Posts Tagged ‘woman human rights defender’
November 12, 2014
(Fartuun Adan, Director of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center, Mogadishu/Somalia. Photo: Fartuun Adan)
The Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation’s human rights award 2014 recognizes Fartuun Adan’s long-standing and persistent commitment to the human rights of women in the complex political context of a society shaped by decades of civil war in Somalia. Bestowing the human rights award on the director of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center also acknowledges that women are no mere victims of violence and discrimination, but socio-political actors, who actively contribute to peace and reconciliation.
[Fartuun Adan is the director of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center. She founded the organization in 1991 with her husband Elman Ali Ahmed, who was murdered five years later and after whom the center is named today. After his death, Fartuun Adan immigrated to Canada with her daughters. In spite of ongoing conflicts, she returned to Mogadishu in 2007 to continue her work for peace and reconciliation. The Elman Peace and Human Rights Center advocates for women’s and children’s rights under difficult political circumstances. It was the first non-governmental organization providing survivors of gender-based violence and vulnerable women with legal and psychological support, health care and shelter. Furthermore, it advocates for long-term reconciliation and development, and cooperates with OXFAM, ILO and others to support the social reintegration of former child soldiers.]
The award ceremony will take place on 4 December, 2014, 15:00 h, at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastr. 28, 10785 Berlin. The laudation will be held by Christoph Strässer, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid.
For more information on the Ebert award, see: http://www.brandsaviors.com/thedigest/award/friedrich-ebert-foundation-human-rights-award.
Human Rights Award of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: awards, Berlin, Christoph Strasser, conflict and peace, digest of human rights awards, Elman Peace and Human Rights Center, Fartuun Adan, Friedrich Ebert Human Rights Award, human rights award, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, Mogadishu, rights of children, Somalia, woman human rights defender
November 10, 2014
Change.org is carrying a petition submitted by
Worldwide Women’s Support Circle. It concerns the human rights defender
Souad Al-Shammary in
Saudi Arabia. The story is very effectively put in the mouth of her daughter who asks for her release: “
My mother’s name is Souad Al-Shammary. She is a liberal activist in Saudi Arabia who has called for the government to distance itself from radical Islamic clerics and to provide women with equal rights. On October 28th she was arrested and jailed for speaking out against the government — and I need your help to get her back.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Arab Network for Human Rights Information, change.org, Freedom of speech, human rights lawyer, human rights of women, illegal detention, islamic fundamentalists, petition, Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Liberal Network, Souad Al-Shammary, woman human rights defender, Worldwide Women's Support Circle
November 10, 2014
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ACLU, Bangor Daily News, equality, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, Maine, Pat Ryan, Roger Baldwin Medal, USA, woman human rights defender
November 6, 2014
On 13 November KCETLink, a US national independent public media organization, presents the television premiere of “BEATRICE MTETWA & THE RULE OF LAW“, chronicling the courageous human rights defender and her fight against social and political inequalities in Zimbabwe. Through interviews with Mtetwa and some of her clients, the film tells the story of what happens when leaders place themselves above the law and why defense of the rule of law is the cornerstone of society in which human rights are respected. Although Mtetwa’s platform is centered in Zimbabwe, her message and bravery are universal.
The television broadcast of BEATRICE MTETWA & THE RULE OF LAW coincides with the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage presented by Georgia Tech honoring Beatrice Mtetwa on Thursday, 13 November, 2014. The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage recognizes individuals around the world who, by asserting moral principle, have positively affected public discourse at the risk of their careers, livelihoods, and sometimes lives.
On Tuesday 11 November, viewers will have the opportunity to watch a live stream of a Q&A with Mtetwa and filmmaker Lorie Conway moderated by Jacqueline J. Royster, Dean of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, starting at 8 p.m. ET at linktv.org/mtetwa. In advance of the Q&A, viewers can also submit questions for Mtetwa online at linktv.org/mtetwa or on Twitter and Facebook using #allenprize. Amnesty International USA will also host the live stream of the Q&A on its website at amnestyusa.org.
The film is also available online at linktv.org/mtetwa.
Posted in AI, awards, films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: AI USA, Beatrice Mtetwa, documentary, Georgia Tech, human rights award, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights film, human rights lawyer, images, Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage, KCETLink, Lorie Conway, Mtetwa, streaming, television, USA, woman human rights defender, Zimbabwe
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
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 