Human Rights in the news
Daily roundup from CHRI UK on 09/02/2016
Today’s top news:
· Uganda police buys anti-riot gear amid concerns of pre-election violence
· Ghana hosts 7th African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights
· AU sends delegation to Burundi, but no peacekeepers
United Kingdom
1. New arts festival debates human rights
Third Force News
A new Scottish festival is to celebrate the role of human rights in health in Scotland through the work of leading writers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. Declaration will be held at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow from 3–6 March and is the result of a unique partnership between NHS Health Scotland, the Mental Health Foundation, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland and the Centre for Health Policy at the University of Strathclyde.
Commonwealth Countries
Pacific
1. Signs at last that Australia has tired of cruelty without mercy to refugees
The Guardian
The dead hand of a government official belies a changing mood among the Australian public and political class. Despite the hopes of the immigration department, borders can’t stay absolutely closed forever.
1. Australian Human Rights Commission Embraces Genocide Deniers
The New Matilda
Australia’s peak human rights body has added an avowed holocaust denier to its Racism Stops With Me campaign, writes Meher Grigorian. Olympic legend Dawn Fraser was intolerant for suggesting that tennis player Nick Kyrgios go back to where his parents came from. Senator Eric Abetz’s referral to US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as a “negro” was harmful.
2. Sparks fly between senators at hearing into human rights (Australia)
The Sunday Morning Herald
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called one government member “a pig” and another “biased” and “a joke” in a fiery Senate estimates hearing scrutinising the conditions faced by children at Nauru. Senator Hanson-Young was questioning Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs on Tuesday over the appropriateness of deporting children and their families detained in Australia to the remote Pacific island.
3. Water shortages, toilet restrictions and constant fear: Details about life on Nauru revealed
The Sunday Morning Herald
A former employee at the Nauru detention centre has lifted the lid on conditions within the compound, including limited access to toilets and poor welfare for bullied men, as pressure mounts on the Turnbull government not to return asylum seekers to the isolated island.
4. Opinion: “I’m so scared of making them angry” — why we don’t show their faces (Australia)
The Age
Showing the faces of children that could be sent to Nauru would not break Australian law, but would not be in the best interest of the children, the Human Rights Law Centre says.
5. Exploitation in electronics: Too many companies failing to come clean (Australia)
The Sunday Morning Herald
Most, if not all, electronics companies in Australia have failed to fully investigate whether raw materials used in their products were obtained using slave labour or some other form of exploitation, a new report shows.
Caribbean and Americas
1. Police Warned About Showing Political Allegiance During Election Campaign Period (Jamaica)
The Gleaner
Commissioner of Police, Dr Carl Williams, has warned members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) that they must not do or say anything that may be interpreted as political during the ongoing election campaign period. He says JCF members who breach the rules will be severely punished. Williams issued the warning in the latest Force Orders circulated to the more than 10,000 JCF members last Friday. He reminded the cops of the JCF rule that members are prohibited from making any public expression showing allegiance to any political party.
Africa
1. AU Peace and Security Council sends delegation to Burundi, elects Botswana as new member
All Africa/ Daily News
The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of Africa Union agreed last week that a high level delegation be sent to Burundi to engage with that country’s government and all stakeholders in a bid to find a lasting solution and end the increasing acts of violence and human rights violations. Botswana has been elected to be a member of the Peace and Security Council of African Union (AU).
2. AU women’s director holds press conference at AU Summit margins
African Brains
The Director of the African Union Women Gender and Development Directorate (AUWGDD), Mahawa Kaba Wheeler, addressed the press to explain the directorate’s mandate and plans around facilitating the development and harmonization of policy, facilitating co‐ordination and initiating gender mainstreaming strategies.
3. Ghana hosts African Conference on sexual Health and Rights
Pulse
The 7th African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (ACSHR) is held in Ghana from 8 to 12 February, 2016. It is hosted by Mrs. Lordina Mahama, First Lady of Ghana and President of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), in collaboration with Curious Minds under the theme ‘Realizing Demographic Dividend in Africa: the Critical Importance of Adolescents and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’.
