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UN calls for release of Saudi woman sentenced to 34 years in prison for tweeting

Sat, 20 Aug 2022 04:15:19 +0000

Geneva: The UN human rights office, OHCHR, expressed outrage on Friday over a 34-year prison sentence handed down to a Saudi woman charged with aiding dissidents.

Al-Shehab, 34, was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2021 while on a holiday from the United Kingdom where she is a student.

She was accused of spreading false information and aiding dissidents seeking to disrupt public order with her tweets, retweets and follows on Twitter.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, expressed outrage on Friday over a prison sentence spanning more than three decades handed down to a Saudi woman charged with following and retweeting so-called dissidents and activists.

OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssel, in a statement, said doctoral student Salma Al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in jail, followed by a 34-year travel ban in connection with a series of tweets and retweets on political and human rights issues in Saudi Arabia.

“We urge the Saudi authorities to quash her conviction and release her immediately and unconditionally,” she said. “She should never have been arrested and charged in the first place for such conduct”.

The extraordinarily lengthy sentence adds to “the chilling effect” among Government critics and civil society at large, the statement continued, describing it as “yet another example of Saudi authorities weaponising the country’s counter-terrorism and anti-cybercrime laws to target, intimidate and retaliate against human rights defenders and those who voice dissent”.

According to UN News, media reports have pointed out that the case marks the latest example of how the country has targeted Twitter users in a campaign of repression, while simultaneously controlling a major indirect stake in the United States social media company.

Journalists have also observed that the sentencing by Saudi’s special terrorist court was handed down weeks after US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia, which human rights activists had warned could embolden the kingdom to escalate its crackdown on dissidents and other pro-democracy activists, the report added.

“Saudi Arabia must not only release Al-Shehab so that she can re-join her family, but also review all convictions stemming from free expression against human rights defenders, including women who were jailed after they legitimately demanded reforms of discriminatory policies, as well as religious leaders and journalists,” said Throssell.

OHCHR also urged the Saudi Government to establish “a robust legislative framework in line with international human rights law” to uphold the rights to freedom of expression and association, and the right of peaceful assembly for all.

Courtesy: The Daily Siasat

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Target hate speech and hate crimes: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ appeal to all States

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 07:24:02 +0000

Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21) is an annual reminder to us all to do more to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, hate speech and hate crimes.

But 21 March needs to be more than a reminder. People of African descent continue to be victims of racist hate crimes and racism in all areas of life. Anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head from the US to Europe to the Middle East and beyond. Muslim women wearing headscarves face increasing verbal, and even physical, abuse in a number of countries. In Latin America, indigenous peoples continue to endure stigmatization, including in the media.

The dangers of demonising particular groups are evident across the world. Xenophobic riots and violence targeting immigrants have recently flared again in South Africa. In South Sudan, polarised ethnic identities – stoked by hate speech – have brought the country to the brink of all-out ethnic war. In Myanmar, the Rohingya Muslim community, long denigrated as “illegal immigrants,” have suffered appalling violations.

Across the world, the politics of division and the rhetoric of intolerance are targeting racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, and migrants and refugees. Words of fear and loathing can, and do, have real consequences.

And across the world, the politics of division and the rhetoric of intolerance are targeting racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, and migrants and refugees. Words of fear and loathing can, and do, have real consequences.

UK government statistics showed a sharp increase in reported hate crime in the weeks following the 23 June 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, in which immigration was a dominant issue.

FBI figures indicated a rise in hate crimes nationwide in 2015, a year when the US presidential election campaign – a campaign that often focused on the supposed threats posed by migrants, Hispanics and Muslims – began in earnest. Data collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center indicates that migrants, African-Americans and Muslims were the most affected by hate crimes in the immediate aftermath of the election, although full data for 2016 is not yet available.

In Germany in 2016, there were approximately 10 attacks a day on migrants and refugees, a rise of 42 per cent on 2015. Cases of reported hate crimes increased more than three-fold in Spain from 2012, reaching 1,328 in 2015. Italy saw reported hate crimes rise from 71 to 555 in 2015; Finland experienced a doubling of reported hate crimes from 2014 to 2015, when 1,704 incidents were reported.

Many States do not collect data on racist hate crimes, leaving the true extent of the problem obscured.

These figures paint a partial picture of the situation in the respective countries but there are many States that do not collect data on racist hate crimes, leaving the true extent of the problem obscured. Tackling racism and xenophobia begins with understanding the scope of the problem. I encourage States to do more to collect disaggregated data, including on the basis of race and ethnicity, so they can monitor trends, understand causes and design and implement targeted action to bring about real change.

This day reminds us that States have no excuse for allowing racism and xenophobia to fester, much less flourish. They have the legal obligation to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination, to guarantee the right of everyone, no matter their race, colour, national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law.

States should adopt legislation expressly prohibiting racist hate speech, including the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination, and threats or incitement to violence. It is not an attack on free speech or the silencing of controversial ideas or criticism, but a recognition that the right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities.

