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12 March 2008  The mandate of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders is currently being reviewed at the seventh session on the UN Human Rights Council. On this occasion, Front Line, as a member of the International Coalition on Women Human Rights Defenders, delivered before the Council this statement from the coalition to support the renewal of the mandate. The coalition would like to urge local and national organisations to lobby their respective governments to ensure that the mandate is renewed as a position appointed by the UN Secretary General, and not a Special Rapporteur position. We are hopeful that if the mandate is renewed as such and the appointee is committed to integrating a gender perspective in its work, we would be able to access and utilise this mechanism to assist women human rights defenders, especially those at risk.
Mary Jane N. Real International Initiative on Women Human Rights Defenders 3 Marunong Street Brgy. Central, Quezon City Philippines Tel: +66 18 4864436 (Thailand) +639052435493 (Philippines) Fax : +63 2 9241065 email: whrd@apwld.org website: www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org WOZA members beaten in the streets of Bulawayo on International Women's Day Breaking news Saturday 8th March WOZA members beaten in the streets of Bulawayo on International Women's Day Over 1,000 members of WOZA and MOZA marched through the streets of Bulawayo today to commemorate International Women's Day. The peaceful protesters, who were carrying balloons, were met by riot police after four blocks and viciously beaten. Over 50 members received medical attention for injuries caused by the assault. The aim of this march was to exhort Zimbabweans to stand up for their children in these times of extreme hardship and to encourage people to vote in the coming elections. As they marched, the demonstrators distributed flyers urging people to inform themselves of the policies and track records of the candidates running in their areas and to choose leaders who will deliver a socially just future, regardless of their political affiliation. The group also carried balloons that carried the message - Stand Up for Your Child. As the procession neared the Chronicle offices, the dispersing point, a police officer known to WOZA, approached Jenni Williams and asked her to take the protest off the road, to which Williams indicated she would do so at the next intersection, Jason Moyo Street. Before they could reach there, a loud noise that could have been a shot or tear gas was heard, alarming the peaceful activists. Riot police officers then violently set upon the demonstrators, severely beating the two young activists holding the rear banner. They then moved through the procession beating people as they fled. The women human rights defenders, feeling provoked by the violence they had seen, regrouped and began a second protest before being violently dispersed for the second time. Police then adopted the strategy of moving amongst groups and saying out the 'woza moya' (come holy spirit) slogan and assaulting anyone who sang out the reply 'woza'! A member from Pumula, Eva Tanyanyiwa, was beaten to the ground by two police officers and lay prostrate before being dragged up and pulled towards the police vehicle where she fainted. When Jenni Williams went to implore the officer to leave the woman alone as she was seriously injured, they arrested her as well. Magodonga Mahlangu then joined the two in solidarity. The trio were driven to Bulawayo Central Police Station being threatened by police officers all the way. On arrival at the police station, the three women had their details taken before being released after 30 minutes by a police officer who said they should go and get Eva treated as she had 'fallen in the road'. Eva has serious bruising on her upper arm and lower body. Another women had to have stitches to her neck as she was pushed by a police officer into a stationary vehicle whilst another was pushed into a pole by a police officer, receiving a deep cut across her forehead. Other injuries included a woman who developed a haematoma just above her kidneys as a result of being beaten and many others with deep tissue bruising from being beaten with baton sticks. This violent response by police negates recent information that WOZA had received that police had been instructed not to arrest or beat WOZA members until further notice; evidence of which has been borne out by the reduction in arrests since October last year. The release of the WOZA leaders after a brief period however does not bear out even more recent information received that the uniformed forces and prison authorities had been briefed to arrest and detain WOZA leaders and deny them bail until after the elections. They had also been instructed to teach the WOZA leaders 'a lesson they will not forget' whilst in detention. Undaunted by these threats, WOZA members decided to continue with their peaceful protest, an act of courage that obviously put them in a dilemma, especially as the news had already been covered by independent media. WOZA would like to pay tribute to its members that came out into the street today to join events that have been taking place all over the world to mark International Women's Day, despite recent threats by the Commissioner of Police, Augustine Chihuri, that police will meet demonstrations with the utmost force, including live ammunition. Their determination to stand up for the future of their children with dignity and courage is to be commended and WOZA would like to urge all other Zimbabweans to stand up and be counted. Ends For more information, please contact either Jenni Williams on +263 912 300 456 or +263 912 898 110, Magodonga Mahlangu on +263 912 363 668 or Annie Sibanda on +263 912 898 112. Text from flyers that the demonstrators were distributing as they march has been included below. Flyer one text: Our children's future is in our hands The March election is a chance to choose leaders that will help us build a better future for our children. But WE need to make sure that we vote for the right leaders by finding out who is standing in our area and examining their policies and track records. Ask them WHAT they are going to do to improve our lives and HOW. We should not vote only for party but for candidates that will deliver social justice. If they