civicus at the un

• Over 40 civil society organisations urge States to oppose proposed amendments that would weaken draft Human Rights Council resolution on civil society space

  Over 40 civil society organisations have sent a joint letter to members of the UN Human Rights Council to support a landmark resolution on civil society space. The resolution, which will be voted on this week, mandates the OHCHR to create practical recommendations on how to effectively protect civil society space at the international, regional and national level.

  Read the full letter

• Pakistan Announces New Policy for Foreign Aid Groups Amid Crackdown

  Pakistan’s new policy to regulate the registration and operations of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has been strongly condemned by civil society.

  Issued on 1 October 2015, the new rules place substantial burdens on INGOs while subjecting them to debilitating bureaucratic controls including through excessive interference in their activities and limits on placement and retention of staff.

• Préoccupations de CIVICUS concernant la situation de la liberté d’expression, d’association et de réunion en Côte d’Ivoire

  Dans ce document, CIVICUS fait état de ses inquiétudes concernant l’environnement dans lequel les organisations de la société civile, les défenseurs des droits de l’homme et les journalistes travaillent en Côte d’Ivoire ; CIVICUS y relève aussi les menaces auxquelles font face ces individus et organisations dans l’exercice de leur liberté d’expression, d’association et d’assemblée. La restriction des libertés fondamentales est exacerbée par les effets des années de conflits et de la violence postélectorale.

• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Interactive Dialogue

  23rd session of the
  Human Rights Council
  Item 3

  Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
  Interactive Dialogue

  Statement delivered by Enrica Barago

  Thank you Mr. President,
  CIVICUS warmly welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. We wish to stress once again the fundamental importance of Freedom of Opinion and Expression not only as a fundamental right per se, but also as an essential prerequisite for the promotion and protection of all other human rights.

  Mr Special Rapporteur, as emphasized in your report, the lack of security in the field of communications has a chilling effect on victims of all forms of violence and abuses; victims who may later be reluctant to report to the authorities fearing double victimisation. The right to privacy being unequivocally recognised as a fundamental human right, could you please elaborate on the absence of an explicit definition of this right in the existing international human rights instruments knowing that this relative legal vacuum has a direct impact on the enforcement of this right.

• Report on the 16th Session of the UPR Working Group

  Report on the 16th Session of the UPR Working Group
  Review of Azerbaijan (Tuesday 30 April 2013, 14:30 ~ 18:00)
  Led by H.E. Mr. Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

  Opening Remarks
  In the opening remarks, the Deputy Minister H.E. Mr. Khalafov stated that Azerbaijan is committed to the promotion and protection of Human Rights in accordance with the UPR mechanism. Azerbaijan, for this Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session, established a working group with participation of civil society and the Ministry of Interior.

  In his statement, he raised a concern about ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenia in Azerbaijan and this resulted in the Armenian delegation repeatedly asking for a point of order. The head of Azerbaijan's delegation criticised this attempt to stop the dialogue at the Human Rights Council. The point of order was rejected by the President of the Council.

  In 2011, The National Action Program for human rights protection in Azerbaijan was set up to cover issues and recommendations made to the country during its 1st UPR. Overall it develops measures to cover the legal framework and activities of state agencies. This National Action Program contains several categories including job creation, promotion of cultural diversity, fighting against corruption, Promotion of E-technology, rights of women. It set up a working group that coordinates its implementation and periodically submits implementation reports to the president of the country.

• Report on the side event “Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders in the Russian Federation”

  6th March 2013
  
  Summary
  On Wednesday 6 March, the Human Rights House Foundation together with CIVICUS, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Youth Human Rights Movement, the International Federation for Human Rights and the Civil Society and Freedom of Speech Initiative Center for the Caucasus hosted a side event titled "Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders in the Russian Federation" at the United Nations in Geneva.

  The meeting, which was attended by over forty people, provided an opportunity for activists on the ground in the Russian Federation to testify about the real situation the country is in, showing the real face of a campaign of repression to silence independent voices. Moreover, the event offered a unique opportunity to discuss the devastating impact of the criminalisation of the work of human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, with the main purpose of addressing key areas of concern to be highlighted during the upcoming UPR examination of the Russian Federation, on Monday 29 April 2013.
      
