Posts Tagged ‘woman human rights defender’
February 12, 2016
On 7 February 2016, Big News Network carried a profile of Cao Shunli, the Chinese human rights defender who died in custody on 14 March 2014. It starts with a beautiful quote of Cao Shunli (in an article on the China Change website on The Life and Death of Cao Shunli: “I was so saddened. I thought: you [China] are such a big government, but you do this to one individual. I don’t understand it.”
I have blogged enough on Cao Shunli [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/cao-shunli/] skip her life story here but the profile is worth reading for those who want to know more about this remarkable woman. Cao was a final nominee for the Martin Ennals Award 2014, for which True Heroes Films (THF) produced a moving video about her work that includes footage of the Chinese quashing of the motion of silence at the UN. [see: http://www.martinennalsaward.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=248&Itemid=161&lang=en]
The article does not refer to the establishment of the annual Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders. On 9 March 2015 Three rights groups launched the award in honor of Cao Shunli: Human Rights Campaign in China, Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch, and Rights Defense Network. The award is handed out on March 14, to mark the day Cao Shunli passed away. The recipient will be awarded funding to conduct human rights initiatives, especially “to push for civil society participation in international human rights activities” and to monitor the Chinese government’s implementation of its human rights obligations. In a joint announcement, the three NGOs said that the award will “commemorate Ms. Cao Shunli, so her life’s story will inspire generations to come.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, THF | 5 Comments »
Tags: Cao Shunli, Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders, China, China Change website, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, MEA final nominee 2014, profiles, THF, UPR, woman human rights defender, Zhou Weilin
February 5, 2016
This month’s profile of a human rights defender in the ISHR Monitor is that of Teo Soh Lung, Director of Function 8 Limited. The interview was conducted during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Singapore.
Soh Lung started her career as a lawyer with no intention of becoming a public figure, but ‘I always felt that as lawyers we should do more than just earn a living.’ Early in her career Soh Lung worked at a Catholic centre, a form of half-way house, which assisted people ranging from migrant workers, Filipino domestic workers to former convicted offenders. ‘We were happily busy doing this kind of work, not thinking that we were ‘defenders’ as such.’
In the early 1980s, Soh Lung became active in the Law Society of Singapore and with a number of other lawyers established the criminal legal aim scheme. In association with the Law Society she started to comment on bills proposed by the Government. ‘We thought, as lawyers we should assist the Government by commenting on bills. Singapore was a one-party State at this time. However, the Government did not want to hear our opinions and soon afterwards a law was passed which restricted our right to comment on bills.’
On 21 May 1987 Soh Lung was arrested without charge as permitted by the Internal Security Act (ISA). Around this time 21 other young people including lawyers involved in the Law Society were also arrested. ‘I was accused of trying to overthrow the Government and manipulating the Law Society – I was made out by the Government to be the ring leader.’
Months later, those detained were released. Given no one knew the truth about what had transpired, 9 out of the 22 arrested decided to publish a press statement which denied the Government’s story and confirmed that they had been tortured while in detention. The next day the 8 of the 9 were re-arrested (the ninth was out of the country). ‘Our cells were incredibly dirty. There were slits for air. I was in solitary confinement the entire time, other than a lizard and insects that kept me company.’
While detained, Soh Lung commenced habeas corpus proceedings, arguing that she had been unlawfully detained. ‘Initially Francis Seow, the former Solicitor General, represented my case. However, when he came to the prison to interview me he himself was arrested because he was communicating with international human rights bodies and the American Ambassador – the Government alleged he was receiving money from the CIA. He spent 72 days in jail.’ Soh Lung referred to the difficultly she had finding lawyers to represent her. ‘Historically anyone that represented ISA detainees were then detained themselves.’
When the Court handed down its decision, it decided Soh Lung’s case on technical grounds. This meant that her substantive argument had not been considered – and most importantly – that she could be re-arrested as and when the Government wished. ‘As soon as we stepped outside of the prison gate I was re-arrested. This was, and still is not, unusual. The judicial system doesn’t have any power to keep people free if the Government wants them to remain imprisoned.’ Soh Lung was in prison for another 2 years, during which time the law changed and the right to judicial review, as well as the Privy Council were abolished.
