Photo: Civil Rights Defenders

Issues related to the rights of LGBT people are rarely a research subject in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The LGBT community seems to have ‘disappeared’ from the public discourse since the violent attacks against the organisers of the Queer festival in 2008.

We made these observations through a legal analysis of the rights of LGBT people in Bosnia-Herzegovina, together with our partner Sarajevo Open Centre.

To change the negative development in recent years, and to prevent LGBT activities from being reduced to private and semi-informal gatherings, we are arranging seminars to strengthen the capacities of newly formed LGBT networks in the country. The promotion of the legal analysis is also part of our effort to encourage LGBT activists to increase their rights based activities and initiatives.

The analysis that was presented on February 2, provides an overview of international, European and national mechanisms of protection and has been distributed to governmental institutions, human rights organisations, LGBT groups, libraries and universities. It will be used as a starting point for further advocacy activities and will also serve as an educational tool.

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Valiantsin Stefanovich, vice president of Viasna, was also present. After his speech he turned his head toward the Belarusian embassy and called out “Free the political prisoners, free Belarus!”

Ales Bialiatski, chair of Human Rights Center Viasna, has been imprisoned for the last six months. Both the trial and the sentence is directly connected to his human rights work and can be seen as an act of the Belarusian regime to silence human rights defenders in the country. On January 24, the Minsk city court upheld the verdict against Ales Bialiatski.

Sofia Uggla from Östgruppen, Maja Åberg from Amnesty International, Mats Söderlund from Svenska författarförbundet and Christian Holm, member of the Swedish parliament (M), also spoke during the manifestation.

View a video clip from the demonstration on Youtube
(The speeches are in Swedish)

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” We are not the least surprised by the decision. The Belarusian regime is using the process against Ales Bialiatski to silence human rights defenders in the country. Our thoughts go to our brave colleague and his family, said Joanna Kurosz, Programme Director at Civil Rights Defenders.

On November 24, 2011, the district court sentenced Ales Bialiatski for tax evasion to four and a half years in prison and confiscation of property. The trial and sentence of Bialiatski is politically motivated and directly connected to his work as a human rights defender.

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/en/news/13899/

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/en/news/13816/

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/en/news/13797/

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• 2011-09-29 -- Continued harassment of Viasna
  Uladzimir Labkovich, legal adviser at Human Rights Center Viasna, was detained in Minsk in connection to a manifestation in support of Ales Bialiatski, on September 25. The arrest is yet another examp...
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“We are happy that our colleague is finally free from charges. This should have happened a long time ago. We also welcome the fact that libel has been decriminalised in Russia, which prevents similar proceedings against human rights defenders in the future”, said Joanna Kurosz, Programme Director at Civil Rights Defenders.

If the decision is not appealed in Moscow city court within 10 days, the criminal proceeding against Oleg Orlov will be dropped.

Oleg Orlov says he’s glad that the case was investigated and that he managed to bring up the issues of the continual human rights violations and persecution of human rights activists in Chechnya:

“No one has expected the verdict ‘not guilty’ to be delivered by the court of the first instance, but due to the fairness of judge Morozova the sentence was delivered. Everything we did in the court, both me and my colleagues, we did also in memory of our friend Natasha Estemirova.”

The ground for the criminal case against Orlov was his statement after the death of Natalia Estemirova, that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and his regime were behind Estemirova’s murder. In the statement after her death, Orlov wrote that Memorial had been aware that their latest investigations into new abductions, unlawful executions and public killings in a Chechen village had provoked the anger of high level Chechen officials.

For more information: http://www.memo.ru/2009/11/03/sudeng.html

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“Igor Kalyapin is among the most courageous human rights defenders in Russia today. The Joint Mobile Group, that he is in charge of, investigates cases in Chechnya that are too dangerous for local human rights defenders to deal with. This is an apparent attempt from the side of the authorities to obstruct their important work”, said Joanna Kurosz, Programme Director at Civil Rights Defenders.

The Chechen special police unit ОМОN filed a complaint to the investigative authorities in Chechnya about disclosure of state secrets by Igor Kalyapin. The complaint is currently being investigated.

Igor Kalyapin believes that OMON’s accusations have to do with the Joint Mobile Group’s progress in the investigation into the abduction of Islam Umarpashayev. Nevertheless, he does not believe that the case could lead to a guilty verdict.

“They stand the same chance of success as when they accused me of seizing state power”, said Igor Kalyapin, according to one of his colleagues at Committee against Torture.

Representatives from the Committee against Torture, however, think it is very probable that the investigative authorities in Chechnya will open a criminal case. Disclosure of state secrets is a crime under Article 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, punishable with 3 to 7 years in prison.

Igor Kalapyin is listed by Forbes together with 24 other important people in Russian public life.

