State Department calls Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA) “unsalvageable”

Missoula, March 1 (Al-Masakin)–The U.S. State Department said in a press release on Friday that the United States will not participate in the upcoming Durban Review Conference to be held April  20-24 in Geneva calling it “unsalvageable” because the document of the organization singles out Israel and calls for reparations for slavery.

“The document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable. As a result, the United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text. A conference based on this text would be a missed opportunity to speak clearly about the persistent problem of racism,” Acting State Department Spokeman Robert Wood said in a press release Feb. 27.

“The U.S. believes any viable text for the Review Conference must be shortened and not reaffirm in toto the flawed 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA). It must not single out any one country or conflict, nor embrace the troubling concept of “defamation of religion.” The U.S. also believes an acceptable document should not go further than the DDPA on the issue of reparations for slavery.”

 

The Durban Conference is a follow-up to the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (WCAR). The UNCHR is responsible for organizing and convening the event.

 

The statement to the press went on to say that the United States found the trajectory of UNHRC’s Universal Periodic Review “disturbing” and would therefore participate in the next round of UPRs May 4-15 as an observe only because of its criticism for Israel which the State Department finds “unbalanced.”

 

“We share the concerns of many that the Council’s trajectory is disturbing, that it needs fundamental change to do more to promote and protect the human rights of people around the world, and that it should end its repeated and unbalanced criticisms of Israel.”

 

EHC / EHC

UNHRC concludes 4th session, UPRs to begin May 4-15

Missoula, Feb. 17 (Al-Masakin)–The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) concluded its fourth session of its first cycle Feb. 13.  The two week session which began Feb. 2 reviewed the human rights records for sixteen states:  Germany, Djibouti, Canada, Bangladesh, the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria, Mexico, Mauritius, Jordan and Malaysia. 

The UNHRC’s Universal Periodic Review is scheduled to begin its fifth session May 4-15.  The next sixteen states to be reviewed will be: Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Congo, Malta, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Viet Nam, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Comoros and Slovakia.

The review process which began in 2008 has reviewed the human rights records for 64 states. The review is one-third completed for the United Nations 192 member states.  The UNHRC’s first cycle will be completed in 2011.

EHC / EHC

Human Rights Council UPR for Jordan

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/02/11/18569512.php

Human Rights Council UPR for Jordan

by al-masakin
Wednesday Feb 11th, 2009 11:07 AM

Jordan praised for improvement of women’s rights, upbraided on administrative detention, prisons, torture, the media, and discrimination against foreign workers and migrants

upr-jordan_11feb09.pdf
download PDF (55.3 KB)

By Edward Campbell

Missoula, Feb. 11 (Al-Masakin)—The United Nations Human Rights Council delivered its human rights report card for the Kingdom of Jordan today, highlights of that report have been made available on the Council’s webpage.

National Report

The National report for the Kingdom of Jordan was delivered by Mousa Burayzat, Director of the International Relations and Organizations Department and Director of The Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jordan. The Jordanian envoy said that the Kingdom of Jordan was in constant review of its own human rights situation and that the nation seeks to strengthen human rights with the aim of achieving peace and stability, inside and outside the country, and that the nations human rights instruments target the most vulnerable sectors of society.

The envoy said that in preparation of the Kingdom’s National Report the Jordanian Standing Committee on Human Rights was consulted. He went on to say that the 1952 Constitution was fully in line with the expectation of the Council, without addressing the fact that the King is not subject to law, asserted that all Jordanian were equal under law, that all Jordanian had

the right to a lawyer in criminal cases, that although a 2006 anti-terrorism statute had been enacted no one in Jordan has been prosecuted under this law.

He said that through a law prohibiting insult to any religion, the Kingdom preserved the

right to religious freedom, that the Kingdom guaranteed freedom of movement to all citizens, that Jordan, through its Penal Code, preserves the right to life, that torture was prohibited per the provisions of the Convention Against Torture (OP-CAT), and noted that Jordan had implemented the recommendations of the UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture taking many steps to prevent torture and had taken measures to rehabilitate victims of torture.

The envoy also noted that the application of the death penalty was very restricted in the Kingdom, and that no execution had taken place there since April 2007. He also maintained that the Jordanian Constitution protected freedom of expression, and that all Jordanian are free to speak and publish freely without restrictions noting that Jordanian law prohibits the detention of journalists when carrying out their duties.

