Impunity is one of the issues that the region of East Africa is struggling with. Freedom of expression and access to information is limited, with some exceptions. The criminalisation, punishment, killing and stigmatisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons are a pressing concern. We are gradually establishing our presence in the region and looking into different ways to empower human rights defenders and marginalized groups. Read about the current human rights situation in our country report Human rights in East Africa
Select archive for specific country: Ethiopia | Erithrea | Kenya | South Sudan
On 4 March, Kenya held presidential elections in which Uhuru Kenyatta defeated his rival Raila Odinga with the slightest margin, 50.07% of the votes casted. The election deemed free and fair by many observers, though Odinga, the current prime minister, vowed to challenge it in the court.
As recognition for his work promoting free expression in Ethiopia, Mesfin Negash, together with 40 other journalists and writers, has received the Hellman/Hammett award for 2012. The award is administrated by Human Rights Watch and given to writers who are subject to political persecution and human rights abuses. After being threatened by the authorities, Mesfin Negash fled Ethiopia in 2009 and today he continues his work for human rights in exile from Sweden.
Fit in, instead of standing out, is a general security advice for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people in Uganda. “It is a matter of survival”, says Brian Nkoyooyo, Director of the grass root organisation Icebreakers that works with LGBT youth. Since he is a well-known gay activist in a country that is considered to be one of the worst countries for LGBT people, he is always on guard: “I live every day as it was my last”.
Civil Rights Defenders strongly condemns the fact that the infamous so-called anti-gay bill once again is on the table in the Ugandan parliament, and urges president Museveni to use his veto to block it. Although the final draft has not been made official, it is clear that the outcome for the LGBT community in Uganda will be disastrous.
Mesfin Negash, Ehiopian journalist and human rights defender, living in Sweden, was recently found guilty of supporting terrorism by an Ethiopian court. On 13 July the sentence was delivered – eight years in prison. Negash is not surprised and not really angry either. However, his contact with family and friends might be problematic for a period of time.
The Ethiopian human rights defender and journalist Mesfin Negash was found guilty of supporting terrorism by an Ethiopian court on Wednesday. The verdict is just another evidence of how politicized the Ethiopian justice system is, and a sign of the ever growing repression in the country.
Civil Rights Defenders strongly condemns the Ugandan police’s raid of a workshop for LGBT activists in Kampala on 18 June, and the harassment and intimidation of LGBT activists in general, and urge the Ugandan government to fulfil its responsibility to protect human rights defenders against intimidation because of their human rights work.
The perception about the human rights situation in Ethiopia differs depending on if you ask the Government, the citizens, local human rights defenders or the International community. Welcome to a seminar on May 30 with the independent journalist Mesfin Negash, who was forced to go into exile because of his work.
Being one of Ethiopia’s very few independent journalists, Mesfin Negash was harrassed by the government to the limit that he had to go into exile. Today he lives in Sweden but continues to spread news about human rights and politics in Ethiopia, trying to make the international community alert on the situation in the country: “If you took a balance sheet you would see that we are equal to Burma”, says Mesfin Negash.
(Updated in January 2012) East Africa encompasses Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and in a wider sense also Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia (including the self-declared republic of Somaliland). The East African region is long subjected to economic underdevelopment and unequal terms of trade and conflict. At the same time, it [...]
Civil Rights Defenders condemns the conviction of the Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson. The terrorist legislation that was used during the trial was turned into a tool to prevent free speech in Ethiopia.
On September 23 it was ten years since the Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak was arrested in Eritrea. Today we don’t even know if he is alive. -We have to intensify the diplomatic efforts, , said Percy Bratt during a manifestation.
A new African state will see dawn this summer. Exiled Zambian journalist Mr. Lloyd Himaambo, who covered the referendum on Southern Sudanese independence, visits us for a conversation about the challenges and opportunities that faces the Republic of South Sudan.
CANCELLED! Due to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud Lloyd Himaambo’s flight to Sweden is cancelled. This means we have to cancel tonight’s seminar. We are very sorry about any inconvenience this may cause you.
More than three years have passed since the violence that followed the election in Kenya in 2007 took place, when more than 1,300 people were killed and several hundred thousand people were displaced from their homes. Still the authorities have not investigated the crimes. In 2010 the International Criminal Court (the ICC) brought charges against [...]
Poverty and oppression in combination with unresolved tensions and widespread impunity contributes to an unstable situation in many African states. The question is how long it takes before the open struggle for democracy and human rights we now are witnessing in North Africa and the Middle East spreads to sub-Saharan countries. Blog post by Robert Hårdh from March 14th, 2011.
In the beginning of 2008 a wave of violence was spread across Kenya. The election results from December 2007 were questioned and lead to massive riots. More than 1 000 people lost their lives and close to 600 000 were displaced. “Getting Justice: Kenya’s deadly game of wait and see” is a documentary about [...]
Human rights activist Brahim Dahane from Western Sahara is the winner of the Per Anger Prize 2009, in recognition of having demonstrated unwavering personal courage, and risked his life in the struggle for human rights. Brahim Dahane is currently incarcerated.
Natasha Jevtic Esbjörnson
Phone: +46 76 576 27 62
His burnt body was returned to the family in a plastic bag. The European Court has found Russia responsible for human rights violations in the North Caucasus, in more than one hundred cases, as a result of our work.
(Photo: Joanna Kurosz)
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