JusticeMakers Bangladesh Joint Statement on the Occasion of World Day Against Death Penalty 2021

As we mark the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty dedicated to women facing capital punishment, who have been sentenced to death, who have been executed or who have been pardoned or found not guilty, the members of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and allies of women sentenced to death take this opportunity to:

• Draw attention to the gender-based discrimination that confront women facing the death penalty during in the lead-up to the offense, investigation, trial, sentencing and appeal phases. Gender-based discrimination can occur against women facing capital punishment and in many cases mitigating circumstances that might benefit women sentenced to death are not considered. For instance, this is particularly true in cases of sexual and gender-based violence.
• Emphasize that gender-based discrimination does not operate in isolation but combines with other forms of discrimination, including those based on age, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, disability amongst others, that expose women on death row to multiple and intersecting forms of inequality.
• Note that there are gaps in the information available on the number and status of women who have been sentenced to death, executed, had their death sentences commuted or pardoned, due to a lack of accurate and disaggregated figures in many countries.
• Recall that in many countries conditions of detention threaten the physical, and psychological integrity and even the lives of all prisoners, and that women on death row face unique challenges due to their specific needs, such as lack of gender-sensitive medical care and hygiene products, and threats of gender-based violence.

We recommend that governments in countries that have yet to abolish the death penalty/ still retain the death penalty:

A) Abolish the death penalty for all offences, regardless of gender;

B) Pending full abolition, we call on governments to:

Eliminate the death penalty for offenses that do not meet the threshold of “”most serious crimes”” under international law and standards;

Repeal provisions that allow for the mandatory imposition of the death penalty, which does not allow judges to consider the circumstances of the offense for the defendant at sentencing;

Acknowledge the compounding forms of violence and discrimination experienced by girls and women – including gender-based violence, early and forced marriage; review laws, criminal procedures, and judicial practices and implement policies and legislative reforms to protect women from these abuses;

Ensure that the criminal justice system takes full account of any mitigating factors linked to women’s backgrounds, including accounts of prior abuse, mental and intellectual disabilities;

Prevent the disproportionate prosecution and detention of women for “”moral/sexual”” crimes, and consider decriminalizing these types of offenses;

Promote the training of all those involved in the investigation, representation and prosecution of crimes involving women on gender-based discrimination and violence, pathways to crime, and gender-sensitive mitigations;

Ensure that all those facing the death penalty have access to free and effective legal counsel experienced in capital representation, and that are trained to recognize and bring forward claims mitigating factors, including those linked to gender-based discrimination;

Develop and implement programs to prevent gender-based violence and discrimination, and promote women and girls’ human rights.

Signatory organizations:

ACAT-France

The Advocates for Human Rights

Amnesty International

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN)

Asia Catalyst

Association de Jeunes pour la Paix et la Démocratie

Association française des femmes des Carrières Juridiques

The Autonomous Women’s Center

Avocats sans frontières France

Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights

Capital Punishment Justice Project

Center for Prisoners’ Rights Japan

Centre d’Information et de Documentation sur les Droits de l’Enfants et de la Femme

Colegio de Abogados y Abogagas de Puerto Rico

Collectif Libérons Mumia

Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide

Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDefend)

Demir Leblebi Kadin Derneği

Eleos Justice, Monash University

Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)

Federation of Women Lawyers FIDA Cameroon

Femmes for Freedom Algemeen

Focal Commissioner for Women’s Human Rights and the Anti-Death Penalty Campaign Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines

Foundation for Elimination of Violence Against Women – Mitra Perempuan

Gender Violence Clinic – University of Maryland Carey School of Law

German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Girl Concern

Human Rights & Democracy Media Center SHAMS/Palestine

International Commission of Jurists

Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU)

Japan Innocence and Death Penalty Information Center

Karapatan Alliance

Kenya Human Rights Commission

lifespark

Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés

Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN)

Mamas for Burundi Association

Medical Action Group

NederlandstaligeVrouwenraad

Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA)

Pax Christi Uvira asbl

Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor

Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)

Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court

Planète Réfugiés – Droits de l’Homme

Punjab Women Collective

REPECAP – International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment

Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour la Développement

Salam for Democracy and Human Rights

The Sentencing Project

Serve

Sosyal Yardımlaşma Rehabilitasyon ve Adaptasyon Merkezi (SOHRAM-CASRA)

