6 Dec 2017 | Campaigns -- Featured, European Union, Statements, Turkey, Turkey Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”96937″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]PEN International, PEN Belgium/Flanders,the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Article 19,the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ),the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ),the Global Editors Network (GEN), Index on Censorship, the International Press Institute (IPI), American PEN, Danish PEN, English PEN, Norwegian PEN, Wales PEN Cymru, Reporters without Borders (RSF),and the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), welcome the opportunity to deliver this statement.
Working collectively, both jointly and separately, we have an established body of work on freedom of expression in Turkey, in part predating the attempted coup but intensifying since July 2016. Coming from the findings and concerns that have emerged through our work, on this occasion, we have developed four specific requests to the EU, its institutions including the European Parliament, and its Member States:
First, we call on the EU, its Institutions and its Member States to duly implement the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Expression and EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders and to live up the high expectations that were raised therein. Among other things, in the context of Turkey this will entail doing more to end the indiscriminate abuse of criminal legal proceedings against journalists and writers; calling more actively for an end to abusive state of emergency measures that impinge on human rights; and, advocating against restrictive legislation shrinking the space for civil society and human rights defenders. These concerns should be put from and centre not only in political dialogues and during high level visits, but also play a more prominent role when revisiting economic, trade and other agreements between the EU, its Member States and Turkey. Further, we believe the EU and its Member States should be more active when it comes to monitoring and condemning human rights violations.
Second, civil society is under attack in Turkey, and the space for civil society actors and human rights defenders is shrinking. Beyond the immediate impact on activists who are judicially or otherwise persecuted, the Turkish authorities’ actions are also having a chilling effect on actors who for now have remained outside its crosshairs. We call on the EU and its Member States to continue and expand its support to Turkish civil society, both politically and financially .[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times-circle” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
We call on the EU, its Institutions and its Member States to duly implement the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Expression and EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders and to live up the high expectations that were raised therein.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Third, it is our view that Turkey has been abusing INTERPOL’s Red Notice system to attempt to extend internationally its persecution of journalists, writers and others for having exercised peacefully their right to freedom of expression and opinion. The number of Red Notice requests emanating from Turkey has dramatically increased, and while under INTERPOL’s Constitution human rights must be respected in its operations and interventions of a political character are strictly prohibited, we believe that Turkey has been abusing the system in pursuit of nefarious political objectives.
Accordingly, we call on the EU and its Member States to:
- Refrain from carrying out arrests on the basis of Red Notices coming from Turkey when there are serious concerns that they may be abusive; and,
- Make use of their influence within INTERPOL to push for reforms of the INTERPOL system, including strengthening preventative checks before Red Notices are circulated, strengthening its appeals system, and compensating victims of abusive Red Notices.
Fourth, considering the many fair trial violations we have observed throughout our trial monitoring as well as the many other human rights violations committed by the Turkish authorities since the state of emergency was declared, the role of the European Court of Human Rights in ensuring justice for victims has become ever more important. Especially at a time when the Council of Europe’s human rights system is under pressure , emanating from actions or lack thereof by both EU and non-EU Member States. At the same time, even when duly taking into account the political and financial restraints placed onto the Council of Europe, it appears too deferential towards Turkey.
Accordingly, we call on the EU and its Member States to:
- Use their influence within the Council of Europe and urge them to be less deferential towards Turkey; and,
- Play a positive and guiding role with a view to implementing and strengthening the EU’s and the Council of Europe’s shared commitments to democracy and human rights.
As international civil society actors, we are ready to contribute our expertise to constructive efforts by the EU and its Member States to support persecuted journalists and writers in Turkey and to improve the situation for freedom of expression in the country.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1513177371551-353126c9-b329-9″ taxonomies=”55″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
6 Dec 2017 | Digital Freedom, News and features, Youth Board
Each youth advisory board sits for six months, has the chance to participate in monthly video conferencing discussions about current freedom of expression issues from around the world and the opportunity to write blog posts on Index’s website.
The next youth board is currently being recruited. The next youth advisory board will sit from January to June 2018.
We are looking for enthusiastic young people, aged between 16-25, who must be committed to taking part in monthly meetings, which are held online with fellow participants. Applicants can be based anywhere in the world. We are looking for people who are communicative and who will be in regular touch with Index.
