The World Uyghur Congress has raised the issue of human rights violations by China in Xinjiang at the recently concluded Munich Security Conference (MSC). Dolkon Isa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress participated in the event where several other diplomats, journalists, representatives of major NGOs and dignitaries from around the world took part in the three-day long event. After the end of MSC, Isa in a social media post on 'X' said that "The @MunSecConf has ended. I had the opportunity to attend different discussions attended by world diplomats, NGOs, politicians, and others. Important discussions around security, and global order took place. We also hosted our own Meshrep on the Margins". Similarly, the MSC also acted as the forum to discuss diverse cultures and the World Uyghur Congress took the matter to social media platform 'X' stating, "Yesterday, on the margins of the @MunSecConf, the WUC together with @NEDemocracy Co-hosted a Meshrep event, highlighting the need for preservation of our culture, and the importance of cross-movement solidarity. Thank you to the NGOs, journalists, politicians, and other allies who came and participated. A special thanks to the musicians, artists and the dance group."Dolkon Isa asked a crucial question to a Qatari diplomat on China's double standards, position on global conflicts around the world. "On one side, China is locking up millions of Uyghurs, and on the other, it's appearing to support Palestinians and other Muslims. How honest is their attitude?" he asked. Later, in a statement given to ANI Isa stated, ''Important discussions took place at the Munich Security Conference this year, especially authoritarian trends that are undermining our global security, in light of Navalny's death (Russian Opposition leader).""China was also on the agenda. However, the MSC failed to meaningfully address gross human rights violations, such as the Uyghur genocide that is the direct result of authoritarian trends. Instead, Wang Yi was denying the Uyghur genocide, and the entire room was applauding him over China's economic development over the last decades. China's threat to the international order was not addressed. This is a failed opportunity'," he added. Moreover, Dolkun Isa also met with Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, former Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski. They discussed the human rights situation in Xinjiang. He thanked the leaders for their support of democracy, human rights and security.  Source: ANI  

Aiming to change the narrative about the Xinjiang region where China is accused of committing grave human rights abuses, Beijing is organising so-called media tours with friendly countries to somehow propagate a different version of the region, a report by Al Jazeera stated. Under Chinese Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision of "telling the story of Xinjiang" and "confidently propagating the excellent social stability of Xinjiang", at least five such tours took place in 2023 itself. Al Jazeera cited a report of Olsi Jazexhi, an Albanian-Canadian historian and journalist who initially thought that the reports about human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) of Western China were "lies". Multiple accounts from people who had fled the area as well as reports from human rights organisations were painting a picture of human rights abuses being perpetrated on a massive scale. Muslim minorities in Xinjiang - the majority of whom are Turkic-speaking Uighurs - were reportedly being deprived of basic freedoms, their cultural and religious heritage was being destroyed and at least 1 million of them had been interned in a vast network of detention camps. The international community had also taken notice and the United Nations had raised its concerns. But Jazexhi was still unconvinced. "I was certain that the stories were a scheme constructed by the US and the West to discredit China and divert attention away from their own human rights records regarding Muslims," he said. Following this, Jazexhi contacted the Chinese embassy and was soon invited to join a media tour for foreign journalists. "I went to defend the Chinese government," he recalled. However, Jazexhi soon found that defending the Chinese narrative was a "far more difficult task" than he had anticipated. In the first few days in Xinjiang, he and other foreign journalists had to sit through a series of lectures given by Chinese officials about the history of the region and its people. "They were portraying the indigenous people of Xinjiang as immigrants and Islam as a religion that was foreign to the region," Jazexhi said. "It was incorrect."His disillusion only continued when he and other journalists were taken by their Chinese hosts to one of the so-called vocational training centres outside the regional capital of Urumqi, according to Al Jazeera. Jazexhi also had a chance to interact with several Uighurs and it quickly became clear they were not the "terrorists" or "extremists" Beijing had claimed. He had thought he was going to expose Western lies but he had instead witnessed oppression