity for the people of Derry and Northern Ireland as a whole the chance to hear this inspirational woman speak.”
A petition was set up to challenge the decision while Amnesty UK invited her to give a speech on Thursday. Then on Monday – within minutes of filing a second application- Kasha was granted permission to attend
Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International said: “In the face of ongoing threats and attacks for her work, she has continued to speak out on behalf of Uganda’s LGBT community. She constantly has to shift from house to house, never staying too long in the same place, yet her voice for human rights in Uganda has never been dimmed…..Kasha is here to tell people in Northern Ireland the real stories behind our reports and to explain how people here can support gay people in Uganda.”
Other Human Rights Defenders or other travelers with a legitimate purpose to come to Europe may not have the public status or international support needed to overturn such decisions.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 