Applications include:
- Cover letter
- CV
- 250-word blog post about any free speech issue
Applications can be submitted to Danyaal Yasin at [email protected]. The deadline for applications is 10 January at 11:59pm GMT.
What is the youth advisory board?
The youth board is a specially selected group of young people aged 16-25 who will advise and inform Index on Censorship’s work, support our ambition to fight for free expression around the world and ensure our engagement with issues with tomorrow’s leaders.
Why does Index have a youth board?
Index on Censorship is committed to fighting censorship not only now, but also in future generations, and we want to ensure that the realities and challenges experienced by young people in today’s world are properly reflected in our work.
Index is also aware that there are many who would like to commit some or all of their professional lives to fighting for human rights and the youth board is our way of supporting the broadest range of young people to develop their voice, find paths to freely expressing it and potential future employment in the human rights, media and arts sectors.
What does the youth board do?
Board members meet once a month via Zoom to discuss the most pressing freedom of expression issues. During the meeting members will be given a monthly task to complete. There are also opportunities to get involved with events such as debates and workshops for our work with young people as well as our annual Freedom of Expression Awards and Index magazine launches.
How do people get on the youth board?
Each youth board will sit for a six-month term. Current board members are invited to reapply up to one time. The board will be selected by Index on Censorship in an open and transparent manner and in accordance with our commitment to promoting diversity. We usually recruit for board members during May and December each year. Follow @IndexCensorship on Twitter or subscribe to our Facebook feed to watch for the announcements.
Why join the Index on Censorship youth advisory board?
You will be associated with a media and human rights organisation and have the opportunity to discuss issues you feel strongly about with Index and peers from around the world. At each board meeting, we will also give you the chance to speak to someone senior within Index or the media/human rights/arts sectors, helping you to develop your knowledge and extend your personal networks. You’ll also be featured on our website.
6 Dec 2017 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”95198″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The 19th hearing of the leading Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was unexpectedly held earlier than the court had originally ruled.
On 3 December, one of the lawyers was informally told by the court that the 2012 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award-winning Rajab’s hearing would take place on 5 December – almost 4 weeks earlier than the agreed date. The court claimed that this was because a key witness, the man who initially arrested Rajab and confiscated his electronic devices, would be travelling on 31 December and unable to attend the hearing.
The case is related to comments on Rajab’s Twitter account about the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen, and further comments exposing the torture in Bahrain’s notorious Jau prison. If convicted, Rajab will be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. He is already serving a two-year sentence for conducting TV interviews.
Despite the protests of Rajab’s lawyers, who wrote to the court on 4 December to ask that the arguments instead be heard on 31 December, the hearing went ahead on Tuesday 5 December. However, the hearing was adjourned until 7 December for the defence to be given further preparation time to prepare the questions and interview Nabeel. Rajab was not present at the hearing due to an ongoing illness.
Despite the Public Prosecution’s failure to provide any incriminating evidence against Rajab, the court continues to chase evidence against him. In November, the prosecution requested to call on the officer who confiscated Rajab’s electronic devices to be examined in court. This request was granted and the trial was adjourned to 31 December. The sudden rearrangement of the trial has not given Rajab’s legal team adequate time to prepare, and violates Rajab’s right to a fair trial.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said: “The rescheduling of Nabeel’s trial for a significantly earlier date is especially worrying, since it suggests that he may be sentenced soon. It is probable that the government of Bahrain will use the distraction of the Christmas period to bury further news of Nabeel’s fate. The continued, unethical support of the UK and the US to Bahrain fosters a culture of impunity.”
Joy Hyvarinen, head of advocacy at Index on Censorship, said: “The moving of the hearing without due notice to Nabeel and his legal team violates his right to a fair trial and international norms for justice.”
In September 2017, a new set of charges was brought against Rajab related to social media posts. The posts were allegedly made in January 2017, when Rajab was already in detention and without internet access. Rajab also faces a fourth set of charges relating to a letter he penned to the New York Times in September 2016. In July 2017 he was sentenced to two years in prison for “spreading false news”; An appeal court upheld his sentence last month.