He also said that the Jordanian Constitution guaranteed the right to political association, the right to form political parties, and the right to assembly, noting the large number of registered political parties in the Kingdom, and that all of those parties had the right to participate in the national elections, and that he law, furthermore, allowed anyone to stand for election including safeguards to the rights of women in the National Assembly.

Positive Achievements

The Kingdom of Jordan was praised for upholding the rights of women and girls, which included measures to create jobs for women and steps to assist street children. The Council said that Jordan had made progress in the areas of economic, social, and cultural rights, had taken measure to eradicate poverty, had created a national council to address the needs of the disabled, had achieved a high literacy rate, had made serious efforts to make primary education universal, and had made overall progress on the issue of the right to education.

The Council said that that Jordan has a high level of health care services, had acceded to a number of international human rights treaties, had made efforts to reinforce the right to freedom of expression, created a National Coalition for Children, accommodated a large number of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, and had vibrant support for human rights in civil society.

Issues and questions

Questions raised by the Working Group of 47 member states, and Observers, related to the Kingdom’s intention to criminal domestic violence, as recommended by Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, efforts to make the penalties for Honor Killing harsher, Jordan’s plans to invite the Special Rapporteur on violence against women to visit the nation, the Kingdom’s intention to enact a comprehensive gender equality law, its progress with respect to its national plan on the rights of children, whether Jordan was considering to review the draft Child Rights Act with a view to introducing a ban on corporal punishment.

Members of the Council were interested in hearing the results of Jordan’s efforts to provide assistance to child victims of sexual assault, exploitation, and trafficking, what steps had been taken to meet the need of migrant workers, and what efforts had been undertaken to meet the need of the 700,000 Iraqi refugees in the Kingdom and the nature of the assistance those people have required.

Other questions and issues raised by the Council pertained to Jordan’s plans to accede to additional human rights instruments, the Kingdom’s new law on freedom of assembly, the application of the rule of law for detainees, steps taken to ensure that human rights conventions were being full implemented, and efforts to increase knowledge of those conventions among the judiciary, law enforcement personnel, and the public.

The Working Group and the Observers also had questions about Jordan’s safeguards against torture because Jordanian law enforcement personnel were shielded from accountability and independent prosecution, what steps had been taken to implement the recommendations of the Committee against Torture, what efforts had been made to address case overloads in their judicial system, what efforts had been made with respect to raising the age of criminal culpability, and what plans the Kingdom has to convert the de facto moratorium on the death penalty to a de jure moratorium.

Recommendations

A number of delegations to the UPR submitted specific recommendations which included the recommendation that the Kingdom continue to cooperate with Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), that the Kingdom consider extending a standing invitation to United Nations Special Procedures,

Poverty and education

It was suggested by the Working Group that Jordan institute human rights education in the school system, that the Kingdom stay the course of attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs), that share its experience in the health care sector with developing countries, that it continue efforts to achieve universal primary education, that it increase school enrollment rates, that the Kingdom continue efforts at eradicating poverty and strengthen the Poverty Alleviation Strategy, that it enhance access to water through efficient water resource management with the support and assistance of the international community.

Discrimination against persons with disabilities, minorities, migrant workers, and women

It was also suggested that Jordan improve the living conditions of the disabled, that the nations develop a National Strategy to aiding the disabled, that the Kingdom take further steps to address discrimination against women, minorities and vulnerable groups, including children and disabled people, and that Jordan improve the well-being and human rights protection of migrant workers, including domestic workers.

Protection of the rights of the child

Other recommendations suggested that Jordan strengthen the implementation of the National Action Plan for Children, that the nation remove its reservations to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, that it prohibit all acts of corporal punishment.

Crimes against women

It was suggested to the Kingdom that it pursue gender equality, withdraw reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (OP-CEDAW), that the nation follow up on the recommendations made by Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, that it ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, that the Kingdom promote the role of women in high decision-making posts, that the nation try to empower women and increase their role in public life, and that the Kingdom review the Nationality Law to ensure that a Jordanian mother married to a non-Jordanian man had the right to confer her nationality to their children.

