Over the past year women human rights activists have faced repeatedattacks in the Serbian media including being threatened with lynching.

Such attacks are made by parliamentarians, members of ultra-rightorganizations and members of the security services indicted for warcrimes. Other defenders have had their property destroyed, theiroffices attacked or been beaten by members of neo-Nazi groups.

“Physical attacks and threats to the lives and property of human rightsactivists are seldom promptly and impartially investigated by theauthorities and few perpetrators are brought to justice,” said SianJones, Amnesty International’s Balkans expert.

“The lack of political will on the part of the authorities to fulfiltheir obligations to guarantee human rights defenders their right tofreedom of expression and assembly creates a climate of impunity whichstifles civil society.”

In the briefing Serbia: Human rights defenders at risk AmnestyInternational reviews the latest attacks against human rightsactivists, including those against leading women human rightsactivists.

These defenders include Nataša Kandi?, director of the Humanitarian LawCentre, Sonja Biserko of the Serbian Helsinki Committee for HumanRights, and Biljana Kova?evi?-Vu?o of the Lawyers’ Committee for HumanRights (YUCOM), as well as the women’s NGO Women in Black.

They have been portrayed in the media as anti-Serb for favouring theindependence of Kosovo, and for demanding accountability for war crimescommitted in the 1990s in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

The briefing also focuses on those who defend the rights of lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT). Since 2001 the LGBTcommunity in Serbia has been unable to hold a Pride Day parade due toserious threats by right-wing and religious organizations. Suchorganizations have already made unveiled threats against the organizersof this year’s parade, scheduled for 20 September.

“The LGBT community is marginalized even within civil society andcriminal investigations into assaults on LGBT people, even where theperpetrators have been identified, are rarely resolved,” Sian Jonessaid.

“The Serbian authorities are obliged to protect the rights of allpeople to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. They mustcondemn publicly all attacks on and threats to human rights activists,and provide protection and support during the forthcoming BelgradePride later this week.”

Amnesty International calls on the Serbian government to implement inlaw and in practice the principles of the UN Declaration of HumanRights Defenders, which provides a framework for the protection andsupport of human rights defenders. The organization also calls on theembassies of EU member states to provide protection and support todefenders in Serbia.

Here’s hoping that South Korea is able to do the right thing.

Falun Dafa Information Center Urges Korean President to Protect Falun Gong Refugees

Excerpt:

However, a wide range of eyewitness accounts and third party reports – including those from Amnesty International, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and the United Nations – document the ongoing systemic and widespread nature of persecution against Falun Gong in China. Practitioners fleeing the country are regularly granted asylum in the United States and Western European countries, as well as protection from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees because of the risk they would face should they be forced to return to China. South Korea has ratified several international human rights treaties that prohibit repatriation of individuals to countries where they risk torture.

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Here’s a powerful excerpt:

Though the same persecution as those done to the Falun Gong practitioners happened to our family and Gao himself, because of his three open letters, and Gao’s whereabouts is not known currently, we have never regretted his actions. Gao has said, to end this nation’s sufferings, we need people with high morals, Falun Gong practitioners have done it, and we must also do our part. Not to mention that there is also God, whose will cannot be resisted. When God is standing with us in this battle, dawn won’t be too far away.

Read her full speech here:

Wife of Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Speaks For Falun Gong on Anniversary

Published on Wednesday, Rule without law: Human rights violations in the North Caucasus, highlights the continuing human rights violations in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria in a climate of impunity.

The report is based on testimonies that tell of indiscriminate killings, excessive use of force, death and torture in custody, arbitrary and secret detention, abductions, threats to human rights activists and independent journalists, the targeting of relatives of suspected fighters and the forced evictions of internally displaced people.

The counter-terrorism operation that the Russian authorities declared in Chechnya, gave a green light to these abuses. On 16 April 2009, the authorities announced its end only to reintroduce it in several districts shortly afterwards. The civilian population continues to live in an atmosphere of lawlessness that engenders fear and insecurity.

“There has been and continues to be a total failure of political will to uphold the rule of law and address impunity in Chechnya which has led to destabilization across the North Caucasus,” said Nicola Duckworth, Director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia programme. “Perpetrators of human rights violations – both past and present – too often walk free.”

While there is currently less fighting between government forces and armed groups in Chechnya, fighting in other regions has intensified.

“The recent attacks by armed groups against high ranking officials in Ingushetia, where on 22 June President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was wounded in an assassination attempt, are just the tip of the iceberg,” Nicola Duckworth said.

