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How much does the EU care about human rights?

March 23, 2018 By administrator

EU care about human rights

EU care about human rights

Human rights groups have criticized the European Union for failing to uphold its values while tackling the migrant crisis. Where are its red lines? Conflict Zone meets European Parliament Vice President Ioan Pascu.

Populist success at the polls across Europe. Brexit. Disunity. The European Union continues to face serious problems on many issues, including its handling of the migrant crisis that began in 2015.

But despite its humanitarian rhetoric, the EU has come under fire for its interventions, most recently in Libya.

In December, Amnesty International published a damning report, criticizing EU member states for “actively supporting a sophisticated system of abuse and exploitation of refugees and migrants by the Libyan Coast Guard, detention authorities and smugglers in order to prevent people from crossing the Mediterranean.”

Is the European Union failing to live up to its founding values of “human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity” that each of its members are bound by?

Red lines

This week on Conflict Zone, DW’s Tim Sebastian met European Parliament Vice President Ioan Pascu in Strasbourg and began by asking him why the EU spent so much time talking about human rights but did less to uphold them.

“It’s a question of values of a club,” Pascu told DW’s Sebastian. “They were posted at the entrance door, whoever wanted to become a member of the club would have to abide by them.”

Responding to the suggestion that member states were failing to abide by these rules, Pascu said: “I would agree with you that the attractiveness of the European Union has been affected by the crisis, by the conflicts around, and today there is not so much enthusiasm as there used to be in the late 90s, beginning of the 2000s.”

But Pascu dismissed that there was anything new in Greece’s decision in June 2017 to block EU criticism of China’s human rights record. China has a 51% stake in Greece’s largest port.

Pascu disagreed too that the EU was failing to offer help beyond its own borders: “We see countries which up until now did not pay too much attention to the EU, being interested in relations with the EU, take India for instance, take Mexico for instance.”

But wasn’t this only driven by trade interests?

“Who is going to come only for values? Who is going to come only for that?” said Pascu, a former defense minister of Romania.

‘Not a great democrat’

On criticism of a recent agreement with the Philippines, Pascu questioned waiting for another leader: “Because they elected Duterte as president and Duterte is not a great democrat we should say, ‘no deals with you until you elect somebody else’?”

Human Rights Watch has saidPresident Rodrigo Duterte has “plunged the Philippines into its worst human rights crisis since the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.”

“We do have to take into account much more than that. What if we don’t have such a treaty with Philippines tomorrow when they elect somebody else than Duterte?” said Pascu.

On the EU’s statements championing human rights, Pascu said: “It does not mean that the world revolves around only about one action or one leader, and then we have to give up everything else because that leader is not a democrat.”

So does it have limits in its dealings with other countries?

“We do have red lines … In February this parliament was very critical to the human rights records of Egypt.”

The European Parliament issued a statement in February condemning Egypt’s use of the death penalty.

In January, the former president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, said “the EU is a fair-weather friend to human rights: emphasizing them when there’s little risk, de-emphasizing them when interests come into play – often when it is in the interest of individual member states not to raise issues, primarily for commercial reasons […].”

Pascu, a European Parliament vice president since 2014, questioned this view as too generalized: “Not everything in the European Union is bad. Not everything in the European Union, equally, is not to be criticized. So that’s the way we move forward.”

‘Violence can be provoked’

But if there are many matters of division within the Union, one moment of recent unity has arguably been its silence over Spain and Madrid’s response to Catalonia’s failed independence bid.

Human Rights Watch said the Spanish police had used excessive force as they tried to stop the referendum in Catalonia.

Pascu told DW’s Tim Sebastian: “I side with the [Spanish] government because the government has the responsibility to make their constitution respected by their citizens. If that happens in another country the same situation will happen. Why do you think that these separatists have not been supported in Europe?”

However, Pascu insisted that support for Spain was not about the country’s importance to the EU: “It’s the symbolism of it. If you let these things happen and go around, then you never have the member states existing in the European Union.”

And if there was more violence in Spain over an independence vote?