‘As a lawyer if you start a fight, you need to fight until the end. After my appeals of my re-arrests were unsuccessful and the change to the law, I realised there was nothing more I could do with the judiciary to ensure my release. In 1990 after two years of detention, I was released with restrictions.’ It took Soh Lung 20 years to publish the book she wrote about her detention the year after she was released.
‘I knew people would continue to be treated as I was if I didn’t speak out about it. There were people who were arrested before me under the ISA, but I didn’t know about this when I was arrested. I wanted to create awareness within civil society.’ The civil society movement, and in particular ISA defenders, in Singapore went quiet in the 1990’s after Soh Lung’s arrest, but regained strength and became more active about the time of the release of her book and her story.
‘In 2013 there was an event on the 50th anniversary of Operation Cold Store during which names of those who had been arbitrarily detained were made public. A few years after the event, there were 1315 names on the list – which was initially a list of about 700. After all this time and among others who had similarly suffered, people had the strength to speak out about their experience.’
In 2010 Soh Lung and others detained with her established Function 8, an NGO which submits on indefinite imprisonment without trial that is currently permitted by three Singaporean statutes – the Internal Security Act, the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act and the Misuse of Drugs Act. Soh Lung travelled to Geneva as an observer on behalf of the Alliance of Like-Minded Civil Society Organisations in Singapore (ALMOS) during Singapore’s UPR. ‘We are excited about engaging more with the UPR. It is a new process for us. One which we believe can assist to hold Singapore accountable to its international obligations and bring about national change, and hopefully one day, the repeal of the ISA.’
Source: Defender profile: Teo Soh Lung from Singapore | ISHR
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | 1 Comment »
Tags: arbitrary arrest, Function 8 Limited, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, interview, ISHR, profiles, Singapore, Teo Soh Lung, UPR, woman human rights defender
January 25, 2016
The well-known human rights defender Shami Chakrabarti is leaving her job as Director of Liberty and the NGO Justice Scotland organized a public event in there honor at the Faculty of Advocates’ Laigh Hall with an open and informative discussion ranging from the ISIS threat to authoritarian politics and defending the Human Rights Act. The event, the second in the JUSTICE Scotland “Beyond Law” series hosted by the Faculty, was praised by Lord Hodge, the UK Supreme Court Justice, who is chairing the series. “What a treat,” he stated, describing Ms Chakrabarti as a “very articulate and humane voice for libertarian views.”
Ms Chakrabarti herself was delighted to have taken part. She said: “I really enjoyed it. I thought the contributions from the floor in particular showed what a thoughtful bunch of lawyers you have here, and how concerned they are, not only about the law but the way it shapes the kind of society we want to live in.”
Ms Chakrabarti recalled how she had caused alarm among family and friends when, after joining the English bar, she took a post in the Home Office, others not seeing her as a likely candidate for the civil service. And when she then left to become in-house counsel at Liberty, there was more consternation.
After a mere one day of “blue sky thinking” with Liberty the world was changed by the awful events of 9/11. “Of course it was a game changer but I don’t think it was the beginning of our authoritarian politics. That had started earlier – attacks on judges, lawyers, legal aid, migrants. In our age, governments can feel quite powerless because the challenges are global and are not going to be solved by one government or another, yet senior politicians have to be seen to be doing something,” she suggested.
.. All around the world, she added, attacks were being made on human rights defenders. “It is happening in our country, and we cannot let it continue,” she said. “I think we have to defend the Human Rights Act and the ECHR, otherwise we are going in completely the wrong direction.”
Source: Shami Chakrabarti wows audience at JUSTICE event – Scottish Legal News
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: European Convention on Human Rights, Human Rights Act (UK), Human Rights Defenders, Justice Scotland, Liberty, Lord Hodge, Scotland, Shami Chakrabarti, UK, university level education, woman human rights defender
January 18, 2016
In an article she wrote in Arabic for Global Voices on 15 March 2015, Yara Bader said: “Three years ago, in Damascus, we were surrounded by those whom we knew and loved. Today, so many of them are detained, lost, kidnapped, or fighting for their lives and for the chance to remain on faraway beaches around the world. Alone, all of us, with tired souls but with white hearts.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alison Des Forges Award, freedom of expression, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, IFEX, journalists, Mazen Darwish, profiles, SCM, Syria, Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, woman human rights defender, Yara Bader
January 13, 2016
US First Lady Michelle Obama (left) and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) pose with Samar Badawi (centre) as she receives the 2012 International Women of Courage Award.