Jordan was furthermore encouraged to step up its efforts to combat honor crimes, strengthen legislation protecting women from violence, amend the Penal Code to ensure that honor crimes were treated on par with other serious violent crimes and to ensure all such crimes were investigated and prosecuted, abolish all protection and impunity for perpetrators of honor killings.

It was also suggested by the Council that Jordan’s penal legislation concerning the discrimination and violence against women be developed in a holistic manner, that Jordan take further action in order to receive the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, that the nation enact legislation on violence against women, and increase the number of “home shelters” in Jordan and replace the practice of “protected custody” for women at risk of violence.

Human rights education

It was also to suggest to the Kingdom that it improve human rights education for the judiciary and law enforcement personnel, that the Kingdom review its use of administrative detention and ensure those in detention have legal representation and to the courts, that the Kingdom consider transferring criminal jurisdiction of the State Security Court and the Police Court to ordinary courts.

Torture

It was furthermore suggested to the Kingdom that Jordan continue efforts to combat torture, that the nation review its legislation on terrorism to ensure it was in line with international human rights standards, that Jordan consider accepting the jurisdiction of the Committee against Torture, that it ratify the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture (OP-CAT), that the Kingdom take further action to prevent impunity of torture and ill treatment and follow up to the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on torture, that the nation enact a definition of torture and its absolute prohibition in accordance with the Convention against Torture.

Prisons

It was suggested to the Kingdom that it facilitate prison visits, including ones announced by NGOs, give full jurisdiction to civil investigators over the investigation of allegations of abuse of prisoners, implement an independent and transparent complaints mechanism to deal with reports of prisoner ill-treatment, and that the nation ratify the Convention in Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (CED).

Media, elections, NGOs

Jordan was encouraged to take steps to promote an open and free press where journalists may report on a full spectrum of political, social and economic issues without fear retribution. It was suggested that the Kingdom establish an independent electoral commission which allows for open participation of political parties and objective certification of election results. The Kingdom was advised to revise the Societies Law to remove the government approval requirement in the work of NGOs and take steps to ensure that these changes were put into practice, and that it consider amending recent NGO legislation in order to reduce restrictions on their activities and allow them adequate freedom of action.

Religion, foreign workers, refugees

Another set of recommendations called on Jordan to pursue the protection of those who converted to another religion according to international human rights standards, that the Kingdom protect the rights of foreign workers and prohibit abuses against them.

It was also suggested that the Kingdom establish a legal framework for the protection of refugees and applicants for asylum, that it make greater efforts to meet the needs of Iraqi refugees and to ensure their needs were met, that the Kingdom continue to support Palestinians, ratify the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, and for the international community to share the burden of the Jordanian Government of hosting millions of Palestinians through financial and other relevant support.

The Kingdom of Jordan has ratified the core universal human rights treaties International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (with reservations), Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Optional Protocol to CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OP-CRC-AC), Optional Protocol to CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OP-CRC-SC), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPD), Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Rome Statute of the ICC, Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and Additional Protocols thereto, ILO, and UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education.

The Kingdom of Jordan has not ratified the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 Convention relating to the status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

EHC / EHC
——————————–
Al-Masakin News Agency
http://almasakinnewsagency.wordpress.com/

Human Rights watch urges UNHRC scrutinize Malaysia at UPR for detention abuses, Feb. 11

Malaysia: UN Review Should Challenge Rights Record

End Preventative Detention, Investigate Abuses

February 9, 2009

Related Materials: 

Universal Periodic Review of Malaysia

A long, hard look at Malaysia’s performance on fundamental human rights, including its detention practices, is in order. Countries should call Malaysia to account for failing to address abuses against migrants and refugees, and for its continuing use of preventative detention.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(Geneva) – United Nations member states should raise concerns about arbitrary and preventive detention and abuses against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers at the upcoming review of Malaysia’s human rights record, Human Rights Watch said today.  Malaysia will undergo its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on February 11, 2009, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Under the process, the rights record of each member state will be reviewed once every four years.

“A long, hard look at Malaysia’s performance on fundamental human rights, including its detention practices, is in order,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Countries should call Malaysia to account for failing to address abuses against migrants and refugees, and for its continuing use of preventative detention.”

Under Malaysia’s draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), anyone deemed to be a threat to national security can be detained indefinitely without charge or trial, violating international due process standards. In its submission for the human rights review, Malaysia characterizes the ISA as “essential to peace, stability, and security” and describes the procedures under which a detained person can challenge the detention.

