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HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2011
In the words of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “in 2011, human rights went viral”. Indeed, this year we have witnessed a momentous global awakening of citizens reacting to violations of their human rights, with the Arab Spring as the single most significant demonstration of the power of the people to challenge injustice, with ordinary men, women and children all taking a stand. This movement in the Middle East and North Africa has also served to galvanise citizens in other regions to do the same. The chants of protesters have reverberated across the world, albeit in different contexts, all the way to New York, Madrid, Chile and Russia, both on the ground and in cyber space, where new media has become the new leading and limitless platform for human rights advocacy.
Yet all is not good news. Protesters, journalists, activists, and human rights defenders around the world continue to face reprisals for daring to speak out against abuses of human rights. They are subjected to intimidation, threats, physical attacks, arbitrary detention, and are even killed.
A UN study on the situation of human rights defenders reveals that even individuals and groups that assist UN investigative missions and come forward with their testimonies face increased risk of reprisals, including surveillance, harassment by authorities, ill-treatment and torture. UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and author of the report, laments that “these practices may succeed in deterring individuals or groups from providing information about the human rights situation in a given country, which in turn affects the UN’s capacity to address concerns.”
Every year, CRIN marks Human Rights Day by paying homage in CRINMAIL to all human rights defenders for their work and resilience in the face of repression. In today's issue, we additionally reflect on the capacity of each individual to act as a human rights defender.
Children's rights defenders around the world
The role of children's rights advocates depends on the freedom to speak out – a freedom that serves as a litmus test for other freedoms in society. Without the work of these advocates, CRIN would not exist. We believe that civil society, grass roots activists and children all have the right to participate and express themselves freely and openly in all matters affecting them.
Accordingly, CRIN has begun to monitor restrictions on the work of children’s rights defenders around the world as part of its Transparency Campaign. With it, we seek to respond to the regressive trend among some countries that seek to or have already enacted legal standards that limit civil society's freedom of expression to speak out again violations of human and children's rights. The following are some such cases.
Since February 2011, authorities in Azerbaijan have been carrying out a systematic clampdown on civil society, including by shutting down the Human Rights House in March, demolishing the offices of three human rights activists in August, and convicting political activists for taking part in protests. Read more.
Amnesty International denounces that in Russia little progress has been made to increase the safety of those who expose human rights abuses and corruption in Russia and in neighbouring countries. Journalists, civil society activists and human rights defenders are routinely subjected to intimidation, threats and attacks, with insufficient investigations being carried out on the part of authorities to bring perpetrators to justice. Lawyers have also been disbarred and journalists detained for “inciting hatred against Russian bodies”. More here.
Precisely on this year's Human Rights Day, authorities in Russia declared Saturday 10 December a mandatory school day on which students were made to take a language exam that contained political propaganda. A number of teachers have complained that the surprise test was set up to prevent young people from taking part in the biggest anti-government protests the country has seen in decades. Full story.
In Europe, the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe (CoE), Thomas Hammarberg denounces that politically-motivated murders of human rights defenders are not effectively investigated, with many cases marred by a lack of cooperation from police and security officials. The CoE’s Committee of Ministers has adopted concrete Guidelines that seek to “prevent and combat an institutional culture within state authorities which promotes impunity”. Read more here.
In August 2011, a group of international civil society organisations wrote an open letter to Angola's Minister of External Relations to draw attention to violations against human rights defenders in the country, including intimidation and death threats received by young people involved in public demonstrations.
In Israel, policy-makers have approved two bills that seek to restrict foreign funding to organisations working in the country. The measures also raise tax on donations to NGOs. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said the draft laws are "part of a larger effort on the part of specific (law-makers) to curtail the work of human rights and social change organisations whose agenda and/or activities differ from their political views." Full story.
Previously in May 2010, 19 members of the Israeli Parliament introduced another bill that sought to prohibit the registration of or close down any existing NGOs that are “providing information to foreign entities or [are] involved in legal proceeding abroad against senior Israeli government officials…for war crimes.” Rights groups denounced that if adopted, the bill would legitimise the suppression of information on alleged war crimes, particularly in relation to accountability issues in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Read more here.
Elsewhere, a bill is being discussed in Iran which would mean NGOs currently operating in the country would be de-registered. Full story.
In Lebanon, authorities have been urged to end their harassment campaign against members of the Lebanese Centre for Human Rights (CLDH), as a lawsuit has been filed against the organisation for documenting arbitrary detention and torture in the country. More here.
In Nepal, the government has decided not to renew the mandate of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the only branch of the UN watchdog in South Asia. ARTICLE 19 believes that freedom of expression and freedom of press will deteriorate as a result, as attacks on journalists and human rights defenders are already on the rise, and investigations and prosecutions ineffective. Full story.
In the Americas, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has condemned attacks against human rights defenders in Mexico and Cuba, criminal proceedings for defamation against a journalist in Peru, as well as threats and reprisals against individuals who come before the Commission. These examples even include cases where the Commission has ordered the respective State to take special measures to protect the individuals in question.
