United Nations Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai will appear before the UN General Assembly on Oct. 29 to present a key report on worldwide threats to freedom of assembly and associations during election periods. Kiai’s presentation will begin at 3 p.m. (US Eastern Standard Time), and will be broadcast live on the UN website, webtv.un.org. The report documents a growing crackdown on assembly and association rights during election periods, and contends that such measures threaten to “indelibly stain” the legitimacy of democracy in some countries…. Continue reading →
United Nations Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai is scheduled to speak at two public events in Canada this week, ahead of his presentation to the UN General Assembly in New York on Oct. 29. The first lecture – “Civil Society: Democracy, Dissent and the Law” – will take place on Oct. 23 at McGill University. The event is part of the university’s Macnaughton Lectures series, and will be hosted by the McGill Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. The lecture is free and open to the public, and will be held at Chancellor Day Hall, Maxwell… Continue reading →
A group of United Nations independent experts, including Maina Kiai, have expressed serious concern at reports that Chinese human rights defenders have suffered reprisals for seeking to participate in a major UN human rights assessment of China. Activists have been reportedly threatened, arrested or banned from taking part in demonstrations or stopped from leaving China in the run-up to this month’s second review of its human rights record by the UN Human Rights Council through its universal periodic review mechanism (UPR). The review will take… Continue reading →
Three United Nations independent experts, including Maina Kiai, have urged the Azerbaijani Government to recognize and facilitate the work of human rights defenders and civil society organizations in the run up to the Presidential elections, due to take place on October 9, 2013. “All demonstrations complying with international human rights standards should be allowed and facilitated, and peaceful gatherings should not face the use of excessive force and administrative detention against demonstrators, even if such assemblies are not authorized,” the… Continue reading →
Maina Kiai and other UN experts have called for a halt to the construction of a steel plant in India, due to serious human rights concerns. The plant in Odisha, India, reportedly threatens to displace over 22,000 people in the Jagatsinghpur District, and disrupt the livelihoods of many thousands more in the surrounding area. The project is backed by multinational steel corporation POSCO, which is based in the Republic of Korea. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai, “people in the… Continue reading →