on a massive scale. "What I saw was an attempt to eradicate Islam from Xinjiang," he said. Since Jazexhi's visit, the UN Human Rights Council has found that Chinese restrictions and deprivations in Xinjiang may constitute "crimes against humanity". The US government as well as lawmakers in Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom have labelled the Chinese treatment of Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims in the region a genocide. Meanwhile, several countries have imposed economic restrictions on goods from Xinjiang in response to evidence of forced labour in the region, Al Jazeera reported. However, despite all the criticism, Beijing has continued to arrange visits - primarily for diplomats and journalists from Muslim countries - to Xinjiang. Chinese media have reported about at least five such media tours taking place in 2023, with Xinjiang visits also arranged for foreign diplomats and Islamic scholars. Moiz Farooq, who is the executive editor of Daily Ittehad Media Group and Pakistan Economic Net, visited Xinjiang in the middle of December as part of a delegation of media representatives from Pakistan. Like Jazexhi in 2019, Farooq also went to Xinjiang with the intent to observe for himself that the stories he had heard were not true. Unlike Jazexhi, Farooq left Xinjiang impressed by the region's level of development and assured that the local Muslims were largely living a free and content life. Farooq does not believe that accounts and reports from human rights organisations and UN organs detailing human rights abuses in Xinjiang are correct. Naz Parveen is the director of the China Window Institute in Peshawar, Pakistan, and she was on the same tour as Farooq. She too was impressed by the prosperity she observed in Xinjiang. Echoing Beijing's characterisation of the situation, Parveen believes that what have been termed human rights violations in Xinjiang can be more accurately described as "law enforcement operations targeting religious extremism", according to Al Jazeera. On another tour of Xinjiang in September, Chinese state broadcaster CGTN quoted columnist and Filipino politician Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan praising Chinese "anti-terrorism" measures in Xinjiang. On the same tour, Donovan Ralph Martin, who is the editor of the Daily Scrum News in Canada, was likewise quoted by CGTN as saying that "absolutely, there is freedom of religion in Xinjiang, and anybody who does not say that is ignorant". Notably, in 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "telling the story of Xinjiang" and "confidently propagating the excellent social stability of Xinjiang". Canadian-Uighur activist Rukiye Turdush sees the media tours as integral to that mission. "He wants to change the narrative about Xinjiang," she said. Henryk Szadziewski is a senior researcher at the NGO Uyghur Human Rights Project. He says media tours, like the ones in Xinjiang, are a common tactic employed by countries that have something to hide. Turdush does not attach much credibility to conclusions reached by foreign journalists based on talks with Uighurs who have been living in an environment of fear for years and been subjected to heavy surveillance as well as state propaganda. "Few Uighurs and other Turkic people in Xinjiang have much choice other than to stay silent or echo Chinese propaganda," she said. Australian journalists on a media tour in September reported they spoke to a souvenir vendor who had not been provided by their tour guides. The vendor said that he had spent time at an internment camp but when the journalists started to ask more questions, a person suddenly appeared and began to film the vendor's answers, Al Jazeera reported. Even former UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet found her long-delayed visit carefully "choreographed". But her final report, released moments before she left office, found China had probably committed "crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang. However, in recent years, security measures in Xinjiang seem to have been relaxed according to Maya Wang, an associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Detention camps have been closed down and police checkpoints have been removed. Instead, a vast network of sophisticated facial-recognition security cameras has reportedly been established throughout the region, while people who were previously detained in camps have been transferred into China's opaque prison system, Al Jazeera reported. At the same time, information flowing in and out of Xinjiang remains tightly controlled, while Xinjiang residents are punished for having unauthorised contact with people outside China. "The genocide is still happening but it is just much more covert now," Turdush said. Despite the controversy surrounding the organised tours, both Turdush and Jazexhi believe that foreign journalists and officials should continue to visit Xinjiang as long as they challenge the narratives that are presented to them. "They should go," Jazexhi said. "And they should speak the truth about what they see in Xinjiang and what they don't see." 