4. Human Rights Commission represented on Ghana’s National Elections Steering Committee
Ghana Business News
A ten-member National Election Steering Committee to ensure a smooth and peaceful 2016 elections has been inaugurated in Accra. Institutions represented on the Committee include the Ghana Armed Forces, Commission on Human Rights and Justice (CHRAJ), National Media Commission, Ghana Police Service, and Civic Forum Initiative.
5. Uganda police buy anti-riot gear ahead of elections
Reuters
Uganda has bought anti-riot gear ahead of a Feb. 18 election in a move which police say will bolster security during voting but which critics say aims to intimidate opponents of President Yoweri Museveni, who is seeking to extend his 30-year rule. Critics have accused him of using violence by security personnel to intimidate opposition supporters, while police have drawn public ire for frequently blocking opposition gatherings or using teargas and sometimes live ammunition to disperse them.
Lady Justice Sophia AB Akuffo‚ a judge of Ghana’s Supreme Court of Justice and former President of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights will lead an AU mission to observe the elections from February 10 to 22.
All Africa/ The Monitor
Independent presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi said at a press conference yesterday that crime preventers are a political militia created by government to disrupt elections. He added that plans to arm them makes them a political militia meant to create an atmosphere conducive for violence.
1. Nigerian UN Ambassador criticises UN LGBT support
Lifesite News
Nigerian Ambassador Usman Sarki said the UN should not “lend itself as tool to promote aberrant behaviour under the guise of promoting human rights.” He was responding to the UN’s issuance last week of six postage stamps tied to the UN human rights office’s Free and Equal campaign advancing the status of homosexual, transgender and bisexual people. In Nigeria, homosexual relations can bring the death penalty in the Muslim north and 14 years in jail in the Christian south.
2. East African governments fail to address corruption and rights
All Africa/ The East African
Wanjiru Gikonyo, national co-ordinator of the Kenya Institute for Accountability, said the civic culture in the region is determined by the political culture of winning an election in order to gain power. The World Report 2016 by Human Rights Watch says governments in East Africa made little or no progress on human rights in 2015, and the situation in some countries, such as Burundi sharply deteriorated.
3. New research claims Africa’s “green revolution” could be harming the poorest
Reuters
The University of East Anglia research details how changes brought on by modernisation programmes disrupt subsistence practices, deepen poverty, impair local systems of trade and knowledge, and threaten land ownership.
4. Malawi Human Rights Commission says moratorium on gay laws is illegal
Nyasa Times
The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) says the executive arm of government has no powers to suspend any law in Malawi therefore ‘the moratorium on gays is illegal and should be disregarded’.
5. Blog Post: African Leaders: Two Inspiring Humanitarians that are also Political Leaders
Africa.com Blog
Heidi Frontani profiles Graça Simbine Machel, the former First Lady of Mozambique and of South Africa, and Zainab Bangura, the first woman to run for the Presidency in Sierra Leone. Each has worked for women’s rights and good governance.
6. French general testifies in Rwanda genocide inquiry
France 24
General Jean-Claude Lafourcade, who led France’s UN-mandated unit in western Rwanda during the height of the 1994 killings, has fought back claims his unit provided Hutu rebels with arms and knowingly left hundreds of ethnic Tutsis to die. A judicial inquiry was launched in 2005 after survivors filed a complaint against French troops. In 2009, Rwanda became only the second country after Mozambique to join the international Commonwealth union without having historic links to Britain.
7. NGO accuses Amnesty International of ‘meddlesomeness’ (Nigeria)
The Guardian (Nigeria)
The HUMAN Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) accused the Amnesty International of meddlesomeness and undue interference in the proceedings of the different investigative panels set up by both the National Human Rights Commission and the Kaduna State Government to investigate recent clashes between the Shiites Islamic movement and the Nigerian Army. The Iranian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Saeed Koozechi, was also criticised for interfering.
