Posts Tagged ‘woman human rights defender’
November 1, 2014
Theo van Boven 2011
On 12 November 2014 the fifth annual Theo van Boven Lecture will be delivered by Mrs. Hina Jilani, in the University of Maastricht (16.00 – 18.30). The lecture is in honour of Prof. Theo van Boven, one of the founders of the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights and the most crucial human right director in the UN in 1977-1982 when the first special procedures were enacted. [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/theo-van-boven/]
Mrs. Jilani is an internationally known human rights defender from Pakistan. She created Pakistan’s first all-women law firm and co-founded Pakistan’s first legal aid centre. She also founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Pakistan’s Women Action Forum, a prominent women’s rights group whose campaigns have been at the heart of the democracy movement in the country. She was the first Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders from 2000 to 2008. Since 2013 she is a member of The Elders. For more information on her work: http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/file?uuid=23a2b13c-1422-4e13-8df8-4209bb39e791&owner=20b720a7-b4e5-478d-a68e-9b2019fc1761. The lecture is open to the public.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Hina Jilani, Human Rights Defenders, lecture, Maastricht, Maastricht University, Theo van Boven, Theo van Boven lecture, United Nations, woman human rights defender
October 21, 2014
The glimmer of hope for Nasrin Sotoudeh and Iran which I saw in my post of 6 September [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/glimmer-of-hope-in-iran-nasrin-sotoudehs-ban-to-practice-overruled/] seems to have been crushed already. Yesterday, 20 october, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, has received new information that on 18 October 2014, a three-member disciplinary investigation panel of Tehran’s Bar Association has now suspended Nasrin Sotoudeh’s law license for three years, based on a complaint filed by the Islamic Revolution Court’s Prosecution Office (unlike the first disciplinary panel of the Tehran Bar Association which rejected a similar request). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: bar association, Bar Associations, FIDH, Final Nominee MEA 2012, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, Independence of Lawyers, independence of the judiciary, Iran, MEA, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, revoking, UN Working Group, woman human rights defender
October 15, 2014
Posted in awards, films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, OHCHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alejandra Ancheita, Geneva, laureate MEA, MEA 2014, MEA ceremony, Mexico, picture, Prince Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid, woman human rights defender, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
October 11, 2014
More on awards: The winner of the 2014 Raw in War Anna Politkovskaya award is Kurdish Yazidi member of Iraq parliament Vian Dakhil .On Monday 6 October, RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) selected Vian Dakhil who has courageously spoken out and campaigned to protect the Yazidi people from the terror of Islamic State. She is the only ethnic Yazidi in the Iraqi Parliament and, despite being injured in a helicopter crash while delivering aid to survivors on Mt Sinjar, she continues to advocate and to mobilize support for her people, for the refugees and for those trapped in towns and villages under the regime of Islamic State. “I make no secret of the fact that I’m proud to be honored with your esteemed award, but the real way to honor someone is by protecting their freedom and rights. It is by bringing our prisoners back,’ said Dakhil in her speech while receiving the award.
Previous women human rights defenders who received this award: Malala Yousafzai 2013, Marie Colvin 2012, Razan Zaitouneh 2011, Dr. Halima Bashir 2010, Leila Alikarami on behalf of the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality in Iran 2009, Malalai Joya 2008 and Natalia Estemirova 2007. See also: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards
via Kurdish Yazidi Woman Wins International Award | BAS NEWS.
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Anna Politkovskaya, conflict and peace, digest of human rights awards, human rights awards, Iraq, ISIS, islamic fundamentalists, Islamic State, Kurdish cause, Kurdish Yazidi, Malala Yousafzai, RAW in WAR, terrorism, Vian Dakhil, woman human rights defender, women human rights defenders, Yazidi
October 7, 2014
The Martin Ennals Foundation just announced in Geneva – during a ceremony broadcast live on the internet – that the MEA Laureate of 2014 is Alejandra Ancheita from Mexico. She was selected by a Jury representing the broad international Human Rights movement (see below).