But Malaysia’s reliance on the ISA violates a number of international human rights standards, including the right to be free from arbitrary detention, the rights to due process and to a fair trial, and the rights to freedom of speech and expression. While an advisory board reviews all ISA detentions, its recommendations are not binding. The detainees have no avenues of redress as the courts are not permitted to review a case on its merits. Permitted appeals on procedural grounds routinely fail.

On September 12, 2008, the Malaysian government arrested two journalists and an opposition politician under the ISA. All have since been released. But one of the journalists, Raja Petra Lamarudin, founder and editor of Malaysia Today, Malaysia’s most popular website, is now on trial for sedition. In December 2007, five leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) were charged under ISA after the organization staged a demonstration to draw attention to education and economic policies that discriminate against Malaysia’s Indian population. These five remain in detention.

“Malaysia uses the pretext of national security to invoke the ISA and lock up critics and political opponents indefinitely,” Pearson said. “UN member states should challenge Malaysia to repeal the ISA, and either to charge or to free all those currently detained under its provisions.”

In its report to the Human Rights Council, Malaysia fails to address the problems faced by migrant workers, but suggests that a Malaysia-Indonesia Memorandum of Understanding provides necessary protection. Human Rights Watch has long documented abuses suffered by domestic workers – physical abuse, unpaid wages, excessively long working hours, and lack of rest days. The memorandum with Indonesia still fails to establish minimum labor protections or to guarantee the rights of domestic workers to hold their own passports, which sometimes are confiscated by employers to maintain control over an employee.

Human Rights Watch said that UN member states should especially raise concerns about Malaysia’s failure to address abuses by the People’s Voluntary Corps (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat or RELA), the government-backed force that apprehends irregular migrants and provides security for Malaysia’s immigration detention centers. In 2008, Human Rights Watch documented a pattern of abuse by members of RELA, including physical assault, intimidation, threats, humiliating treatment, forced entry into living quarters, extortion, and theft perpetrated against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/02/04/universal-periodic-review-malaysia).

One detained migrant told Human Rights Watch how RELA members treated them “like animals” and would punch and kick detainees for no apparent reason. Another migrant described a beating by RELA officers that left him so sore that he could not walk for days. The government consistently denies that abuses by RELA are widespread, and instead of disbanding RELA, wants to upgrade it into a fully-fledged enforcement agency.

Regarding human trafficking, Malaysia’s submission to the Human Rights Council points to the state’s new anti-trafficking law, shelters for trafficking victims, and awareness campaigns to prevent trafficking. But Malaysia has failed to investigate allegations of collusion between Malaysian immigration officers and trafficking gangs on the Malay-Thai border, dismissing such reports as “wild accusations.” In 2008, Burmese migrants told Human Rights Watch of being sold to criminal gangs, who charged those with money to smuggle them back into Malaysia and trafficked those who could not pay.

“RELA officers have beaten, tortured, and extorted money from migrants, but instead of punishing them, the government wants to reward their bad behavior by giving them more powers,” said Pearson. “In reviewing Malaysia’s record, states should be asking why Malaysia won’t conduct impartial investigations into the involvement of RELA and immigration officers in abuses against migrants.”

Malaysia has not signed major international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its optional protocol, and the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The Malaysian government has repeatedly stated that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will only be given effect where it is compatible with Malaysia’s constitution.

Amnesty International claims report of Mexican government to the UNHRC’s UPR does not reflect the reality on the ground

Mexican government’s report to UN fails to acknowledge human rights reality

 

Police officers have not yet been brought to justice for human rights violations during demonstrations in Oaxaca in 2006

© Uta Rossberg

9 February 2009

A Mexican government report about the state of human rights in the country does not reflect the reality on the ground, according to Amnesty International.

Submitted to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, the report fails to acknowledge the frequent lack of implementation or impact of the Mexican government’s policies. It also fails to acknowledge the worsening human rights climate in many parts of the country.

Mexico is one of 16 countries up for review at the fourth session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council, which started in Geneva on 2 February. Mexico’s review is scheduled for Tuesday.

“The government report’s list of positive initiatives and reforms is good news,” said Kerrie Howard, Americas Deputy Director at Amnesty International. “The problem is there is no information on progress in preventing continuing human rights violations and ending impunity.”