  The session featured a high level panel of experts including Anna Dobrovolskaya, Programme Coordinator at the International Youth Human Rights Movement;  Abdulla Duduev, Executive Director of the Russian magazine DOSH; Boris Pustyntsev, Chair of Citizens’ Watch and Maria Kozlovskaya, Programme Manager from the Russian LGBT- Network. The panel was moderated by Florian Irminger, Head of International Advocacy and HRHF Geneva Office.

  The whole event was carried out in a conducive atmosphere, there was a meaningful exchange of views between the panellists and the participants at the side-event. The spirit of the dialogue remained moderate, following the guidelines provided by the organisers. The general tone may have been a result of the fact that Russian Officials were in attendance.

• Reprisals, protection, prevention - CIVICUS statement to UN Human Rights Council

  20th session of the UN Human Rights Council

  Item 5

  Reprisals, protection, prevention

  Delivered by Renate Bloem, CIVICUS UN Geneva Representative, 26 June 2012

  Thank you Mme President

  CIVICUS wishes to raise the issue of reprisals against persons cooperating with the UN. The joint statement of Special Procedures at today’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture brings it to the point: “Reprisals against people who cooperate with the United Nations mechanisms in protecting and advancing human rights are absolutely unacceptable and are in violation of international law and States’ legal obligations. There must be an effective means of ensuring that reprisals do not occur, and if they do, the individuals involved and the State must be held accountable”.

• Side Event - Civil Society Space: Addressing the Implementation Gap

  

• Silence is not an option: A call from Civil Society for the UN Human Rights Council to address the grave human rights situation in Egypt, and ensure respect for democratic development

  As civil society from around the world we express support for those struggling for a future in Egypt based on human rights and democracy. At this critical juncture in Egypt’s history, at a time when peaceful political activists, human rights defenders and all forms of independent media in Egypt are under attack, we write to urge your delegation to work with other members and observer states of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to address the grave situation of human rights in Egypt at the upcoming 25th Session of the UN HRC. We believe that the serious and rapid deterioration of the human rights situation in Egypt requires the HRC to take a principled position of addressing this situation now, through the adoption of a resolution on Egypt.

  According to Egyptian and international human rights organizations, repression in the country has reached levels unprecedented since the 2011 uprising. The security forces have embarked on a severe and comprehensive crackdown against persons who have dared to publicly criticize the military-backed government, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, as well as pro-democracy and human rights movement activists within the country.

• Statement at HRC 29 Interactive Dialogue with Working Group on Discrimination Against Women

  29th session of the Human Rights Council

  Thank you Mr. President. CIVICUS welcomes the important report of the Working Group on discrimination against women, a report, especially in an Egyptian context, so very relevant at this critical time.

• Statement at HRC 29 on LGBTI Thematic Reports

  Delivered by Dora Tuez

  CIVICUS wishes to address the Council on the High Commissioner’s report on discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

• Statement at HRC 29 Panel discussion on the effects of terrorism on human rights

  CIVICUS strongly condemns last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Somalia, France and Kuwait and express our deepest sympathies with the victims and their families. But we also applaud the principled stand of the High Commissioner in addressing the challenges to human rights: “The fight against terror is a struggle to uphold the values of democracy and human rights – not undermine them”.

• Statement at HRC 29 to UNSR on Right to Freedom of Expression And UNSR on Peaceful Assembly & Association

  29th session of the Human Rights Council

  Thank you Mr. President. CIVICUS warmly welcomes the timely reports of both Special Rapporteurs. We commend the Special Rapporteurs for supporting an inclusive consultative process with a wide range of civil society actors to address the pressing concerns raised in their reports.

• Statement at Human Rights Council on excessive and lethal force against protesters

  CIVICUS greatly welcomes the Council’s growing recognition of the crucial role civil society plays in facilitating the full realization of all human rights. In particular, we welcome the Council’s increased attention to the need to protect and promote the right to freedom of assembly to effectively engage with a range of stakeholder on pressing rights issues.