Civil Rights Defenders cooperation with the Committee against Torture includes support to the Joint Mobile Group, whose members travel to Chechnya to monitor and investigate serious human rights violations. In 2009, the situation in the North Caucasus worsened significantly and in order to maintain presence on the ground, a group of human rights NGOs decided to organise visits to Chechnya on a rotational basis, to monitor and report on violations.

The most high-profile case of the group is the abduction of Islam Umarpashayev. Umarpashayev is believed to have been abducted by members of the Chechen OMON. The Umarpashayev case is currently investigated by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. Igor Kalyapin is the representative of the victim, and as such participates in the investigative activities.

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-This is another step taken by Alexander Lukashenka’s regime to suppress freedom of speech on the internet. All these measures have one goal – to silence the remaining dissident voices in Belarus, said Joanna Kurosz, Programme Director at Civil Rights Defenders.

The amendment regulates sanctions for breaking the Decree 60, introduced in July 2010 to control internet users. It requires all service providers to identify clients and keep their web history.

One of the reportedly banned websites is spring96.org, the site of the prominent human rights organisation Viasna. Viasna and other sites on the black list have been blocked for visitors from state companies and educational institutions but can be visited from a private computer. The black list contains, according to reports, five web sites that provide independent information: Charter97, Belaruspartisan.org, Lipkovich live journal, Prakopovich.by. Remaining sites on the black list contain pornographic material.

The authorities have also stopped the broadcasting of EuroNews and the Russian channel TNT, which were important sources of independent news for those who do not have internet access.

This is linked to several other measures taken by the regime to silence the opposition. In 2009 a new media law entered into force.  According to the law, the authorities can arbitrarily close down outlets and censor reporting.

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Read the statement: Cambodia LANGO 4 joint letter

Read our articles regarding the NGO law:

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/se/news/13964/

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/se/news/13780/

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/se/news/13565/

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/se/news/13329/

http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/se/news/13314/

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But unfortunately this is not only the case in Ethiopia. Local human rights defenders throughout the region are literally working with their lives at stake. They deserve international attention and support.

- We consider the verdicts to be politically motivated. The terrorist legislation that was used during the trial was turned into a tool to prevent free speech in Ethiopia, said Erik Esbjörnson from Civil Rights Defenders.

Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson were sentenced on 21 December, 2011, for entering Ethiopia illegally, and for supporting terrorist activities. The sanction is expected to be published within a week.

The two men admit to the first accusation but state that it was necessary in order to be able to carry out their journalistic work. They deny any form of connection to terrorist activity.

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Photo:@LICADHO

On December 20, Cambodians from the country’s 24 provinces marched to the National Assembly to submit a petition against the proposed NGO law that will limit the work of civil society. Protesters carried a 230 meter long “kramar”, a traditional scarf, with over 10,000 signatures requesting the Parliament to stop the bill that restricts civil rights and freedoms.

The day before the protest the Cambodian Interior Ministry invited representatives from civil society organisations for a consultation of the law. The fourth law proposal includes some improvements, according to an analysis by civil society actors. Compulsory registration of NGOs and the ban for non-registered associations or NGOs to operate has been removed.

The new proposal regulates “Community Based Organizations,” which were not regulated separately in previous proposals. This means a de facto requirement for registration, which is particularly problematic for informal networks at grassroot level. The law does not specify the grounds upon which an organisation may be denied registration, or what may dissolve an organisation. Only Cambodians have the right to form NGOs, which excludes refugees, migrant workers and stateless persons.

Civil Rights Defenders and many other human rights organisations fear that the bill will be rapidly adopted. The NGO law will increase government control over civil society and could be used to silence critical voices.

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The course focused on the new media law in Moldova and case law from the European Court of Human Rights. Our aim was to improve understanding of how the new legislation should be interpreted and applied by magistrates who work with these types of cases.

In connection with the training, the guide “Comments to the Law of the Republic of Moldova on the Freedom of Expression”, was presented and distributed to facilitate the judges and lawyers use of the law.

Civil Rights Defenders’ Chairman of the Board, Percy Bratt, participated in the training and talked about the Swedish laws regarding freedom of expression and jurisprudence of the ECtHR. He said that, for the laws to have an effect it is important to raise the awareness of professionals.

“Strengthening the legal system is central, because that’s where the rights are protected. Strengthening the freedom of speech is a foundation for democratic development, which is why it is very important that we arrange these courses.”

In Moldova a major problem is the low trust in the justice system among the public. Judges earn very little in comparison. Nevertheless many live in luxury villas which sends the wrong signal to people.

“It is not possible to incorporate human rights in a corrupt judiciary. We must work in parallel with the fight against corruption”, says Percy Bratt.

The new media law is very important for freedom of speech in the country; it secures the right to criticize the state and its authorities. The protection of the source is strengthened as well as the right to privacy and integrity. The law also criminalizes hate speech.

Together with Independent Journalism Center we have worked to prepare the bill, lobbying to get the law enacted since 2006. Now that the law is adopted we continue to work for the law to be applied correctly.

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