Rajab was transferred from the Manama Fort hospital to Jau Prison on 25 October 2017. On arrival he was immediately mistreated, subjected to a humiliating physical search, and shaved against his will. All of his personal effects, including books, clothes, toiletries and his shaving set, were confiscated. He is now kept with another 5 prisoners in a very small cell of no more than 3×3 meters.
Rajab is being continuously deprived of his basic rights in Jau Prison. He is denied any books, a specially-designed pillow that he requires for medical reasons, and the cotton clothing his family members gave to him. The clothing is particularly important, given that Nabeel is allergic to the synthetic clothes provided by Jau Prison.
Rajab also complains of a poor, insufficient diet; he is not allowed to visit the prison canteen to buy snacks and is allowed out of his cell for no more than one hour each day. A formal complaint to the Ombudsman has already been made about his treatment, but with no positive results so far.
Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was arrested on 13 June 2016 and has been detained ever since. He was held largely in solitary confinement in the first nine months of his detention, violating the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures (Tokyo Rules) which state: “pre-trial detention shall be used as a means of last resort in criminal proceedings, with due regard for the investigation of the alleged offence and for the protection of society and the victim.”
In early April 2017, Rajab was admitted to the Bahrain Defence Force hospital for a necessary surgery. He was transferred back to police custody just a day later, before he had fully recovered from his operation. As a result, his health deteriorated significantly; from there he was transferred to the Ministry of Interior Clinic (Al-Qalaa), where he remains to date. Between April and August 2017, Rajab was unable to attend court, leading numerous hearings to be held in his absence. Rajab was transferred back to Jau Prison in October.
The UN Committee Against Torture has called for Rajab’s release.
The UK Foreign Office stated: “We continue to closely monitor the case of Nabeel Rajab and have frequently raised it with the Bahraini Government at the highest levels. The UK Government continues to emphasise the need to respect the rights of all citizens, including freedom of expression.”
In the US, the Trump administration this year removed Obama-era human rights conditions on arms sales, one of which was the unconditional release of Rajab. In November, President Trump announced the advancement of $9 billion in commercial deals with the government of Bahrain, including finalizing the purchase of several American F16 jets.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1512551787343-26858886-5501-5″ taxonomies=”3368″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
6 Dec 2017 | Magazine, Magazine Contents, Volume 46.04 Winter 2017
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”With contributions from Ariel Dorfman, Robert McCrum, Micah White and Anuradha Roy, as well as interviews with Richard Ratcliffe, Emmanuel Laurentin, Floyd Abrams and Buscarita Roa”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
In homage to the 50th anniversary of 1968, the year the world took to the streets, the winter issue of Index on Censorship magazine looks at all aspects related to protest.
We explore the most noteworthy and effective protests of the past, as journalist and author Robert McCrum returns to Prague; we cast light on the most interesting and effective protests now, from India and South Korea through to South Africa and Hungary, via Argentina and its protesting grandmothers; we look at why protest still matters, including an interview with Richard Ratcliffe, husband of imprisoned mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe; and finally we look to the future of protest in an article from Occupy co-founder Micah White.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”96747″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
In some of pieces we see how the spirit of ’68 directly lives on. In France, for example, leading journalist historian Emmanuel Laurentin tells Sally Gimson that the young people protesting in ‘68 have been very influential in France since, and that the country holds its revolutionary past dear.
But it’s not all positive. We reveal new research that shows an increase in threats against journalists covering protests, as well as looking at how cities across England are selling off land to private owners and in so doing compromising our basic democratic rights. Articles from Turkey, Egypt and Latin America highlight the increasing dangers attached to going out into the streets and who is still taking the risk.
Outside the special report, the lawyer who represented the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers talks about the constitutional crisis affecting the USA today. And on a different note, we look at how musicians are being silenced in Catalan, whilst elsewhere people are being made to sing, the national anthem in this instance.
Finally, do not miss our exclusive short story from award-winning writer Ariel Dorfman. It features Shakespeare, Cervantes and spies, the perfect trio for a work of fiction.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Special report: What price protest?”][vc_column_text]
Toxic environment, by Kaya Genç: Five years after Gezi Park, people in Turkey have given up on public space and retreated online
Is protesting pointless? by Micah White: One of the co-founders of Occupy proposes a novel way for protest to remain relevant
Square bashing, by Sally Gimson: English cities are giving away basic democratic rights when they sell off management of central streets, our report shows
Demonstration by design, by Danyaal Yasin: Banners are so 1968 as these new protests show the 2017 look is extremely creative
Stripsearch, by Martin Rowson: The world’s dictators have taken to the streets. What do they really, really want?
