Archives des Human Rights

The world’s disturbing inaction as the Genocide Convention turns 70

5 décembre 2018 guest 6 min read Adama Dieng, appeal, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Genocide Convention, Human Rights, International Criminal Court, international law, Responsibility to Protect, Rome Statute, United Nations

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This is a foundational piece of international law that was born out of the mass atrocities committed by the Nazi regime against European Jews during the Second World War.

Despite the passage of time, we can still find inspiration in the example of Raphael Lemkin. After fleeing to the United States when he lost his family to the Holocaust, Lemkin campaigned for the establishment of an international law to define and forbid genocide. When his resolution proposing the Genocide Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, it became the UN’s first human rights treaty.
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Forum citoyen / Bürgerforum

Kofi Annan: a complicated legacy of impressive achievements, and some profound failures

20 août 2018 guest 6 min read Danny Bradlow, food-for-oil programme scandal, Human Rights, International Criminal Court, Iraq, Kofi Annan, Kofi Annan Foundation, Millenium Development Goals, Nobel Peace Prize, peacekeeping, Rwanda, Secretary General, Srebrenica, Sustainable Development Goals, the Elders, United Nation

Kofi Annan (80) was an important historical figure who played a critical role in many key events of the 1990s and 2000s. His death is therefore an opportunity to both celebrate his life and to begin honestly assessing his contributions to the world.

The Ghanaian diplomat’s legacy is complicated. He served as both head of the United Nations peacekeeping and as Secretary General of the UN. His tenure in these high offices – from 1992 to 2006 – were marked by great human tragedies as well as episodes of progress. His role in these events raises difficult questions about individual responsibility and the role of international organisations and their leaders in creating a more peaceful and just world.
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Forum citoyen / Bürgerforum Press release

Hungarian authorities to criminalise humanitarian assistance to migrants – OMCT’s statement

10 juillet 2018 Malik Berkati 5 min read anti-migration laws, civil society, criminalisation, ECHR, FIDH, Human Rights, humanitarian assistance, Hungary, migration, NGOs, OMCT, Stop Soros package, The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, World Organisation Against Torture

Statement of The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) which was created in 1997 by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu , the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

j:mag regularly supports and relays OMCT’s appeals. This one too.

MaB

Forum citoyen / Bürgerforum

Les survivants de la torture méritent une meilleure protection à travers le monde, en Suisse y compris – Appel de l’OMCT

28 juin 2018 Malik Berkati 3 min read #protecttorturevictims, ACAT, Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture, appel, asile, Droit humains, Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l’homme, HCDH, Human Rights, HumansAgainstTorture, International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, IRCT, migration, non-refoulement, OMCT, Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture, Organisation suisse d'aide aux réfugiés, OSAR, Protégerlesvictimesdetorture, Protocole d’Istanbul, réfugiés, Suisse, torture

Nous relayons ici l’appel de l’Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT) – un réseau créé en Suisse en 1986 et composé de 297 organisations non gouvernementales dans plus de 90 pays. L’OMCT s’est donnée pour tâche de renforcer et d’accompagner les activités des organisations sur le terrain en fournissant à ses organisations membres les outils et les services leur permettant de mener à bien leur travail : prévention, dénonciation de la torture, poursuite des auteurs de violations graves et ’assistance aux victimes, y compris leur réhabilitation. L’OMCT jouit du statut consultatif ou d’observateur auprès de l’ECOSOC (Organisation des Nations Unies), de l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT), de la Commission africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples, du Conseil de l’Europe et de l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. L’organisation constitue aujourd’hui la principale coalition internationale d’ONG luttant contre la torture, les exécutions sommaires, les disparitions forcées et tout autre traitement cruel, inhumain ou dégradant.
j :mag soutient depuis des années les initiatives de l’OMCT et d’une des organisation affiliée, l’OSAR – l’Organisation suisse d’aide aux réfugiés, ici ou là par exemple.
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Forum citoyen / Bürgerforum Press release

Open letter: Urgent Need for Independent International Inquiry on Yemen

29 août 2017 guest 5 min read antipersonnel landmines, child soldiers, Houthi armed group, Human Rights, Human Rights Council, international investigation, joint letter, NGO, OHCHR, open letter, Saudi Arabia, United Nations, war crimes, Yemen

Joint NGO letter to Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Urgent Need for Independent International Inquiry on Yemen

We, the undersigned nongovernmental organizations, urge you to support the creation of an independent international investigation into violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Yemen since the start of the current conflict. This is a call that has been made since 2015 by national, regional, and international civil society organizations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Security Council Panel of Experts on Yemen. The number of abuses, and the need for credible international investigations, has only increased since 2015.
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Forum citoyen / Bürgerforum

Liu Xiaobo: a voice of conscience who fought oppression for decades

15 juillet 2017 guest 5 min read china, dissidence, Hermann Aubié, Human Rights, Liu Hui, Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize, prison

Only a few weeks after being diagnosed with a late-stage liver cancer in late May 2017, the world learned that China’s most prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo, died at 61 in a hospital in the north-east region of China, where he was born. As the poetess Tang Danhong wrote, he departed as “an innocent prisoner into the eternal light” (无罪的囚徒，融入永恒的光芒). What a tragedy for a man who fought most of his life for freedom to live out his last days in a hospital bed under lock and key.

Brève / Kurznachricht Cinéma / Kino Forum citoyen / Bürgerforum Press release