Posts Tagged ‘woman human rights defender’
August 27, 2013
Via Front Line some good and bad news on Haiti, the country of one the finalists for the MEA 2013: 
On 22 August 2013, the criminal charges of arson and conspiracy against human rights lawyer Mr Patrice Florvilus were dropped when the original plaintiff stated he would withdraw his complaint. Patrice Florvilus is the Executive Director of Défense des Opprimées/Opprimés – DOP, an organisation which provides legal assistance, in particular to social movements and residents of displacement camps. For more information on this case, please see the urgent appeal issued by Front Line Defenders on 21 August 2013 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/23580 .
But…on 23 August 2013, the home of human rights defender Ms Malya Villard Apollon was attacked by a group of armed men, who fired gunshots at the gate. Malya Villard Apollon is the co-director of the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV), a grassroots women’s organisation working in the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince to prevent and redress sexual assault, care for survivors and build a movement for human rights in Haiti. The attack took place in the early hours of 23 August 2013, at 1.30 am. The armed men fired gunshots at the gate of Malya Villard Apollon’s home, damaging the gate and the doorbell. The human rights defender called the police who rushed to her home, but by the time they arrived the group had fled the scene. However, the armed men returned shortly thereafter, and upon seeing the police they fired at them. Despite chasing the attackers, the police was unable to apprehend them. This attack is the latest in a series of escalating threats and acts of intimidation against Malya Villard Apollon and other members of KOFAVIV. While they have received threats for a number of years, threats and acts of intimidation have intensified since Malya Villard Apollon was nominated as one of the CNN Heroes in 2012. Her dog has been poisoned, unknown individuals have visited her home and office inquiring about her whereabouts, and both Malya Villard Apollon’s as well as KOFAVIV co-director Marie Eramithe Delva’s children have been followed and have been the subject of attempted kidnappings.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: death threats, Duvalier, Frontline, Haiti, harassment, human rights, Human rights defender, lawyers, legal aid, Malya Villard Apollon, MEA, Patrice Florvilus, Port-au-Prince, woman human rights defender
August 20, 2013
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), draw attention to the following situation in Malaysia.
According to the information received, on 7 August 2013, at 3.00pm, Cynthia Gabriel, Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Aliran, anti corruption, Companies Commission Malaysia, Cynthia Gabriel, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, judicial harassment, Malaysia, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, Petaling Jaya, Scorpène-class submarine, Scorpene, Suaram, threats, woman human rights defender, World Organisation Against Torture
August 10, 2013
Maryam al-Khawaja (c) IBT
The International Business Times of 9 August reports that Maryam al-Khawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) has been prevented from boarding a British Airways flight from Copenhagen to Bahrain because of a ban issued by the government Bahrain. Why did the UK airline agreed to the ban without giving any motive for the blocking order or any advance notice?. “I had the flight this morning from Copenhagen and everything was fine. I did the online check-in yesterday,” she told IBTimes UK. “I was blocked at the boarding and told to check with the counter because there was a problem. The lady called the office in London who told her that there was a denied boarding message as a decision from Bahrain government”. Al-Khawaja holds dual Bahraini-Danish citizenship but has not renewed her Bahraini passport . Her father Abdulhadi and sister Zainab are in jail for their role in pro-democracy protests.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, ban, BCHR, British Airways, Copenhagen, International Business Times, London, Maryam Alkhawaja, woman human rights defender
August 9, 2013
Front Line reports the continuous presence of armed security guards in the community of La Nueva Esperanza, in the department of Atlántida, threatening and intimidating the local population, resulted in the temporary kidnapping of two human rights defenders, Mr Daniel Langmeier and Ms Orlane Vidal. Both are working for the Proyecto de Acompañamiento Honduras – PROAH (Honduras Accompaniment Project), an organisation which aims to prevent or alleviate situations of risk against human rights defenders in Honduras. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: accompaniement, AI, armed security guards, environmental issues, Front Line (NGO), Honduras, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Inter-American Human Rights Commission, La Nueva Esperanza, land rights, Lenir Pérez, Mining, Orlane Vidal, peaceful resistance, woman human rights defender
August 8, 2013
Ms. Ragia Omran, a leading Egyptian human rights lawyer and women’s rights activist, was announced -on 2 July 2013 – as the winner of the 2013 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, now in its 30th year. The award recognizes her extraordinary work, and initiates a partnership to support her efforts to advance the women’s rights, the rule of law, and democracy in Egypt through human rights legal advocacy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Arab spring, democracy in egypt, Egypt, Hisham Mubarak Law Center, human rights, human rights awards, human rights lawyer, Kerry Kennedy, lawyer, Middle East, Mohamed Morsi, Mona Seif, Ragia Omran, Robert F. Kennedy, Tahrir Square, woman human rights defender
August 8, 2013
Social activist Dyiana Yakauleva was detained by the riot police at the police station in Krylenka Street. Human rights defenders Barys Bukhel and Aliaksei Kolchyn are trying to clear up the circumstances of the detention. From 11.30 -12.30 a.m. a solidarity action, timed to coincide with the International Day of Solidarity with the Civil Society of Belarus, was held in the city of Mahiliou, Belarus. During the action, social activists handed out postcards with a portrait of the imprisoned head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski. The protest went peacefully but after it ended Dyiana Yakauleva was detained anyway.