Meeting the oldest protesters in town, by Lucia He: An interview with one of Argentina’s famous grandmothers about decades of campaigning
Under a cloud, by Duncan Tucker: Tear gas, violence and new laws are all being used to frighten Latin American protesters into giving up
Green light from the Blue House? by Steven Borowiec: He came to power arguing he could protect protest, but is South Korea’s new president doing what he promised?
Return to the streets, by Raymond Joseph: Anti-apartheid demonstrators thought they had hung up their placards, but now they are back on protests
China’s middle class rebellion, by Robert Foyle Hunwick: There are cracks in the Chinese dream, and now the middle class is getting angry
“I see you”, by Rachael Jolley: The husband of imprisoned mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe talks to Index about why protest matters
Having the last laugh, by Csabi Tasi and Jemimah Steinfeld: Meet the party injecting humour into Hungarian politics and challenging the status quo
1968 and all that, by Sally Gimson: One of France’s leading journalistic historians discusses the new style of French protest
Wrongs threatening our rights, by Raj Chadda: A lawyer advises on increasing conditions being imposed on protests by UK police
Women walk out, by Shilpa Phadke and Anuradha Roy: Tired of being harassed and treated as second class citizens, Indian women are taking to the streets
It’s Spring again, by Robert McCrum: Fifty years after the Prague Spring, the author and journalist visits to ask whether it is still remembered. Also Pavel Theiner reflects on 1968
Mapping attacks, by Ryan McChrystal: Index reveals new research showing a rise in the dangers journalists face covering protests in Europe
“There was no outrage”, by Wael Eskandar: An Egyptian journalist on witnessing the dangers – and death – of protest in his country
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Column”][vc_column_text]
Global view, by Jodie Ginsberg: We need to champion free speech for all or risk the far-right controlling the conversation
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”In focus”][vc_column_text]
They can’t stop the music, by Silvia Nortes and Dominic Hinde: Artistic freedom in the run-up to the referendums in Scotland and Catalonia are compared. Catalonia loses
Book fairs and their freedoms, by Dominic Hinde, Ola Larsmo, Tobias Voss and Jean-Paul Marthoz: Controversies at Frankfurt and Gothenburg book fairs are leading to arguments about the freedom to speak and appear at these events
First Amendment comes under fire, by Jan Fox: An interview with the lawyer who represented the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case on the constitutional crisis hitting the USA today
Making the cut, by Wana Udobang: One of Nollywood’s leading directors on what it’s like working in the second biggest film industry in the world
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Culture”][vc_column_text]
Spying for Shakespeare: An interview by Rachael Jolley with playwright Ariel Dorfman and introduction to his new short story, Saving Will and Miguel, with themes of Shakespeare, Cervantes and spies. This story for Index from the award-winning writer has it all
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Column”][vc_column_text]
Index around the world, by Danyaal Yasin: We’ve live broadcast an event and become UK partner on Banned Books Week, just two recent Index highlights
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Endnote”][vc_column_text]
Blurred lines, by Jemimah Steinfeld: National anthems are back in fashion. Why and where are people being forced to sing against their will?
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_placement=”top”][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”What price protest?” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2017%2F12%2Fwhat-price-protest%2F%20|||”][vc_column_text]Through a range of in-depth reporting, interviews and illustrations, the summer 2017 issue of Index on Censorship magazine explores the 50th anniversary of 1968, the year the world took to the streets, to look at all aspects related to protest.
With: Micah White, Robert McCrum, Ariel Dorfman, Anuradha Roy and more.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”96747″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2017/12/what-price-protest/”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1481888488328{padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Subscribe” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsubscribe%2F|||”][vc_column_text]In print, online. In your mailbox, on your iPad.
Subscription options from £18 or just £1.49 in the App Store for a digital issue.
Every subscriber helps support Index on Censorship’s projects around the world.
SUBSCRIBE NOW[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
