harassment

Zimbabwe: Raid on the offices of the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) and harassment of its staff members

Front Line is deeply concerned following reports of a raid on the offices of the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) and of the home of Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, Director of the ZESN, on 25 April 2008. The ZESN is a group of thirty-eight non-governmental organisations which have come together to promote democratic processes in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe

Sudan: Osman Ibrahim and members of the Kajbar Dam committee subject to ongoing harassment

Osman Ibrahim is Secretary of the Kajbar Dam Committee, who are protesting at the construction of dam, which will flood their villages resulting in forced displacement of local communities. Local people are particularly concerned at the lack of any adequate consultation on the plans to build the dam. <!break-->

Further Information

Posted 18/11/2007 Osman Ibrahim and other committee members including Abdel Aziz Ali Khieri, have been repeatedly arrested and ill-treated while in custody. On 13 June 2007, four people died and thirteen others suffered serious injuries when armed security personnel fired on the crowd during a peaceful demonstration against the dam.

Journalists and lawyers attending the protest were arrested. Front Line is concerned that the Kajbar Dam Committee will face ongoing intimidation and arrests.

Get back to Protect One Empower a Thousand - Front Line and The Body Shop Campaign

Sudan

India:Harassment of human rights defender Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi and colleagues

Front Line expresses concern regarding the charges that have been filed against human rights defender Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi and other staff members of the People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR). Dr Raghuvanshi is the Convener of the PVCHR and also a member of the District Vigilance Committee on Bonded Labour in the State of Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. In his work in the defence of human rights, Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi has focused on the protection of the right to food and on victims of death due to starvation.

India

Tunisia: Record on human rights defenders remains “very poor”, reveals a Front Line and Human Rights First mission report

Tunisia

While Tunisia is commemorating this year the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the republican system and the 20th anniversary of the accession of President Ben Ali to power, its record with respect to the treatment of human rights activists remains “very poor”, reveals a mission report, released on 27 September in Brussels by Front Line, the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, on the occasion of the visit of Ms Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian human rights defender and journalist, who is an emblematic figure of the fight for freedom and human rights in Tunisia. She is also a founding member and the spokeswoman of the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (Conseil National pour les Libertés en Tunisie, CNLT).

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Angola: national human rights organisations in danger of being shut down

Front Line is deeply concerned about the the recent accusations made by Angolan government officials against human rights defenders in Angola. Front Line and seven other NGO's have signed a joint letter of appeal to the President of the Council of the European Union expressing their concern at the situation.

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Upsurge of violence against human rights organizations in Guatemala

On 20 May 2007 intruders broke into the office of ActionAid in Zone 13 of Guatemala City and stole computer hard-drives containing files on ActionAids work in Guatemala. No other items of value were taken. ActionAid is the fifth member of the International Forum of NGOs to be attacked in the last month.

Guatemala

Zeinab Peyqambarzadeh released from detention

Zeinab Peyqambarzadeh a human rights defender and leading member of the One Million Signatures Campaign was freed on 16 May 2007 after 9 days imprisonment in Evin prison and having paid a bail sum of 20, 000, 000 Iranian Toman

Iran

Attempted assassination of prominent Mexican human rights defender

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro a leading Mexican defender of children’s and women’s human rights narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by means of sabotage of an official vehicle she was traveling in from the city of Juarez in Mexico City on 7 May 2007.

Mexico

Front Line mission to DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya

A Front Line mission visited Rwanda, Burundi, the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Kenya between 8 and 16 of April 2007. Front Line Director Mary Lawlor and Protection Coordinator Natacha O’Brien met with human rights defenders at risk and national authorities to discuss the protection and security of human rights defenders in the region

Democratic Republic of Congo

Ongoing harassment of human rights lawyers in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe Human rights lawyers and their families have faced a surge in violent harassment, including arbitrary arrests, detention and violent physical assaults during April and May 2007.

Zimbabwe

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