Naveed Walter, President of Human Rights Focus Pakistan (HRFP), stressed that even after 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was created in Pakistan, it has not been fully practised and implemented in the country. HRFP observed Human Rights Day at the Vision Hall in Pakistan's Faisalabad on Sunday and the event was conducted on "Freedom, Equality and Justice for All". The "theme of December 10, 2023, marks 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was created in 1948," HRFP said in an official release. "Unfortunately, even after 75 years, the UDHR has not been fully practised and implemented in Pakistan, while the country had signed on to that from the beginning," Walter said. People from different walks of life participated in the event, including civil society organisations, HRDs, religious leaders, lawyers, teachers, youth, students, women, political workers, and different stakeholders. According to the release, they discussed the available rights and what violations they were facing, particularly when their freedom, equality and justice had hurdles. "Achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 has been challenging, adding that freedom of religion and belief and equality based on gender, colour, race, religion, and economic status have been alarming, whereas justice has always been a problem," Walter said. He further emphasised that religious minorities, women, children, labourers, and the common people are easier targets of such violations. Moreover, referring to the minorities, Walter said that the elections in 2024 are approaching in February, while the last census of 2017 has been controversial. "The population is a base of political participation and representation, as well as the reserve seats in national assemblies and provincial assemblies," he stated. He added that minorities could play an important role in over 100 constituencies of national and provincial assemblies where they dominate the voter strength. So, without the minority voters' support, competing candidates can't win. Additionally, Walter said that while their political parties promise minorities in their manifestos and deliver promises, Muslim candidates only engage minority voters during elections. After that, they never return to their communities for any form of assistance or growth. During the discussions, panellists, including Sohail, Shadman (HRFP), Hamdosh (HRFP), James, Naseem, Sadaf, John, Saleem, Manzoor, Nida, Nusrat and others, talked about human rights, freedom, equality and justice, which are equally important for all humans without any kind of bias, according to the release. The speakers brainstormed how to mainstream the people to achieve the SDGs and Agenda 2030 and to raise and resolve their core issues to safeguard their fundamental rights, protective measures and religious freedoms. "They said there is a dire need to make the ignored and marginalised united and have to focus on achieving Agenda 2030," the release stated. Following the discussions, the participants held a protest with placards and banners that demanded equality and religious liberty and highlighted the minority's various issues.   Source: ANI

An ‘All Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Bar Associations Conference’ has expressed serious dismay over the alleged injudicious behaviour of the Azad Kashmir government vis-à-vis the ongoing rights movements across the state and called upon it to accept the charters of demands of inflation-stricken people to provide much needed relief to them. The conference was held under the aegis of District Bar Association (DBA) Mirpur in the lakeside city on Saturday evening, and its participants reiterated their resolve to continue their support and active participation in the peaceful rights movements as part of their obligation as an important civil society segment. Participants of the conference decided and declared on the occasion that a state-wide lawyers’ convention would be held in Mirpur on December 23 to call forth all shades of opinion from the legal fraternity members. Speaking on the occasion, the legal community leaders made it clear that the people across the liberated territory were struggling peacefully for the solution of their basic problems in accordance with their legal and constitutional rights. They demanded that the [AJK] prime minister and his ‘army of ministers’ should give up their luxuries at the cost of poor taxpayers and divert the funds thus saved on the welfare of the masses. The speakers made it clear that they were not averse to talks with the government but they wanted the exercise to be on the basis of equality and result-oriented. They maintained that since electricity in AJK was generated from water, people could not accept the tariff for electricity generated from fuel. The rulers should understand the situation and provide electricity and flour to the AJK people either at the rates prevalent in India occupied Kashmir or Gilgit-Baltistan, they said. When contacted, DBA Mirpur president Chaudhry Kamran Tariq told Dawn on Sunday that except for Bhimber city, representatives, mostly presidents and secretaries general, of almost all bar associations of state were either present in person or in contact with him on phone during the conference. They also included the presidents of the AJK Supreme Court Bar Association and the AJK High Court Bar Association, he said. Source: dawn.com