Southern Methodist University (SMU) Human Rights Program

Task Force Detainees of the Philippines

Texas After Violence Project

UIA-IROL (Institute for the Rule of Law of the International Association of Lawyers)

Vision des Filles Leaders pour le Développement

Women and Child

Women and Harm Reduction International

Women Information Network

Women’s Committee – UIA (International Association of Lawyers)

World Coalition Against the Death Penalty

The main statement published the following web link: https://worldcoalition.org/2021/10/10/joint-declaration-on-the-death-penalty-and-womens-rights/

JMBT Joint Appeal for UAE to release detained human rights activists ahead of Dubai Expo

In a joint letter to Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, more than 80 organisations appealed to the president of the Emirates to release all imprisoned human rights defenders and activists ahead of the UAE's Dubai Expo.

Your highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan,

As the Expo Dubai 2020 opens for six months starting on 1 October 2021 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the motto “Connecting Minds and Creating the Future through sustainability, mobility and opportunity”, we the undersigned call on the Emirati authorities to demonstrate their commitment to these values by releasing all imprisoned human rights defenders and activists, detained in violation of their right to freedom of expression. 

We further call on the UAE authorities to comply with international standards for prisoners, including by allowing regular family visits, access to healthcare and regular consultations with their lawyers, and ending the practice of holding them in solitary confinement. 

Approaching ten years behind bars, the group of pro-democracy advocates, known as the “UAE 94”, remain unjustly jailed for signing an online petition calling for political reform in 2011. Following a grossly unfair mass trial, 69 members of the UAE 94 were sentenced to between seven and 15 years, including eight in absentia. They are held in Al-Razeen prison, a maximum-security facility in the desert of Abu Dhabi, where activists, government critics and human rights defenders are commonly held. They face arbitrary and unlawful disciplinary measures, such as solitary confinement, deprivation of family visits, and intrusive body searches. 

Sentenced to seven years in prison, four of these political prisoners remain imprisoned even after completing their sentences, according to Emirati activists. Abdullah Al-Hajiri, Omran Al-Radwan Al-Harathi and Mahmoud Hasan Al-Hosani completed their sentences in 2019, and Fahd Al-Hajiri in 2020. Instead of being granted release, these prisoners were transferred to a so-called Munasaha centre, a “counselling centre” within Abu Dhabi’s Al-Razeen prison facility. Three UAE 94 prisoners currently serving 10-year sentences are human rights lawyers Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken and Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansoori, and Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Al-Siddiq. 

Prior to the authorities’ arbitrary dissolution of the UAE’s Jurists Association in 2011, Dr. Al-Roken and Dr. Al-Mansoori served terms as its president. In 2012, they were arbitrarily arrested for signing the 2011 reform petition and for their dedicated work as human rights lawyers defending victims of repression. Detained in Al-Razeen prison, the men reported that they were tortured, as well as subjected to arbitrary disciplinary measures such as denial of family visits, according to Emirati activists. 

In 2011, Dr. Al-Roken bravely defended five human rights activists in a case known as the “UAE5”. Among them were prominent human rights activist and poet Ahmed Mansoor and academic Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith. Although the defendants in the case were pardoned by presidential decree at the time, both Mansoor and bin Ghaith were given 10-year prison sentences in subsequent cases, which involved grossly unjust trials on spurious charges.

Ahmed Mansoor serves on the advisory boards of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division and won the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015. Since his second arrest in March 2017, he has been held in solitary confinement in a 4 x 4 meter cell with no bed or mattress in Al-Sadr prison, Abu Dhabi. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in May 2018. In protest, he went on two hunger strikes in March and September 2019, which have severely impacted his health. His condition has been further exacerbated by the denial of adequate medical care. 

Economist Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith has faced similar mistreatment in prison, where he had to resort to three separate hunger strikes to attempt to bring attention to his unjust conviction and inhumane detention conditions. Dr. Bin Ghaith, a lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of Paris-Sorbonne University, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his online criticism of the Emirati and Egyptian authorities. Despite his hunger strikes, prison authorities have consistently denied Dr. Bin Ghaith appropriate medical care, including his prescribed blood pressure medication. 