• Statement at the Human Rights Council on Syria, Egypt and Bahrain

  On Syria: CIVICUS sincerely hopes that the mediated peace talks will finally get off the ground and lead to results. However, we are concerned that between the 1st and 11th of March, the Syria Ceasefire Monitor reported over sixty violations, including mortar attacks, airstrikes, barrel bomb attacks, sniper attacks and other attacks on the civilian population that continue to result in the deaths of children and adult civilians. CIVICUS calls on all parties to abide by its provisions and refrain from attacks on the civilian population. We also urge the COI to investigate these ceasefire violations within the scope of its mandate. CIVICUS also repeats our call to the Syrian authorities to immediately release all unlawfully detained civilians, civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders and prisoners of conscience, to ensure the ‘tracking of missing victims of enforced disappearance and the independent ‘monitoring of places of detention’ as recommended by the COI in its current report.

• Statement delivered by Secretary-general Ban Ki Moon to ECOSOC to launch the 2011 Millenium Development Goals

  Geneva, 7 July 2011

  “First of all let me thank you most sincerely for your very kind words and also your strong support and warm welcome on my reappointment as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I am deeply honoured and privileged to serve this great organization as Secretary-General and I will be more motivated and more engaged with Member States and you can count on me. Again thank you very much for you strong support.

  I am pleased to be here for the launch of the 2011 Millennium Development Goals Report. I thank all those who have worked long and hard on this excellent study.

  The report paints a mixed picture. On the one hand, it is clear that the MDGs have made a tremendous difference; they have raised awareness and they have shaped the broad vision that remains the overarching framework for development work across the world, and they have fuelled action and meaningful progress in people’s lives. Hundreds of millions have been lifted from poverty, more people have access to education, better health care and improved access to clean drinking water.

• Statement on human rights situations in Guantanamo and Bagram

  Oral Statement
  Item 4 General Debate
  5 June 2013

  Statement delivered on behalf of:

  Human Rights Watch, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Conectas Direitos Humanos, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), International Service for Human Rights and International Commission of Jurists,

  With the support of:

  African Democracy Forum; African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies; Think Centre, Singapore; Task Force Detainees Philippines (TFDP), Philippines; Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Philippines; Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan; Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP), Timor Leste; INFORM Information Documentation Centre, Sri Lanka ; People's Watch, India; People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), South Korea; Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Indonesia; IMPARSIAL, Indonesia; Human Rights Working Group, Indonesia; People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), India; Law and Society Trust (LST), Sri Lanka; Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Nepal; Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), India; Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC), Nepal; KontraS, Indonesia; Pilipina Legal Resource Centre (PLRC), Philippines; Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), Mongolia; Function 8, Singapore; Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC), Singapore; Project X, Singapore; Alliance National Timor Leste International Tribunal (ANTI), Timor Leste; Programme Against Custodial Torture and Impunity (PACTI), India;
  ***

  The United States continues to detain individuals for indefinite periods without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan in violation of its obligations under international human rights law.

• Statement on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention: Belarus

  23nd session of the
  Human Rights Council
  Item4    

  Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention: Belarus

  By Yuri Dzlibladze

  Thank you Mr. President,

  CIVICUS and the Committee of International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus, a coalition of more than 50 NGOs from different countries, welcome the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human rights situation in Belarus. We believe it clearly reflects the situation on the ground and the main concerns of the international community.

  As a result of our monitoring on the ground, we see that the human rights situation in Belarus has not only remained bad, but it has deteriorated further. Firstly, in the areas of freedoms of association, expression, and assembly as well as concerning the use of torture and ill-treatment in custody, enforced disappearances, impunity of perpetrators of human rights abuses, and violations of due process and fair trial safeguards.

  We support references in the report to specific areas where comprehensive review of relevant legislation, policies, strategies and practices should be done on the basis of relevant UN documents containing recommendations on the human rights situation in Belarus that should serve as a framework for legislative and policy change.

• Statement to ECOSOC 2011 High-Level Segment

  CIVICUS' UN Representative in Geneva, Renate Bloem, made an intervention today that the UN Economic and Social Council reaffirming that "CIVICUS believes that UN member states and global civil society need to work together to ensure quality education for all, in accordance with international norms and best practices. Moreover, civil society can play a strategic role in shaping development policies and in ensuring their proper implementation." 

• Statement to Human Rights Council on the systematic attacks against civil society around the world

  High Commissioner, CIVICUS welcomes your annual report, very rich update this morning and your strong independent voice! We share your concern that a growing number of states are selectively adhering to their international human rights and humanitarian law obligations. We note, in particular, the introduction of a spate of national legislation undermining the rights to freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly and participation in public affairs.