On behalf of 59 organizations and individuals devoted to improving respect for human rights in China and communities the Chinese government impacts, we write to urge you to prioritize concerns about Beijing’s lack of concrete human rights improvements in your discussions with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco. We welcome your administration’s earlier statements that the US government will hold the Chinese government “accountable for its abuses of the international system,” and the promise that the US will impose consequences on the Chinese government for its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in the Uyghur region. The Chinese government is punishing human rights defenders and rights lawyers with increasing cruelty. Most independent civil society groups have been disbanded and their members jailed, tortured, or forced to continue their work underground. Numerous UN bodies have similarly raised serious concerns about arbitrary detention, forced labor, cultural and language rights, and sexual and gender-based violence.  Over the past year, your administration and multiple UN human rights bodies have raised alarm at the escalation of human rights abuses in Tibet, including the residential boarding school system that has seen at least one million Tibetan children separated from their families and communities.  In East Turkistan (which the Chinese government refers to as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), the government continues to subject Uyghurs and other Turkic groups to widespread, systematic persecution on the basis of their ethnic and religious identity. In Hong Kong, the promulgation of the National Security Law (NSL) by Beijing in 2020 has led to the dismantling of civil society and people’s fundamental rights and freedoms, and the targeting of academics, media outlets, and NGOs, affecting millions of Hong Kongers.  The Chinese government has used its power and influence to attempt to silence the voice of civil society outside China’s borders and has taken steps to actively undermine internationally recognized human rights norms. The government’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners remains unrelenting.  We therefore urge that you to deliver the following clear and strong messages to Xi Jinping: Demonstrate that human rights are a priority in the bilateral relationship by telling Xi that the US will pursue investigations into crimes against humanity and genocide in China, and the government’s transnational repression in the US and elsewhere. Ask him to release wrongfully detained individuals, including Gao Zhisheng, Peng Lifa, Yu Wensheng, Xu Yan, Huang Xueqin, Wang Jianbing, Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Jimmy Lai, Hang Tung Chow, Gwyneth Ho, Joshua Wong, Owen Chow, Gulshan Abas, Ekpar Asat, Rahile Dawut, the Panchen Lama (Gedhun Choekyi Nyima), Lhundrup Drakpa, Go Sherab Gyatso, and many others. Inform Xi that Beijing and Hong Kong authorities’ incessant violation of human rights in that territory will further harm ties and urge him to revoke the NSL. Tell Xi that your administration will continue to address the ongoing crimes against humanity in the Uyghur region until the Chinese government ceases its rights violations. Urge Xi to fully implement the recommendations in the August 2022 report on the region by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR.) Urge Xi to implement the recommendations of UN experts and treaty bodies with respect to Tibet, including immediately abolishing the coercive boarding school system imposed on Tibetan children. Tell Xi that your administration will continue to provide strong and steadfast support to human rights defenders and civil society activists across China and throughout the world. More broadly in your China policy, prioritize building strong ties to and among activists, independent writers, journalists, scholars, lawyers, and leaders of persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, and commit to assisting them when they are targeted for their activism.  Xi Jinping and his government are assaulting human rights on a scale unprecedented in decades. President Biden, you have a unique opportunity to send strong messages to Xi Jinping about your position on human rights, which will likely have an impact in halting – and possibly reversing – this crisis.    Source: UHRP

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Parliament strongly condemned Israel's brutal attack on Palestine people, demanding access and open the service sector there to reduce the miseries of people. "Human rights are talked about, but here (Palestine) human rights are constantly being violated. It must be stopped. We don't want this killing and war," she said in the Parliament session on Monday (30 November). The Premier was speaking in a general discussion on a proposal on Israeli attack on innocent Palestine people. Ruling Awami League lawmaker and former Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali placed the proposal that says the opinion of the Parliament is that Bangladesh National Parliament strongly condemns the brutal genocide carried out by Israel on the Palestinian people and strongly demands that this killing be stopped. "Israel's brutal killings in Palestine have caused an extreme disaster of human rights. This Parliament calls on all the conscientious people, states and institutions of the world to come forward to protect human rights in Palestine and calls upon the Muslim Ummah of the world to come forward effectively to protect the Palestinian people and establish their just, independent and sovereign state," reads the proposal. Supporting the independent state of Palestine, Sheikh Hasina, also Leader of the House, urged to accept the justified demands of Palestine. "We want the Palestinians to get back their state," she said. The Premier said that human rights are being violated continuously in Palestine, and women and children are the most affected. She mentioned that very often the western countries gave sermons about human rights, but Palestine people are living in very inhuman condition. "The mother took shelter in hospitals with their children considering that hospitals are safe. But, the Israeli forces carried out air attack there killing women and children. A terrible thing happened. We have no words to condemn it. How could they attack a place like a hospital?" The Prime Minister said that this kind of brutality cannot be accepted. "We can never accept such incidents. It is our responsibility as a human being to protest against such incidents." She said that Bangladesh is always on the side of the Palestinians. Fifteen lawmakers from treasury and opposition bench participated in the hour-long discussion. After the discussion, the proposal was adopted unanimously in parliament.

