Urgent Actions

The Observatory has been informed by Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) about the arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of 13 women human rights defenders, all members of Maitree, a Kolkata based women’s network, in West Bengal.

On 15 June 2013, human rights defenders Ms Wajeha Al-Huwaider and Ms Fawzia Al-Oyouni were sentenced to ten months imprisonment to be followed by a two year travel ban by the District Court in Al-Khobar. 

What began as a demonstration to save in Istanbul has turned into a violent wave of repression against protestors throughout Turkey.

Yesterday the police has attacked ten thousands of demonstrators in various Turkish cities after a very provocative speech of Prime Minister Erdogan at a rally of his party, JDP. The police uses tear gas, water with chemicals and plastic bullets.

The National Women Human Rights Defenders Network of Honduras has accompanied the community of Río Blanco as they defend their community’s right to decide not to dam the Gualcarque River and against the violent tactics of transnational corporations DESA and SINOHYDRO, and the FICOHSA Group.

On 5 June 2013, the appeal trial in Phnom Penh of human rights defender Ms Yorm Bopha was suspended until 14 June.

A new law adopted by the Papua New Guinea parliament increases the scope of the death penalty and number of execution methods. This has prompted fears that executions might resume and heightened concerns about the fate of at least 10 prisoners under sentence of death.

Paramilitaries in the north of Colombia are intending to kill members of an organization that represents victims of the country's internal armed conflict.

On 6 June 2013, at approximately 11am, five unknown assailants wielding hammers forced entry into the Harare offices of human rights organisation Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ).

On 28 May 2013, the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan upheld the five-year prison sentence of human rights defender Ms Roza Tuletaeva, in relation to a demonstration that took place on 16 December 2011 in the town of Zhanaozen. During the demonstration police opened fire and killed at least sixteen people.

Petition to Dalia Grybauskaite (President of Luithuania) and the European Commission on the draft bill regarding the right to life, which would limit access to safe abortion in the country.

This spring the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issued a request for proposals to develop the Next Generation Condom. The organizational sign-on letter thanks the Gates Foundation for prioritizing new product development while urging them to support programming and market introduction of female condom products that exist today. 

At the dawn of 1 June 2013, human rights defender Ms Lydia Mukami was abandoned in the bush after being abducted by unidentified men who had spent several hours subjecting her to physical assault.

Kenya’s poorest are about to be hit with a staggering 16% tax increase on basic goods, while large corporations enjoy huge tax breaks that only benefit the richest.

In May the Government of Macedonia has proposed to the Parliament to vote for a new abortion law. The new abortion law is said to include a few articles which will restrict access to abortion.

Several members of a peasant farmers’ organization in northern Honduras have been attacked over a dispute with a local company which claims it owns the land.

On 30 May 2013, human rights defenderMs Ye Haiyan was detained by police after being assaulted at her home in Guangxi province.

On 27 May 2013 the non-governmental organisation Identoba submitted a complaint to the Georgian Ombudsman Mr Ucha Nanuashvili and the Georgian Lawyers Association.

On 25 May 2013, a meeting of the Mwea Foundation, a grassroots organisation of rice farmers in the Mwea constituency, was interrupted by the deputy governor for Kirinyaga county, who called people out of the meeting, reportedly to ask how the organisation was funding itself.

On 25 May 2013, just after 1pm, Ms Berta Cáceres, general co-ordinator of COPINH was conditionally released from her detention by Judge José Francisco Pineda Ayala del Juzgado in Santa Barbara, Western Honduras.

Human rights defenders Ms Alfamir Castillo, Mr Jorge Eliécer Molano and Mr Germán Romero Sánchez were subjected to a new death threat, one week before the commencement of a trial they are all involved in.

A mobile alert app designed by Amnesty International to help protect human rights activists in danger is in the running for the prestigious Global Impact Award.

On 16 May 2013, human rights defender and maternal health activist Ms Madhuri Ramakrishnasway was arrested outside the court in Barwani in Madhya Pradesh, in a case brought against her after a protest.

We are writing to ask you to join a solidarity effort for our dear friend Sunila Abeysekera, a leading women’s human rights defender, who is in a life struggle with cancer. AWID is joining this campaign in solidarity with Sunila, a dear friend and partner for many years. Please consider collaborating.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received very disturbing information regarding the assault on five women human rights defenders working with Sahjani Shiksha Kendra (SSK) in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh. 