Recognising children as human rights defenders
Children and young people are increasingly emerging as human rights defenders, denouncing violations of their own rights as well as demanding greater respect for the rights of others. The Arab Spring is probably the single most remarkable manifestation of the transformative role of the youth movement, which has confirmed young people’s capacity to bring about change and their power to shape a better world.
The galvanising effect that seeing young people defending human rights can have on their peers should also not be underestimated. As one Yemeni youth leader reflected on her role during the country’s anti-government protests, “[t]he revolution gave us the opportunity to get out and speak about human rights and demand them. During the revolution we shared hopes and demands while becoming more aware of our rights and needs. This was my role in the protests: to educate people about human rights.”
Yet while some human rights defenders are well known, most young activists are not. As Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro lamented, “[s]ometimes the contributions of the world’s youth are not acknowledged sufficiently.” They are, however, active in every part of the world, working alone or in groups, in youth associations in their local communities or at a national level.
At a high-level meeting at the UN General Assembly earlier this year, assembly President Joseph Deiss highlighted the often untapped potential of young people as key players in their societies, underscoring the need for governments to create the conditions to enable them to flourish. In his words: “The Facebook generation is showing a growing resolve to change our world – and a capacity to make things happen. They are bringing their energy and courage to some of the most difficult issues we face.”
The following are just some examples of how children and young people have mobilised in defence of human rights, both of their own and those of others.
On child labour, members of Bolivia’s largest union of child workers have drafted a bill which seeks to ensure that their rights, as both labourers and children, are respected. Several of the children’s demands include legislative amendments to recognise that work for children in Bolivia begins at age six, not at age 14, as the law currently provides in a country where there are an estimated 850,000 working children; that children’s right to education is respected; that they are effectively protected against exploitative or hazardous work; and that their salaries be brought in-line with the national minimum wage. Full story.
On the right to education, thousands of secondary school and university students in Chile have for months been protesting against plans to privatise much of the education system, which would put unnecessary economic strain on poor families. Their demands include a reform of the public education system, which currently leaves under-funded municipalities responsible for secondary education, a system which has starved most schools of resources. Protesters also denounce that Chile only invests 4.4 per cent of its gross domestic product to education, far below the seven per cent recommended by UNESCO.
In India, members of the Adolescent Girls' Clubs Against Child Marriage network help persuade families to not marry off their daughters at a young age by educating people about the harmful consequences or early marriage. They offer a lifeline not only to girls who want to resist family pressure, but also to parents afraid that going against gender expectations will leave their daughters ostracised.
This year’s winner of the International Children’s Peace Prize (ICPP) is 17-year-old ability activist Michaela Mycroft, for her commitment to the rights of children with disabilities in her native South Africa through her fundraising project that later became the Chaeli Campaign, which annually assists more than 3,000 children with disabilities with equipment, physical therapy and which defends the rights and acceptance of disabled children.
Last year’s winner of the ICPP was 16-year-old Francia Simon from the Dominican Republic, who campaigns for the right of children to registration, name and nationality – both for children born in the Dominican Republic as for refugee children from Haiti – as it is only after official registration that children can gain access to essential rights such as health care and education.
And finally on gender discrimination, 13-year-old Chris Whitehead from the United Kingdom took a stand against his school's discriminatory dress code that allows girls to wear skirts in the summer months yet does not allow boys to wear shorts. To challenge it, he took advantage of a loophole in the school’s uniform policy, whereby boys are not forbidden from wearing a skirt. Around 30 fellow pupils joined Whitehead’s protest by waving placards saying, "Cool shorts, not hot pants" and "What's wrong with my legs?" The protest has since prompted the school to review its uniform policy, while Whitehead has been shortlisted for a Liberty Human Rights award.
CRIN has also reported on other notable cases where children and young people are defending the human rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, particularly those to come out of the United States. These include:
These examples are, of course, only a snippet of the full scale of human rights advocacy by children around the world. CRIN reports on all examples that come to our attention; yet we realise that not all children and young people are given the merit they deserve for their advocacy efforts. We would therefore like to hear of more cases like the ones above from all corners and regions of the world. To send us your contributions, email us at: [email protected]
Defending human rights through new media
With the theme of this year's Human Rights Day focusing on social media, we thought it opportune to reflect on how electronic media has changed the breadth of human rights advocacy, namely in that ordinary citizens are increasingly becoming human rights defenders themselves.
New forms of electronic media such as social networks, blogs and video posting websites – which are largely operated by young people – have created new opportunities for rights advocacy. With the number of homes with internet access increasing every year, more people are making use of online media communication. In terms of human rights, this greater access to information has created new opportunities for ordinary citizens to read about and get involved in the global rights movement.
At a special event in Geneva on social media and human rights, an Egyptian blogger and journalist said he started using social media because he realised that the freedom on the internet was limitless, as it allows people to report the stories that State-controlled media ignores or suppresses. “Without it,” he said, “regime change [in Egypt] would have taken ten years instead of one.” Indeed, as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay commented last week: “Wherever [a violation] happens, you can now guarantee it will be tweeted on Twitter, posted on Facebook, broadcast on Youtube, and uploaded onto the internet. Governments no longer hold the ability to monopolise the dissemination of information and censor what it says.”