Speaking to EU Today exclusively after the event, German MEP Maximillian Krah, when asked about his impressions of the European Parliament resolution stated: “I was against it, because in general I’m really sceptical against these resolutions because first of all they come very urgently and presently from the NGO bubble. “They usually care about cases which are not double-checked and then I try at least to double-check them. So, I give the embassies the chance to give their arguments and I google it on all sides and usually I don’t think that these cases are convincing. Maximilian Krah MEP “The same is true about Bangladesh. The case was not convincing because an NGO activist made a wrong statement on police violence and there was a risk that this would cause a real upspring or riot and such misinformation is punishable in Europe as well. So, we blame the Bangladeshis to prosecute the behaviour that we in Europe would prosecute too and that is not at all convincing.”  Fake NGOs, which frequently issue human rights reports, are often commissioned by dubious actors seeking to subvert the legislative process. They are sometimes, as in the recent Qatargate scandal, linked with organised criminal activities, but most often are commissioned by foreign actors seeking to influence the EU’s foreign policy.. This is a phenomenon the EU institutions are currently seeking to address. When asked for his own recommendations on how to deal with the matter, Mr. Krah said “The first thing of course is to act more proactively when it comes to disinformation, but in general you have to focus on the whole structure of this NGO power. “There is a huge human rights industry that is also a powerful tool to promote Western foreign policy interests throughout the world. That means that you have to be aware that human rights issues are emotional issues and that there are wonderful NGOs that are dedicated to it, but you also have to be aware that this is now the most powerful tool of the West to push its foreign policy agenda in the whole world. “To focus on the human rights alone and then demand changes based on the special experiences of the Global South, we risk double standards: We must look into regulating these international and national NGO structures because we will invite foreign influence in our domestic politics if we don’t.” When asked if he thought the European Parliament’s resolution would have a negative impact on trade relations with Bangladesh, – the EU is now Bangladesh’s main trading partner – he said “We are doing everything we can to bring trade relations to the next higher level. In the case of Bangladesh, I consider the case for this so clear that at the very end this resolution, which has no legislative power whatsoever, will not be a threat we cannot overcome.” Also addressing the European Parliament conference was Dr. Rayhan Rashid (DPhil, Oxford University) Legal Consultant at Oxford Matrix. Dr. Rashid was equally dismissive of the resolution, describing it as “largely misinformed.” Dr. Rayhan Rashid He continued, “It was well-meaning. Of course, the parliamentarians meant well after they heard a story about human rights abuses. I can fully understand that they were sensitised, but they were not fully informed about the whole picture”.  When asked how this could happen, Dr. Rashid told us: “This whole case was misrepresented. The reason the case started is because of the Hefazat-e-Islam incident in 2013. “The country was on the verge of a Talibanist militant uprising and Hefazat was their party, meaning that they were moving into important spheres. Therefore, there was a crackdown on this, but it was open, and in the presence of some national and international journalists, including the BBC. The police crackdown wanted to disperse this kind of Islamist militants in the presence of media. “The next day, Odhikar (a a Bangladesh-based human rights organisation) came up with a story that 63 people were prosecuted. Hefazat (a far-right Islamic advocacy group of madrassah teachers and students) even came up with bigger numbers, such as 20,000 people. Based on Hefazat’s version, Odhikar said that 63 people had disappeared because of the crackdown. Personally, I’m a human rights activist. Everyone was concerned and asking questions and after a few days, we saw that actually most of the people claimed to have been disappeared, actually turned up. So, at the beginning at the height of things, I can understand this. Media or human rights organisations have scoops but with all the occurring corrections, they didn’t reject their claims.” We asked Dr. Rashid if Odhikar made any particular demands on the government? “When they came up with this scoop, they asked for an investigation, because in a country, even with an Islamic uprising or attempt of uprising, 63 people disappearing is not acceptable. “That was the situation. Everyone asked for an investigation, including myself. But then it was debunked. The problem with Odhikar was that they didn’t correct their story which they then repeated international media and among other friendly human rights organisations. And those organisations don’t have an office in Bangladesh, they don’t have an active investigative mechanism within Bangladesh, they have to rely on Odhikar’s version. So, that’s how Odhikar’s story got recycled over and over again.”  