CRD Newsletter 3 2011 - Civil Rights Defenders

TOPIC - MOLDOVA:
10 YEARS OF PRIDE - BUT
DISCRIMINATION STILL RIFE
VIETNAMESE REGIME
CRITIC AND BLOGGER
MISSING
READ MORE PG 3
READ MORE PG 2
TOPIC – MOLDOVA
Homosexuals harassed and blackmailed
The tenth Pride Festival was arranged in May. However, discrimination is
common. Many believe that it is legal to persecute homosexuals.
PHOTO: GENDERDOC-M
More than half of Moldova’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals do not tell their family about their sexual
orientation, according to a study conducted by our partner
GenderDoc-M. They are too filled with shame and fear about
how their family might react.
Although many individuals suffer discrimination because of
their sexual orientation, few report this to the police. Confidence in the authorities is low. The
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country’s tenth Pride Festival was held in May this year. During a full-day conference on
Even wedding photographers
imprisoned in Burma
Three years’ imprisonment for illegal possession of a fax machine, 20 years for filming at a wedding and 59 years for criticism of the authorities’ handling of a natural disaster – at our
breakfast seminar in May, Aye Chan Naing, chief editor of the
media organisation Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), gave a
few examples of what can happen to someone who is perceived
as critical of the Burmese regime.
At the moment, 17 of DVB’s journalists are in jail in Burma
because of their work, with the sentences ranging from 3 to 65
years.
SEE PG 4 ä
the subject of discrimination against LGBTs in Moldova, Angela
Frolov of GenderDoc-M pointed out that the judiciary’s lack of
knowledge about hate crime is a major and serious problem.
She highlighted a case where a boy who was known to be gay
had been seriously assaulted and left naked outside in the November cold. Luckily, some passers-by spotted him and came
to the rescue.
“The perpetrators didn’t even deny it,” says Angela. “They
said ‘Yes, we beat him up, but he was gay.’ They were genuinely
surprised that this was against the law. In fact, many lawyers
are unaware that it’s illegal to attack a homosexual – so how on
earth can they help people.”
Another boy committed suicide after being forced to confess
to his mother that he was gay. A policeman had threatened to
reveal the boy’s secret to his family and friends unless he paid
him some money. According to Angela Frolov, it is not uncommon for the police to blackmail LGBTs in this way.
In April this year, the Moldovan government withdrew a draft
anti-discrimination bill. This is something for which we and a
broad coalition of Moldovan partners have worked for many
years. The argument was that the issue is sensitive and the bill
needs further investigation. It is now widely believed that the
law will be adopted after the elections this summer – not because there has been a change of mind, but because this is one
of the EU visa facilitation requirements with regard to Moldova.
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PHOTO: CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS
PHOTO: CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Newsletter no 3, July - September 2011
We defend people’s civil and political
rights and empower human rights defenders
– in Sweden and abroad.
PHOTO: CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Newsletter no 3, July­–September 2011
COMMENT:
Vietnamese blogger disappears
Vietnamese blogger Dieu Cay dared to stand up for democracy and freedom of expression. He was imprisoned in April 2008, but today no-one
knows where he is being detained or how he is.
PHOTO: ANHBASG
Dieu Cay was one of Vietnam’s most influential bloggers when
he was arrested in April 2008. His voice for democracy in Vietnam and against widespread corruption was silenced. Today,
nobody knows where he is being held. On World Press Freedom
day, 3 May 2011, Civil Rights Defenders called on the Vietnamese authorities to release Dieu Cay and allow him to be reunited
with his family.
Dieu Cay is the blogging nickname of Nguyen Van Hai, a
57-year-old former military man whose criticism of the regime
brought him under police surveillance back in 2008, barely two
years after he and his blogger friends formed the Free Journalists Club. In September 2008, he was sentenced to two and a
half years in prison for tax evasion following a politically motivated prosecution, with the trial verdict having been decided
in advance.
Dieu Cay was not released in October last year after serving
his prison term, but was kept in custody at an undisclosed
location. Civil Rights Defenders urges diplomats in Hanoi to try
to obtain permission to visit him as soon as possible.
As far as we know, Dieu Cay’s family have not been allowed
to see him since October 2010. Not even his lawyer has had
access to his client. Dieu Cay is now charged with violation of
Article 88, which is part of the national security legislation and
relates to propaganda against the state.
The human rights organisation Human Rights Watch named
him winner of the Hellman/Hammett Award 2009 along with
five other Vietnamese activists in recognition of their commitment to freedom of expression and their courage in the face of
persecution.