“Sometimes violence can be provoked. Sometimes it can,” said Pascu.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: EU, Human rights

Conflict Zone – Human Rights Wronged

March 17, 2018 By administrator

Despite being adopted in 1948, the principles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remain under threat nearly 70 years later. Conflict Zone confronts guests on human rights issues in this recent highlights show.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Human rights, Wronged

Public protests will be inevitable in Armenia in 2018 – human rights activists

January 7, 2018 By administrator

Public protests and instabilities will be inevitable in Armenia in 2018, according to top representatives of human rights NGOs.

Speaking to Tert.am, President of Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik Ishkhanyan stressed the importance of civil society campaigns as a serious effort towards combating numerous human rights abuses.

He also highlighted last year’s public debates addressing the problem of domestic violence, and political prisoners. “But because human rights violations bear a systemic character in Armenia and there is no clear-cut separation of powers, the civil society’s achievements can be only partial, not systemic,” Ishkhanyan noted.

He added that very often violent acts by law enforcement officials go unpunished, encouraging them to commit further abuses.

Addressing the problem, Artur Sakunts, President of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office, said he sees that the scope of activities has essentially narrowed for civil society organizations, restricting their chances to react freely to different developments.

“I observe regress in participatory processes and the civil society’s role in, and impact upon, the decision-making,” he said, citing restrictions on the media and civil society NGOs in election monitoring activities.

 

Sakunts also stressed the importance of considering opinion-makers’ decision, a process which he said also saw a regress in the country in 2017.

He added that he doesn’t have optimistic forecasts for 2018 either. “We will be facing an institutionalized authoritarianism in 2018. With the problems never finding a real solution, exercising pressures, silencing and taking processes under control remain the only possible method. So instabilities and demonstrations will be inevitable,” Sakunts said.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Activists, Armenia, Human rights

PACE Criticizes Azerbaijan On Human Rights, Justice System

October 11, 2017 By administrator

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has expressed concerns over Azerbaijan’s “unprecedented crackdown on human rights” and urged reforms to ensure the independence of the judiciary.

Meeting in a plenary session in Strasbourg on October 11, the parliamentarians adopted a resolution denouncing “the reported prosecution and detention of leaders of NGOs, human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, and bloggers,” although some of them were released last year.

PACE cited cases of “torture and inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest, in police custody, and in prisons, and the lack of effective investigations, violations of the right to a fair trial, and violations of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.”

The resolution also called on Azerbaijani authorities to “begin real and meaningful reforms” to remove the obstacles to the work of journalists and rights defenders.

In another resolution adopted on October 11, the parliamentarians urged Azerbaijan to strengthen parliamentary control over the executive and to ensure the independence of the judiciary.

“Recent constitutional changes could make the executive less accountable to parliament,” PACE warned.

The assembly also urged Azerbaijan to establish a justice system “genuinely independent, impartial, and free from interference by the executive.”

The head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Samad Seyidov, rejected the resolutions and denounced a “campaign of hatred against Azerbaijan” aimed at creating a “cleavage” between Baku and the Council of Europe.

Western governments and international human rights groups have criticized Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government for persistently persecuting independent media outlets, journalists, and opposition politicians and activists.

Aliyev, who has ruled the oil-producing South Caucasus country of nearly 10 million people since shortly before his father’s death in 2003, has shrugged off the criticism.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Azerbaijan, Criticizes, Human rights, PACE

Turkey court orders arrest of six human rights activists

July 18, 2017 By administrator

Turkey court ,human rights activistsAn Istanbul court on July 18 ordered that six human rights activists including Amnesty International’s Turkey director be arrested for aiding a terror group, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Turkey director Idil Eser was detained on July 5 along with seven other activists and two foreign trainers during a digital security and information management workshop on Büyükada, an island south of Istanbul.

“Six were remanded in custody and four released on judicial control,” Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner told AFP.

Prosecutors accuse them of “committing a crime in the name of a terror organization without being a member,” he said.

The ruling came a day after the activists gave statements to prosecutors for the first time since their detention.

Eight of those detained were Turkish rights activists, including Ilknur Ustun of the Women’s Coalition and Veli Acu of the Human Rights Agenda Association. Four of those have now been released, Gardner said.