When asked if there is  any evidence linking Odhikar to the Taliban, Dr. Rashid replied: “No, I wouldn’t say that for Odhikar. I think it was more about Odhikar’s Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan. He was a human rights activist, but he was also an attorney general during the BNP regime. I don’t know what is going on in his mind or within his organisation or whether there was a political motivation.”  We asked Dr. Rashid to elucidate what Hefazat’s goal was back in 2013?  They raised 13 demands, he explained:  Reinstate the phrase “Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah” in the Constitution as one of the fundamental principles of state policy. Pass a law providing for capital punishment for maligning Allah, Islam, and the Prophet Muhammad and for starting smear campaigns against Muslims. Stop all propaganda and “derogatory comments” about the Prophet Muhammad by “atheist leaders” of the Shahbagh movement, atheist bloggers and other anti-Islamists; arrest them and ensure stern punishment to them. Stop attacking, shooting, killing, and persecuting the Prophet-loving Islamic scholars, madrassa students and people united by belief in Allah. Release all the arrested Islamic scholars and madrassa students. Lift restrictions on mosques and remove obstacles for the holding of religious programmes. Declare Qadianis (Ahmadiyyas) non-Muslim and stop their publicity and conspiracies. Stop foreign cultural intrusions, including free-mixing of men and women and candle-light vigils, and put an end to adultery, injustice, and shamelessness, among other things, committed in the name of freedom of expression and the individual. Stop turning Dhaka, the city of mosques, into a city of idols, and stop installing sculptures at road intersections, colleges, and universities. Scrap anti-Islam women policy and education policy and make Islamic education mandatory from primary to higher secondary levels. Stop threatening and intimidating teachers and students of the Qawmi madrassas, Islamic scholars, imams and khatib s. Stop creating hatred among the younger generation against Muslims by misrepresentation of Islamic culture in the media. Stop anti-Islam activities by non-governmental organisations, evil attempts by Qadianis and conversion by Christian missionaries in Chittagong Hill Tracts and elsewhere in the country. So, we asked, “what, if any, is the connection between this NGO and Hefazat?” “In 2013, this Islamist terrorist group had huge support base coming from madrasas (Islamic schools) and they actually took to the streets demanding an Islamic State, a Taliban-style Islamic State. And their demands were exactly like the Taliban’s decrees. About women, about education, about everything. They were just a carbon-copy. “Unfortunately, they had a lot of support from other Islamic clerics, who also took to the streets and basically the country was on the verge of a shutdown. At that time, the government dispersed these groups in the presence of media. But then after the dispersal, suddenly we started hearing about 20,000 people disappearing, but then it was not 20,000 but 63. Odhikar claimed that 63 persons had disappeared. “Odhikar is a human rights organization led by a person who used to be an attorney general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) regime so maybe there could be a political motivation. But I cannot get into his mind and know what is going on and I actually appreciated when they first they came up with that story. And I thought that if this is real, it should be addressed. But I was also disappointed that this story about the 63 disappearing people was debunked and a lot of them turned up.”  “What do you recommend the European Parliament should do to prevent such disinformation campaigns in the future?” “Just to do their own homework. Each parliamentarian has their aides, a whole team of researchers. I think that they are far-better equipped than anybody else. They are not ordinary people; they can actually crosscheck. It is always better to hear the other side or hear across the board. “Just pick up different people and listen to different stories and then make up your own mind. I thought their position was poorly researched and very misinformed and that’s not helpful for the cause of human rights or not helpful for the relations or anything.” SOURCE: https://eutoday.net/