We face a world where discriminatory practices are still widespread. But it is not the time for despair.

Equality bodies and national human rights institutions in many countries work to prevent and combat discrimination. Some law enforcement agencies are incorporating human rights standards into their actions, not just because they are legally obliged to, but because it leads to more effective policing. Similarly, education and healthcare professionals, as well as good employers, are tackling the racial, ethnic and religious prejudices and profiling that exist in their sectors. Progress here needs to continue, including through affirmative action, training and representation of ethnic and racial minorities.

The UN Human Rights Office, is asking people around the world to"Stand Up for Someone's Rights Today"

The UN has launched several initiatives to fight racism and xenophobia, including Together" which promotes respect, safety and dignity for refugees and migrants, Let's Fight Racism", and the International Decade for People of African Descent.

My Office, the UN Human Rights Office, is asking people around the world to"Stand Up for Someone's Rights Today". And, around the world, that is exactly what many people are doing. Taking a stand against discrimination, no matter where it happens.

For more information and media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org) or Liz Throssell (+41 22 917 9466 / ethrossell@ohchr.org)

*The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was established in remembrance of the 69 unarmed and peaceful South African protestors who were killed in Sharpeville, South Africa on 21 March 1960 — an event which inspired people around the world to act to end the racist apartheid regime.

The UN Human Rights Office is running a global campaign called “Stand Up for Someone’s Rights Today. The campaign aims to galvanize everyone – private sector, governments, individuals, civil society – to play an active role in standing up to defend the human rights of all, at a time when these hard-won rights and freedoms are facing increasing pressures across the world.

Find out more here: http://www.standup4humanrights.org

See more at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21407&LangID=E#sthash.S1VeLN5E.dpuf

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Major embarrassment for India: UN rights body puts NHRC accreditation on hold

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 08:19:38 +0000

Until its re-accreditation, NHRC will not be able to represent India either in the UN’s Human Rights Council or the UN General Assembly.

In a major embarrassment to India, an organisation affiliated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recommended that the re-accreditation of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), be kept on hold till November 2017 by the OHCHR, according to a report published by Scroll.

The recommendation has been made by the OHCHR affiliate, Global Alliance for National Human Right’s Institutions (GANHRI). This means that until re-accreditation, NHRC will not be able to represent India either in the UN’s Human Rights Council or the UN General Assembly.

The report effectively damns the way the NHRC has been conceived under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, its selection and appointment process all of which make the rights body critically dependent on the government of the day and vulnerable to political pressure.
As highlighted by Scroll:

Only 92 of the NHRC’s staff—a mere 20%—are women, the report notes, and that since 2004, there hasn’t been a single woman on the governing body.
The legislative requirement of having an ex-CJI (Chief Justice of India) as chairperson and choosing members of the senior judiciary severely restricts the potential pool of candidates who can be appointed, especially women.
The report questions why top cops and serving or retired police personnel should be accommodated in the investigating wing of the commission. This question becomes crucial because the NHRC is tasked with investigating human rights violations by the government and its agencies, including the police.

Citizens’ rights groups within India have for long been pointing to these very lacunae that the NHRC suffers from.

Devika Prasad, coordinator of the Police Reforms Programme of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), has been quoted by Scroll as saying that given the paramount mandate of the NHRC—to protect citizens from rights violations by the State—having an investigative unit stacked with, and headed by a police officer, is incompatible with the very idea of natural justice. “For a start, the NHRC could do with having a unit which has policemen in it, but also comprises other competent personnel having diverse experiences and the requisite skill-sets”, she suggests.

The report of the GANHRI’s sub-committee on accreditation (SCA) expresses serious reservations about a senior civil servant being the NHRC’s Secretary General (the present incumbent is Satyanarayan Mohanty, an IAS officer), and also asks why the Chairperson of the National Commission for Schedule Castes and Tribes—an elected MP—has voting powers in the commission.

While noting that the NHRC does need to work with the government in many cases, the SCA report categorically states that the commission needs to be completely independent and insulated from government and political influence.

The SCA report has also severely criticised the mammoth backlog of over 40,000 cases pending before the NHRC. Henry Tiphagne, General Secretary of All India Network of NGOs and Individuals working with National Human Rights Institutions (AiNNI) has rightly pointed out that in all the 24 years of its existence, the NHRC has not had a member of civil society in its topmost echelons, and it is time for the government to rise to the occasion and intervene in order to form a truly independent commission which recognises and practises diversity.

After maintaining a studied silence for some days, former chief justice of the Supreme Court and the present NHRC chief, HL Dattu while talking to the Hindu sought to play down the implications of the severe castigation of NHRC as part of a “regular process which happens every five years”.

Asked to comment on the SCA’s castigation of NHRC for “political appointments”, “police officers being part of its investigation unit” and “lack of pluralism in its staff “, he said: This (India’s Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993), was framed in such a way. And anyway, six eminent people – including PM, Speaker, Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson, leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and minister in-charge of human rights ministry – are part of the committee selecting the chairperson and members of NHRC. We have to give due credit to their wisdom”.

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