Two foreigners – a German and a Swedish national who were leading the digital information workshop – remain in pre-trial detention.

“It is politically motivated targeting not just of these six human rights defenders who have been remanded in pre-trial prison custody but it is taking aim at Turkey’s entire human rights movement,” Gardner told AFP.

“What we’ve learnt today is that defending human rights has become a crime in Turkey,” Gardner added.

“After this decision none of us who defend human rights in Turkey, whether it is Amnesty International or other organizations, are safe in this country. This decision cannot be allowed to stand.”

Gardner earlier said the meeting on Büyükada had been a “routine” workshop and there was nothing suspicious about it.

“What is absolutely crystal clear, one hundred percent clear is this was a routine human rights workshop – the sort of workshop that happens all over Turkey, in fact the sort of workshop that happens all over the world,” he said.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Activists, Human rights, Turkey

Prominent Azerbaijani Human Rights Defenders Allowed To Leave

April 19, 2016 By administrator

FB3160B9-2032-470D-B11C-6526493CBE94_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy10_cw0By RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service

April 19, 2016

Two of Azerbaijan’s most prominent human rights defenders, who supporters say have been persecuted and jailed at home for their activist work, have arrived in the Netherlands after the authorities in Baku granted them permission to leave.

Leyla Yunus and her husband, Arif, were greeted by their daughter, Dinara Yunus, who lives in the Netherlands, upon landing at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on April 19, according to Dutch media reports.

Welcoming the two, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said Leyla and Arif Yunus, who are seeking asylum in the Netherlands, “had put their own safety and happiness at stake in the struggle for democracy and human rights,” according to local reports.

No further details were immediately available.

Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus were sentenced to 8 1/2 and 7 years in prison, respectively, in August 2015 for “fraud” and other purported crimes related to their NGO work.

Supporters said the charged were trumped up. Amnesty International recognized the couple as prisoners of conscience.

International rights groups, the United States, and the European Union routinely criticize Azerbaijan’s poor record on human rights and freedom of speech under President Ilham Aliyev, who critics say has cracked down on independent media since succeeding his long-ruling father in 2003.

The decision by authorities in Azerbaijan to let them travel comes as something of a surprise.

Last month, an appeals court in Baku ruled the two could not travel to Europe because of their suspended prison terms.

Toward the end of 2015, the Yunuses were released from jail and their sentences were suspended due to their poor health.

Leyla Yunus, 59, suffers from a number of ailments including diabetes and hepatitis C.

She had complained of being beaten several times by prison guards since being detained in July 2014.

She appeared frail as she left the courtroom on December 9, walking with difficulty and leaning on her husband.

Arif Yunus was released in November, also on health grounds.

The prosecution of Leyla and Arif Yunus has been condemned by the international community as part of a deepening crackdown on dissent in Azerbaijan.

Numerous other activists, journalists, and government critics — including investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova — remain imprisoned in Azerbaijan on charges that Western officials and international rights groups have called politically motivated.

Baku has repeatedly rejected the accusations, insisting that the cases in question are strictly criminal in nature.

The Yunuses, who had worked for the unregistered Peace and Democracy Institute in Baku, were still facing treason charges in a separate case stemming from allegations of spying for Baku’s archrival, Armenia.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Allowed, Azerbaijani, Defenders, Human rights, leave

Australian Parliamentarian Slams Azerbaijan on Human Rights and Karabakh in Federal Parliament

September 16, 2015 By administrator

Australian Federal Parliament member for Bennelong, Australia, John Alexander (Source: ANC Australia)

Australian Federal Parliament member for Bennelong, Australia, John Alexander (Source: ANC Australia)

CANBERRA—Federal parliament member for Bennelong, Australia, John Alexander has delivered a blistering speech on the floor of Australian parliament after meeting with a visiting Azeribaijani parliament member, condemning Azerbaijan’s ongoing disregard for human rights and peace in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) reports.

His statement was delivered following a meeting – in his capacity as Chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics – with Azerbaijani parliament member Khanlar Fatiyev, who is visiting Australia as part of an official Azeribaijani Parliamentary delegation.