Robert Hårdh
Executive Director, Civil Rights Defenders
TOPIC - MOLDOVA:
Media training important tool for local editorial staff
Together with our partner LJC (Independent Journalism Centre),
we offer intensive training for editorial staff in rural areas of
Moldova. At the moment, we cooperate with local TV stations
in the region of Gagauzia, and during spring we visited some
of these stations. Ayin Aciik in Ceadar-Lunga is based on the
ground floor of an apartment building. Chief editor Liuba
Casim receives us and apologises for the shabby premises. In
a room of 15-20 square metres, she points to three cluttered
desks which make up the editorial department:
“That’s where the editing takes place – the reporters sit
there and do their writing, phoning, interviewing and all that
goes with it,” she laughs.
The studio is in another equally small room. Like most local
media, Ayin Aciik works with very tight resources. However,
the ambition is still to produce news of quality for viewers.
“Many of the media are politicised,” says Liuba, “as are the
2
SEE PG 3 ä
Elizaveta Rotari, right, is the founder of ATV Comrat, which focuses on
news. She is pictured here in the studio with her daughter who is also
training to become a journalist.
PHOTO: CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Newsletter no 3, July­–September 2011
TOPIC - MOLDOVA:
Celebrations and seriousness as Pride celebrates ten years
Anastasia Danilova is one of the organizers of the Pride Festival. They
do not participate in the parade but talk about LGBT rights with media.
PHOTO: CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS
There was a mixture of celebration and seriousness as this
year’s Pride was held in Moldova for the tenth consecutive year.
As in previous years, Pride consisted of meetings, seminars and
cultural events. No public manifestations were held. Members
of Civil Rights Defenders were on hand, as many times before,
to participate and support our colleagues. GenderDoc-M, one
of our main partners in the area of anti-discrimination work,
expressed joy and pride in the jubilee celebrations:
“Pride is the most important event of the whole year,” says
Anastasia Danilova, Director of GenderDoc-M. “It is an opportunity to reach out to the public and discuss issues relating to
LGBTs, a group which the Moldovan public didn’t even know
existed only a few years ago.”
But much work remains to be done. Moldova is a very homophobic society. This is particularly evident in the ongoing
battle to broadcast a documentary on human rights and sexual
minorities on the public service channel Teleradio Moldova. The
film was to have been shown on 18 May, but Chisinau’s Court of
Appeal banned the broadcast. The case may now be appealed
to the Supreme Court.
Anastasia Danilova believes that GenderDoc-M has found a
format for Pride that works. The festival has become a tradition
and is important not only for the Moldovan LGBT community
but also for people from neighbouring countries where it is still
not possible to arrange similar events.
For years, GenderDoc-M applied for permission to hold a
peaceful parade, but was refused on the grounds that it would
be too provocative for the country’s religious groups.
“Of course, our biggest challenge remains the ban on public
events,” says Anastasia. “We have not yet been able to organise
a peaceful demonstration with the support and protection of
the authorities.”
At the dedication of this year’s Pride festival, the tenth anniversary was
celebrated with performances and the Miss Trans 2011 contest.
PHOTO: GENDERDOC-M
ä CONT FROM PG 2 “Media training important tool for local editorial staff”
viewers. One reason is probably that elections are constantly
being held.”
Five people work at the station and staff turnover is high.
The salary is low, so anyone who finds a better paid job does
not hesitate to change. The training courses are therefore very
important – if the entire editorial staff has been trained, this
helps them to train new employees.
Elizaveta Rotari, director and founder of ATV Comrat, is also
very pleased with IJC’s training. “People travelling to Chisinau
to study will not be back. We need to constantly train new
employees.”
ATV Comrat consists of seven employees. At first, they
mainly broadcast entertainment and news. “However, the
news is most important,” says Elizaveta. “The station is now
a member of a news-sharing network. About twenty members
upload their news reports on a common platform, then each is
able to choose different elements and put together their own
newscast.”
We also visited TV2 Comrat, whose owner Stepan Piron finds
journalism education at university poor and that practical
work is more important. TV2 Comrat has also problems with
staff turnover and Piron prefers to hire people he knows and
trusts, regardless of their background. He believes that corruption in local government is a big problem, and media that
dare to report on this are at risk of threats and harassment.
Piron has had death threats glued to his car, and the city’s
mayor refuses to be interviewed by the TV station.