Amnesty International has contributed a series of alternative reports to the current round of reviews detailing key human rights concerns in 12 of the 16 countries that are up for review. The organization’s report on Mexico noted that:

• Mexico has so far failed to explicitly recognize the status of international human rights treaties in its Constitution.
• The authorities have yet to hold anyone to account for the 100 killings and 700 enforced disappearances that took place between the 1960s and 1980s.
• Mexican federal, state and municipal police officers implicated in serious human rights violations, such as arbitrary detention, torture, rape and unlawful killings, particularly those committed during civil disturbances in San Salvador Atenco and Oaxaca City in 2006, have not been brought to justice.
• The military justice system continues to try cases of human rights violations despite international human rights standards insisting these should be tried in civilian courts.
• The number of reports of abuses such as arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, sexual violence and unlawful killings by security officials has increased during security operations to combat violent criminal gangs.
• Human rights defenders, particular those in rural areas, often face persecution and sometimes prolonged detention on the basis of fabricated or politically-motivated criminal charges.
• Indigenous and other marginalized communities sometimes face harassment for opposing development projects affecting their livelihoods.
• Irregular migrants in transit in Mexico routinely face ill-treatment by state officials as well as sexual and other violence at the hands of criminal gangs.
• Despite advances in legislation to protect women from violence, implementation is weak. Reporting, prosecution and conviction rates for those responsible for domestic violence, rape and even killings of women remain extremely low. Two years after the adoption of the 2007 General Law to prevent violence against women, two states have not even introduced legislation to enforce it.
• Poverty and marginalization continue to deprive many rural communities, particularly indigenous peoples, of the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to development, in accordance with their own needs and interests.

“Amnesty International recognizes that Mexico’s report highlights the open invitation to international human rights mechanisms,” said Kerry Howard. “And given the country’s key role in the design of the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council, the organization hopes the government will use this as an opportunity to reinvigorate its efforts to address human rights problems in Mexico.”

The UPR is the first-ever UN mechanism to look systematically at the human rights records of all 192 UN member states. From 2008-2011, 48 countries will be reviewed each year, 16 in each of the UPR Working Group’s three annual sessions.

Governments scheduled for examination by the Human Rights Council this month include China, Cuba, Germany, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, and Saudi Arabia. The current UPR session is scheduled to run until 13 February.

Read More

Universal Periodic Review 2009
UN review must deliver on human rights (News, 3 February 2009)

CPJ presses China’s press freedom record with UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review to take place Monday

CPJ presses Human Rights Council on China

February 6, 2009

Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada Per Stig Moeller, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark 
Jonas Gahr Stoere, Minister of Foreign Affairs Norway
David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, U.K.
By facsimile

Dear sirs,

On Monday, your representatives will participate in the U.N. Human Rights Council’s first review of China’s human rights record. As part of the review, countries are required to submit their questions in advance, and CPJ welcomes your questioning of China’s press freedom record.

As countries with a deep commitment to freedom of expression and human rights, we urge you to ensure that China responds to the specific issues outlined in this letter. We have grave concerns that they will not be adequately emphasized.

Restrictions on journalists

January 2007 regulations that eased restrictions for foreign journalists reporting in China during the Olympics were permanently extended in October 2008. Granting reporters the legal right to do their work is a positive step, as is the investment in media infrastructure which China outlines in its national report to the review working group.

Yet review participants should ask China how the regulations can be implemented throughout China. Colleagues there tell us they are frequently subject to harassment by local authorities and cannot enter the Tibetan Autonomous Region without permission. The working group should also ask China to extend legal protections to local journalists, who self-censor because they lack equivalent freedoms, as well as to sources who agree to interviews with foreign journalists.

Internet censorship

China‘s laws allow the government to block or hide politically sensitive information on international Web sites, including news outlets such as the BBC and advocacy organizations like CPJ.

Controls on local Web sites appeared to tighten in 2009. A government campaign targeting vulgarity online launched on January 5 has broadened the conception of “unacceptable” content in a way that also threatens free expression. City authorities in Beijing shut down blog-hosting site Bullog on January 12, according to local and international news reports. The site, popular among intellectuals and political commentators, had failed to remove “harmful” information, according to the reports.

