Items related to "Human Security Gateway: Austria". Fri, 16 May 2008 0:30:27 +0000 Fri, 16 May 2008 0:30:27 +0000 robert_hartfiel@sfu.ca (Robert Hartfiel) Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:24:10 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23239 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23239 Thousands of international troops remain in Afghanistan, but some members of this coalition are more willing than others. FP looks at whose militaries are pulling their weight—and who could do far more. SOURCE: Foreign Policy Foreign Policy Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:04:16 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=22770 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=22770 La présente évaluation de la politique des vingt-sept pays membres de l’Union européenne en faveur des droits de l’Homme répond au développement récent des « investissements éthiques », constitués pour une grand part d’actions d’entreprises privées, mais également d’obligations d’Etat. C’est cette partie « obligataire » dont il s’agit ici d’éclairer les fondements dans une perspective « éthique », dans l’optique de favoriser les investissements dans les Etats menant une politique plus active de promotion des droits de l’homme. Cette étude s’inscrit dans la continuité des études élaborées en 2001, 2003 et 2005. SOURCE: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:29 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20844 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20844 The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) today (March 7) released a new report, Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims in the EU - Developments since September 11. The report covers developments in eleven EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. "In the aftermath of September 11, Muslim minorities in the EU have experienced growing distrust and hostility. As the fight against terrorism has been stepped up and the perceived threat of religious extremism has become a major focus of public debate, pre-existing patterns of prejudice and discrimination have been reinforced and Muslims have increasingly felt that they are stigmatized because of their beliefs," said Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF. He continued, "We are concerned that these developments threaten to undermine positive efforts at integration and further increase the vulnerability of Muslims to human rights violations and marginalization. We are also concerned that they may reinforce pre-existing feelings of resentment and frustration among Muslims and erode their confidence in the authorities and the rule of law. This may again increase the risk of growing support for organizations that advocate violent methods to protest injustices suffered by Muslims, including terrorism." The report describes problems such as widespread negative attitudes toward Muslims; unbalanced and stereotypical media reports portraying Muslims as "alien" to EU societies and as "an enemy within"; verbal and physical attacks on Muslims and Muslim institutions and property; discrimination against Muslims in employment and other areas; aggressive political rhetoric used by right-populist parties to target Muslims; and security and immigration measures contributing to public perceptions of Muslims as a "fifth column." SOURCE: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:28 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20754 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20754 A report issued on 13 April 2005 by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) concludes that the lack of adequate data on the level of racist attacks in 15 member states is masking the scale of the problem. The EU body looked at the data collection systems in the 15 states and found that only six had comprehensive systems, while in most states, racist violence was not specifically recorded as such. This lack of information makes it impossible to determine the scale of violence, or to take effective measures to combat it, concludes the report. The evidence that is available from UK and France suggests that there has been a marked increase in attacks against refugees, immigrants, Jews and, particularly, Muslims since the September 11 disaster. A recent French report showed that violence against Jews and Muslims in particular had doubled in the last year. SOURCE: European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:19 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19257 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19257 The report reveals that Chechens seeking refuge abroad are facing many obstacles. For example, their very basic right to seek asylum is not always respected: In Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Chechens are denied access to the national asylum procedure. Many stay there without any legal rights and almost no humanitarian assistance; Chechens are sometimes denied access to the territory of other states. This happens routinely at the border with Ukraine; EU member states have a widely differing approach to Chechen asylum seekers. Refugee recognition rates vary dramatically within the EU, and the outcome of "the asylum lottery" depends on the country in which the claim has been processed. During the first six months of 2004, the Slovak Republic did not grant asylum to a single person from Russia, while Austria's refugee recognition rate for this group was 96 %. The report raises concern that the system of asylum and integration in new EU states receiving many Chechen asylum seekers, are not up to European standards. It appeals# to "old" EU states to support "new" EU states in providing protection to Chechen asylum seekers. In a recommendation to European states, the Norwegian Refugee Council states that "old" EU states should use the powers they have under the Dublin regulation to examine claims from Chechen asylum seekers lodged on their territory, even if they believe a new member state to be responsible under the Regulations's criteria. SOURCE: Norwegian Refugee Council Norwegian Refugee Council Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:45:55 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=16629 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=16629 The human rights situation deteriorated in numerous former Soviet republics. Independent human rights monitoring groups, including several affiliates of the IHF, came under attack. The Russian Federation, Belarus, and the Central Asian regimes promulgated new legislation or changed their practices to allow these states arbitrarily to restrict the activities of nongovernmental organizations. The leaders of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee faced fabricated criminal charges, and in January 2006, state-controlled Russian media falsely implicated the Moscow Helsinki Group in espionage. SOURCE: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:44:18 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=13583 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=13583 The Human Security Network (HSN) is a group of like-minded countries from all regions of the world that, at the level of Foreign Ministers, maintains dialogue