In September 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for “the immediate and unconditional release of Ahmed Mansoor, Mohammed al-Roken and Nasser bin Ghaith as well as all other human rights defenders, political activists and peaceful dissidents." The resolution insists that the Emirati government “guarantee that human rights defenders in the UAE are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities in all circumstances, both inside and outside the country, without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.” This is far from being the case: the UAE authorities have squashed dissenting voices to such a degree in recent years that it can now be said that there are no human rights defenders left in the country, and freedom of expression and civic space are virtually non-existent. 

In light of the upcoming Dubai Expo, and the UAE’s candidacy for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2022, we urge the Emirati government to consider using this opportunity to prove to the international community a true commitment to human rights by unconditionally releasing all jailed human rights defenders. In particular, we urge the authorities to free all prisoners who have been denied release after the completion of their sentence. Their ongoing detention constitutes an outrageous violation of both domestic and international law. 

Pending their release, we appeal to Your Highness to ensure that prisoners are granted access to basic amenities in their cells such as a bed, blankets in winter and air conditioning in summer, to have regular family visits, and to be allowed outside their cells to have contact with other prisoners in the canteen or the yard, as provided for by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. With the spotlight on the UAE from October 2021 to March 2022, the Emirati government has a unique opportunity to show good-will and a commitment to international law by addressing the aforementioned human rights abuses, including by releasing from prison our jailed friends and colleagues. 

Sincerely,

Signatories:

ACAT Cameroon, ACAT Canada, ACAT Central African Republic, ACAT Germany, ACAT Italia, ACAT UK, Access Center for Human Rights (Wousoul)/Centre d'accès pour les droits de l'homme (ACHR), Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) Belgium/Belgique/Belgie, ActiveWatch,     Africa Freedom Information Centre (AFIC), Albanian Media Institute (AMI), ALQST for Human Rights, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS), Amnesty International, Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights, Arab Organisation for human Rights in the UK, Article 19, Association Marocaine des droits de l’Homme, Bahrain Press Association BPA, Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights, Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), Bytes for All, Pakistan, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility, Detained International, Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre (EDAC), European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR), Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany, FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Économiques et Sociaux (FTDES), Freedom Expression Institute (FXI), Front Line Defenders, Global Voices Advox, Globe International Center, Greek Helsinki Monitor, Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners, Human Rights Sentinels, Human Rights Watch, IFoX Initiative for Freedom of Expression – Turkey, Independent Journalism Center, Innovation for Change Middle East and North Africa (I4C MENA), International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE (ICFUAE), International Press Centre (IPC), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI), JusticeMakers Bangladesh, Landless Workers Movement (MST), Lawyers for Lawyers, Lebanese Center for Human Rights, Ligue Algérienne de défense des droits de l’Homme, Media for West Africa (MFWA), Media Institute for Southern Africa, Zimbabwe (MISA), Medical Action Group, Inc., MENA Rights Group, Metro Center For Journalists Rights & Advocacy, Mwatana for human rights, Odhikar, PEN America, PEN Canada, PEN International, Programme Against Custodial Torture and Impunity (PACTI), Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), Promo LEX Association, Republic of Moldova, Social Media Exchange (SMEX), SOHRAM-CASRA Centre Action Sociale Réhabilitation et Réadaptation pour les Victimes de la Torture, de la guerre et de la violence, Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, The South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEEMO), Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), UIA-IROL (Institute for the Rule of Law of the International Association of Lawyers), Vigilance for Democracy and the Civic State, World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

The original appeal is here

JusticeMakers Bangladesh Celebrates Music Freedom day 2021

 Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights along with its partner organization JusticeMakers Bangladesh and Human Rights Development Project, Khulna celebrates the Music Freedom Day 2021 at Naogaon and Khulna today on 03 March 2021. The celebration of music freedom day is coordinated and supported by Freemuse, Denmark. They celebrates the day in Bangladesh with human chain, rally, dissuasion meeting as well as performing open air stage show by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender artists

Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights along with its partner organization JusticeMakers Bangladesh and Human Rights Development Project, Khulna celebrates the Music Freedom Day 2021 at Naogaon and Khulna today. The celebration of music freedom day is coordinated and supported by Freemuse, Denmark. They celebrates the day in Bangladesh with human chain, rally, dissuasion meeting as well as performing open air stage show by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender artists.

