"SELF DETERMINATION IS KEY TO THE WORLD PEACE"
Investigative Commission confirms allegations of gross human rights abuse in Bahrain?
[Friday, 23 December 2011 14:39] Featured, Forthcoming Events, Human Rights ArticlesWednesday, 21 December 2011, 9:57
Newsletter 21 (December 2011)
UNIVERSAL JUSTICE
A commission of renowned international law experts appointed by the King of Bahrain has concluded in its report that gross human rights violations were committed during the Bahraini protests. ECCHR, which presented two cases to the commission, called for the additional prosecution of those who instigated the crimes and supervised the perpetrators. The commission is now recommending the establishment of independent investigative mechanisms to deal with the crimes, investigate the superiors responsible and recommend further steps where necessary.
Anti-torture committee reprimands Germany
During routine consultations, the UN anti-torture committee has criticized Germany for the inadequate criminal prosecutions in the case of Khaled El Masri and the opaque implementation of recommendations arising from the BND Committee of Enquiry. The committee also expressed its serious concerns about the Federal Government’s refusal to rule out the possible use of information obtained by foreign intelligence services through the use of torture. ECCHR presented the committee with an alternative report outlining the numerous violations of the convention against torture that have been committed in the course of counter terrorist operations.
Appeal in murder case Israilov filed in Vienna
Both the Defense and the State Prosecutor have launched respective appeals in the murder case of Chechen exile Umar Israilov. Both parties criticize the level of punishment. In addition, the defense team representing the three defendants is complaining that Russia was not given enough time to respond to judicial requests for Ramsan Kadyrow to appear as witness. A decision on the appeals is expected mid-2012. The three defendants were convicted in the first instance to life imprisonment, 19 years imprisonment and 16 years imprisonment respectively. ECCHR is supporting attorney Nadja Lorenz, who is representing Israilov’s family, and has also entered the proceedings itself as joint plaintiff.
New ECCHR Publication: Torture and Information Use
in Counterterrorist Operations
A new report from ECCHR analyses three of the exemplary cases selected by the BND committee of enquiry: the case of ex-Guantánamo inmate Murat Kurnaz, the continued torture and imprisonment of Mohammed Zammar in Syria, and the abduction and torture of Khaled El Masri. To differing extents, German intelligence agents were involved in all three cases. The report comes to the conclusion that German authorities and courts have violated the absolute prohibition on torture.
GENDER AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Transitional Justice – A way of fighting sexualized
violence during warfare
On 3 November 2011, ECCHR held an expert talk in cooperation with the Gunda Werner Institute on the theme “Transitional Justice – A means of fighting sexualized violence during warfare.” The talk built on the results of a conference held in the institute in October 2010, and followed the May 2011 talk “Militarized Masculinity in (Post-) Conflict Regions”. It analyzed conditions which contribute to reconciliation after armed conflict, focusing in particular on possible ways of effectively addressing and punishing human rights abuses committed against women.
BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Labour conditions in the global supply chain –
how responsible are German corporations?
Miriam Saage-Maaß, Program Director for Business and Human Rights at ECCHR, has developed a study for the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation which investigates the extent to which corporations are legally responsible for working conditions in overseas supplier firms and subsidiaries. The study focuses on compensation claims under civil law which can be pursued before German courts.
Best Practice in OECD-Complaints Procedures –
Comparing National Contact Points
Between October 2010 and January 2011, ECCHR submitted OECD complaints relating to the trade of Uzbek cotton against seven cotton traders. Complaints were submitted to the respective national contact point in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain and France. ECCHR has now carried out comparative evaluations of three of the national contact points, examining their means of working with a particular focus on their transparency, impartiality and predictability. The results have been summarized in a position paper. By comparing complaints procedures, ECCHR hopes to standardize the work of the NCPs and thus contribute to more effective management procedures. Uzbekistan, the world’s third – biggest cotton exporter, harvests cotton through a state-led system of forced child labor. Between 1.5 and 2 million children are forced to work in cotton fields each year.
