English  |  Français  |  Español
 
OMCT LogoOMCT logo
Make a donationRSSOMCT on FacebookOMCT on TwitterOMCT BlogHomeAbout OMCTActivitiesCATOMCT NetworkOMCT EuropeContactsMake a donation
  • Urgent campaigns
  • Assistance to victims
  • Human rights defenders
  • ESCR
  • Rights of the child
  • Violence against women
  • Monitoring protection mechanisms
 Save as PDF Print version
Human rights defenders / Links / 2015 / December

OMCT showcases 10 torture activists ahead of Dec. 10 UN Human Rights Day, launching its 30th anniversary celebration

OMCT celebrates 10 fights against torture for Human Rights Day and year round

 

10 December 2015, Geneva ­– Their safety is constantly threatened. Repressive Governments can, unpunished and at any time, kill, silence or make them the next torture victims. But they do not move from their countries.

 

They work in highly politicized environments, often amid open conflict and in countries where decades of violence, repression, corruption or persecution leave little hope for short-term change. But they still believe their work has meaning and will bear fruit.

 

They are driven and educated lawyers, teachers, or human resource specialists who could earn a good living for themselves. Instead they work for little money and big headaches to defend the marginalized and oppressed.

 

Their job is painstaking and slow, yielding infinitesimal results over decades. But they keep their eyes set on the horizon.

 

When they are not jailed, for lack of other means of stopping their dissident work, funding restrictions strangle their organizations.

 

They get little money are hardly any attention from the general public, when they are not altogether discredited by authorities.

 

These are the dedicated women and men of all ages from many countries fighting to eradicate torture often at a high personal cost and who do not usually make the headlines though they should.

 

These 10 defenders the OMCT has celebrated daily in its #10HRD10Dec online campaign during the last 10 days up today – the United Nations International Day of Human Rights – are but a sample of the global movement against torture united through the SOS Torture network of over 200 likeminded organizations.

 

Around the world, there are many other people like Yavuz Binbay from Turkey, Olga Sadovskaya from the Russian Federation, Justin Bahirwe from Benin,  Nigina Bakhrieva from Tajikistan, Emma Bolshia Bravo from Bolivia, Salah Abu Khazam from Libya, Vilma Núñez de Escorcia form Nicaragua, Norbert Fanou-Ako form Benin, Hassan Ali Faiz from Afghanistan, Paul Mambrasar from Indonesia.

 

Today, and every other day of the year, the OMCT encourages citizens, donors and States to support and spread the word about their achievements and the many challenges of their work so that rule of law with its logical lot of freedom of expression, equality, and redress can come true everywhere.

 

This profiling of these often silent yet worthy and impactful struggles around the world could not culminate in a better fashion than with the release yesterday on probation of Azerbaijani human rights defender and OMCT Assembly member Leyla Yunus after more than a year of arbitrary detention. This eloquently demonstrates the effectiveness of the invaluable work of human rights defenders and torture activists and serves as a reminder of how we should keep protecting them.



Below are all the "10 December, 10 Defenders" Campaign profiles:


Meet Paul: Restoring the human rights of indigenous Papuans amid on-going conflict

Meet Hassan Ali: Promoting human rights in Afghanistan for the sake of humanity

Meet Norbert: Better protecting children to break Benin’s cycle of violence

Meet Vilma: Still not ready to stop fighting against torture in Nicaragua


Libya: Meet Salah: Keeping hope for redress in the absence of a State, amid a civil war 


Meet Emma who helps Bolivian victims recover from torture and its second trauma, silence

Meet Nigina: Towards a functioning system that leaves no room for torture 


Meet Justin Bahirwe: A lawyer trying to reduce Congolese’s exposure to the pervasive risk of torture


Olga and the paradox of fighting torture in Russia: Revealing legal dysfunctionality, building trust


Meet Yavuz from Turkey: A life after torture spent helping other survivors

 





OMCT wishes to thank the OAK Foundation, the European Union and the Republic and Canton of Geneva for their support. Its content is the sole responsibility of OMCT and should in no way be interpreted as reflecting the view(s) of the supporting institutions.


Properties

Date: December 10, 2015
Activity: Human Rights Defenders
Type: Links
Subjects: Human Rights Defenders, Torture and violence

Share this

Tweet

Related articles

  • Azerbaijan:  Great relief as OMCT General Assembly Member Leyla Yunus is released on probation
    Statements / December 11, 2015
  • Indonesia:  Meet Paul: Restoring the human rights of indigenous Papuans amid on-going conflict
    Links / December 10, 2015
  • Benin:  Meet Norbert: Better protecting children to break Benin’s cycle of violence
    Links / December 8, 2015
  • Nicaragua:  Meet Vilma: Still not ready to stop fighting against torture in Nicaragua
    Links / December 7, 2015
  • Libya:  Meet Salah: Keeping hope for redress in the absence of a State, amid a civil war
    Links / December 5, 2015
  • Bolivia:  Meet Emma Bolshia who helps Bolivian victims recover from torture and its second trauma, silence
    Links / December 4, 2015
  • Tajikistan:  Meet Nigina: Towards a functioning system that leaves no room for torture
    Links / December 3, 2015
  • Congo, Democratic Republic:  Meet Justin Bahirwe: A lawyer trying to reduce Congolese’s exposure to the pervasive risk of torture
    Links / December 2, 2015
  • Turkey:  Killing of Mr. Tahir Elçi, President of the Bar Association in south-east Diyarbakir province and member of IHD
    Urgent Interventions / December 1, 2015
  • Afghanistan:  Meet Hassan Ali: Promoting human rights in Afghanistan for the sake of humanity
    Links / December 1, 2015
  • Russian Federation:  Olga and the paradox of fighting torture: Revealing legal dysfunctionality, building trust
    Links / December 1, 2015
  • Turkey:  Meet Yavuz from Turkey: A life after torture spent helping other survivors
    Links / November 30, 2015

Languages

This page is available in:

English
French


You can also translate it on the fly:

Recently Viewed Articles

OMCT International Secretariat
PO Box 21, 8, rue du Vieux-Billard, CH-1211 Geneva 8, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 809 4939
Fax: + 41 22 809 4929
E-mail:
OMCT Europe
Rue Franklin 111
1000 Brussels
Tel. / Fax: +32 2 218 37 19
E-mail:
OMCT TUNIS
3, Rue Hassen Ibn Nooman
Cité Jardins | Tunis 1002
Tel: +216 71 791 114
Fax: +216 71 791 115
E-mail:
  • Blog
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Rss
  • Privacy Policy