In 2012, she was given an International Women of Courage Award. In December 2014, a Saudi Arabian judge imposed a travel ban on Samar. “Samar Badawi’s arrest today is yet another alarming setback for human rights in Saudi Arabia and demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission,” said Philip Luther, AI’S Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme. “Just weeks after Saudi Arabia shocked the world by executing 47 people in a single day, including the Shi’a Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, it has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for human rights. Samar Badawi has been arrested purely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression, she must be immediately and unconditionally released.”
According to AFP, Raif Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, who lives in Canada as a refugee said in her Twitter account that her sister-in-law was arrested on the charge of directing a Twitter account named “the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia @WaleedAbulkhair.”
Samar is the sister of Raif Badawi, a well-known blogger who was awarded the EU’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/saudi-blogger-raif-badawi-awarded-europes-sakharov-prize/). Moreover, Waleed Abulkhair, who is Samar’s ex-husband, is also serving a 15-year jail sentence.
Posted in AI, awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: AI, Daily Mail, detention, Ensaf Haidar, Hillary Clinton, Human Rights Defenders, International Women of Courage Award, Michele Obama, New Europe, Philip Luther, Raif Badawi, Samar Badawi, saoudi arabia, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, Waleed Abulkhair, woman human rights defender
January 12, 2016
The ISHR on 3 December 2015 carried a profile on Sharon Hom, human rights defender working on human rights in China.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, Civil society, Hong Kong, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights in China (HRIC), human rights mechanisms, international cooperation, profiles, Sharon Hom, teaching, treaty bodies, UPR, woman human rights defender
January 11, 2016
reports that on 23 December 2015, the Supreme Court confirmed the 2012 sentencing of human rights defender Ms Chiranuch Premchaiporn to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for one year, and a fine of 20,000 baht, for failing to delete allegedly offensive comments about the Thai monarchy, which had been posted on the now-defunct Prachatai web forum.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn [https://frontlinedefenders.org/ChiranuchPremchaiporn] is executive director of Prachatai, an independent news website that reports on human rights, social and political issues in Thailand and Southeast Asia. She was the webmaster of the now defunct Prachatai web board which was set up to promote the exchange of information and opinion on Thai political and social issues. Chiranuch Premchaiporn was the recipient of the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award in May 2011 and the Human Rights Watch Hellman/Hammet Award in September 2011.
The Supreme Court ruling confirmed the verdicts of the Court of Appeals and the Court of First Instance, which were made against the human rights defender in November 2013 and May 2012 respectively. Chiranuch Premchaiporn was convicted under Article 15 of the 2007 Computer Crime Act (CCA) for allowing the alleged offensive comments to remain on the Prachatai web forum for 20 days. Article 15 of the CCA states that any service provider intentionally supporting or consenting to the importation of illegal computer content, as provided for in Article 14 of the CCA, shall be subjected to the same penalty as that imposed upon a person committing an offence under Article 14.
Front Line Defenders expresses concern at the decision of the Supreme Court to confirm the sentence against Chiranuch Premchaiporn, and thus to continue the use of the Computer Crime Act to silence and intimidate human rights defenders in Thailand. Front Line Defenders fears for the potential chilling effect of the decision on the exercise of freedom of expression in Thailand, and the restrictive effect of this on the work of human rights defenders.
Posted in awards, Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Chiranuch Premchaiporn, Computer Crime Act (Thailand), freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Hellman/Hammet Award, Human Rights Defenders, Journalist, lese majeste, Prachatai, woman human rights defender
January 8, 2016
In December 2015 the ISHR published this profile of Russian human rights defender Stephania Koulaeva
Stephania Koulaeva, a historian by education, explains the ever-expanding scope of her human rights work. Her interest was drawn to the memorial movement in Russia: ‘at first from a historical perspective, then from a human rights perspective.’ As a student, Stephania was involved in anti-fascist and anti-racist groups, primarily focused on the rights of the Roma minority, the most visible minority in Russia at the time. After new waves of migration began from Central Asia in the late nineties, Stephania expanded her work to issues surrounding migration. This then broadened further to include women’s rights, LGBTI rights, and she eventually became involved in the protection of human rights defenders. Her organisation, Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial (ADC Memorial) is the only organisation in Russia that combats discrimination on such a wide range of issues.
