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International standards on LGBT rights
Introduction
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the current situation of the transgender communitys rights in India, with a specific focus on the Transgender Persons Bill proposed in 2016 and amended in 2018. After analyzing the critical points of the Bill, Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) will deliver some recommendations to India concerning some measures that the State should take, in order to comply with its international human rights obligations.
Façade of religious harmony and tolerance in Pakistan
‘’Ahmadis residing in Pakistan are not at peace even after their demise’’
On 13 July, in a village (Tirigri) in Gujranwala, police and locals allegedly
removed Islamic symbols from the graves of the members of the Ahmadiyya community. This graveyard was a shared graveyard of the Muslims and Ahmadis till 1967.But after the Ahmadiyya community got the official status of a minority, the Muslims had separated their graveyard.
Protest on enforced disappearances of Sindhis in Pakistan
Sindhi Foundation organized a protest on enforced disappearance happening in Sindh, Pakistan, infront of the Pakistani ambassadors house in Washington DC on August 14th, which is also Pakistans’ Independence Day.
The struggle of the Hindu temple in Islamabad
The prayer & worship places are a basic right of every citizen and religious minorities
Naveen Walter, HRFP
On 22 June 2020, the construction of the first Hindu temple in the Pakistani capital Islamabad began. This was a long-standing demand by the minority community put in action by the Pakistani Government. This was noticeablya big step for the Hindu community in Pakistan because Pakistan is the home to eight million Hindus. In Islamabad where approximately 3,000 Hindu resides faced difficulties to practice their religion due to lack of temples.
Police torture and ill treatment in Turkey- Human Rights Watch
On 18 July 2020 (Istanbul), the police detained three suspects, two of them children, in connection with the fatal shooting of one police officer and injury of another. The 17-year-old child (suspect), told lawyers that police beat him with a cable and fists, kicked him in the face several times, and “bounced his head against the walls like a ball.
Malaysia / COVID-19: Stop crackdown on migrants, journalists and civil society“ UN rights experts
GENEVA (21 May 2020) “ The government of Malaysia must halt an ongoing crackdown on migrants, journalists and civil society in the context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and strongly oppose xenophobia and hate speech against migrants, UN experts said today.
I am alarmed by what is happening in Malaysia after the initially positive attitude of the government towards an inclusive response to the pandemic,said Felipe Gonzalez Morales, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.
Bangladesh must end persecution of journalist, say UN experts
GENEVA (26 May 2020) “ UN experts expressed alarm about the ongoing persecution of journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol in Bangladesh and his previous suspected enforced disappearance. They warned that his detention and the ongoing criminal cases against him compound fears that Bangladesh is using its Digital Security Act to stifle free speech.
Sindhi academic detained on the charges of Blasphemy in Sindh, Pakistan
On the 10th of June 2020, professor of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, was arrested by the local police under blasphemy charges
Blasphemy is incorporated in the Penal Code of Pakistan, which means that anyone who insults the Islam will be punished and in the worst-case scenario they carry a potential death sentence. It is speculated that these laws are being used to persecute minority faiths and unfairly target minorities. Between 1987 and 2017 at least 1,500 people were charged with blasphemy and at least 75 people involved in accusations of blasphemy were killed in Pakistan according to the Center for Social Justice.
Slavery: from India to Surinam
’The first ship containing Indian laborers arrived in Suriname in June 1873’’
It does not matter if you are black or white, almost every individual agrees upon the fact that the slavery period is a dark page in human history. Slavery can be traced back to 221BC, going through the ancient times where people became slaves because of debt, born in a slave family or as a punishment of a crime. The medieval changed the notion of slavery, where slaves where seen as prisoners of war. The form of slavery that stays the most with us and has a close connection to our hearts is the movement of 1619 where African people where moved from Africa to America to work on the plantations under horrific circumstances. Not long after European countries followed the practice of America and started transporting slaves to their colonies.
GENEVA (2 June 2020) – Rising disparities in how COVID-19 is affecting communities, and the major disproportionate impact it is having on racial and ethnic minorities, including people of African descent, have exposed alarming inequalities within our societies, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Tuesday. She noted that similar inequalities are also fuelling the widespread protests affecting hundreds of cities across the United States.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) invites civil society
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) invites civil society to an online presentation of the UN Human Rights report 2019, chaired by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, which will take place on Friday 5 June from 14:00 to 15:00 via Zoom.
Brutal attacks on minorities in Bangladesh amid the Covid-19 crisis
On Tuesday May 19th, 2020 2pm Muslim perpetrators attacked a helpless minority Hindu family in Lalitashar village of Mohanpur union in Comilla district’s Debidwar upazila, Bangladesh. Seven members of one Hindu family were injured. 3 to 4 of them are currently undergoing treatment at the local hospital (source: Dainik Oporad dated: May 23, 2020). The victims have been identified as Nitai Chandra Dutt (48), his mother Yuti Bala Dutt (65), wife Shakha Rani Dutt (35), son Tapu Chandra Dutt (20), elder brother Nimai Chandra Dutt (56), son Sujan Chandra Dutt (26) and niece Shant Dutt (14).
Secretariat of the Human Rights Council
To all Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva:
The Secretariat of the Human Rights Council presents its compliments to the Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva, international organizations or their offices, national human rights institutions, non- governmental organizations and other human rights bodies, and with reference to the note dated 20 May 2020 circulating the attached letter from the President of the Human Rights Council, has the honour to provide further information on the modalities for registration and participation for the virtual briefing to be held on Wednesday, 27 May, at 4 p.m.
Religious discriminations amid COVID-19 in Pakistan!
By HRFP and GHRD
The pandemic COVID-19 is affecting everyone globally. Pakistan is showing an alarming increase in patients affected by the virus. Since March 21, Pakistan has been placed on lockdown by authorities seeking to slow the spread of the virus.
COVID-19 and its impact on Indian tea plantation labourers in Sri Lanka
By GHRD
Since the 1830s Indians have found labour on the many tea plantations in Sri Lanka. Tea and rubber were the country’s main export products for over a hundred years, during and after the period of British rule. Because of the employment opportunities and the need for labourers on the plantations, many Indians started as migrant workers on the island.
Bonded Labour and Minorities in Pakistan
By HRFP and GHRD
Bonded labour is a modern form of slavery. A person is enslaved as a bonded labourer due to debt bondage when his or her labour is acquired as a way of paying certain loan. Quite often bonded labourers are subjected to physical and sexual violence. They live under various forms of surveillance (at times through armed guards). The ILO Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956) defines debt bondage as:
Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This milestone document proclaimed the inalienable rights of which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Attacked for Defending Human Rights
Naveed Walter, head of Human Rights Focus Pakistan and partner of GHRD, has been targeted by Pakistan for defending the rights of minorities and women. GHRD calls on Pakistan to protect all human rights defenders.
http://www.ghrd.org/2019/11/15/pakistan-attacked-for-defending-human-rights/
18/06/19
GHRD held a press conference at the Press room of the Italian Parliament in Rome, concerning the human rights violations faced by women belonging to religious minorities in Pakistan.
In India, transgender people’s human rights are not being sufficiently protected by the current legal framework. Our paper explores options to improve on the current status of these rights.
GHRD has set up a crowdfunding campaign to provide relief for Nepalese families affected by the heavy rainstorm on 31st March 2019. You can contribute here.
Download the report here to learn more about the human rights situation of women belonging to religious minorities in Pakistan in 2019.
Religious minorities in Pakistan are in the process of being wiped out, due to systemic discrimination and human rights violations.
Please help us in demanding that the UN and EU take action to protect religious minorities in Pakistan.