China must revise Internet legislation before it is in compliance with international human rights standards.

Imprisonments

CPJ has the following specific recommendations China should adopt to improve its press freedom record:

• Release journalists imprisoned for their work.

China has consistently jailed more journalists than any other country for the past decade. CPJ research shows that at least 28 journalists and Internet users who publish news and opinion online were incarcerated in China as of December 1, 2008.

• Define anti-state charges, such as possessing state secrets or inciting subversion, to limit their retributive use against journalists and online critics.

Web site publisher Huang Qi was charged with possessing state secrets on February 2 after disseminating news about earthquake relief efforts in Sichuan on his Web site, according to international news reports. He still suffers from poor health induced by an earlier five-year jail term that he served for publishing allegedly subversive articles on the site.

• Protect lawyers who defend free expression.

Imprisoned journalist Zheng Yichun has lacked legal counsel since his lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, also came under suspicion for subversion based on online articles. Gao, who has been detained several times and accuses security officials of torturing him while in their custody, was taken by security forces again for two weeks in 2009 before his release on February 3, according to overseas human rights groups. The reason for that detention is not clear. 

• Independently investigate allegations of torture.

Yang Maodong, imprisoned since 2006 for illegally publishing a magazine which reported on a high-profile graft case, has staged hunger strikes to protest physical abuse at the hands of officials in a Guangdong prison, southern China, according to overseas rights groups.

• Independently investigate violations of criminal procedure.

Prominent writer Liu Xiaobo was detained on December 8. Officials did not inform his wife of his detention within the designated 24-hour period and he is still missing, though charges have not been filed, according to international news reports. His lawyer told CPJ that security officials believe he drafted the unusually frank public call for political and legal reform known as “Charter 08,” which was published online on December 9, Liu was one of more than 300 people from a broad sector of society to sign the charter, which has continued to garner support since his detention.

• Abolish government-issue journalist permits.

Journalist Jiang Weiping wrote about a corruption scandal for a Hong Kong magazine in 2000, but will never work as a journalist in China again. He was arrested and served six years for inciting subversion and state secrets charges prior to his release in 2006 and can no longer get a government-issue ID to work as a journalist. The three-year suspension of his political rights attached to his sentence barred him from leaving the country. He was able to obtain the assistance of the Canadian government early this year and left China for Canada on February 4, according to his wife, Stella Lee, who has lived there since 2004.

As China notes in its national report, press freedom guarantees are included in China’s constitution. But the existing legal framework and its application by Chinese officials prevents them from being effectively implemented. The Universal Periodic Review offers a unique opportunity to establish and hold China to specific steps for bringing its press freedom record in line with international norms. The Human Rights Council was created as an alternative to the widely discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The only way for the council to be effective on issues such as press freedom in China is for countries like yours to openly confront China on its record. We are counting on you to do so.

Sincerely,

Joel Simon
Executive Director

 

CC:

Yang Jiechi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China

Navanethem Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights

Frank William La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression

 Marius Grinius, Permanent Representative of Canada to the to the United Nations Office at Geneva

Rajiv Kumar Chander, Permanent Representative of India to the to the United Nations Office at Geneva

Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva and President of the Human Rights Council for 2008-2009

American Society of Newspaper Editors

Amnesty International

Article 19 (United Kingdom)

Artikel 19 (The Netherlands)

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression

Freedom of Expression and Democracy Unit, UNESCO

Freedom Forum

Freedom House

Human Rights Watch

Index on Censorship

International Center for Journalists

International Federation of Journalists

International PEN

International Press Institute

Karen B. Stewart, Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

The Newspaper Guild

The North American Broadcasters Association

Overseas Press Club

February 6, 2009 4:20 PM ET | Permalink

UN’s UPR upbraids Saudi Arabia for rights violations, praises it for some reforms

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/02/07/18568775.php

UN’s UPR upbraids Saudi Arabia for rights violations, praises it for some reforms

by al-masakin
Saturday Feb 7th, 2009 1:40 PM

Saudi Arabia praised for reforms, upbraided for rights violations at UN’s Universal Periodic Review

Saudi Arabia chastised on rights of women, the rights of migrant workers, religious freedom, failure to ratify the Rome Statute, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), to ratify the Convention on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (ICPPED), and the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and All Members of Their Families (CRMW), inter alia.

saudi_arabia_universal_periodic_review_7feb09.pdf
download PDF (58.3 KB)

By Edward Campbell

Missoula, Feb. 7 (Al-Masakin)—Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, being a monarchy, and therefore absolutism at its very foundation, fulfilled its democratic obligation to the international community by submitting to the much feared scrutiny of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review on Friday; a body currently under boycott by the United States.