Unfortunately, shrinking space for civil society has consistently been a serious threat within Russia. ‘In the 1990s and early 2000s, neo-nazis attacked and occasionally murdered human rights defenders working on discrimination issues. At that time that was the primary danger; the main danger we face now is political oppression by the Government.’
Over the past few years – particularly since Vladimir Putin’s 2012 return to presidency – the Russian Government has cracked down on NGOs, often by accusing them of being ‘foreign agents’ due to their ‘political activity’. ADC Memorial was forced to choose between officially registering as a ‘foreign agent’ or closing down for submitting a report to the UN Committee against Torture in the lead up to Russia’s 2012 review by that body. As the label of ‘foreign agent’ would greatly restrict the work ADC Memorial was able to carry out, it made the difficult decision of closing the organisation down in 2014. Since then, ADC Memorial has been operating without official Russian registration.
The continued operation of ADC Memorial does not indicate an alleviation in the Government’s harsh approach to civil society, and in November of this year, prominent NGO Memorial Human Rights Centre was targeted in the same manner: ‘They received a letter from the prosecutor stating that they had violated the Constitution of the Russian Federation for fulfilling their work.’ Memorial Human Rights Centre had previously ‘criticised Russian aggression in the Ukraine’ and ‘disagreed with the arrest of certain civil activists’. It is most likely being threatened due to this ‘political action’. ‘This is a very dangerous step for the Government to take. They are now criminalising human rights activity; the situation is rapidly getting worse.’
Stephania has a positive outlook on her previous interactions with the UN, acknowledging that the UN has done their utmost to stop the criminalisation of human rights defenders. ‘We’re very grateful for all the support that we’ve received from various treaty body committees that we’ve worked with; they’ve all recognised the work of civil society and given meaningful recommendations in the framework of their mandate.’ However, the political reality of the UN’s influence is not always as effective. ‘It’s very difficult to oppose Russian politics, even at the level of the United Nations.’ Stephania is now looking outward to bring domestic change to Russia, as anti-discrimination laws now seem ‘unlikely – although pressure on the Government will continue.’ She hopes to find some success in international courts, citing potentially useful precedents at the European Court of Human Rights in cases regarding migrants and stateless people.
‘We can’t simply stay within our borders – it’s impossible to tackle issues solely within Russia without also looking at related issues in neighbouring countries.’
see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/12-human-rights-defenders-who-are-not-on-the-slopes-of-sochi/
Source: Defender profile: Stephania Koulaeva working in Russia | ISHR
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ADC Memorial, foreign agent law, foreign funding, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Memorial Human Rights Centre, minorities, profiles, restrictive laws, Russia, Stephania Koulaeva, Stephanie Koulaeva, woman human rights defender
December 28, 2015
Though positive engagement with businesses should be considered a preferred option when it comes to promoting corporate respect for human rights, sometimes the open legal confrontation of human rights violators is the only way to make progress. This is when human rights defenders such as Angela Mudukuti, a lawyer running the International Criminal Justice Programme at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), are critically needed. The International Service of Human Rights (ISHR) published an interview with her on 27 November 2015.
She defends a holistic approach to justice, where corporate accountability should be sought whenever businesses are involved in violations, regardless of the sectors or human rights affected. And in cases of complicity in war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity, she says “corporate accountability is important to all the victims”.
Given the weighty consequences they face if their responsibility for such gross violations is revealed, Angela’s experience is that corporate entities are mostly reluctant to facilitate engagement with human rights defenders, making litigation procedures the only way to ensure transparent investigation and accountability. Yet, suing companies and especially major corporations for complicity in gross human rights violations can prove to be dangerous, even for the best-trained defenders. “We work regionally and so we often face regional and local threats. For example: infiltration into your information databases; other security threats which can be physical in nature… corporate entities … have the ‘muscle’ to intimidate you and they will seize any opportunity to do so…”
Angela and other members of the SALC team have also experienced personal threats, but she remains positive, seeing these challenges as an “indication that you are doing the right thing” and a part of the burden carried by most human rights defenders in the world. She also highlights that threats do not come only from corporate or government entities, but also from “individuals who disagree” with the work she is doing.
Other practical obstacles can impede SALC’s human rights work such as a lack of access to information to build proper advocacy, and resistance from legal administrative bodies. Yet, this does not prevent SALC from extending their litigation work into advocacy, which is jointly conducted with local organisations throughout Southern Africa: “The first thing is to decide if litigation is viable or if the same results can be achieved by other means. Secondly, should we decide to litigate we need to determine how we can structure the advocacy around it because raising awareness is very important.”
