On 7 March 2014 UNHCR published a series of 6 videos on female genital mutilation (FGM), Too Much Pain, with stories of refugee women who have undergone FGM and have become human rights defenders engaged to end this practice. These women explain their experiences of flight, asylum and integration in the EU. These video clips deserve much wider recognition.
In Part 1, refugee women talk about why they had to flee because of their commitment to end the practice. The other videos explain that FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health and physical integrity; the right to be free from torture and other rights. FGM is harmful not cultural; it has life-long consequences and can be a ground for asylum. (See all videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtPw-Y91GlmWvO9wxMUW-Ey3eMY2vwWYZ )
This video complements the UNHCR publication Too Much Pain: Female Genital Mutilation & Asylum in the European Union – A Statistical Overview, and updated in March 2014 (see here: http://goo.gl/lDnCRJ).
This post is not about human rights defenders and not really about the treatment of refugees in Greece. It is simply such a story – published by Behzad Yaghmaian in the Globalist of 11 February 2014 – that I could not resist sharing it. The original title is: “Syria’s Civil War and the World’s Oldest Refugee; A reflection on our collective failures as human societies“. Once you have read this, you will agree that Greece, Germany and the UNHCR should quickly find a solution on humanitarian grounds:
(Sabria Khalaf, 107-year old refugee of the Syrian civil war (c) Behzad Yaghmaian)
Human Rights Defenders are involved in asylum claims in many ways. The asylum seeker may be a victim of persecution or the people who help them are human rights defenders. Anyway the new UNHCR report “Beyond Proof – Improving Credibility Assessment in EU Asylum Systems” should be a relevant tool for all of them:
A really strange case has popped up in Athens, not immediately related to the demonstrations in Turkey but it could add to the tension: A Turkish activist, Bulut Yayla, was reportedly abducted from Solonos Street in Exarchia on Thursday 30 May 2013 and two days later he was traced in Istanbul’s antiterrorism department, where he was being held for questioning. Read the rest of this entry »
With regard to the defectors sent back from Laos via China to North Korea – on which I reported a few days ago – it is interesting to note the reaction by China which has expressed anger at the criticism by two UN High Commissioners (for human rights and refugee): “We hope that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN does not make irresponsible remarks based on unspecified news,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei, but also appeared to distance itself from the repatriation by saying the refugees had passed through the country with “valid documents and visas”. “In the whole process, China has not received a request by any party to assist in the repatriation of these persons“.
Nine North-Korean defectors, aged 15 to 23, entered Laos through China on 9 May 2013 and were caught by Laotian authorities on 16 May. They were sent back home on Tuesday 28 May via China. [Under North Korean law, defectors face a minimum of five years of hard labour and as much as life in prison or the death penalty in cases deemed particularly serious] UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, urged Chinese and Laotian authorities to publicly clarify the fate of the nine defectors and the conditions of their return, which apparently violated international law, UN deputy spokesperson
said. “The High Commissioner’s office is dismayed that the governments of Laos and China appear to have abrogated their non-refoulement obligations, especially given the vulnerability of that group, all of whom are reported to be orphans” The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday in a statement that it is trying to locate the defectors and expressed concern that they did not receive a chance to have their asylum claims assessed.
UNHCR’s Refworld 2013 goes live this week at http://www.refworld.org. The website has undergone significant changes based on a feedback received from internal and external users over the years.
Refworld started almost 20 years ago as an ever-expanding series of DVD’s containing the different databases of documentation centre of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. With the wider availability of broadband it switched in 2007 to internet only. It was already then considered an advanced protection information resource which aims to facilitate evidence-based and effective decision-making in refugee status determination procedures. Now it functions more broadly as a key tool for evidence-based advocacy relating to resettlement, statelessness, internal displacement, as well as specific protection concerns. The database, updated on a daily basis, now contains more than 167,000 documents relating to countries of origin or asylum, case law, legislation and policy. Especially the ‘country of origin’ information is relevant to human rights defenders as it is in fact a selection of human rights violations documentation. Also the legal information section is a unique collection of worldwide documentation concerning refugee law and statelessness.
Do you know of anybody who has gone beyond the call of duty and shown outstanding dedication and service to the refugee cause? Or maybe a group of people or an organization? Any person can nominate candidates (individuals, groups of people or organizations) but self-nominations and nominations of current or former UNHCR staff are not encouraged.
Each laureate for the Nansen Refugee Award is selected in line with the following:
The deed for which the person/entity is nominated should either take place outside the framework of normal professional duties and/or go beyond the call of duty;
It should demonstrate courage;
It should raise awareness for refugees; and
It should, in a significant way, benefit the beneficiaries the Awardee serves and possibly also the country/area where the Awardee operates.
The independent Nansen Refugee Award Committee, chaired by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, selects the annual laureate by a unanimous or majority decision.
Ms. Ingrid Prestetun, Coordinator, Nansen Refugee Award Programme, UNHCR Geneva.