Public Prosecutor investigates the responsibility of
German corporation Lahmeyer International
On 3 May 2010 ECCHR filed a criminal complaint against two senior employees of the engineering office Lahmeyer International GmbH with the Public Prosecutor in Frankfurt am Main. The Public Prosecutor is now investigating the facts of the case. Lahmayer International GmbH is significantly involved in the construction of the Merowe Dam in North Sudan. The criminal charge presents evidence supporting the alleged responsibility of both employees for the inundation of around 30 villages, the displacement of more then 4700 families and the destruction of their livelihoods.
In recent months, Sudanese security forces have arrested and intimidated many of those who have criticized the Merowe Dam project and fought for the rights of those displaced by the construction of the dam. Those arrested were detained in unknown places for days, sometimes weeks. One of the victims is a potential witness in the current criminal proceedings against the Lahmeyer International employees.
Rights and accountability – the way ahead for business
and human rights: Conference documentation released
On 21 and 22 November 2011, ECCHR ran a conference in Berlin together with German Watch, MISEREOR, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, the Forum for Human Rights and the Network for Corporate Accountability. The event, titled Rights and accountability – the way ahead for business and human rights, was attended by representatives from the political sphere, NGOs from the global north and south, corporations, trade unions and academia. Participants came from around 15 different countries. They discussed the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were adopted through the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011. An English version of the documentation will be released in January 2012.
Syngenta’s responsibility for pesticide poisoning
Together with the Berne Declaration, ECCHR has published a study on the responsibility of Syngenta for cases of intoxication caused by Paraquat, a pesticide produced by the corporation. The author of the study, Robert Grabosch, investigates the extent of Syngenta’s responsibility according to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This is the first time the principles have been applied in this way.
Chancellor Merkel called on to uphold human rights
in German policy towards Uzbekistan
On the occasion of International Human Rights Day (December 10), ECCHR, the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights (UGF), INKOTA-netzwerk, terre des hommes Deutschland, Brot für die Welt, the Eurasian Transition Group, and the Uzbekistan Press Freedom Group sent an Open Letter to German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel calling attention to the human rights situation in Uzbekistan. Through a series of concrete recommendations, the letter urges the German government to put human rights at the center of their policies towards Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is currently one of the most repressive regimes in the world.
PUBLICATIONS
Wolfgang Kaleck: Die verschwundenen Gewerkschafter von Mercedes Benz Argentina, in: Juridikum, 3/2011, p. 343-351
Miriam Saage-Maaß: Labour conditions in the global supply chain. What is the extent and implications of the German Corporate Responsibility? International Policy Analysis for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, December 2011, 21p.
read…
Miriam Saage-Maaß / Yvonne Veith: Keine usbekische Baumwolle aus Kinderhand auf den europäischen Markt – Mit soft law gegen Kinderzwangsarbeit?, in: Juridikum, 3/2011, p. 352-363
Andreas Schüller: Gleiches Recht für alle. Die juristische Menschenrechtsarbeit gegen die Folgen von 9/11, in: Friedensforum. Zeitschrift der Friedensbewegung, 6/2011, p. 33-34
HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2012!
DONATIONS
ECCHR is registered at Amtsgericht Charlottenburg and is inscribed as a non-profit association at the competent tax office. The human rights work carried out by ECCHR depends on your support. Please help us to prevent and examine grave human rights violations. ECCHR is a member in the Human Rights Forum (Forum Menschenrechte), the Coalition Against Impunity (Koalition gegen Straflosigkeit), Truth and Justice for the German Disappeared in Argentina (Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit für die deutschen Verschwundenen in Argentinien) and the Network for Corporate Accountability (Netzwerk für Unternehmensverantwortung Corporate Accountability (CorA)). Donations are tax deductible.
Donation Bank Account: 8853607011
Berliner Volksbank
BLZ 100 900 00
IBAN: DE77100900008853607011
BIC: BEVODEBB
IMPRINT
Published by:
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) e.V.
General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck
Zossener Str. 55-58, Entrance D
D – 10961 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0) 30 40 04 85 90
Fax: +49 (0) 30 40 04 85 92
info@ecchr.eu
http://www.ecchr.eu
- Entries (RSS)
About us
Global Peace Support Group UK Ltd is a registered organisation based in London. The organisation dedicated to be involved in humanitarian and other related issues. We also work along with other similar organisations to promote peace and harmony among various societies..