Many corporate entities involved in gross human rights violations have transnational activities for which the “ramifications transcend boarders”. This makes the work of corporate responsibility defenders even more challenging, and is one of the reasons why SALC has a regional focus. Angela says the regional nature of violations also demands that the international community “be united and prioritise business and human rights (…) in Southern Africa and in other parts of the developing world”.
The SALC is also looking to address the devastating environmental implications of various corporate projects.
Follow Angela on Twitter at @AngelaMudukuti.
Defender profile: Angela Mudukuti from Southern Africa Litigation Centre | ISHR
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Angela Mudukuti, Business and human rights, corporate accountability, environmental issues, harassment, ISHR, litigation, profiles, southern africa, Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), woman human rights defender
December 27, 2015
OMCT in its series “10 December, 10 Defenders” focused on Nigina Bakhrieva in Tajikistan. Nigina Bakhrieva’s visceral sense of justice was passed on to by her parents, as she quickly demonstrated by following in the footsteps of her father – a prosecutor – in standing firmly for the rule of law. “It’s what I learned as I child, “ she says. “When I witness human rights abuses, I cannot be indifferent; I take action.”
And her career could not have been more ominous. Nigina started law school in Tajikistan, at the doorstep of Taliban-led Afghanistan, at the very outbreak of the bloody civil war that followed the country’s independence, graduating five years later, in 1997, as the war ended, leaving behind a devastated country with some 100,000 people killed and 1.2 million displaced. After teaching law at the Tajik state university, Nigina became a consultant providing capacity-building expertise for various organizations. Moving quickly into human rights, she went to work for the United Nations Tajikistan Office for Peace Building where she reviewed national legislation to make sure it conformed to international human rights standards.
Thus, while still as a budding lawyer and founder of the Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law of Tajikistan, Nigina helped to litigate with success Tajikistan’s first-ever human rights case before the United Nations Human Rights Committee – something unheard of in Tajikistan until then. Her work for the abolition of the death penalty in her country led to a moratorium being adopted in 2004.
In 2009, she created Nota Bene, which leads the Anti-Torture Coalition of 17 leading human rights organizations and activists in Tajikistan. The work initially seemed to pay off handsomely: at the beginning of 2014, Tajikistan had pledged to implement international human rights standards both in law and practice. The Government, however, has recently been limiting the scope of action in the country of human rights lawyers and organizations. It has indeed been made mandatory for non-governmental organizations to declare all foreign funding. What is more, limiting access to the legal profession and placing it under the Ministry of Justice has compromised its independence.
“It is worrying that it has become nearly impossible to find lawyers in Tajikistan willing to accept to defend torture cases for fear of criminal prosecution,” reported the OMCT in the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders on 30 November. http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/tajikistan/2015/11/d23494/
As one of the few lawyers who have not given up on combatting the widespread use of torture and other forms of abuse, especially in the armed forces, Nigina is among the key players pushing for full transition of Tajikistan to the rule of law. “The work is hard”, she says. “Each time we re-live with the victims what they went through, and it is horrifying,”
For change to occur, though, the system must work and all actors must do their bit, she explains, detailing every step of the process: individuals must lodge complaints when they are subjected to torture or ill-treatment; the Government must follow a zero-tolerance-for-torture policy; the Prosecutor must respond to every complaint by thorough and effective investigation; courts must punish all those found guilty – not only the direct perpetrators, but also their superiors, who failed to prevent the crime; jail terms should be proportionate to the seriousness of the crime; finally, the Government should compensate all victims of torture.
— by Lori Brumat in Geneva
https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/human-rights-lawyer-kudratov-in-tajikistan-sent-9-years-to-penal-colony/
Source: Tajikistan: Meet Nigina: Towards a functioning system that leaves no room for torture / December 3, 2015 / Links / Human rights defenders / OMCT
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: 10 December - 10 Defenders, anti-torture campaign, foreign funding, Human Rights Defenders, Lori Brumat, Nigina Bakhrieva, Nota Bene (NGO), OMCT, Tajikistan, torture, United Nations Human Rights Committee, woman human rights defender
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
US First Lady Michelle Obama (left) and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) pose with Samar Badawi (centre) as she receives the 2012 International Women of Courage Award.