By Jacqueline Hansen, Amnesty International's Major Campaigns and Women's Human Rights Campaigner.
“We can start with our future, our children, teach them love instead of hate… Violence, it’s easy to teach violence and hate. Turn that around and teach love, empathy, and we wouldn’t be here today grieving.”
– Glen Wilson, Father of CJ Morningstar Fowler, a 16-year-old member of the Gitanmaax First Nation, whose body was found outside Kamloops, British Columbia, in December 2012.
By Lamri Chirouf, Amnesty International’s delegate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Last month we drove northwest from Ramallah to visit the small village of Budrus, which gained international attention a decade ago when residents started protesting against the fence/wall erected by Israel.
Regular protests there against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank continue, and clashes between village youths and members of the Israeli army have become a weekly, if not daily, occurrence.
The main reason behind the protests is still the wall, described by the Israeli government as a security fence and by Budrus residents, and Palestinians throughout the West Bank, as an ‘apartheid wall’ and a way for the Israeli government to annex more Palestinian lands.
By Aubrey Harris, Coordinator for the Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty
My Neighbour: Hamid Ghassemi-Shall
I live in Toronto's east end, a neighbourhood known as Leslieville. It's between The Beach and Riverdale (where Degrassi was set). My neighbourhood is typically urban. There are a lot of streetcars, buses and older houses. The local elementary school is old enough to have an honour roll of former students who paid with their lives during the Great War and World War II. I didn't grow up here (I grew up in London, ON) - but I quite like this neighbourhood - and I've lived in a few around Toronto.
Amnesty's Egypt researcher Diana Eltahawy blogs from Cairo
On Sunday I attended the Cairo funeral of four Coptic Christians killed on Friday night in Khousous, a small town north of the city.
I had been planning to travel to Khousous to find out more about the sectarian violence which led to the deaths there.
Instead, I found myself caught up in more violence at the funeral itself — with mourners on one side, and unknown assailants and, later, security forces on the other.
Before the clashes erupted, feelings of grief, anger and injustice were palpable inside Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, which was filled with mourners. Tears, prayers and wailing were drowned out by chants against the government and the Muslim Brotherhood, and vows to avenge the dead.
Shortly after the caskets and funeral procession made their way out of the cathedral, violence broke out nearby between some of the mourners and assailants reported to be residents of the area.
Amnesty International has confirmed that Canadian citizen Aaron Yoon is detained at a prison in Nouakchott, Mauritania. An Amnesty International researcher interviewed him in prison during an Amnesty International mission to the country in July 2012.
At that time Mr. Yoon very clearly indicated that he did not want Amnesty International to take up or campaign on his case. Amnesty International respects the wishes of prisoners with respect to what action they do or do not want the organization to take on their behalf. As a result we have not campaigned on Mr. Yoon’s case in any way.
Amnesty International has since confirmed that Mr. Yoon was brought to trial on terrorism-related charges in the summer of 2012 and sentenced to a two year prison sentence, beginning from the time of his arrest in December 2011. As such he should be slated for release in December 2013.
April 4 is Refugee Rights Day in Canada.
This day marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1985 Singh decision. In this decision the Supreme Court found that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the fundamental rights of refugees. The Court decided that where the Charter declares ‘Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice;’ ‘everyone’ includes refugees.
Today the Canadian Council for Refugees and other organizations across Canada announced the launch of a campaign designed to transform the conversation about refugees in Canada. Under the banner ‘Proud to Protect Refugees’, they are dedicated to new efforts to promote a positive vision of what we want for refugees and of the important contributions refugees make to our communities.
They are calling on all Canadians to show their pride in protecting refugees.
By Amnesty Canada Secretary General Alex Neve
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s current trip through the Middle East offers a tremendous opportunity to press a strong message that increased respect for human rights – by all governments and by all parties to the region’s various conflicts – provides the road map for lasting peace and security. It is also an opportunity to restore Canada’s standing in the region as a determined champion of human rights; a reputation that has been considerably strained in recent years.
Canada has staked out a clear human rights position in the Middle East, marked by unflinching reticence to criticize the Israeli government. Along the way Canada has come to be seen as intensely partisan and even polarizing. This is the Minister’s chance to demonstrate that the only side that Canada will take in the Middle East is the side of human rights.
Campaigner Hilary Homes on today's negotiations
Once upon a time, treaty negotiations literally took place behind closed doors. Unless you had some good friends among the delegates, you had to wait until the very end to know the results. Much of this month’s Arms Trade Treaty negotiations have not been covered by the media. But in the internet age I could virtually be there monitoring Amnesty delegates’ Twitter accounts while tuning into the live feed from the United Nations.
After two decades of work to develop a treaty, the procedural delays around just getting the delegations into the room were nerve-racking. Would we or would we not finally have an Arms Trade Treaty? Hurry up and vote! Once things got underway, however, it wasn’t long before Iran, Syria and North Korea blocked the consensus needed to finalize the treaty. Though several states argued for adoption anyway, UN procedure means a return to another venue on another day, most likely the General Assembly itself.
Prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa must be immediately and unconditionally released, Amnesty International said after she was denied bail in a court appearance on Wednesday.
Mtetwa was arrested on Sunday 17 March when she responded to a client whose home was being searched by police in Harare. She remained in custody despite a High Court order for her immediate release being issued at around 1am Monday morning.
“Beatrice Mtetwa is the unfortunate victim of arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention and must be released immediately,” said Noel Kututwa, Amnesty International’s southern Africa director.
“It’s staggering that while Zimbabwe is in the process of adopting a new constitution which provides a stronger bill of human rights, lawyers in the course of their lawful duty are being so blatantly harassed and intimidated.”
Beatrice Mtetwa responded to the call of a client, Thabani Mpofu, who is a staff member in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's office, on Sunday morning during a police search of his home. When she arrived at the premises police were already conducting the search.
by Kathy Price, Amnesty International Canada's campaigner on Latin America
Even if you didn’t listen to the words, the video images spoke volumes at the hearing on Colombia on March 14, 2013, at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington.
Maria Patricia Tobón Yagarí, of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), sat alone but with enormous dignity and strength of purpose as she spoke out about the ongoing violence and denial of human rights which threaten the very survival of Indigenous peoples in Colombia.
The situation is so desperate that an increasing number of suicides by Indigenous women are being reported, testified Ms. Tobón, underscoring the risks posed by a lethal mix of armed conflict and the imposition of resource extraction on Indigenous lands.
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