8. Human rights lawyer calls on Nigerian government to drop plan to borrow $3.5bn from World Bank
Premium Times
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has urged the Nigerian government to jettison its plan to secure a $3.5 billion (about N700 billion) loan from the World Bank and the African Development Bank. He suggested government should instead direct the anti-graft agencies to recover all loans and revenues accruable to it, which he believes amount to $66.5 billion.
9. Nigeria army chief warns soldiers against violating rights of civilians
All Africa/ Daily Trust
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai, has urged soldiers to respect the rights of civilians, especially those who live around the theatres of war, while addressing troops at the 242 Recce Battalion Ibereko in Badagry, Lagos State at the weekend.
10. Opinion: Constitutional Validity of Pre-Charge Detention of Suspects (Nigeria)
All Africa/ Premium Times
Several judges and lawyers in Nigeria have challenged the constitutional validity of section 293(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) which has vested magistrate courts with the power to issue remand orders for the detention of criminal suspects pending arraignment.
11. NGO report claims mining in South Africa fosters systemic inequality
IOL Business
ActionAid SA’s preliminary research report, Precious Metals II: A systemic Inequality, argues that this reality is not an oversight or merely the slow maturation of a long-term liberation project, but rather a systemic crisis which permeates out from the very mechanisms and institutions introduced to overcome the inequality of the past. The first Precious Metals report is available here.
12. Home Affairs risks contempt of court after missing refugee centre deadline (South Africa)
All Africa/ Daily Maverick
After a protracted legal battle, the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office was to open its doors on Tuesday morning, as ordered by the Supreme Court of Appeal. But those doors will remain closed leaving thousands of asylum seekers vulnerable. The department of Home Affairs is in real danger of being held in contempt of court.
13. Ugandan LGBTQ rights advocate to speak at Washington University Conference
Vital Voice
Washington University School of Law will host Dr. Frank Mugisha and several other international LGBTQ activists, leaders and scholars at its upcoming conference, Rights Beyond Borders, the 11th annual Midwest LGBTQ Law Conference, on February 19 and 20. Mugisha is the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
14. Tanzania plans gender desks in all public institutions
All Africa/ Tanzania Daily News
Deputy Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Hamis Kigwangala, said at the weekend that gender desks in the police force have helped many victims of gender based violence (GBV) and that the government intends to extend the desks to all government institutions.
15. Nigeria army chief warns soldiers against violating rights of civilians
All Africa/ Daily Trust
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai, has urged soldiers to respect the rights of civilians, especially those who live around the theatres of war, while addressing troops at the 242 Recce Battalion Ibereko in Badagry, Lagos State at the weekend.
16. Opinion: Constitutional Validity of Pre-Charge Detention of Suspects (Nigeria)
All Africa/ Premium Times
Several judges and lawyers in Nigeria have challenged the constitutional validity of section 293(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) which has vested magistrate courts with the power to issue remand orders for the detention of criminal suspects pending arraignment.
17. NGO report claims mining in South Africa fosters systemic inequality
IOL Business
ActionAid SA’s preliminary research report, Precious Metals II: A systemic Inequality, argues that this reality is not an oversight or merely the slow maturation of a long-term liberation project, but rather a systemic crisis which permeates out from the very mechanisms and institutions introduced to overcome the inequality of the past. The first Precious Metals report is available here.
18. Home Affairs risks contempt of court after missing refugee centre deadline (South Africa)
All Africa/ Daily Maverick
After a protracted legal battle, the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office was to open its doors on Tuesday morning, as ordered by the Supreme Court of Appeal. But those doors will remain closed leaving thousands of asylum seekers vulnerable. The department of Home Affairs is in real danger of being held in contempt of court.
19. Ugandan LGBTQ rights advocate to speak at Washington University Conference
Vital Voice
Washington University School of Law will host Dr. Frank Mugisha and several other international LGBTQ activists, leaders and scholars at its upcoming conference, Rights Beyond Borders, the 11th annual Midwest LGBTQ Law Conference, on February 19 and 20. Mugisha is the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
20. Tanzania plans gender desks in all public institutions
All Africa/ Tanzania Daily News
Deputy Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Hamis Kigwangala, said at the weekend that gender desks in the police force have helped many victims of gender based violence (GBV) and that the government intends to extend the desks to all government institutions.
