GENEVA – A United Nations human rights expert has accused US security forces of using excessive force against protesters trying to stop an oil pipeline project which runs through land sacred to indigenous people. Law enforcement officials, private security firms and the North Dakota National Guard have used unjustified force to deal with opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline, according to Maina Kiai, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Some of the 400 people held during the demonstrations… Continue reading →
Issue No. 24 of the Assembly and Association Briefing, the newsletter of Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. In this issue: • In final presentation to UN General Assembly, Special Rapporteur reflects on time in mandate; warns that situation for civil society remains ‘precarious’ • Corporate power undermining workers’ assembly and association rights, Kiai warns • Litigation project: Developments in cases in Kazakhstan, Brazil and USA • UN experts urge India to… Continue reading →
GENEVA – A group of UN human rights experts* has condemned a violent clampdown on a peaceful protest in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, while urging the authorities to investigate claims of excessive use of force and arbitrary arrest – both against demonstrators and journalists – and to hold all perpetrators accountable. The demonstrators were protesting against alleged government corruption when police used teargas and batons to disperse them. A number of people are reported to have been injured or detained during the incident on 3… Continue reading →
(English) NAIROBI – O Relator Especial Maina Kiai escreveu ao Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo, no Brasil, sobre a recente decisão – e subsequente suspensão passível de recurso – na ação civil pública no 1016019-17.2014.8.26.0053, Defensoria Pública do Estado de São Paulo versus Estado de São Paulo – um caso envolvendo a gestão policial de protestos. Na semana passada, um tribunal de primeira instância instruiu a Polícia Militar a desenvolver um plano de ação policial em protestos, um resultado que Kiai saudou. A decisão foi… Continue reading →
(Português) NAIROBI – Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai has written to the Justice Tribunal of São Paulo in Brazil about the recent decision – and subsequent suspension pending appeal – in civil public action case No. 1016019-17.2014.8.26.0053, Public Defender of the State of São Paulo versus the State of São Paulo, which deals with police management of protests. A local Court decision issued last week had instructed Military Police to develop a police plan for action at demonstrations, a development which Kiai hailed. The decision was… Continue reading →