With the theme of Imagine pandemic without art as well as practice the arts without border, build the county free of fundamentalist; an open discussion has been organized at Naogaon. Advocate Shahanur Islam, Secretary General of Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights and JusticeMakers Bangladesh as well as a persecuted Columnist, Blogger and Human Rights Activist delivered the welcome speech during the discussion.

The discussants demanded to ensure the freedom of artistic expression as well as freedom of opinion as stated in constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and other international human rights instrument including UDHR, ICESCR during the open discussion.

Later an open air musical show has been staged by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender artists.

With the theme of Imagine Pandemic without Art a human chain and rally is organized in front of symmetry road, Khulna as the part of the celebration. Around 80 people from different profession including civil society member, lawyer, journalist, art and cultural performers and activist are participated the human chain and rally.

After organizing human chain and rally an open discussion meeting has been organized at the office of HRDP, Khulna. Presided over by Advocate Shunil, moderated by Jamal Uddin Moral Arts Rights Activists are participated the discussion meeting.

BIHR, JusticeMakers Bangladesh and HRDP, Khulna also issued the press release and press statement to the news media in Bangladesh emphasizing the importance of this day.

Apart from the said activities BIHR, JusticeMakers Bangladesh and HRDP, Khulna disseminated the all activities and continued the campaign through social media and blog.

Press release: Support for Colleague Shahanur Islam

Press release: Support for Colleague Shahanur Islam

This press release publish in Italian and English, from the Threatened Lawyers Observatory in support of the lawyer Shahanur Islam, defender of human rights.

Shahanur Islam is a lawyer, human rights defender, and blogger from Bangladesh. 

He is Secretary General and Honorary Executive Director of the Bangladesh Institute for Human Rights (BIHR) and founder of JusticeMakers Bangladesh. His work focuses in particular on minority rights, LGBT rights and cases of torture, killings and enforced disappearances by law enforcement.

Due to its activity, Islam has received many threats, has been attacked, hindered and even attacked, as well as involved in falsely constructed cases.

 To name some of the attacks he suffered:

- in October / November 2017, he received death threats by telephone after some of his statements / articles on LGBT rights were published on national blogs / online media;
- in September 2018, he received repeated threats of physical assault, death threats, as well as hate speech on Facebook as a result of his statements made in relation to the legalization of homosexuality in Bangladesh;
- more recently, on 26 August 2020, he was attacked in court by the son of the counterparty and by 12 other defendants;
on 15 November 2020 he was threatened with death with beheading, he was again threatened with death, on the street, in the name of Allah, after the publication of an interview with him in Bangladesh DBC news on the defense of LGBTQ rights in Bangladesh.

Islam has received important recognition from international organizations and bodies for its work. For example, he received the Asia Justice Makers Fellowship 2010 from International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) and, given his experience, some of his statements have been quoted by major international media.

We recall that lawyers play a fundamental role as sentinels and promoters of rights and their function must be protected, certainly not hindered: "In a society founded on respect for the rule of law, the lawyer plays a special role (...). The lawyer must serve the interests of justice as well as those of those whose rights and freedoms he is called to assert and defend (...). Respect for the professional function of the lawyer is an essential condition for the rule of law and democracy in society. " (CCBE Code of Conduct for European Lawyers, Article 1.1.)

IS,

"Governments must ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, impediment, harassment or undue interference; (b) are able to travel and consult freely with their clients both at the within their country and abroad; and (c) do not undergo, or are threatened to undergo, judicial proceedings or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics . " (Fundamental principles on the role of lawyers, United Nations, principle 16).

We express our support for our endangered colleague Shahanur Islam and urge the relevant authorities to take a stand and grant Mr. Islam due protection and recognition for his role and laudable efforts.

Rome, February 3, 2021

The Threatened Lawyers' Observatory

To read original press release please visit the following link:    

https://www.camerepenali.it/cat/10807/il_sostegno_a_favore_del_collega_shahanur_islam.html

JMBT Joint Civil Society Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and to build a better future

 

The Press Released “Over 200 civil society organizations and trade unions unite to call for a Global Fund for Social Protection to protect the most vulnerable during COVID-19 and beyond” is here, (pdf version).