want our vote, they must win our trust. We should not be confused by more empty promises. We know what is best for our families - affordable food, a good education for your children and a safe environment. Our vote is our choice and a secret. No one should force us to change our minds. The current situation is not free or fair, but we can protest oppression by voting in large numbers. Make your choice, cast your vote, register your protest Flyer two text: Your choice, your vote, your protest Many people are confused about the coming election. Do YOU care that there is an election? Do YOU feel betrayed by the squabbling of politicians? Do YOU think you are not important and your vote will not make any difference to your daily struggle to survive? Would you rather go and queue for water or sugar than go and vote? WOZA would like to tell you that YOU are important - to us and to your child. You can also be important by going to VOTE on 29 March. We know that conditions are not good. People are still being beaten and arrested for nothing and we do not have a new constitution to protect us. But by voting in large numbers we can tell these thieves and opportunists to go - we want new leaders with people at heart. Go and VOTE for someone who cares about your family and will deliver social justice. Wake up early, register your PROTEST and be prepared to stand strong for your child's future. Be ready to stand up and be counted! International Support for Persecuted Women’s Rights Campaigners in Iran (March 7, 2008) In a strong show of international support for the Iranian women’s rights movement, over 280 leading women’s right advocates and organizations from around the world including six Nobel Peace Laureates have expressed their serious concern about the persecution and prosecution of their Iranian colleagues. They have endorsed a statement calling on the Iranian government to end repressive policies and the persecution of campaigners for equal rights. “The Iranian women’s rights movement is facing unprecedented obstacles and threats. On the occasion of March 8, International Women’s Day, we express our solidarity with Iranian women in their quest for equal rights and an end to pervasive legal discrimination against women,” they stated. The six Nobel Peace Prize Laureates include Wangari Maathai (2004), Shirin Ebadi (2003), Jody Williams (1997), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1992), Betty Williams (1976) and Mairead Corrigan (1976), of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, who joined hundreds of representatives of women’s rights organizations from around the world attending a meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York and other civil society leaders in endorsing the statement. A particular target of Iranian authorities has been activists in the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aims to revise discriminatory laws against women. The government has routinely detained and prosecuted the campaigners. To date, the government has detained and prosecuted 43 members of the One Million Signatures Campaign, claiming they were “endangering national security.” Two campaigners, Hana Abdi and Ronak Safazadeh, have been in detention for over five months. On Sunday, March 2, intelligence agents prevented Parvin Ardalan, one of the Campaign’s founders, from attending a ceremony in Sweden to accept the prestigious Olof Palme Prize. The statement called on the Iranian government “to remove all restrictions on peaceful assembly and expression as required by the Iranian Constitution and in accordance with Iran’s obligations under international human rights treaties.” To read the full statement about women’s rights and about other human rights challenges in Iran, visit the website of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: www.iranhumanrights.org. Protest Closure of Iranian Women's Magazine Click Here to Take Action: With parliamentary elections around the corner in Iran, the free press and the right to freedom of expression are increasingly under fire. Last week, the authorities shut down Zanan, the country's premier women's magazine. President Ahmadinejad said that Zanan showed Iranian women in a "black light" and was a threat to the psychological well being of Iranian society. Zanan had long argued that the legal discrimination suffered by women in Iran is not mandated by Islamic law and that therefore it can and should be changed. Join us in demanding that Iran: * Cancel the order to close the magazine and reinstate its press license. * Ensure the safety of the staff of Zanan. * Urge all branches of the government to respect the right to freedom of expression and the importance of a free and independent press. Click Here to Take Action: Learn More About This Case: Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this important case. Freedom of expression and information must be guaranteed
*International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Press release Pakistan Freedom of expression and information must be guaranteed *Paris, 3 January 2008 * The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) strongly condemns the arbitrary detention and assault in Pakistan on a group of persons including the two daughters of Ms. Asma Jahangir, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), human rights lawyer and United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. On January 2, 2008, armed men from the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) held the two sisters Ms. Muneeza and Ms. Sulema Jahangir and a group of their friends at gun point. The men, claiming to be police officers, ordered the group to follow them and when the group resisted they were beaten in public and dragged to the PML-Q main election office of the province. Once there, they were beaten again. The incident happened when Ms. Jahangir's two daughters, together with a group of friends, were making a video clip for a television channel, the Geo TV, for which Ms. Muneeza Jahangir works. They were filming ripped posters and banners of political parties in Lahore city, Punjab province, following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007. When Ms. Asma Jahangir heard about the incident she rushed to the party office but was threatened with guns and refused entry. She managed to enter the party office and saw a group including her oldest daughter detained by