After attacking Azerbaijan’s capture of human rights activists, Alexander said: “I also raised my strong concerns about Azerbaijan’s actions in the on-going dispute with Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan has invested over $1 billion in armored vehicles and artillery in the past few years, making a mockery of any supposed desire for peace in the region.”

He added: “As we commemorate the centenary of the commencement of the Armenian Genocide it is essential for us as community leaders to call out persecution, and to stress to trading partners like Azerbaijan the importance of protecting human rights and political freedoms for all.”

ANC Australia’s Executive Director, Vache Kahramanian remarked: “John Alexander today spoke truthfully and powerfully on the true character of Azerbaijan. That country has spent billions around the world in an attempt to showcase itself as a democracy but actions speak louder than words.”

“Australia is a country built on the rule of law and on the fundamental respect for human rights. Azerbaijan has continued to be a blatant violator of human rights, ranking poorly in global rankings for consecutive years. Its ongoing aggression towards Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have further added to its sorry state of affairs,” Kahramanian added.

“Mr. Alexander has had a long track record of setting the record straight in the Australian Parliament on such important matters. Australia has been well served by this distinguished leader who speaks openly and honestly on such important matters,” Kahramanian concluded.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Australia, Azerbaijan, Human rights, violation

Genocide Prevention Resolution adopted by UN Human Rights Council message to entire world – experts

March 29, 2015 By administrator

f5517aab1042a9_5517aab1042cb.thumbThe Armenia-submitted Genocide Prevention Resolution, which was adopted at the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council, proves that Armenia is struggling not only for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but also for preventing further genocides, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies Ruben Safrastyan told Tert.am.

This most important initiative succeeded. Armenia is thus not only showing its concern, but is also taking specific steps.
“This way of action must become one of our diplomatic priorities,” Mr Safaryan said.

As regards the importance of the resolution in the context of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, the scholar stressed that the entire civilized world is well aware Armenia’s initiative is no coincidence.

Expert in Turkic studies Ruben Melkonyan says that genocide prevention is a panhuman task, and the resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council is evidence that the organization is responsible for dealing with the humankind’s problems in the right way.

Armenia’s initiative must be considered within context of the Armenian Genocide centennial.

“We can suppose that the adoption of the resolution is at least a political ‘message’ to the entire world, particularly to Turkey. We can regard the resolution as silent support for the opinions on the Armenian Genocide. That is, without placing any emphasis, the UN is condemning Turkey, urging it to admit the Armenian Genocide.”

The entire civilized world is well aware that Armenia is champion of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and this is one of Armenia’s foreign policy priorities.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: #armenianGenocide, Armenian, council, Human rights, UN

Turkish Crime Against Humanity: Human rights lawyer gets 10-month prison sentence

January 22, 2015 By administrator

202942_newsdetailEren Keskin, a prominent Turkish lawyer, has been handed a 10-month prison sentence on charges of “insulting the Turkish nation and the Republic of Turkey” for criticizing the killing of a 12-year-old by a police officer while speaking at conference back in 2005.

A former president of the Human Rights Association’s (İHD) İstanbul office, Keskin was a guest speaker at a conference in the Çerkezköy district of Tekirdağ province. While there, she commented on the killing of 12-year-old Uğur Kaymaz and his father by police, saying: “The [Turkish] state has a wild mindset [that allows it] to slay a 12-year-old. Turkey has to answer [for this]. Turkey has a dirty history.” Ten years after her comment, a court sentenced her to 10 months in jail, basing its ruling on the highly controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

The judge chose not to put Keskin on probation, saying she “has a bad record and might commit another similar crime in the future.”

Speaking to the media on her conviction, Keskin said she has no criminal record and that the judge, seeing her as an enemy, acted with vengeance.
“The expressions ‘bad record’ and ‘criminal record’ are used for people who have committed serious crimes. I am a human rights activist and a lawyer. So far, I have only been tried for my views. The government claims that there is nobody in jail for their opinions, but apparently nothing has changed in Turkey,” Keskin said.

