Human Rights Watch Uploaded on this video some time back on 20 April 2011, but I had missed it. Insiders will recognize the face and voice of Reed Brody, who has made chasing dictators (such as Baby Doc and Hissene Habré (see below) his life’s vocation.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘video clips’
Haiti: victims of Baby Doc stil waiting for justice says dictator hunter Reed Brody
February 21, 2013Courageous Chinese HRDs visit Liu Xia, wife of Liu Xiaobo, captured on video
January 23, 2013
Liu Xia, the wife of Liu Xiaobo has been illegally held under house arrest for over 26 months. She has not been able to communicate with others or leave her apartment freely.
On the 28 December 2012 a group of activists attracted Liu Xia’s attention outside her apartment beneath her window. They discussed how to get around the security guards through the side door. Liu Xia welcomed them with hugs and tears.
The meeting was brief, just three minutes as they wanted to avoid conflict with the security guards whose backup team would rush in soon. Some friends kept talking with Liu Xia through the windows and Liu Xia threw out some chocolates to them to express her thanks. Some were arguing with the security guards, explaining that they were just Liu Xia’s friends to celebrate Liu Xiaobo’s birthday with Liu Xia.
Eventually, all the friends managed to return home safely. Amnesty International has translated the video about their visit into English. The original can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJumioueaAo
Short video with summary portraits of the winners of the Tulip award
January 11, 2013A short documentary about the five winners of the Human Rights Tulip Award, the award of the Dutch government for human rights defenders. The winners are from Honduras, Congo, Iran, China and India. The films were done by the True Heroes Foundation (THF).
Related articles
- Tulip human rights award given in absentia to Dalit leader (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- Human Rights Defenders Tulip 2012 awarded to Indian campaigner Barathan (thoolen.wordpress.com)
Third and final clip in animated series on human rights system
December 11, 2012This is third and last chapter in the series of animated videos to which I referred earlier. This is the chapter dealing with collective rights and the issue of enforcement. Unfortunately I see a major error with regard to the latter as the clip does not make clear that the Treaty Bodies complaint procedures are only open to those who reside in countries that have (1) ratified the treaty in question (b) recognised the right of individual complaint. For everybody there are the co-called ‘charter-based’ procedures (mechanisms) which are even less legally binding. These together constitute the global level of complaint procedures, against which one can then place the regional systems.
For the rest a solid and neutral explanation of the history and cohesion of the international system.
Human Rights Defenders can dance!
December 11, 2012For those of you who thought that HRDs are mostly serious nerds, watch this lovely and lively clip of Amnesty International staff in the Paris office:
On-Line Video contest also in Turkey
November 28, 2012On 23 November I referred to the video contest on human rights in Armenia and wondered where the others were. Here is one more, in Turkey as reported by BIANET on 27 November:
With its slogan “Make a film. Be Viral. Create a Change”, Human Rights Online Video Contest selected five young directors who recorded stories about how they see and interpret human rights issues in the environment. Finalists were selected by a jury including Ece Temelkuran, Melek Özman and Fatih Keskin.
The winner video will be selected following a public voting ending on December 3. Anyone can vote for the contest through http://www.youtube.com/humanrightsturkey. The delegation also urged social media users to share the video through Twitter and Facebook. The winner–the most viral video on social media–will be announced on the delegation website.
A closing ceremony will be held in Ankara to award the winner on December 12.
Alkarama awards on 7 December in Geneva: here already the trailer
November 23, 2012The Ceremony of the Alkarama Award will be held on Friday 7 December 2012 at 18h30 in Geneva at Centre International Conférences, Genève
This year, the laureates are two human rights defenders from the Gulf region:
– Dr Mohamed Abdullah Al Roken, United Arab Emirates
– Dr Saud Mukhtar Al Hashimi, Saudi Arabia.
For more information: http://www.alkarama.org
award@alkarama.org
+41 22 734 10 06
UNICEF: the top ten cartoons for children’s rights
November 23, 2012UNICEF has just released the ‘Top 10 Cartoons for Children’s Rights’, as selected by polling broadcasters and communicators, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Cartoons for Children’s Rights is a UNICEF broadcast initiative that aims to inform people around the world about children’s rights. So far, the effort has forged partnerships with many well-known animation studios that have developed more than 80 half-minute public service announcements (PSAs). Each PSA illustrates a right described in the global rights treaty, such as ‘Freedom from Child Labour’ or ‘Protection from Neglect’. All the spots are non-verbal, in order to get the rights message across to everyone, regardless of language.
Related articles
- Empowering the next generation (unicef.org.au)
Preposterous conviction of HRDs in Zimbabwe for watching videos of the Arab spring
March 19, 2012
The newspaper the Zimbabwean comes with the following story: the MDC – although technically part of a unity government – denounces today’s conviction of human rights activist, Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others of conspiracy to commit crime by plotting to topple the government of Zimbabwe. The MDC dissociates itself from claims by the State that the six human rights defenders wanted to topple the government of Zimbabwe through watching video clips.
Gwisai, a former MP for Highfield, is the general coordinator of International Socialist Organisation (ISO). The others who were found guilty today are; Antoinette Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo and Welcome Zimuto. The MDC quite rightly calls it “beyond belief” to assume that people can topple a government by simply viewing old video footage of events from Tunisia and Egypt.
How can anyone be convicted for watching video material that is already in the public domain and can be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world?
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 