On 16 May 2013, human rights defender Ms Martha Díaz Ospina was targeted once again at her home. 

We are writing to ask you for urgent help on the case of Beatriz, the 22-year-old woman in El Salvador whose life is at risk if she carries on with her pregnancy. As of today, there has still been no decision by the Salvadoran Supreme Court, and no action by the Salvadoran authorities to allow her to have the interruption of pregnancy she needs.

Goal: Support “Reporters without Borders” organization for helping to ensure the freedom of speech and freedom of press for women all over the world.

The daughter of Ingrid Vergara, a prominent Colombian human rights defender, has received a text message telling her that her mother had been killed. 

On 17 May 2013, the second hearing in the case against the Van Women's Association (VAKAD) and nine other civil society organisations is due to take place at the Van 3rd Court of First Instance.

On 17 May 2013, the second hearing in the case against the Van Women's Association (VAKAD) and nine other civil society organisations is due to take place at the Van 3rd Court of First Instance.

Bahraini activist Zainab Al-Khawaja’s sentence to three months’ imprisonment for participating in an “illegal gathering” was upheld by the Appeal Court on 9 May.

Sudanese lawyer Asma Ahmed, a human rights activist, has been detained incommunicado by the National Security Services since 4 May.

Stoning is not simply a relic of the past. In fourteen countries around the world, this brutal punishment and form of torture continues to exist in the here and now.

Since the revolution of early 2011, women, including women’s rights activists, continue to pay a steep price for demanding their rights.

On 7 May 2013 human rights defender Ms Liu Ping was  “criminally detained” for 'inciting subversion of state power' in Xinyu, Jiangxi province.

Two women activists, both members of a human rights organization in Oaxaca State, southern Mexico, are being threatened and harassed.

In the wake of the horrifying factory collapse in Bangladesh that has taken the lives of more than 700 workers and injured many more, there are things that can be done to respond to this disaster and to prevent future tragedies -- by governments, by retailers, apparel brands, consumers and investors.

Given that the High Level Panel will be meeting next week, the IWHC is sharing some of the suggested tweets from the campaign toolkit and encouraging others to take the campaign global as part of a final effort to influence the outcomes of the High-Level Panel report.

On 30 April, prominent translator and cultural and women's rights activist Ayşe Berktay won the 2013 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.

People across Lebanon have risen up against the injustice perpetrated by the Municipality of Dekwaneh last Saturday April 20th, 2012. Antoine Chakhtoora, Municipality Mayor of Dekwaneh, ordered his internal security forces to raid and close a Club frequented by people with non-heteronormative sexual orientations and gender expressions. 

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has urged the Salvadoran government to safeguard the life of Beatriz, but they still have not acted.

Beatriz wants to live. [1] She's 22 years old and the mother of an infant, but the 18 week pregnancy she's carrying is killing her -- right now as you read this -- and the government of El Salvador has refused to permit an exception to their abortion ban to save her life. [2]

Lebanese authorities are out to get the most marginalized in its society one more time.

Please sign-on to the attached 2-page position paper by May 10. On behalf of the Civil Society 20 (C20), Peter Lanzet (Bread for the World-Germany) coordinated input to this position paper of the "Working Group on Reform of the Global Financial Architecture"

On 24 April 2013, Ms Irina Protasova, head of the regional human rights organisation Man and the Law, which is based in the Mari-El Republic in Russia, received a warning from the local Prosecutor's Office.

The Genocide Case has been stalled, and is at risk of being annulled. Please act now to make a historic stand in solidarity with the Ixil people and all Guatemalans who seek justice today for a better tomorrow!

On 20 April 2013, human rights defenders from the Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People 'LGBT United' and theCoalition for Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities were attacked by seven unknown persons in the city of Bitola, while putting up posters advocating for the human rights of LGBTI people and marching peacefully carrying a rainbow flag.

On 19 April 2013 a new hearing in the trial of human rights defender Ms Faiziniso Vokhidova was held in the Economic Court in the city of Dushanbe. 