The Kingdom’s Zaid Al-Hussein, Vice-President of the Human Rights Commission in Saudi Arabia, noted that Saudi Arabia’s main obstacle to achieving universal human rights is the of the state transformation from a tribal society, characterized by conflicts and widely dispersed and totally unconnected regions where people lived in isolation and forms of economic and

educational backwardness. The Kingdom asserted that Islam supplemented rather than detracted from the process of achieving international human rights standards.

The representative of the Kingdom asserted that the Islamic Shari’a focused special concern for the rights of vulnerable groups such as minorities and non-Muslims, but that the government of Saudi Arabia acknowledged that there were some human rights violations which primarily fell within the context of domestic violence.

The representative said that the Saudi government was constantly endeavoring to prevent these violations by promoting greater social awareness and, where necessary, imposing deterrent penalties on their perpetrators and that women’s awareness of their rights has been considerably increased in recent years through the social development women’s centers, and the National Society for Human Rights which has adopted a policy of disseminating and promoting a legal culture, in general, and women’s rights, in particular.

The representative of the kingdom also said that Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve a balance between requirements of the campaign against terrorism and the need to respect human rights and that from the beginning of the terrorist problem in the Kingdom to the end of 2008, approximately $100 million in compensation had been paid to persons detained in terrorist cases and who were later found to be innocent.

The envoy also said that Saudi Arabia was working very seriously to combat human trafficking and that the kingdom had recently enacted the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act in order to eradicate the practice within the Kingdom.

He also noted that Saudi Arabia was in close conformity with the Paris Principles which inter alia mandated that a state vest an institution with the power to investigate and enforce human rights.

With respect to human rights, the delegations to the UPR noted a number of positive developments within the Kingdom. These included:

Measures taken to improve the rights of women in society; the creation of the National Human Rights Commission; the progress in the health infrastructure; progress in the right to housing and the establishment of a housing development fund; progress in immigration and labor laws; development and relief assistance efforts; its progress in the area of democratic process achieved; efforts to uphold the rights of migrant workers; the accession to international human rights instruments as regard the rights of children; the leading role played by Saudi Arabia in encouraging dialogue among civilizations; and the setting up of the National Society for Human Rights.

The Kingdom was, however, criticized for domestic violence within the kingdom, legislative inequality between men and women, inequality between boys and girls, forced marriages for women under 18, human trafficking, criminal responsibility for minors, human trafficking, failure to remunerate migrant workers, failure to permit individuals to pursue the enforcement of their own rights and the human rights of others, failure to sign International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), failure to permit human rights organizations to enter the country, failure to ratify the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, and failure to effectively combat impunity.

Participating states urged Saudi Arabia to continue combating terrorism, that it end torture and corporal punishment, abolish the death penalty, amend the Code of Criminal Practice to stipulate that only individuals over 18 years old will be tried as adults, develop programs to reintegrate former prisoners into civilian life, to separate juvenile and adult prisoners, ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), to ratify the Convention on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (ICPPED), and to intensify efforts to reintegrate and rehabilitate persons accuses of terrorism.

The Kingdom was furthermore urged to reform its legislation to ensure religious freedom, to protect religious minorities, to play a leading role in the inter-faith dialogue, to end the practice of incarcerating, mistreating and applying travel bans against individuals on the basis of their religious beliefs, to enact and implement a Law of Association to guarantee the right to form civil society organizations and protect those organizations from government interference, to enable to establishment of civil society without supervision by State authorities, to ensure that any obstacles to freedom of expression and movement against human rights defenders were lifted and travel bans removed, to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and All Members of Their Families (CRMW), to establish a broad-based media campaign on the rights of migrants in Arabic and in the languages of migrants, to ensure that all rights were extended to all migrant workers, and to continue with programs to improve the economic, social and cultural rights in the country.

EHC / EHC
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