Africa
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UN Confirms that Rwandan Authorities Abducted and Are Arbitrarily Detaining Paul Rusesabagina
Tags Share Following a petition filed by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights in March 2021, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) found that the Rwandan government abducted and has arbitrarily detained the Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina for over 20 months. Requesting his immediate, unconditional release and an independent investigation of his…
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Civil society organizations call on Egyptian authorities to drop the case of researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy and release him immediately
Tags Share 14 March 2022 Today, the Egyptian Emergency State Security Court (ESSC) will hold a second session in the retrial of researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy.* The undersigned organizations call on Egyptian authorities to drop this case and release Santawy immediately. In June 2021, the ESSC sentenced Santawy to a four year prison sentence on…
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Sahrawi activist and Awards Laureate Aminatou Haidar hacked with Pegasus spyware
Tags Share In November 2021, Apple sent Sahrawi human rights defender Aminatou Haidar a security alert warning that her phone may have been targeted by state-sponsored attackers. Amnesty International’s Security Lab, where the case had been referred, conducted a forensic analysis of Haidar’s devices, confirming that Pegasus spyware recently targeted two of her phones. According…
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Zimbabwe Must Withdraw the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Bill
Tags Share March 2, 2022 Zimbabwean authorities should immediately withdraw the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Bill, which was gazetted on 5 November 2021 and announced in Parliament earlier this month. Public hearings on the PVO Amendment Bill have begun this week and are ongoing. If passed into law, the PVO Amendment would provide the…
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Briefing Paper on Recent Human Rights Developments in Egypt: Signs for Optimism or Another Trick from the Authoritarian Playbook?
Tags Share Egypt recently launched numerous human rights-related measures, including its first National Strategy for Human Rights. Yet, a mere three months after the Strategy was released, the Egyptian State Security Emergency Misdemeanor court sentenced human rights activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, human rights lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer, and blogger Mohamed Ibrahim on politically-motivated charges of…
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Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Calls on the Biden Administration to Immediately Designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon
Tags Share Today, on the National Black Immigrant Advocacy Day of Action, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stands alongside our partners at Cameroon Advocacy Network (CAN) to urge President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to immediately designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon. “The Biden…
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United Nations inquiry finds that Egyptian authorities arbitrarily detained Ahmed Samir Santawy
Tags Share The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights welcome the favorable opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finding the Egyptian government arbitrarily detained our client Ahmed Samir Santawy in violation of international human rights law. The Working Group held that the government arbitrarily…
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Egypt: Quash Verdicts and Stop Unfair Trials by Emergency Courts
Tags Share We, the undersigned organizations call on Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi to immediately quash the verdicts against seven arbitrarily detained human rights defenders, activists and politicians, convicted of bogus charges and sentenced to long prison terms in grossly unfair trials by emergency courts solely for peacefully exercising their human rights. The organizations also urge…
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Questions-Réponses en concernant Laurent Munyandilikirwa c. République du Rwanda (requête n° 023/2015)
Tags Share 1. Qui est le requérant dans cette affaire ? Le requérant est Laurent Munyandilikirwa, qui est un ressortissant rwandais et un avocat spécialisé dans les droits humains. Il a été président de la Ligue rwandaise pour la promotion et la défense des droits de l’Homme (“LIPRODHOR”) de décembre 2011 à juillet 2013, date…
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Q&A regarding Laurent Munyandilikirwa v. Republic of Rwanda (Application No. 023/2015)
Tags Share 1. Who is the Applicant in this case? The Applicant is Laurent Munyandilikirwa, who is a Rwandan national and human rights lawyer. He served as President of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights Ligue rwandaise pour la promotion et la défense des droits de l’Homme ( LIPRODHOR) from…
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Décision décevante de la Cour africaine, qui refuse de se prononcer sur l’ingérence dangereuse et systématique du gouvernement rwandais dans les activités des organisations de défense des droits humains
Tags Share Selon une succession troublante d’événements liés à la lutte mondiale pour la protection des espaces civiques, la Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples (“la Cour africaine”) a finalement refusé d’examiner une affaire contestant la prise de contrôle illégale par l’État rwandais de l’une des dernières organisations indépendantes de défense des…
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In a Disappointing Decision, the African Court Refuses to Address Rwanda’s Dangerous and Systematic Interference with Human Rights Organizations
Tags Share In a troubling turn of events in the global struggle to protect civic spaces, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“The African Court”) recently declined to hear the merits of a case challenging the illegal takeover by the Rwandan State of one of the last independent human rights organizations in the…
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