Pakistan is among the 40 countries across the world where over 220 individuals and 25 organisations faced threats and retaliation from the state and non-state actors for cooperating with the United Nations on human rights, reveals a new report of the UN Secretary-General. The report titled, ‘Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights’ covering the period from May 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023, was recently presented at the Human Rights Council (HRC) session in Geneva. The session will continue till Oct 6. The report says human rights defenders and other civil society activists are increasingly under surveillance and continued to face legal proceedings, travel bans and threats and they are given prison sentences for cooperating with UN’s human mechanisms. The UN secretary-general said that the organisation has a collective responsibility to prevent and address intimidation and reprisals, guided by the principle of “do no harm” and a victim- and survivor-oriented approach. “Considerable progress has been made in shedding light on and addressing the issue, including through initiatives on civic space under ‘Call to Action for Human Rights’, the UN chief said. “The UN is committed to strengthening its efforts to prevent reprisals, including through clear zero-tolerance messages and by awareness-raising among staff, member states and civil society interlocutors. We will further strengthen our response to reprisal cases and ensure appropriate systems are in place to identify, document and report on incidents, including those in the annual reports. We will reinforce the dissemination of information on what reprisals are and how to report incidents, in particular for UN bodies where reprisals are repeatedly reported,” he added. “A global context of shrinking civic space is making it increasingly difficult to properly document, report and respond to cases of reprisals, which means that the number is likely much higher,” said Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, in her presentation to the HRC on Thursday. “Despite ongoing efforts, regrettably, the number of reported acts of intimidation and reprisal by state and non-state actors remains high and their severity is very concerning,” she said. “The global trends documented this year are also similar to those identified in previous reports, but with new emerging tendencies,” the UN official said. Among the growing trends noted in the report is the increase in the number of people either choosing not to cooperate with the UN due to concerns for their safety, or only doing so if their identities remain anonymous. Victims and witnesses in two-thirds of the countries listed in the report requested anonymous reporting of reprisals, compared with one-third in the last year’s report. Most of the people who reported facing reprisals for their cooperation with the Security Council and its peace operations, as well as with the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues did so on the condition of anonymity. Algeria, Afghanistan, Andorra, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Qatar, the Russian Federation, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Yemen, and the State of Palestine are also on the list alongside Pakistan.

Mariam, who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym to protect her identity, arrived in Germany six months ago as a student. Back in her native Iran, the 39-year-old engineer had a fully independent life. "Emigrating wasn't an option for me for a long time," she told DW. "My whole life I worked hard and achieved a lot: a degree from a prestigious university, later a well-paid position at a construction company in Tehran," she said. "But in the end I felt it didn't matter how good I was and how hard I tried. I will never manage to get out of this swamp and feel free and happy." Many of her female friends and acquaintances have either left the country or are looking for a way to do so, she said. Mariam herself started by looking for opportunities to study in Germany, where she has many friends. She quickly secured a spot in a master's course at a technical university in southern Germany, which opened the door to a visa. Mariam doesn't want to talk much about politics. What she will say is that "every aspect of our lives in Iran is politicized. Even what I as a woman put on in the morning to leave to the house is a political statement. Every day we are under enormous pressure and stress. We cannot get away from it." "The best experience in the past six months in Germany for me was the feeling of being free and undisturbed to wear what I want, and the conviction that I can build a better future if I make the effort," Mariam said. ‘Emigrating to Germany' Mariam is part of a group called ‘Emigrating to Germany' with almost 40,000 members on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. People post job vacancies for foreign workers in Germany, possibilities to have Iranian degrees recognized and interesting further study programs. A lot of the posts relate to opportunities for medical personnel to emigrate. In the medical sector alone, more than 10,000 workers have left Iran in the past two years, according to official figures. Many have gone to Arab countries, Iranian daily newspaper Shargh reported in May. The country is hemorrhaging general medicine workers, the head of the parliamentary health commission, Hossein Ali Shahriari, has said. Those leaving include professors, doctors and nurses. Overall, the Iran Migration Observatory at the Sharif University of Technology has recorded the departure of around 65,000 well-qualified and highly talented people from Iran each year over the past decade alone. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, millions of well-educated people have left, mostly due to the difficult economic situation but also due to political repression by the government. The government has not talked publicly about plans on how to stop the wave of emigration. An ever more female brain drain This exodus, particularly of women academics, has intensified in recent years, Bahram Salavti warned already back in early 2022. The director of the Iran Migration Observatory in Tehran pointed to the high level of unemployment among women as the main driver. Official figures show 60% of students in Iran are women, but that share drops to just 15% on the job market. Massive repression of nationwide protests late last year after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, and a crackdown on women's rights have further fueled female brain drain. "When protests don't lead to a solution and protesters don't see a way to change anything, when they have no prospects for the future, they resort to the strategy of emigration," sociologist Mehrdad Darvishpour underlined. The professor at Mälardalen University in Sweden has been researching migration, including emigration from Iran, for years. "We're seeing a phenomenon of female migration from Iran, even though a progressive feminist movement with worldwide resonance has sprung up there," Darvishpour said. "Iran's rulers have no interest in societal reconciliation. They rely on fear and oppression." "The emigration of female academics will weaken society's capacity for democratic and secular demands. Therefore, those in power will do nothing about it. Their behavior resembles that of an occupying power that ignores the interests of citizens and national resources in favor of maintaining power," he said. Leaving not a choice, but an obligation The Iranian parliament recently ramped up the pressure on women who defy national orders to cover their heads as instructed. After months of discussion, the legislature waved through a law allowing harsher penalties on women who break clothing regulations: up to ten years in prison. The "Bill to Support the Family by Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab" foresees prison sentences of between five and ten years for women who fail to wear a headscarf or dress "inappropriately" in collaboration with "foreign or hostile governments, media, groups or organizations." The law also paves the way for fines for individuals who "promote nudity" or target the mandatory Islamic headscarf (hijab) in the media or on online networks. Business owners whose female employees violate the dress code may be banned from leaving the country in the future. No wonder many Iranian women now sees things the same way as Mariam. "Emigrating was no longer a choice for me," she said. "I was forced to do it."

The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) organised a protest rally in Geneva accusing Pakistan army for sponsoring terrorism and carrying out gross human rights violations. The rally started from Lake Geneva to Broken Chair in front of the United Nations and was attended by Pashtuns from Pakistan and Afghanistan. During the rally, the protesters raised slogans against Pakistan Army for carrying out genocide of Pashtuns by supporting terrorist outfits like Pakistani Taliban. The Afghans also accused Pakistan for targeting Afghan refugees and carrying out atrocities on them. Regarding the human rights violation and surge in terrorism in Pakistan, Pashtun Human Rights Activist, Fazal-ur-Rehman Afridi said that the Pashtuns are facing a tough time in Pakistan. Speaking to ANI, he said, “You know Pashtuns are going through a very critical period of their life. You know the Pakistani Army is committing gross human rights violations like extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture, but this time we are concentrating on one of the most important points, that is the systematic use of torture by Pakistan Army.” “For last few months , they are arresting the activists of PTM and then torturing them in custody and then forcing them to publish the videos against PTM…that is an important issue as UN convention on torture states that no torture is acceptable in any way,” he added. Meanwhile, the protesters also raised accused Pakistan Army of abducting Pashtun political activists and torturing and killing them. Lambasting the Pakistan military, another activist, Malik Bazai, the PTM Europe coordinator said, “In Pakistan, not only Pashtuns, but even Baloch, Sindhi, Kashmiri, none of the communities are happy.” He said, “Pakistan Army is spreading terrorism, and fear and the Pashtuns are experiencing it on their own land. It is because of them, this terrorism that over 70,000 of our Pashtuns have been killed and at least 2 lakh homes of the community have bene destroyed,” Bazai told ANI. In another statement, Hasham Utmankhil, representing PTM, France, said the activists have gathered here to give a clear message that Pashtuns are very peaceful people. “Right now, as you can see, we are here in front of the United Nations..we are giving a clear message to the UN that Pashtuns are very peaceful people .The Pashtuns are nothing related to the terrorism and Pakistan Army keep supporting the terrorists ….The Pakistan Army keep killing, target killing Pashtuns, Baloch people, and Kashmiris…,” Utmankhil said.