via Detentions after solidarity action in Mahiliou – Charter97 :: News from Belarus – Belarusian News – Republic of Belarus – Minsk.
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Tags: Ales Bialiatski, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus, Dyiana Yakauleva, Human right, human rights, illegal detention, Minsk, solidarity action, Viasna Human Rights Centre, woman human rights defender
June 26, 2013
(Svetlana Gannushkina)Prominent Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina has been fined for refusing to provide documents demanded by prosecutors. A court in Moscow ruled late on June 18 that the chairwoman of Moscow-based Civic Collaboration Committee must pay 2,000 rubles (50 Euro) for failing to turn over papers related to the financial activities of her organization. Gannushkina, a Soviet-era veteran rights defender, has been refusing to provide the documents to investigators since April. Prosecutors made the request under the new law requiring all nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funding and engage in political activity to register as ‘foreign agents’. [Last week, a Moscow court rejected an appeal by Russia’s independent election monitor, Golos, against the 300,000 ruble $9,500 fine imposed on the group under the legislation.] Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS
via Russian Rights Defender Fined For Refusing Demand For Documents.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: fined, Foreign agent, foreign funding, GOLOS, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Information Telegraph Agency of Russia, Interfax, Moscow, moscow court, Non-governmental organization, Russia, russian ngo, Svetlana Gannushkina, woman human rights defender
June 12, 2013
In the series Storytellers, Deutsche Welle gives the floor to Tanya Lokshina of HRW who has worked for 15 years in of the most difficult regions: Russia itself and conflict-ridden volatile areas like Chechnya and Dagestan as well as South Ossetia.
At first glance, Tanya Lokshina may not be the kind of person you would expect to travel to some of Russia’s most dangerous areas on a regular basis. But Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Chechnya, Deutsche Welle, Human Rights Watch, Moscow, Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia, Tanya Lokshina, United States, Vladimir Putin, woman human rights defender
June 10, 2013
Roza Tuletaeva
On 28 May 2013, the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan upheld the five-year prison sentence of human rights defender Roza Tuletaeva, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Frontline Defenders, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, labour movement, labour rights, OzenMunaiGaz, prison, Sentence (law), Supreme Court, torture, trade unionists, woman human rights defender, Zhanaozen
June 5, 2013
On 1 June 2013 at dawn, Kenyan human rights defender Ms Lydia Mukami was abandoned in a bush after being abducted by unidentified men who had spent several hours subjecting her to physical assault. Lydia Mukami is the chairperson of Mwea Foundation, a grassroots organisation of rice farmers in the Mwea constituency that has been at the forefront of an ongoing campaign to challenge the constitutionality of Kenya’s 1966 Irrigation Act. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: assault, death threats, environmental issues, Frontline Defenders, human rights, Human rights defender, ill treatment, intimidation, Kenya, land rights, Lydia Mukami, Mwea, Mwea Foundation, Nairobi, National Irrigation Board, protection, woman human rights defender
Roza Tuletaeva
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 