Alejandra Ancheita is the founding Director of ProDESC. For over 15 years she has worked with migrants, workers, and indigenous communities to protect their land and labour rights vis-a-vis transnational mining and energy companies. These disputes have included violent attacks on those she is trying to protect. She is also one of the pioneers in seeking accountability for transnational companies in Mexican courts when local communities’ rights are not taken into account. In Mexico, there is a clear pattern of attacks, threats, criminalization, and murders of human rights defenders. Ms Ancheita and ProDESC have been subjected to surveillance, a defamation campaign in the national media, and a break in at their offices. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, Alejandra Ancheita, awards, Bangladesh, Cao Shunli, China, City of Geneva, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, MEA final nominee 2014, MEA laureate 2014, Mexico, Micheline Calmy Rey, ProDESC, Sandrine Salerno, woman human rights defender
September 26, 2014
The United Nations human rights High Commissioner for human rights today condemned the recent brutal, cold-blooded slaying by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) of Iraqi human rights defender Sameera Salih Ali Al-Nuaimy, as well as the continuing detention, sexual exploitation and sale of hundreds of women and girls in areas captured by the militant group. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: arbitrary execution, conflict, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, Iraq, ISIL, killing, Middle East, Mosul, repression, Sameera Salih Ali Al-Nuaimy, UN, WNN, woman human rights defender, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
September 12, 2014
On Tuesday, 16 September, Maryam Al Khawaja, the Bahraini human rights defender will return to court for her second hearing on charges of assaulting a police officer, which she denies. It’s now been nearly two weeks since Maryam was arrested at the airport following her return to Bahrain to visit her father. She was initially detained for seven days, but over the weekend a Bahraini judge ruled to extend her detention by an additional 10 days. This is a good occasion to draw your attention to a long but fascinating piece by Lawrence Weschler on Truthdig of 11 September 2014. Under the title “Terrorizing a Family of Human Rights Champions” he describes in detail what happened to the remarkable al-Khawaja family of democratic non-violent human rights defenders [it is rumored that for the first time a family as such was considered for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize]. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, Arab spring, arbitrary arrest, Bahrain, Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Denmark, detention, family, Final Nominee MEA 2012, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Khadija al-Mousawi, Lawrence Weschler, Maryam Al-Khawaja, woman human rights defender, Zainab Al-Khawaja
September 6, 2014
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports on 5 September that the Lawyers’ Court denied the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office request for the suspension of Sotoudeh’s license to practice, and stated in a ruling that, “In the opinion of the Lawyer’s Court, Ms. Sotoudeh’s temporary suspension was unwarranted and will be overruled”. According to this ruling Ms. Sotoudeh can continue her profession as a lawyer says her husband Reza Khandan on Facebook.
[Prominent lawyer and human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh – final nominee of the MEA in 2012 and winner of the Sakharov prize- was arrested on September 4, 2010. A lower court sentenced her to 11 years in prison, a 20-year ban on her legal practice, and a 20-year ban on foreign travel, on charges of “acting against national security,” “propaganda against the state,” and “membership in the Human Rights Defenders Center.” An appeals court reduced her sentence to six years in prison and a 10-year ban on her legal practice. After almost three years in prison, Nasrin Sotoudeh was released on September 18, 2013. Upon release, Nasrin Sotoudeh objected to the ruling by the Tehran Revolutionary Court to suspend her license to practice law, asserting the Court’s lack of jurisdiction over this matter. She subsequently renewed her license and announced that she would continue her legal practice. However, judges have refused to allow her to appear in court to represent her clients.]
via Ten-Year Ban on Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Legal Practice Overruled: Prominent Human Rights Lawyer Returns to Law : International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
for more posts on Sotoudeh: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/nasrin-sotoudeh/
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: bar association, barring, facebook, Final Nominee MEA 2012, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Iran, legal assistance, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Reza Khandan, Sakharov Prize, Sotoudeh, woman human rights defender
September 1, 2014
today (1 September 2014) expressed fears for leading human rights defender Maryam Al Khawaja, who landed at Bahrain airport last night on a visit home and has been held by Bahraini authorities. Reports state that al Khawaja, a Danish citizen, was immediately detained and will be held at the airport until tomorrow. “Bahrain is consistently revealing itself as a place where voices on human rights are not welcome,” said Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley. “In the last two months, a U.S. diplomat, a member of Congress, and the NGO Human Rights First have either been kicked out of or not allowed into the country. Now Maryam has been taken into custody and will appear in court tomorrow after trying to visit her family, including her father who is on hunger strike in prison there. Lets hope the United States, United Kingdom, and other governments will respond to whats happening to her with more than just an awkward silence.”
For more information please contact Brenda Bowser Soder at bowsersoderb[at]humanrightsfirst.org.
via Leading Bahrain Human Rights Defender Stopped at Airport, May Appear in Court Tomorrow | Human Rights First.
Posted in HRF, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, access, Bahrain, Bahrain airport, Brian Dooley, Denmark, HRF, Human Rights First, illegal detention, Maryam Al-Khawaja, USA, woman human rights defender
August 29, 2014
reports that on 28 August 2014, human rights defender Mary Conteh [national coordinator for Women’s Centre for Good Governance and Human Rights (WOCEGAR) in Sierra Leone] received a call from an unknown number where the caller threatened to spread false information that she contracted Ebola if she does not stop her human rights work. This comes just two days after she recorded a statement with the police denouncing threats pronounced against her as a result of her recent investigation on reports of misuse of public funds. On 24 August, she had visited the office of Mr. Osman O. Sesay, who represents the constituency in which WOCEGAR is located, to inquire about reports suggesting that the grant assigned to his constituency had not been used for its original purpose. The member of parliament reportedly argued that the fund was placed on a personal account and that he was not accountable to any member of the local human rights groups. As the discussion proceeded, he reportedly started hurling insults at her and eventually threatened that he could make her disappear.
(In early August 2014, Mary Conteh and her colleagues received information that members of the Sierra Leonean parliament had each received from the government a grant estimated at US$20,000 for the purpose of fighting the outbreak of Ebola in their respective constituencies.)
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti corruption, ebola, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, intimidation, Mary Conteh, Osman O. Sesay, Sierra Leone, threats, WOCEGAR, woman human rights defender
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 