According to Claude Cahn, the UN’s human rights advisor in
Moldova, the media situation has improved a little. However,
he recognizes that the improvement may be the result of the
media avoiding writing about sensitive issues. Censorship has
been replaced by self-censorship.
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Sender:
Civil Rights Defenders
Stora Nygatan 26
111 27 Stockholm, Sweden
UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR WORRIED ABOUT KENYA’S FUTURE:
FOTO: CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS
NO CHANGE, NO FUTURE
For more than 20 years, Maina Kiai has worked for human rights
- as a lawyer, a filmmaker, and founder and Executive Director
of the unofficial Kenya Human Rights Commission. In March
2011, he was appointed UN Special Rapporteur for freedom of
peaceful assembly and association.
On 4 May, he visited Civil Rights Defenders to discuss the film “Tomorrow Will Come: Getting Justice in
Kenya”, which deals with the work of
the International Criminal Court (ICC)
in Kenya. The situation in the country
worries Kiai. The authorities have not
investigated the crimes committed
in connection with the presidential
election of 2007, when violent protests escalated into a humanitarian crisis and more than 1,300 people were killed and
several hundred thousand people displaced from their homes.
Last year, the ICC brought charges against six high-ranking officials and politicians, suspected of crimes against humanity.
According to Kiai, some people in the Government are trying to
evade accountability by claiming that Kenya does not need the
ICC. But Kiai disagrees:
“The ICC is an important starting point. Our ineffective police and judiciary are not capable of doing this.”
Moreover, some of the people suspected of crimes attempt
to escape justice by trying to convince their ethnic community
that the whole community is being accused, and not the individual. In 2010 Kenya adopted a new constitution. Despite this,
Kiai sees challenges for the country’s future. The ruling class
is determined to hold on to the current status quo, holding
back implementation of the new constitution.
“The forces of regression are not equal to the forces of
change. Unless things change, the country is finished,” he concludes.
PHOTO: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
ä CONT FROM PG 1 “Even wedding photographers imprisoned in Burma”
“A journalist is most at risk the moment he or she takes the
camera out of the bag,” says Aye Chan Naing.
Over six months have passed since Burma went to the polls
and elected a civilian government. In practice, the election did
not provide any support for democratic reform; if anything, it
strengthened the military’s grip on power. Although Aung San
Suu Kyi was released just a few days after the election, around
2,200 other political prisoners are still languishing in the
country’s prisons. Many of them are investigative journalists,
pro-democracy activists and lawyers. DVB is based in Norway
and has just under 100 employees, the majority of which work
inside Burma. They take massive risks to ensure that people in
the country have access to the news.
Civil Rights Defenders cautions the international community, including Sweden, against adopting a compliant stance
towards the government. Pressure must continue for the
protection of human rights, including a demand for all political
prisoners, among them DVB’s 17 employees, to be released.
MEMORIAL CHAIRMAN ACQUITTED OF DEFAMATION
On 14 June, Oleg Orlov, chairman of the human
rights organization Memorial, was acquitted
of defamation against the Chechen President
Ramzan Kadyrov. The lawsuit against Orlov
was based on a statement in connection with
the murder of human rights defender Natalia
Estemirova, in which he indicated that Kadyrov and his regime were behind the murder.
VICTORY FOR JUSTICE – OUTSIDE RUSSIA
On 1 June 2011, three men were convicted by the criminal court
in Vienna of the murder of the Chechen refugee Umar Israilov
in Vienna on 13 January 2009. The verdict has been welcomed
by the coalition of human rights organisations, including Civil
Rights Defenders, which monitored the case. Israilov accused
the Chechen President Kadyrov of having tortured him.
The murder of Israilov has sent powerful signals to Chechens around the world that they are not safe from the Chechen power structures even outside Russia. The trial in Vienna
highlighted the prevalence of violence and arbitrariness that
exists in the Chechen judicial system. The verdict shows that
such crimes are not tolerated in Europe; instead, those responsible are brought to justice.
WELCOME TO OUR EVENTS
3 August: We are organising a seminar (18.00 -18.45) during the
Pride festival in Stockholm. Read more on our website under
www.civilrightsdefenders.org/se/events/.
CONTACT
Tel: 08 - 55 277 30
Fax: 08 - 545 277 50
info@civilrghtsdefenders.org
www.civilrightsdefenders.org
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Copyright © 2011: Civil Rights DefendersFOTO: VELIKI MALI
Print: AMO-tryck, Sockholm, 2011