On 13 April 2013, human rights defender, Ms Marianela Sanchéz Ortiz, and her family were subject of renewed threats when her mother-in-law received a threatening letter.

On 12 April 2013, the daughter of human rights defender Ms Claudia Julieta Duque was photographed by an unknown man in the vicinity of her father's home.

A seriously injured woman and her two daughters are being held in Papua New Guinea by a group that accuses them of practising “sorcery”. There are grave fears for their safety following the beheading of a woman last week after she was also accused of “sorcery”. The response from the police has so far been seriously inadequate.

On 8 April 2013, human rights defender and journalist, Ms. Fidelina Sandoval, was shot at metres from the television station where she works. Fidelina Sandoval is a journalist with Globo TV who covers a number of issues relating to human rights, security and civil society organisations.

A member of the Victims’ Roundtable of El Carmen del Bolívar – a group of victims seeking the return of misappropriated land – in northern Colombia has received death threats on behalf of both herself and other land activists. 

The office of a human rights organization in Chihuahua in northern Mexico has been attacked. This could be connected to their work on human rights and the staff's security may be at risk.

In the early hours of 3 April 2013, the offices of human rights organisation Comité de Defensa de Derechos Humanos Gobixha AC – CODIGODH (Committee for the Defence of Human Rights Gobixha) in Oaxaca, Mexico, were broken into and some confidential documents were reviewed.

Theatre activists Sheetal Sathe and Sachin Mali were arrested on 2 April 2013 on various charges, including criminal conspiracy and being part of a banned organization. They are being held in Mumbai, India and are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

The University of Calabria (a Southern region of Italy) has decided to close down the course of Gender Studies taught by Laura Corradi, the only course of its kind taught at this university.

On March 29^th, 2013, Yahya Ahmed Salih,45 years old and father of tow is  a refugee from Darfur in Syria,  according to witnesses he  was kidnapped on his way to work by Syrian army in Ashrfiat Alwdi, in Damascus, they took him to Wadi Borda and killed him, his body was found there 4 days later.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Pakistan.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation inCambodia.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Pakistan.

She had recently received death threats after publicly supporting a law that would provide survivors of war crimes of sexual violence with compensation and rehabilitation. Amnesty International is calling for her protection.

On 27 March 2013, Kosovan human rights defender Ms Nazlie Bala was attacked upon entering her apartment building and severely beaten. 

Rayma Suprani, cartoonist and journalist with independent newspaper El Universal, began receiving threats on 18 March.

Several sit-in protests recently held by the Occupy Baluwatar movement in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar, Kathmandu, have been disrupted by police who also arrested several movement members

Human rights defenders in the americas play a vital role in exposing and combating human rights violations. Many have paid a high price for their courageous efforts to break cycles of injustice, discrimination and impunity. 

On 13 March 2013, human rights defender Ms Perveen Rehman was shot and killed by armed motorcyclists, close to her offices. Perveen Rehman was a social and economic rights defender, working with communities in the slums of Karachi.

Human rights defenders in the americas play a vital role in exposing and combating human rights violations. Many have paid a high price for their courageous efforts to break cycles of injustice, discrimination and impunity.

On 13 March 2013, an explosive device was detonated outside the offices of Catatumbo Campesino Association and Luis Carlos Pérez Collective Lawyers Corporation. 

On Friday March 15^th, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, a cross-regional group of nine States (Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Qatar, Russian Federation, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe) tabled a draft resolution (A/HRC/22/L.25) entitled “Protection of the Family”.

On 21 February 2013 the case resumed at the Makadara Law Courts in Nairobi against human rights defenders and women's rights activists Ms Ruth Mumbi and Ms Victoria Atieno who are accused of incitement to violence.

On 7 March 2013, police withdrew the permit previously granted for the annual “Reclaim the Night” march of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre (FWCC), scheduled to take place in four locations on 8 March 2013. 

In July 2012 the Popular Women's Organization (Organización Femenina Popular, OFP) celebrated 40 years of brave and tireless work for the rights of women in Colombia. Write to the OFP congratulating them on their 40th anniversary and expressing support for their courageous and crucial work.  

Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned by reports of further threats issued against women human rights defenders working in the city of Barrancabermeja.