Armed groups throughout the region have killed hundreds of law enforcement officials and large numbers of civilians over recent years. In June, the deputy head of the Supreme Court of Ingushetia and the Interior Minister of Dagestan were assassinated.

Amnesty International has received reports from Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria, where people have been convicted of terrorism-related offences based on forced confessions and testimony extracted under torture. Despite this, law enforcement officials implicated in human rights violations during the armed conflict in Chechnya, walk free.

“The legitimate aim of tackling armed groups and bringing stability to the region cannot be achieved by illegitimate means and measures that violate international humanitarian law,” Nicola Duckworth said.

“Neither can stability be achieved solely through the badly needed reconstruction of buildings, roads and energy supplies of the last years in Chechnya.”

“Only thorough and independent investigations into past and continuing human rights abuses can bring normalization and security and can heal the pain experienced by the victims. Such investigations will also be a deterrent to future violations.”

Over 15 years Amnesty International has consistently investigated and brought to light cases of human rights abuses, including war crimes, in the North Caucasus. The organization has been exposing the lack of accountability in spite of the barriers imposed by the Russian authorities on its representatives, as well as on those of other human rights organizations and independent observers to visit the region.

“Opening the region to independent observers and journalists would be a signal that the authorities there are ready for transparency and dialogue,” Nicola Duckworth said.

“Without true respect for the rule of law from all sides, and a genuine commitment to address the festering legacy left by the blatant failure of political will at all levels to prevent and punish a catalogue of grievous abuses, there can be no stability and security for the people of the North Caucasus.”

Acting on behalf of the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), the delegation from Amnesty International Nepal delivered thousands of letters to the prime minister calling on him to ratify the treaty.

“Thousands of people have been subjected to enforced disappearances in Nepal and an even larger number of relatives and friends continue to live in an anguish of uncertainty about the fate of their loved ones,” said Madhu Malhotra, Deputy Director, Asia-Pacific, Amnesty International. “Urgent and effective measures are needed to combat impunity for grave human rights violations in the country.”

The visit to the prime minister came over two years after a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on 1 June 2007, which found that the existing legal system in Nepal was ill-equipped to respond to the thousands of cases of disappearances.

The Court ordered Nepal’s government to conduct law reform based on the UN’s 2006 Convention against Enforced Disappearance and to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate past disappearances.

Two years later, law reform has not taken place and flawed legislation to establish the Commission of Inquiry is still pending before parliament.

During the Nepalese civil war between 1996 and 2006, Amnesty International documented the killing, enforced disappearance and torture of thousands of civilians. The army, the police and Maoist forces committed these crimes and other human rights violations.

More than two years after the adoption of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, none of those responsible for these horrific crimes, whether committed by state security forces or members of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), have so far been brought to justice and victims continue to wait for justice and redress.

In May 2009, a new political crisis emerged when then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned following the President’s refusal to dismiss the head of the army. Since then, Nepal’s Constituent Assembly elected Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) prime minister and a new government has been formed.

“It is vital that these recent political developments do not further delay the concrete steps that are necessary to end impunity in Nepal,” Amnesty International said, urging the new government to proceed with ratification and other effective measures to ensure justice, truth and reparation for the victims and deter future crimes.

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006 the Convention against Enforced Disappearance was the culmination of a long effort by many families of disappeared persons, NGOs and governments to address the continuing problem of enforced disappearance through international law.

The Convention has been called the effective way to help prevent enforced disappearances, establish the truth about this crime, punish the perpetrators and provide reparations to the victims and their families.

“As countless persons continue to be ‘disappeared’ throughout the world, the prompt entry into force of the Convention and its ratification and effective implementation in all countries must be a priority for the international community and particularly for countries that have a legacy of enforced disappearances, such as Nepal,” said Madhu Malhotra.

This is their description:

A book published by HRWF Int’l offers insights on the human rights situation in China

Human Rights in China After the Olympics is available worldwide on Amazon.com for $19.95.

Copies of the book may be purchased by clicking on the link below

https://www.createspace.com/3387699

Human Rights in China After the Olympics

(2009/96 pp/softbound/$19.95/ISBN 978-1-44861-056-3)

Interestingly, the year 2009 sees the 50th anniversay of the Tibetan takeover, the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and now the 10th anniversary of the Falun Gong persecution.

Human rights is, and should be, one of the most important issues everybody face and think about. A human being and life should have the most basic rights. Human rights being violated anywhere are the concern for all citizens of this world. Until the basic rights of a human being is respected and upheld, human life will not fully valued.

That’s it for this first post to get this blog going again. Please check back soon.