armed men while the younger sister was being dragged into a separate room. Ms. Jahangir immediately informed the police who reached the scene after some time. The police however took the side of the PML-Q and pressurized the parents of the friends to give them the videotape, which they did. The police furthermore threatened the parents not to report the incident. The incident took place in a context where President Musharraf is trying to control the agitation following the assassination of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8, 2008, have been postponed until February 18. In that perspective, FIDH recalls that freedom of expression and information are crucial elements in any pre-electoral period. FIDH urges the Pakistani authorities to guarantee, under all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of the civilian population, and the right of the Pakistani citizens to freedom of expression, freedom of information and peaceful assembly in accordance with international human rights standards. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Press contact : Karine Appy + 33 1 43 55 25 18, kappy@fidh.org * Uganda: LGBT rights' defenders prevented from taking the floor at the CHOGM in Kampala THE OBSERVATORY FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (FIDH-OMCT)
PRESS RELEASEUGANDA: Ugandan and Kenyan LGBT rights’ defenders prevented from taking the floor at the CHOGM in Kampala Geneva-Paris, November 28, 2007. The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, express their deepest concern about acts of harassment against Ugandan and Kenyan defenders of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which took place from November 23 to 25, 2007, in Kampala, Uganda. According to the information received, on November 23, 2007, Ugandan and Kenyan defenders of LGBT rights, including representatives from Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a prominent umbrella organisation advocating for the rights of homosexuals in the country[1], who were scheduled to give their addresses at the CHOGM Speaker’s Corner in Uganda, were instead forcibly thrown out of the People’s Space by the Ugandan police, which refused to allow them to enter again. In particular, the police broke sticks from trees in order to intimidate the defenders. When Ms. Victor Juliet Mukasa declared that she will “not move a single step from this place”, the police threw her down. A person who came to help her was caned by the police. The LGBT defenders remained standing outside the gate in quiet protest, waiting to be allowed back in to deliver their speeches. They stayed there for a total of seven hours. After dark, the LGBT speakers left peacefully and turned to the media to voice their disappointment with what was supposed to be one of the greatest fora for free speech. The People’s Space was indeed designed “to provide opportunities to share in the diversity and richness of the Commonwealth people” and was specifically designated as a space open to all people. It was intended to give people “renewed energy to facilitate social change with a clear sense of building the future together”. Furthermore, Amakula, a non-LGBT film organisation in Kampala, known for its celebration of African talent, professionalism, human diversity and creativity, also faced discrimination for showing at CHOGM a film that discussed homosexuality on November 22, 2007. On the next day, two members of Amakula were thrown out of the People’s Space. Defenders of the rights of homosexuals have been targeted with increasing frequency in Uganda. The Observatory strongly condemns these acts of harassment against LGBT human rights’ defenders in Uganda, which only aim at muzzling their freedom of expression and which blatantly violate regional and international instruments on human rights that guarantee freedom of expression, in particular the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998. More generally, the Observatory calls upon the Ugandan authorities to put an end to any act of harassment against human rights defenders, and to conform with regional and international human rights instruments, in particular the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. For further information, please contact:OMCT : Delphine Reculeau, + 00 41 22 809 49 39 FIDH : Gael Grilhot, + 00 33 1 43 55 25 18 [1]SMUG advocates for the promotion and the respect of all rights enshrined in the Ugandan Constitution and international human rights instruments for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons - in particular the right to live free from any discrimination. Women protesters face police batons Wednesday, 14 November 2007 Mass arrests and detention of political activists from opposition parties have taken place over the past three days across the country. Police have used batons and tear gas to disperse peaceful protests before arresting them. In Lahore today (Wednesday), 37 women political activists belonging to opposition Pakistan People’s Party have been remanded in jail custody for six days by an anti-terrorism court. Police have filed charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The women include Mehreen Raja, a member of National Assembly, and two members of the Punjab Assembly, Farzana Raja and Uzma Bokhari. There have been reports that women protesters were severely beaten by the police. Former cricket star and opposition party leader Imran Khan, who went into hiding after the declaration of emergency, was arrested this morning in Punjab University, Lahore, where he was participating in a student demonstration. He remains in police custody having been served a 90-day detention order. According to media reports, the Lahore police chief is reported to have stated that Imran Khan will be charged under Anti-Terrorism Act for allegedly inflammatory speeches including “inciting people to take up arms…calling for civil disobedience… [and] spreading hatred”. Affidavits on release Lawyers arrested previously under the Maintenance of Public Order law have been asked to file affidavits containing conditions for their release. The conditions include guarantees that they will not engage in anti-state activities; not make speeches against General Musharraf and have no involvement in anti-government demonstrations within court premises. Any lawyer found breaching these rules will be prohibited from part in any elections to the Bar.
Appeal for support to lawyers and judges in Pakistan I am fortunate to be under house arrest while my colleagues are suffering. The Musharaf government has declared martial law to settle scores with lawyers and judges. While the terrorists remain on the loose and continue to occupy more space in Pakistan, senior lawyers are being tortured. The civil society of Pakistan urges bar associations all over the world to mobilize public opinion in favor of the judges and lawyers in Pakistan. A large number of judges of superior courts are under arrest. Thousands of lawyers are imprisoned, beaten and tortured. In particular the cases of Muneer A Malik, Aitzaz Ahsan, Tariq Mahmood and Ali Ahmed Kurd are serious. Muneer A Malik, the former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and leader of the lawyers’ movement has been shifted to the notorious Attack Fort. He is being tortured and is under the custody of the military intelligence. Tariq Mahmood, former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, was imprisoned in Adiala jail. No one was allowed to see him and it is reported that he has been shifted to an unknown place. Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd, former Vice Chair of the Pakistan Bar Council is in the custody of military intelligence and being kept at an undisclosed place. Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar is being kept in Adiayala jail in solitary confinement. Representatives of bar associations should approach their governments to pressure the government of Pakistan to release all lawyers and judges and immediately provide access to Muneer A Malik, Tariq Mahmood, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Aitzaz Ahsan. The bars are also urged to hold press conferences in their country and express their solidarity with the lawyers of Pakistan who are struggling to establish the rule of law. Asma Jahangir Solidarity Statement to the women of Nueva Vizcaya from Rural & Indigenous Women; Women & Environment Taskforces of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) Rising Valleys: Women of Nueva Vizcaya Stand Up Against Large-Scale Mining The resistance by Carlita Cumila, a 70 year citrus fruit farmer of Barangay Papaya in the Malabing Valley to hold on to her family’s livelihood- a threatened livelihood she and her husband with countless valley settlers, had built since 1964- needs the support of everyone concerned at the increasing displacement of rural families through large-scale mining. The women of Barangay Papaya and those of the Malabing Valley villages have actively opposed large-scale mining projects will continue to resisted attempts by companies and government to take over their only source of sustenance. read more Bahrain Gahada media blockade embassy letter 15/10/07  International Solidarity Network 15 October, 2007 Embassy of Bahrain Subject: Media blockade against Ghada JamsheerYour Majesty, read more Statement by SWAN urging EU to impose stronger sanctions against the Burmese military regime The Shan Women’s Action Network has consistently called for economic sanctions against the Burmese military regime, and at this crucial time urges the European Union to impose strong new economic sanctions on the regime. read more Europe makes submission to the Council of Europe on the need to recognize LGBT Human Rights Defenders The Council of Europe is considering what steps it can take to support human rights defenders. It is likely that the Committee of Ministers (which consists of the foreign ministers of the 47 member states) will make a Declaration on the need of governments and others to support human rights defenders. ILGA-Europe has made a submission documenting the extensive problems faced by many LGBT human rights defenders in some countries and urging that the Committee of Ministers specifically recognize the need to support them in the Declaration. read more Postcard campaign for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi & other human rights advocates June 19, 2007 is the 62nd birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. She has now been in detention for nearly 11 years and 8 months since 20 July 1989. ACT NOW in Support of the UN Special Proceedures A Global petition in support of the system of independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council, known as the Special Procedures, has been launched. These are the special rapporteurs and representatives, independent experts and working groups created to monitor the situation of human rights in specific countries/territories, or the situation of specific human rights or groups in all parts of the world. This includes the UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders - an invaluable UN mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights defenders around the globe, including bringing special recognition and protection to women human rights defenders. It is vital that this mechanisms is maintained and this global petition will help to ensure that this happens.
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