GLOBAL PEACE SUPPORT GROUP - UK - TIRELESSLY WORK ON THE CONCEPT OF:
"SELF DETERMINATION IS KEY TO THE WORLD PEACE"
MOURNS ON THE CONTINUED TRAGEDY OF THE PEOPLE OF North & East of Tamil EELAM WITH THE HOPE OF ALL OF OUR ENDEAVOURS WOULD BRING AN END TO THOSE SUFFERING DURING THE YEAR AHEAD.
The International community has a duty towards the long suffering Sri Lankan Tamil population to restore their rights of SELF DETERMINATION.
Global Peace Support Group - believes that this is the ONLY way for a permanent PEACE in Sri Lanka.
Featured
Tamil Aricles
Latest from Tamil News Network (TNN)
- Unlawful killings in Sri Lanka – US May 25, 2012The United States has said that ‘unlawful killings by security forces and government-allied paramilitary groups are a major human rights problem in Sri Lanka, often in the predominantly Tamil areas.’ The 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published by the U.S. State Department stated that “The major human rights problems were unlawful killings by […]
- What’s next for General Fonseka? May 25, 2012It has been a couple of days since the former military commander of Sri Lankan Army and common opposition’s presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka was released from the prisons and I can’t think of a better timing than this for me to express some of my thoughts related to these developments, which I am sure many here would share with me, at yet anothe […]
- China to help Sri Lanka launch satellite by 2015 May 25, 2012China will help Sri Lanka launch its first satellite by 2015, officials said. Local company SupremeSAT said it has reached an agreement with the Sri Lankan board of investment for $20 million for the project. It has entered into an agreement with China’s state-owned China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) for the design, manufacturing and launching of […]
- Lankan oppn asks govt to implement LLRC recommenda May 25, 2012(PTI) Sri Lanka’s main opposition party on Thursday asked the government to implement the recommendations of the country’s reconciliation commission and revive talks with the main Tamil party TNA to find a political solution to the ethnic issue. United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing the Parliament said that recommendations of the […]
- SL military coerces Jaffna University students to closed-door talks May 25, 2012The commander of the occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe, intimidated leaders of the boycotting students of the Jaffna University to come for a closed-door meeting at the occupation headquarters on Wednesday to tell them that the SL military would not provide security to students if they engage in political or social activities. The […]
- Sri Lanka’s Sarath Fonseka barred from political office May 25, 2012Sri Lanka’s ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka is barred from political office for seven years, despite being freed from jail on Monday, his lawyer says. Mr Fonseka stood against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a presidential election two years ago, lost and was imprisoned shortly afterwards. Mr Fonseka’s lawyer, Nalin Laduwahetti, says that the terms of his releas […]
- Sri Lanka sets up new courts to try war suspects May 24, 2012Sri Lanka is setting up new courts to accelerate cases against hundreds of Tamil rebel suspects three years after the end of the island’s bloody ethnic war, a government spokesman said Thursday. Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said the justice ministry would open three courts near the former war zone in the northeast of Sri Lanka to hear charges against more than […]
- Slaying of Tamil-Canadian underscores enduring ethnic violence in Sri Lanka May 24, 2012Andrew Mahendrarajah Antonipillai believed he was protected. Family and friends tried to warn him of the danger he faced returning to his native Sri Lanka. But Mr. Antonipillai, a man his Montreal neighbours knew as ready to help anyone in need, shrugged them off, saying his Canadian citizenship would keep him safe. “They can’t do anything to me,” he told fr […]
- Reconciliation: The Symbolic and the Substantive May 24, 2012Photo courtesy JDS Against the backdrop of grave planetary changes, Sarath Fonseka’s release, G.L. Peiris’s visit to Washington DC and the third anniversary of the defeat of the LTTE, an evaluation of the requirements of reconciliation are in order. There is a need to distinguish between the symbolic and the substantive – both in turn playing their part in […]
- India’s Marxist Communist Party calls for withdrawal of Sri Lanka military May 24, 2012The Marxist Communist Party of India (CPI-M) in a press release on Wednesday called for immediate withdrawal of the Sri Lanka military stationed in Tamil areas of the island. In one of the five resolutions passed at the state committee meeting of the party held at Ealakiri in Tamil Nadu last Sunday, it was decided to urge the Indian government to diplomatica […]