NEWSLETTER:-Updates about Human Rights Defenders in the East and Horn of Africa.

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NEWSLETTER:-Updates about Human Rights Defenders in the East and Horn of Africa.

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Updates about Human Rights Defenders in the East and Horn of Africa.

Dear friends and colleagues, November is that time of the year when we take stock of our year’s work, take note of our highlights, reflect on where we fell short, and strategise on how to better our efforts in the coming year. From 16-19 November, we convened forour annual staff retreatto do exactly that, and returned three days later energized to close our year’s account on a high. After months in the pipeline, we launchedour white paperon the impact of Covid-19 on human rights defenders. It is our hope that as the world settles into the recovery phase of the pandemic, such literature will help inform interventions, and guide policy makers to support the most affected people and sectors, including the justice sector. We continued to strengthen collaboration with our development partners, who remain important anchors of our work. This month, wewelcomedour good friends from PAXfor peacefor a visit at our offices, during which we further engaged on enhancing our existing partnership on strengthening civil courage. On 25 November, we marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by joining the global community tolaunchthe annual 16 Days of Activism campaign against gender-based violence. As we note in our 16-days- long campaign, violence against women and girls remains arguably the most pervasive human rights violation globally, affecting an estimated every one in three women globally. These grave statistics of human rights violations mean that the work of human rights defenders is often a lifeline for thousands of victims around the world, and that we cannot afford to equivocate in our resolve to support their efforts in return. This commitment we maintain, even as we head into the new year. Hassan Shire, Executive Director, DefendDefenders and Chairperson, AfricanDefenders.

We encourage all human rights defenders who need emergency protection to reach out to us viaprotection@defenddefenders.orgor our 24/7 emergency phone line on+256 783 027 611. This line is also available on signal.

Meet our Human Rights Defender of the Month: Pierre Claver Mbonimpa

Arguably no single individual personifies Burundi’s human rights struggle like Pierre Claver Mbonimpa. Born 72 years ago in the small East African country, Claver’s quest for human rights and justice is as old as his country’s modern history. When his country was plunged into a civil war that killed an estimated 300,000 people following the 1993 assassination of President Cyprien Ntaryamira, Claver was one of its earliest victims. Then a close confidant (he was also a former driver) of the assassinated President, he was framed, and arrested, and would go on to spend the next two years between 1994 and 1996 in jail. It is in prison that the ulcer of injustice bit him hard. There, he met inmates who had either been wrongfully imprisoned or who had been remanded for long periods without trial, all living in dehumanising conditions. "I was strongly revolted by the injustice. Here were probably innocent people whose years were being wasted away by an unfair judicial system, with no one to stand up for them. I swore that I would try to do something about it once I got out myself,” he says.

Opportunities and Recommended Readings:

Report:Pushing Boundaries: The case of East and Horn of Africa’s Youth Human Rights Defenders A DefendDefenders White Paper:The Impact of Covid-19 on Human Rights Defenders

In November 2022...

With partners ISHR and otherHRCnetmembers, DefendDefenders took part in a lunch meeting with the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,Volker Türk. Mr. Türk took up his functions on 17 October 2022, succeeding Michelle Bachelet. Ahead of the meeting, we sharedprioritiesand flagged key issues for what is one of the most difficult jobs in the world.Read more

DefendDefenders was part of the participants at the Internet Governance Forum held in Addis Ababa, from 28 November – 2 December. The forum sought to empower human rights defenders to strengthen their digital security competencies considering ever evolving digital-security threats.

From 7-9 November, DefendDefenders conducted a digital security training of trainers in South Sudan, benefitting nine participants – three female, six male.Read more

From1-30 November,DefendDefenders received a total of67requests for emergency support from HRDs. Out of the total requests received; 26 (39 %) requests were approved (12 male, 12female, two transgender persons).10(15 %) requests were referred to various partner organisations, 13 (19 %) requests were rejected, and18(27 %) requests are still pending verification.

Regional human rights updates

BURUNDI

The Committee to Protect Journalistscalledfor the immediate and unconditional release of Burundian journalist Floriane Irangabiye, a talk show host on Rwandan-based Radio Igicaniro, known for its critical debates on Burundian public Affairs. Irangabiye, who had been living in Rwanda since 2009, was arrested on August 30 on her return to Burundi to visit her family and has since been in detention without being formally charged.

ERITREA

Officials representing the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front at the group’s negotiations with the Ethiopian governmentaccusedEritrean forces of continuing to commit human rights violations in Tigray, including sexual violence and crimes against humanity. Since the start of the conflict in Tigray region, Eritrean forces have beenroutinely accusedof similar human rights violations that have exacerbated the conflict and worsened the resultant humanitarian crisis.

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopian government representatives and top officials from its embattled region of Tigray signeda peace dealto end hostilities and allow humanitarian access to the country’s northern region, giving hope that the conflict that has raged for the last two years might be coming to an end. The peace agreement followed days of African Union-mediated negotiations in South Africa, with all parties agreeing to disengage from all forms of military activities and to protect civilians.

Human Rights Watchwarnedthat the peace deal signed between Ethiopian government and representatives of its Tigray region needed stringent monitoring to ensure that human rights violations do not continue to happen, as the two sides work towards restoring lasting peace in Tigray. "Key backers of the agreement should prioritise protecting civilians, press for robust monitoring, and ensure that the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan authorities fully carry out their rights commitments,” the rights body said, in a statement.

KENYA

Media freedom international NGO, Reporters Without Borderscalledfor an independent UN probe into murder of Pakistani TV news anchorArshad Sharif, whowas shot dead near Nairobi on 23 October 2022. The call follows contradictory statements from the Kenyan security authorities investigating the matter, and accusations that the Pakistani team dispatched to help in the investigations may itself be an accomplice in the murder. Sharif had fled Pakistan in August following reports that he was to be arrested for interviewing an ally of Imran Khan, Pakistani’s popular former Prime Minister who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April this year. Human Rights Watchcalledfor a thorough and transparent inquiry into the mysterious death of Lawyer Paul Gicheru who was undergoing trial for witness tampering at the International Criminal Court. Mr. Gicheru was found dead at his home on 26 September, under circumstances still unknown. At the time of his death, he had been awaiting a verdict in his trial on witness tampering charges connected to the long-dropped case against Kenyan President William Ruto, in which the President and his predecessor were accused of masterminding the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya, in which hundreds of people died.

RWANDA

After a three-year trial, two Rwandan journalists weresentencedto life imprisonment and a third to 35 years imprisonment for their role in the Rwandan Genocide that claimed an estimated 800,000 lives in 1994. The trio were handed sentences by the International Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda sitting in Arusha, Tanzania, which found them culpable for using their respective media platforms to promote hate speech and incite Hutu extremists to exterminate the minority Tutsi.

SOMALI/SOMALILAND

Somalia press freedom activiststermedas "unacceptable,” a move by the Government of Somalia to pressure Abdalla Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) to quit media advocacy as a pre-condition for dropping charges levelled against him last month. Abdalla was arrested by Somali intelligence on 11 October, on charges that the government later admitted, "had nothing to do with his profession.” SJS and Somalia Media Association(SOMA) outrightly rejected the conditions and called upon the government to unconditionally drop the charges against Abdalla, who remains on bail understrict and harshconditions. Amnesty International urged the new government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to adopt a10-point human rights plan, as the government marked six months in office without concrete interventions on the human rights front. The plan, among others, calls upon the government to "prioritise human rights, ensure accountability for violations and abuses, and to protect civilians”.