Barbara Hendricks at MEA ceremony 2003 with late Sergio Vieira de Mello and Alirio Uribe Munoz
The trigger to write about this very special person is that she has just been celebrated as UNHCR’s Goodwill ambassador for 25 years.
“You are really the princess of the humanitarian and human rights world,” High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said at a special UNHCR staff ceremony in Geneva. “The authority of your voice is a precious instrument for our fight,” he added. “Twenty-five years – it’s a long time and the cause of refugees has been a part of my life since my first mission,” said Hendricks, adding that it had been an honour to work for UNHCR. She praised the refugees who inspire her and the UNHCR staff who help them. “Thank you so much. It has been a fantastic journey and I look forward to continuing for as long as I can.”
What many people do not know is that Barbara Hendricks has not only been a dedicated and outspoken advocate for refugees for the past 25 years, but also been a strong supporter of other causes including human rights, e.g. as a Patron of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders or in giving her support to creating the True Heroes Foundation, Films for Human Rights Defenders in 2007.
The American-born Swedish citizen was inspired by the struggle for civil rights in the USA as a child and never let off. The human rights world needs celebrities but even more it needs celebrities with real and long-term commitment. This is what makes Barbara Hendricks a Human Rights Defender in her own name! Thanks.
This post wants to draw attention first to the good news that a torture victim was given compensation and secondly the positive role that a tenacious journalist can play. That the case occurred in what is now almost my home town Chania makes it only the more interesting to report on.
In a unanimous ruling delivered on January 17, 2012 the Strasbourg-based court said that Necati Zontul had suffered torture when a coastguard officer raped him with a truncheon at a makeshift detention centre for migrants in the Cretan city of Chania. In its ruling the Court, which includes a Greek judge, ordered Greece to compensate Zontul to the tune of 50,000 euros. The torture took place on 5 June 2001, nine days after Zontul had been taken to the centre along with 164 other undocumented migrants, all arrested on a boat that was intercepted by the coastguard as it made its way from Istanbul to Italy.
On 9 June 2001 the asylum-seekers were visited by members of Doctors of the World. They examined the men and sent photos to the local port authorities. The local human rights group of Amnesty International, the Greek Helsinki Monitor and UNHCR Greece all intervened is some stage and protested the cover up by the authorities as laid down in the detailed time table of events collected by the journalist Kathy Tzilivakis in her article of 27 February 2004: see: http://www.athensnews.gr/old_issue/13055/10953
On the basis of Zontul’s allegations, five coastguards were later tried by a naval tribunal on criminal charges of undermining human dignity. In October 2004, one of the five officers, Yiorgos Dandoulakis, was found guilty of sexually abusing Zontul and received a 30-month prison sentence suspended for five years. The three other defendants were charged with physically abusing many of the migrants and were given 18-month suspended sentences. On appeal, Dandoulakis had his punishment reduced to six months’ jail, which was commuted to a fine. The other officers also had their punishments reduced. The ECHR was particularly critical of the final penalty handed down to Dandoulakis, which it said was “disproportional” and “could not be said to have a deterrent effect nor could it be perceived as fair by the victim”. The ECHR also found that Zontul, who moved to the UK in 2004, was not kept informed by the Greek state on the progress of the proceedings against the coastguards.
“This is not a judgment against Greece but against corrupt people in Greece,” Zontul emphasised to Athens News. “The corruption that led to the present Greek financial crisis is the same sort of corruption that led to my assault and certainly lies behind the efforts made by the authorities to cover it up. This is a small step towards honesty and I am proud to be a part of that,” he added. Zontul thanked the newspaper for its reporting on the case: “Without the help of the Athens News, this story and the positive result would have never taken place and I would be just another nameless victim.”
In his letter to Athens News of 18 January, Zontul further writes: “This judgement means that Greek law (and particularly Article 137A) must now change to reflect the EU definition of torture. Greek law must also formally accept male rape as a legal concept (something that was unclear at the time of the assault and the initial trial. We also had confusing advice about whether this was defining in Greek law, but the EU judges make it very clear: what happened to me was both rape and torture). It has been a long, long struggle and much of it has been horrible. But there have also been many funny stories, particularly when we spoke to Greek authorities on the phone or even in person and they used ridiculous excuses to avoid taking responsibility. I can also think of many times when people in Athens were very kind to me and helped me through the worst times. We could certainly write a book about some of these stories!
But, I await a formal apology from the Greek president. I have written to request this again and again (and we will write again tomorrow) and I am appalled by his silence on this matter and by the utter rudeness of men in his office who have replied to none of my letters. What happened to me was done by men representing the state and wearing the uniform of Greece and it is clear that the Greek state (and a series of different governments) made a huge effort to hide their crimes. In the judgement, the Greek embassy [in London] rightly comes in for specific criticism. The issues are evasion, indifference and corruption. The last ten years have been very, very frustrating and this is in addition to the experience of torture I suffered in Crete. I also await an apology from the Greek Church for the ill-advised statements by [now deceased] Archbishop Christodoulous that followed my request for help.”
Ms. Ingrid Prestetun, Coordinator, Nansen Refugee Award Programme, UNHCR Geneva.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 