on questions pertaining to human security. The Network includes Austria, Canada, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Mali, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, Thailand and South Africa as an observer. The Network has a unique inter-regional and multiple agenda perspective with strong links to civil society and academia. The Network emerged from the landmines campaign and was formally launched at a Ministerial meeting in Norway in 1999. SOURCE: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:44:07 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=13145 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=13145 SOURCE: HIV InSite Database of Country and Regional Indicators // Center for HIV Information // University of California San Francisco HIV InSite Database of Country and Regional Indicators // Center for HIV Information // University of California San Francisco Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:43:50 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=12170 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=12170 SOURCE: Protection Project // School of Advanced International Studies // Johns Hopkins University Protection Project // School of Advanced International Studies // Johns Hopkins University Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:42:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=9634 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=9634 IHF's annual report on human rights violations in the OSCE. Countries profiled include: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia. SOURCE: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:42:41 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=9173 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=9173 Governments in Europe and North America are increasingly sending suspects to abusive states on the basis of flimsy "diplomatic assurances" that expose the detainees to serious risk of torture and ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today (April 15). The 91-page report, Still at Risk: Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard against Torture, documents the growing practice among Western governmentsxe2x80x94including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlandsxe2x80x94of seeking assurances of humane treatment in order to transfer terrorism suspects to states with well-established records of torture. The report details a dozen cases involving actual or attempted transfers to countries where torture is commonplace. SOURCE: Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:42:31 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=8789 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=8789 In March 2005, members of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Working Group on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) issued a questionnaire to states parties regarding ERW and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This memorandum contains an analysis by Human Rights Watch of the responses provided by states parties to the questionnaire. Human Rights Watch believes that the responses to date lead to the conclusion that national implementation measures, especially with regard to cluster munitions and the submunitions they dispense, are not adequate, and that additional measures are required to ensure adequate protections for civilian populations. SOURCE: Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:41:09 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=2558 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=2558 The United States has progressively woven a clandestine "spider's web" of disappearances, secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers - spun with the collaboration or tolerance of Council of Europe member states, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said today. In a draft resolution adopted at a meeting in Paris, based on a report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), the committee said hundreds of persons had become entrapped in this web - in some cases when they were merely suspected of sympathising with a presumed terrorist organisation. The parliamentarians said this knowing collusion of member states took several different forms, including secretly detaining a person on European territory, capturing a person and handing them over to the US or permitting unlawful "renditions" through their airspace or across their territory. "It# has now been demonstrated incontestably, by numerous well-documented and convergent facts, that secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers involving European countries have taken place, such as to require in-depth inquiries and urgent responses by the executive and legislative branches of all the countries concerned," the committee said. The committee called on Council of Europe member states to review bilateral agreements signed with the United States, particularly those on the status of US forces stationed in Europe, to ensure they conformed fully to international human rights norms. The report is due for debate by the plenary Assembly - which brings together 630 parliamentarians from the 46 Council of Europe member states - in Strasbourg on 27 June 2006. SOURCE: Council of Europe Council of Europe Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:41:09 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=2559 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=2559 The United States of America finds that neither the classic instruments of criminal law and procedure, nor the framework of the laws of war (including respect for the Geneva Conventions) has been apt to address the terrorist threat. As a result it has introduced new legal concepts, such as "enemy combatant" and "rendition", which were previously unheard of in international law and stand contrary to the basic legal principles that prevail on our continent. Thus, across the world, the United States has progressively woven a clandestine "spider's web" of disappearances, secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers, often encompassing countries notorious for their use of torture. Hundreds of persons have become entrapped in this web, in some cases merely suspected of sympathising with a presumed terrorist organisation. SOURCE: Council of Europe Council of Europe Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:40:50 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=809 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=809 The ETC has been set up as a non-profit association and started its work in October 1999. Its premises in Graz have been opened on the occasion of the Human Rights Day on the 10th of December 2000 (Inauguration). Its main aim is to conduct research and training programs in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in close co-operation with the University of Graz. Special emphasis is put on training programs for civil servants, the police, army, as well as for members of international organizations and NGOs in Austria and abroad. New innovative teaching methods are applied in "train the trainers programs". Simultaneously, basic research is conducted with a particular research focus on South Eastern Europe. SOURCE: