Bahrain: UN experts demand end to campaign of persecution against human rights defenders

El 23/08/2012En: Naciones Unidas

(GENEVA 23 August 2012) – “It is time for the Bahraini authorities to comply with the rights to peaceful assembly and expression and immediately release those arbitrarily detained for exercising their legitimate freedoms,” a group of United Nations human rights experts said today, calling for the prompt release of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, who was recently sentenced to three years imprisonment. The call comes amidst serious concerns about the ongoing campaign of persecution of human rights defenders in Bahrain.

Mr. Rajab was convicted on three charges of illegal assembly related to his participation in peaceful gatherings in favour of fundamental freedoms and democracy, including a peaceful protest to denounce the detention of fellow human rights defender Abdulhadi Al Khawaja.

“The sentencing of Nabeel Rajab represents yet another blatant attempt by the Government of Bahrain to silence those legitimately working to promote basic human rights,” said the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya. “The Bahraini Government must immediately cease its campaign of persecution of human rights defenders in the country.”

The Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, stressed that “the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly should not be subject to prior authorization from the authorities.” For the rights expert, “the criminalization of people participating in peaceful assemblies for the sole reason that they did not seek the approval of the authorities to hold such assemblies contradicts international human rights law.” (más…)

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Bahrain: UN human rights experts urge immediate release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja

El 25/04/2012En: Naciones Unidas

GENEVA (13 April 2012) – Four United Nations human rights experts on Friday urged the Government of Bahrain to immediately release human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja who is serving a life sentence handed down by a military court on terrorism-related charges. The call comes amid serious concerns about the lack of due process and fair trial guarantees.

The National Safety Court, a military court, sentenced Al-Khawaja to life imprisonment on 22 June 2011, after his trial alongside a group of more than 20 human rights defenders. An appeal was rejected by the National Safety Court of Appeal on 28 September 2011. Al-Khawaja’s case is now being reviewed by the Court of Cassation which is due to deliver its verdict on 23 April.

“I am seriously concerned that Mr. Al-Khawaja’s trial and sentence are linked to his legitimate work to promote human rights in Bahrain,” said Margaret Sekaggya, the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders. “This case is sadly emblematic of the overall treatment of human rights defenders in Bahrain.” (más…)

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Rio+20: “No global goals without accountability” – an open appeal from over 20 UN experts

El 19/03/2012En: Naciones Unidas

GENEVA (19 March 2012) – In an open letter* to world Governments, a group of 22 UN independent human rights experts called on States to incorporate universally agreed international human rights norms and standards with strong accountability mechanisms into the UN Rio+20 sustainable development conference’s goals, as the Rio+20 first round of informal-informal negotiations began today in New York.

“Global goals are easily set, but seldom met,” the rights experts warned, raising the bar for what the conference can and should achieve. “A real risk exists that commitments made in Rio will remain empty promises without effective monitoring and accountability,” they stressed less than a hundred days before the conference starts.

The second Rio Summit, Rio+20, is expected to lay the foundations for a set of global Sustainable Development Goals to complement and strengthen the UN Millennium Development Goals created in 2000.

“Learning from the mistakes of the Millennium Development Goals, the new sustainable goals must integrate the full range of human rights linked with sustainable development, and human rights must be the benchmark for whether or not inclusive, equitable and sustainable development is occurring,” the independent experts said

Twenty years after the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, and ten after the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, the mounting effects of climate change and environmental degradation have raised the stakes further. Both the Goals and the means of reviewing progress must be based on human rights from the start.

“Human rights have guided sixty-plus years of progress by providing a legal baseline for political actions,” they said. “Human rights must now be the glue in Rio: they must bind countries to the commitments they make. States have an opportunity in Rio to create the transformative changes needed or else fare no better than in previous global attempts in this regard.” (más…)

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Medidas concretas en favor de una mejora protección de las y los defensores de derechos humanos

El 15/03/2012En: Naciones Unidas

Genève-Paris, le 15 mars 2012. Les 8 et 9 mars 2012, l’Observatoire pour la protection des défenseurs des droits de l’Homme, un programme conjoint de la Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme (FIDH) et de l’Organisation mondiale contre la torture (OMCT), a organisé la quatrième réunion “inter-mécanismes”, à l’invitation du Haut-commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l’Homme (HCDH) à Genève (Suisse).

A cette occasion, les mécanismes et programmes internationaux et régionaux de protection des défenseurs des droits de l’Homme – opérant au sein des Nations unies, de la Commission africaine des droits de l’Homme et des peuples (CADHP), du Conseil de l’Europe, de la Commission interaméricaine des droits de l’Homme (CIDH) et du Bureau des institutions démocratiques et des droits de l’Homme de l’OSCE – rejoints par des représentants de l’Union européenne, de l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie et d’ONG, ont discuté de la rédaction d’un rapport conjoint sur ​​les normes et recommandations existantes relatives à la protection des défenseurs des droits de l’Homme aux niveaux international et régional. La CIDH a proposé de jouer un rôle de coordination dans la rédaction du rapport, avec le soutien de l’Observatoire. Ce rapport s’inspirera du Commentaire de 2011 de la Déclaration des Nations unies sur les défenseurs des droits de l’Homme par la Rapporteure spéciale des Nations unies sur les défenseurs et du deuxième rapport de la CIDH sur la situation des défenseurs des droits de l’Homme. Un tel document, le premier de ce genre, constituera non seulement un instrument utile aux défenseurs, aux Etats et aux autres parties prenantes concernées, mais démontrera également une unité d’approches entre les mécanismes. (más…)

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Declaración conjunta con respecto a las represalias contra personas y grupos que buscan a cooperar con las Naciones Unidas, la Comisión Africana de Derechos Humanos y los Derechos de los Pueblos y la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

El 14/03/2012En: Comision Africana, Comision Inter-Americana, Naciones Unidas

Los Relatores sobre defensores de derechos humanos de las Naciones Unidas (ONU), de la Comisión Africana de Derechos Humanos y los Derechos de los Pueblos (Comisión Africana) y de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) expresan su grave preocupación en relación con actos de represalias contra personas y grupos que buscan a cooperar con les sistemas de derechos humanos regionales y/o de la ONU. Estas represalias contra personas y/o grupos que participan directamente en la ONU, la Comisión Africana y la CIDH, o que suministran información sobre la situación de los derechos humanos en países determinados, se dan en forma de campañas de desprestigio, acoso, intimidación, amenazas directas, agresiones físicas y asesinatos.

La ONU, la Comisión Africana y la CIDH tienen acuerdos normativos y reglas de procedimiento que prohíben explícitamente las represalias por parte de actores estatales y no estatales.1/En un esfuerzo por salvaguardar la vital colaboración entre la sociedad civil y los mecanismos de derechos humanos regionales y de las Naciones Unidas, los Relatores sobre defensores de derechos humanos se comprometen a y hacen un llamamiento a favor de mayor monitoreo y más acciones para hacer respetar estas reglas, y apoyan la reciente iniciativa de la Presidenta del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, quien urgió a los Estados a poner fin inmediatamente a la intimidación y el acoso contra las personas y grupos que asisten al 19° periodo de sesión del Consejo de Derechos Humanos.2/ (más…)

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