By Ameen Ayodele, campaigner, Amnesty International
This week, Amnesty International staff, members, and activists around the world came together as one voice to demand better human rights protection for people in the Gambia.
While the Gambian government celebrated the anniversary of President Yahya Jammeh’s 1994 coup d’etat on Thursday, The Gambia Global Day of Action staged events in 18 cities worldwide and involved the public and members of 87 NGOs. Continue reading ‘Coming together as one voice for the Gambia’
Tom Gibson and Sarah Jackson are currently on a research mission to Burundi. They are looking at the human rights situation during the election period. In order to carry out their work, they have been working closely with people on the ground, including human rights defenders, journalists and victims of violations. Please click on the audiolink to hear Tom Gibson talk about the field work in Ngozi, Burundi.
Today in Bujumbura, we attended the first session of the hearing into the death of Ernest Manirumva, a human rights defender killed on 9 April 2009. Manirumva was vice president of the Burundian civil society organization Anti-corruption and Economic Malpractice Observatory (OLUCOME), an organization that works on corruption.
We arrived at the courtroom just after nine. The proceedings started around half past ten. The trial has generated a lot of interest. The courtroom was packed with people. There seemed to be people of all ages and professions, human rights defenders, journalists, families of those concerned, mothers with children…. It seemed hotter in the courtroom than outside. Continue reading ‘Burundi: A question of justice?’
“When the toilets are full, they just open the drain to disperse [the waste]. When there is not enough water, the waste stays [in the street] until the rainy season”
Rose, Participant at feedback and consultation workshop, Korogocho, Nairobi, 13 July 2010.
In the final workshop, women from Korogocho focused on their concerns regarding inadequate sanitation facilities and in particular, problems associated with the disposal of human waste. The points they raised are shared by women that Amnesty International met across the four slums we have visited this week. Continue reading ‘Living with inadequate sanitation facilities in Nairobi slums’
“When we go to the police, all too often we are asked demeaning questions, especially when it comes to reporting sexual violence. Now we need to focus on what we can do to ensure that this doesn’t happen. I think that we need to reinforce the community policing groups which provide an intermediary between the community and police.” A female participant of Amnesty International’s feedback and consultation workshop in Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya, 12 July 2010.
The fourth of five workshops being done in Nairobi’s slums saw women from Mathare, one of Nairobi’s largest slums, work diligently to strategize how to end the human rights violations being perpetrated against them on a daily basis. They were focusing on security, or the lack of it, for women in slums where violence against women is widespread and goes largely unpunished because of ineffective policing.
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