Asia
1. Human rights seminar to be held in Karnataka, India
The Hindu
Dr. Ambedkar College of Arts and Commerce run by Karnataka People’s Education Society is organising a seminar on human rights here on Wednesday.
2. Bangladesh police address complaints about alleged human rights violations by officers
Benar News
Amid recent reports of misbehaviour by policemen, including the killing of a tea vendor by some officers who allegedly tried to extort money from him, Bangladeshi authorities say they will weed out rogue cops. Among the groups raising concerns is a leading rights advocacy group, Ain-O-Salish Kendra (ASK).
3. Human rights panel seeks report from police after 12-year-old girl beaten in custody (India)
Times of India
Three days after Kota police near Jaipur, India apprehended a 12-year-old girl, working as domestic help, and thrashed her, the state human rights commission on Monday sought a report from senior police officers in Kota.
4. UN Human Rights Chief meets Defence Secretary in Sri Lanka
Times Online
The visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein met the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Eng. Karunasena Hettiarachchi yesterday. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and the High Commissioner focused on current challenges and opportunities for strengthening the rule of law and protection of human rights in Sri Lanka during a meeting this morning. Referring to a list of more than 4,000 people reported missing, Al Hussein also called on the government to properly account for any deaths and provide redress.
5. Malaysia’s new Twitter police targets critics of Prime Minister
Times of India
Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing ridicule online over deposits of $681 million in his private bank account. A police spokeswoman confirmed that the Twitter account issuing warnings to Twitter users joking about the PM was an official Malaysian cyber unit account.
6. No compensation yet from police to illegal detainees (India)
Deccan Herald
Six months ago, the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission had ordered the police inspector and assistant sub-inspector of Byatarayanapura police station to pay Rs 25,000 to each of the 11 people they had illegally detained.
7. Hindu Marriage Bill 2015 Cleared by Pakistan Parliament Panel
The New Indian Express
A parliamentary panel in Pakistan has cleared the Hindu Marriage Bill 2015, paving the way for regulations on registration of marriage and divorce for the Hindu community.
Chakra News
Abhaya Dube discusses high-profile cases in Pakistan involving victims from minority groups fell victim to what she calls a biased legal system.
9. HRW calls for release of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim
Human Rights Watch
On the first anniversary of Anwar Ibrahim’s incarceration on politically motivated charges, the Malaysian government should unconditionally release the former deputy prime minister and political opposition leader, Human Rights Watch said today.
Haveeru
European officials insisted Tuesday that they do not favour any particular politician or political party in Maldives, but quickly criticised the jailing of former president Mohamed Nasheed.
Other news
1. Opinion: Universal Human Rights: The Foundations of the Global Goals
Huffington Post Blog
Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, discusses the growing realization that human rights issues need to be high on the agenda not just in business, but across all sectors. It even reached the meeting rooms of the World Economic Forum in Davos, and ‘not a moment too soon’.
2. UN Sec-Gen calls to replace female genital mutilation with new rites
Al Arabiya English
New, unharmful rites of passage should replace female genital mutilation, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday after new data showed there were more victims of the custom than previously estimated. He gave the example of young girls in Kenya and Tanzania spending a week away from their families to learn life skills instead of being cut. UNICEF said on Friday more than 200 million girls and women globally have suffered genital mutilation, far higher than previously estimated.
3. The U.N. Just Took a Bold Stance on the Zika Virus
attn
The United Nations is urging countries affected by the Zika virus to repeal their laws that restrict or limit access to birth control and abortion, as experts believe the mosquito-borne illness could be linked to microcephaly, a rare condition that causes children to be born with abnormally small brains. Government officials in Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, and El Salvador have asked women to delay their pregnancies to avoid potential birth defects, but Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a Friday statement that this suggestion “ignores the reality that many women and girls simply cannot exercise control over whether or when or under what circumstances they become pregnant, especially in an environment where sexual violence is so common.”