Civil Society Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and to build a better future

Pdf version available here.

We, civil society and faith-based organizations, trade unions and members of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, in view of the global harm from the COVID-19 pandemic, call on governments worldwide to ensure – through national and global solidarity – that national social protection floors are made available to all people with the help of a Global Fund for Social Protection. National floors of social protection are vital to leave no one behind. They ensure universal access to essential health care as well as basic income security across the life course.

 We recall that

• The member states of the United Nations have long agreed on the fundamental human rights of all people to social protection and to health;^*
• Despite this, more than two thirds of the world’s population are still denied the right to comprehensive social protection;
• As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people without protection is increasing significantly, with the number of people that are food insecure alone projected to double to a quarter of a billion this year;
• Social protection systems are a proven direct and fast-acting mechanism that reduce and prevent poverty, help counter inequality, and can unleash the creativity and productive capacity of people by providing a basic level of security that ensures dignity and access to all essential goods and public services;
• Social protection is a vital investment in socio-economic development and in resilience in view of natural and climate disasters, economic and other humanitarian crises;
• Social protection systems offer highly effective safeguards against the social and economic fallout of the present and future health and socio-economic crises; and
• Many studies have shown that ensuring a basic level of social protection for all is affordable for most countries and entirely achievable through the solidarity of the international community.

We recognize, that

• Many national governments develop, implement and monitor social protection floors, with the participation of civil society, trade unions and informal worker organizations;
• Generally and principally  the financing of social protection systems must fall to national budgets;
• There are, nevertheless, a few countries where technical support for the setting-up of national social protection floors and co-financing from the international community are required due to multiple factors, including high socio-economic vulnerability and persistent low levels of national revenue;
• Based on conditions in the pre-COVID-19 era, some 10 to 15 countries have social protection financing gaps amounting to more than 10 per cent of their GDP, and require temporary international co-financing of minimum social protection floors, while they strengthen domestic resource mobilisation.

We call on all governments  

• To create a Global Fund for Social Protection, based on the principle of global solidarity, to support countries to design, implement and, in specific cases, provide temporary co-financing for national social protection floors. The mandate of the Fund would be to:
• Support the introduction or finalization of national social protection floors with the full participation of people of all ages, including women, people with disabilities, minorities, and those living in poverty in their design, implementation and monitoring;
• Ensure that national social protection floors are prepared for sustainability and for expansion in the event of shocks that affect entire communities;
• Co-finance – on a transitional basis – the costs of setting up social protection floors in low-income countries where such transfers would otherwise require a prohibitively high share of the country’s total tax revenue;
• Support the strengthening of domestic resource mobilisation, including international tax regulation, to underpin the future sustainability of national social protection systems;
• Offer additional support for specific shock-responsive social protection interventions in countries where floors have not yet been established. 

We envisage, that

• The Global Fund for Social Protection would:
• Be governed by a board, representative of both recipient and donor states, civil society organizations, trade unions and informal workers organisations in accordance with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and ILO Recommendation R204 (2015);
• Be governed by the principles of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation, notably the respect for country ownership, national financial co-responsibility and the necessary support for national systems;
• Operate under the principles of accountability, transparency and participation;
• Be financed through a combination of different sources such as:
• Representing a greater focus of existing international development aid resources and development finance facilities;
• Specifically earmarked sources, such as national, regional or global financial transaction taxes (FTT), an arms trade tax, carbon taxes, air ticket solidarity levies, and levies on profits;
• Increased development aid, multilateral grants and funds for emergency response;
• Voluntary contributions of individuals and other donors.
• UN organizations and development and humanitarian aid organizations, including civil society active in the countries of focus will deliver technical country support.

We therefore call on all governments

• To establish a Global Fund for Social Protection that will help bring an end to avoidable human suffering, poverty, extreme inequality, ill-health and avoidable deaths associated with the current and future crises, and for them to invest in the development of national social protection floors in all countries through the principle of national and global solidarity.

Note:

* As enshrined, for example, in articles 22 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), articles 9 and 12 of the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), ILO Recommendation 202 (2012) as well as other instruments and confirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals (2015).

Read the original report please visit here: