GENEVA – Welcoming the adoption by the Security Council of a new resolution yesterday strongly condemning the ongoing killings and human rights violations in Burundi, a group of UN independent experts has expressed outrage at the situation and warned that the central African “is going towards an unacceptable path of atrocities.” The experts welcomed the “clear message and alert” sent by the Council’s unanimously adopted resolution, which condemned the increased cases of human rights violations and abuses in Burundi, the seven UN Special Rapporteurs emphasized that actions must now be undertaken to follow up the text and provide “concrete responses fitting the magnitude of the risks at stake, for Burundi and the region.” The experts went on to recount a raft of ills, saying the situation in Burundi continues to deteriorate with daily reports of serious human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, attacks on independent media and harassment and killing of human rights defenders, unjustified limitations on freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression, adding to more than 200,000 persons displaced by violence. “This is a crisis that is eminently political in nature and entails an increased risk of escalation of violence and... Continue reading →
GENEVA – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, today urged the Government of Angola to release fourteen activists arrested in June after taking part in peaceful meetings to criticize lack of good governance in the country. Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai joined Forst's call, along with three other UN experts. “Deprivation of liberty on the sole ground of having promoted good governance and exercised the rights to free expression and peaceful assembly may be considered arbitrary,” Mr. Forst warned referring to the case of Luaty Beirão, a prominent Angolan musician and rights activist, and the other defenders arrested. “Such criticism is not only fully legitimate according to Angola’s obligations under human rights law; it is also essential to the free and public debate necessary for a healthy civil society in the country,” the independent expert stressed. After their arrest, the ‘Angola fourteen’ were charged in September, together with two women rights defenders who remain at liberty awaiting trial, for the ‘preparatory acts to practice rebellion’ and ‘plotting’ against state institutions, both of which are considered to be crimes against the security of the Angolan State. Held in pre-trial detention for longer than... Continue reading →
GENEVA – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, today urged the Government of Burundi to protect all rights activists after this week’s brutal attack and assassination attempt on Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, one of the country’s top rights defenders. His call was endorsed by Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai. “The attempted killing of such a highly respected activist as Mr. Mbonimpa sends a very chilling message to all members of civil society and also the entire population,” Mr. Forst warned. “During this period of turmoil and insecurity in the country, I am gravely concerned for the safety of all persons advocating for human rights in Burundi and call for an immediate end to violence.” “The Burundian authorities should make it clear that such heinous attacks will not be tolerated and do their utmost to protect human rights defenders from future attacks,” he stressed. “I call for immediate protection to be provided to Mr. Mbonimpa during his recovery in hospital. I also urge that the attack is subject to an independent and impartial investigation so that perpetrators are brought to justice with due regard to fair trial standards.” As President of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Incarcerated Persons... Continue reading →
GENEVA - A group of United Nations human rights experts, including Maina Kiai, today urged the Security Council to take immediate action to prevent Burundi from sliding back into violent conflict ahead of presidential elections, a crisis which will not leave the other countries in the region, including Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, unaffected. Thus far, 145,000 persons have fled to neighbouring countries in fear for their lives. “The world is witnessing an escalating pattern of politically motivated violence in Burundi, enabled by the country’s decades-long tradition of impunity,” the experts warned. “The international community must not simply stand by and wait for mass atrocities to unfold, thereby risking a major conflict of regional proportions before it finally decides to act,” the Special Rapporteurs added, pointing to repeated cycles of mass violations that Burundi and the Great Lakes region have witnessed in recent history. The situation in Burundi has already involved serious human rights violations. “It is accumulating the well-known and visible marks of a society which previously suffered divisions leading to grave violence. This can escalate into major conflict through the use of outright repression against, and intimidation of, the population at large, the... Continue reading →
GENEVA – United Nations human rights expert Maina Kiai urged Ugandan legislators to hold meaningful consultations with civil society on a Bill that aims at regulating non-governmental organisations (NGO). A one-day consultation is taking place today in Kampala. “Since the Government of Uganda intends to regulate the framework governing associations, the ostensible beneficiaries of the law should be key partners of the drafting process,” Mr. Kiai said, expressing serious concern that the NGO Bill may not reflect the views of the various interested parties engaged with the consultation process. “I call on the legislators to allow more time for consultation so that all stakeholders have an opportunity to contribute to this important discussion. A day is simply not enough for discussing these weighty issues,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association said. The NGO Bill introduced in May and due to be debated in the coming months, seeks to repeal and replace the current Non-Governmental Organisation Registration Act Cap 113 regulating NGO activities in Uganda. “I am concerned about a number of provisions contained therein that severely restrict the right to freedom of association,” the human rights expert stated. “The vague formulation... Continue reading →
GENEVA – A group of United Nations experts, including Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai, today condemned the violence in Burundi and urged the authorities to uphold human rights, including freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly. They also called for a thorough and independent investigation into the human rights violations so that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Over the past days, Burundi has suffered a wave of killings, arbitrary arrests, intimidation, the closure of media outlets and the targeting of human rights defenders. This has taken place in the context of peaceful protests against the decision of the ruling party to have incumbent President Nkurunziza run for a third presidential term. In response, security forces violently cracked down on the protesters with live ammunition, grenades and tear gas. Most recent reports indicate that the internet is now being blocked throughout the country. “We urge all parties to resolve differences through dialogue, avoid using inflammatory language or hate speech, and to refrain from violence. This call is also made to various parts of the country’s security sector, which should fulfil their role in a non-partisan manner,” they said. The international experts emphasised that the troubling events of the past days should also be... Continue reading →
GENEVA – The Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, today said the detention of the six so-called “Zone Nine” bloggers and three other journalists in Ethiopia over the past year has been “absolutely unacceptable”. The bloggers, who used an online platform to report on social and political issues in Ethiopia, were arrested on April 25 and 26 last year and have remained in detention ever since. The Federal First Instance Court of Ethiopia reportedly charged them under the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation for “working with foreign human rights organizations and inciting violence through social media to create instability in the country.” Their trial has been adjourned several times. “The continued detention of these journalists is absolutely unacceptable and particularly worrying as the country prepares to hold parliamentary elections on May 24. The open public debate that should mark any democratic process is obviously undermined if journalists are silenced through harassment or detention,” Kaye said. “Muzzling the media and limiting public debate is never a good response to the threats of violence and terrorism,” continued Kaye. “Prosecuting journalists who... Continue reading →
GENEVA – A group of independent experts* of the largest fact-finding and monitoring mechanism of the United Nations human rights system today called upon UN Member States and all stakeholders to increase their efforts to address the challenge of racism and racial discrimination. On the occasion of the official launch of the International Decade for People of African Descent on 10 December, also the International Human Rights Day, the UN experts welcomed the takeoff of the International Decade as a significant political commitment in the fight against racial discrimination: “People of African descent of all ages often face institutional racism and multiple forms of discrimination and, as a result, their fundamental human rights and dignity are violated. Racial discrimination leads to marginalization and marginalization exacerbates the inability of individuals whose rights are more likely to be violated to effectively exercise their fundamental rights. States should take affirmative action measures to ensure that all individuals, without distinction of any kind, have the ability to exercise effectively their rights, including the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Economic, social and cultural rights and their implementation are fundamental to the elimination of... Continue reading →
PRETORIA, South Africa – Overcoming the current wave of government efforts to silence peaceful activists across the globe is “the great challenge of our time,” UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai told African civil society leaders this week. Civil society, donors and activists “must do better” in order to address this challenge, Kiai said, including by becoming more creative in how they confront restrictions on their fundamental rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. He focused particularly on donors, whom he said often utilize dated and inappropriate benchmarks to measure civil society’s work. “Donors need to be more flexible in funding human rights work,” Kiai told participants. “Some want results in six months, but you don’t get that with human rights work. That’s not the way human rights works.” Kiai’s remarks came during a two-day conference in Pretoria on protecting civic space, organized by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, CIVICUS, the Community of Democracies and the Special Rapporteur’s office. The event brought together civil society leaders from 14 countries, and served as the African regional dialogue in the joint Special Rapporteur-Community of Democracies project on civic space and the right to access resources, which began earlier... Continue reading →
GENEVA / BANJUL – United Nations and African independent human rights experts, including UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai, today hailed a key judgment by the High Court of Botswana asserting that the organisation ‘Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana’ (LEGABIBO) should be legally registered as a society by the authorities. The Court rejected last Friday the arguments put forward by the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs of Botswana to refuse legal registration to LEGABIBO, by decreeing that ‘it is not a crime for one to be attracted to people of one’s own sex’ and that ‘advocacy for legislative reforms to decriminalize homosexuality is lawful.’ “This seminal judgment by the High Court of Botswana reaffirms that everyone is entitled to the fundamental right to peacefully assemble and associate,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, said. “Other countries should follow and allow the registration of organisations advocating for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people,” the human rights expert stressed. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, reiterated that “both the United Nations and the African Commission on Human and... Continue reading →