Many Turkish journalists and authors, including Elif Şafak and Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, have faced prosecution based on the same article, mostly concerning comments supporting claims of an Armenian genocide in 1915. Following a large number of cases, an amendment was introduced to Article 301 in 2008, narrowing the scope of the crime. If the Supreme Court of Appeals upholds Keskin’s conviction, she will be the first person in a long while to be imprisoned based on the article.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: article-301, Eren Keskin, free speech, freedom-of-expression, Human rights, Turkey, turkish-penal-code

Sadness among defenders of human rights in Azerbaijan

October 2, 2014 By administrator

arton103379-299x189For citizens of Azerbaijan who have exhausted all the possibilities of justice in the country, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) may offer a last resort.

When they decide to take the case to the Strasbourg court, they are often guided by a specialized non-governmental group in legal advice and human rights. But the opportunity to request such assistance is dwindling rapidly because these organizations disappear from the landscape.

An organization that has contributed to the presentations of the ECHR, the Legal Education Society, closed its doors recently after its leader was arrested. On August 8, a court ordered qu’Intiqam Aliyev should be kept in detention while prosecutors built a case against him for tax fraud, abuse of power and illegal business activities. He denies all charges.

Another blow came with the closure of the Media Rights Institute, who also worked on cases before the ECHR. In a statement on August 15, its president Rashid Hajili said he had been forced to take this step because the organization was in financial trouble.

“There are problems in relations with donors who support the activities of the Institute of Media Rights recently, and no solution is in sight,” said Hajili. “This means that the Institute of Media Rights may not be able to continue working on court cases.”

The loss of the institute will have a serious impact on people like journalist Mukhtarli Afgan, who six cases currently before the ECHR.

“The organization [Institute of Media Rights] has provided legal assistance to 150 legal cases against journalists” Has he said. ‘He defended my interests in all these [six] cases. Now back to me and if there is no one to defend my rights. There are very few independent lawyers. Many lawyers are afraid to file a complaint against the government of Azerbaijan to the ECHR. “

Friends and admirers of the work of the Institute suspect it was forced to close for political rather than financial reasons, but it just is not able to say so openly. Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist foreground, is among those that the Institute of Media Rights helped.

“I am grateful for the help they have given me so far,” she said.

She told IWPR that it was obvious that the Institute had been under strong pressure.

“The pressure from the government is why the Institute of Media Rights has stopped working,” she said. “The accounts of the Institute have been frozen, and his head [Hajili] emigrated long ago. Then he came back and suddenly announced that the institute was closed and as he had never been involved in a case involving political prisoners …. In this difficult situation, the Institute has clearly decided not to the struggle. We have no choice but to respect that decision. “

Ganimat Zahid, editor Azadliq, an opposition newspaper, agrees that the Institute was forced to close rather than choosing to do so. “The policy of persecution of the authorities must have an impact on NGOs’ Has he told IWPR. “The Institute of Media Rights has taken a firm stand on matters of principle, and was one of those organizations that the government has always been in the crosshairs. I think if she had not stopped working, his head Rashid Hajili was arrested. The organization has clearly stopped its activities to avoid imminent arrest. “

Five days before the Institute has announced its closure, one of the staff members made a statement in support of President Ilham Aliyev. After the NGOs and political prisoners have expressed dismay Elchin Sadigov, a lawyer, wrote on Facebook that he was the victim of a witch hunt. Hajili came to his defense, also on Facebook, but did not answer the questions that were posted on the reasons why the institute was closed.

Management of Azerbaijan continues to reject any suggestion that it is behind the arrests in series of his critics and the closure of their organizations.

“It is unfortunate that these NGOs and individuals – and some journalists – fall back on foreign forces who fund and consider themselves above the national law, by refusing to declare their grant-funded project accounts, to pay taxes and comply with other legal requirements set by the government, “said Ali Hasanov, head of Political Affairs of the presidential administration, the news agency AzerTas. “In these areas, appropriate measures that the institutions of the state have taken are unfortunately described as” pressure on civil society “and” restrictions “on the operation of NGOs and the media. This is a campaign to blacken the reputation of Azerbaijan. “

Leyla Mustafayeva is a freelance journalist in Azerbaijan.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Azerbaijan, Human rights, sadness

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