Another blogger, this time from Tunisia, said social media has made people very powerful because the flow of information is now from the bottom up. Even users of mobile phones have the tools to become informal broadcasters, as they can micro-blog, post videos online, and send information via text messages to news and radio stations. Indeed, because new media disseminates accounts of rights violations, which are reported, posted or uploaded by ordinary people, it has added an extra and creative dimension to human rights advocacy.
New technology and social media have transformed not only the way and the speed at which young people communicate around the world, allowing for on-the-ground, to-the-minute coverage of events; but it has also broken down the barrier of reluctance or feeling of powerlessness that many experience when faced with a human rights violation. This has certainly been the case with petitions launched online. Websites on which people can petition for a cause, such as Change.org, have spurred many to make their cases public online, voice their concerns and mobilise support from around the world. Precisely on the Change.org website, there are three such petitions concerning children’s rights issues of which CRIN has recently become aware.
One petition urges the European Parliament to stop importing cotton from Uzbekistan on account of widespread reports that authorities force children to work in the cotton fields. More details here.
Another petition is to the world’s biggest bookseller, Amazon, calling on it to stop selling “parenting manuals” that advocate the use of violence to “discipline” children. Read more here.
And the third is directed at the Ecuadorian Health Ministry, which is being urged to shut down 200 clinics that seek to “cure” homosexuals and which use torture and sexual abuse as part of their “treatment”. More here.
Despite CRIN’s wishes to strengthen and broaden children’s rights advocacy around the world, however, we realise that in some countries campaigning for children’s rights creates safety issues for both advocates and those around them. Notably, the use of the Internet and forms of new media carries certain safety risks. To address the issue of online safety, CRIN has developed a guide to campaigning safely online, which identifies the advantages of using the Internet as a platform for campaigning for human rights, but also addresses the safety issues related to such work.
Further Information:
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UPCOMING EVENTS
The Council of Europe’s committee against torture (CPT) has announced its upcoming country visits for 2012. The Committee intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in prisons, juvenile detention centres, police stations, holding centres for immigration detainees, psychiatric hospitals, social care homes, among others, in the following ten countries: Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Italy Lithuania, Monaco, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. Persons in possession of information concerning this issue in any of these countries which they believe could assist the CPT are invited to bring it to the Committee’s attention. More details here.
Other upcoming events:
Armed Conflict: ‘Children and Youth at the ICC: Participation, Protection and Reparations’
Organiser: OHCHR
Event date: 15 December
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
More details here.
Social media: New Technologies and Human Rights
Organiser: University of Essex and Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution
Event date: 15 December 2011
Location: London, United Kingdom
More details here.
Exploitation: 12th Annual ISPCAN Global Institute – 'Preventing Child Exploitation and Abuse – Working with children and families affected and displaced by disasters'
Organiser: International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Event date: 22 January 2012
Location: San Diego, California, United States
More details here.
Violence: 26th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment
Organiser: Chadwick Center for Children and Families
Event date: 23 – 26 January 2012
Location: San Diego, California, United States
More details here.
Call for papers: ‘Children, Young People and Adults: Extending the Conversation’
Organiser: International Childhood & Youth Research Network et al.
Event date: 5 – 7 September 2012
Location: Preston, United Kingdom
Submission deadline: 31 March 2012
More details here.
Africa: 'Exploring Childhood Studies in the Global South – Africa in Focus'
Organiser: Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth, University of Sheffield
Event date: 16 May 2012
Location: Sheffield, United Kingdom
More details here.
Africa: The 2nd International Conference in Africa on Child Sexual Abuse
Organiser: African Network for the Prevention & Protection against
Child Abuse and Neglect – Ghana Chapter
Event date: 12 – 14 March 2012
Location: Accra, Ghana
More details here.
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EMPLOYMENT
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR): Fellowships x 2
The IACHR is inviting applications for two of its 2012 Fellowship programmes, which provide an opportunity for young lawyers from OAS Member States to understand and apply the mechanisms of protection of the Inter-American system in areas of human rights. One is at the Rapporteurship on the Rights of the Child. More details. The other is at the Unit for the Rights of LGBTI Persons. More details. Application deadline for both Fellowship programmes is: 9 January 2011.
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Crisis Action: Advocacy Associate
Crisis Action is accepting applications for the role of Advocacy Associate to be based in New York, United States. The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting coalition campaign activities and conducting political analysis of the UN system, among other things. Application deadline: 13 January 2011. More details here.
The Last Word
“We should use our voices and respective mandates to hail brave individuals, defenders and activists who, in circumstances where it may be safer to remain silent, have decided to engage with the UN human rights mechanisms. We should stand beside them, behind them and around them. Many times we are all they have to shield them when they are attacked for leading the struggle in defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
-- Margaret Sekaggya, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, October 2011
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