On 26 February 2013, the next hearing will take place of a two-year old trial, in which human rights defenders and women's rights activists Ms Ruth Mumbi and Ms Victoria Atieno are accused of incitement to violence. The case resumed at the Makadara Law Courts in Nairobi on 21 February 2013.

On 13 and 14 February 2013, peaceful protests held in Harare and Bulawayo by Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) in order to mark Valentine's Day were violently suppressed by police, with over 188 protesters arrested and many others beaten. One member of WOZA remains in detention.

More than 30 Sudanese women have been detained arbitrarily without access to a lawyer since 12 November 2012. They are being held in Al-Obeid prison in central Sudan following their transfer from Kadugli, Southern Kordofan.

Four women human rights defenders from northern Colombia have been threatened in an email sent to one of them, Jackeline Rojas Castañeda. Her two bodyguards were also threatened.

Gloria Amparo Suárez and Yolanda Becerra, from the women’s human rights organizationOFP, have been threatened with violence against their children in Barrancabermeja,Northern Colombia.

On 9 February 2013, several human rights defenders detained in Samail Central Prison declared an indefinite hunger strike, in which they are only accepting liquids, in protest at the delay in processing their cases at the Court of Appeals in Muscat.

On 22 January, Honduran lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist Patricio Vindel, received a death threat.

Khadija Mohamed Badr is a Nuba woman who was detained in Kadugli on November 11^th , 2012 in the large campaign of arrests of Nuba women during the last two months of 2012.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti about brutal police assault on villagers who were peacefully protesting against forcible acquisition of their lands. 

Community activists opposing the construction of wind farm turbines in Oaxaca State, Mexico have received threats. Members of the protest camp opposing the construction of the turbines were confronted by police on 2 February. 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received very disturbing information from Barwani, Madhya Pradesh regarding the administration's continuing witch hunt against human rights defender Ms Madhuri Krishnaswami of the Jagrat Dalit Adivasi Sangthan.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Turkey.

Two Cambodian women human rights defenders were convicted on baseless charges in separate trials on 26/27 December 2012. Yorm Bopha was sentenced to three years in prison. Tim Sakmony from Borei Keila received a six-month sentence, partially suspended, and has been released.

On 24 January 2013, four human rights defenders who are lawyers and members of the Ankara Branch of Insan Haklari Dernegi (Human Rights Association – İHD) were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 6 to 7 years and 6 months, on charges of being a member of “an armed, illegal organisation”.

English PEN joins PEN International in condemning the life sentence served yesterday against writer, sociologist and feminist Pınar Selek.

Equality Now and its partners in Pakistan are deeply concerned about the continuing attacks and threats against activists and NGO workers in Pakistan. Women, and those working to promote the rights of women and girls, have been particularly targeted by some of the attacks.

Send your message of condemnation to the Secretary of Justice and Human Rights by emailing Kenya Irias: keniainam@yahoo.com.  Demand that the government comply with the feminists’ demands and investigate who gave the order to suppress the feminists on the Day of the Honduran Woman.

Paramilitaries are looking for Afro-descendant leaders Ligia María Chaverra and Enrique Petro in the Curvaradó River Basin, Northern Colombia. Their lives are in danger.

According to the information received, on January 24, 2013, the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 12 will hear the case against Ms. Pinar Selek and may issue a fourth verdict.

On 21 January 2013, human rights lawyers Mr Selcuk Kozagacli and Ms Oya Aslan were arrested upon their arrival at Istanbul airport.

On 20 January 2013, a peaceful picket of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights defenders was attacked by counter-protesters in the city of Voronezh.

Last Update 18 January 2013: The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Iran.

On 8 January 2013, human rights defenders Ms Saida Kurbanova and Ms Nuriniso Kholboyeva were monitored by unknown individuals.

Front Line Defenders is extremely concerned for the safety of human rights defender Ms Eloísa Barrios and her family following the killing, on 15 December 2012, of the ninth member of her family since 1998.

Arbitrary searches were carried out in the premises of the Human Rights House of Voronezh (where several human rights organisations have their offices) and in the apartment of Ms. Natalia Zvyagina, programme coordinator of Interregional Human Rights Group - Voronezh/Chernozem and regional representativeof Transparency International-Russia.