UK Advocacy Update
By David Mepham, UK Director 

The Middle East and North Africa have been a major focus of our UK advocacy and media work over the last few months. To its credit, the UK government has taken a strong position in the UN Security Council on the very grave human rights situation in Syria. Human Rights Watch has pushed for continuing economic and diplomatic pressure on the Assad regime, including targeted sanctions, and for Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court. We also want the UN Monitoring Mission in Syria, part of the Annan plan, to have a stronger human rights monitoring role, able to document rights abuses and deter future ones. We have pressed the UK on Libya, where we are disturbed by recent trends, including proposals by the Transitional Government in Libya to restrict free speech, grant amnesties for crimes committed by anti-Gaddafi forces and limit political participation. On Bahrain, we remain critical of UK policy, which continues to talk up progress when in practice there has been almost none. We have also urged the UK to be more assertive about rights violations in Egypt, including the criminal investigation into the work of Egyptian human rights organisations (which threatens to emasculate their work), torture and ill-treatment in detention, restrictions on and repression of journalists, bloggers and activists, and the complete failure to hold rights abusers accountable for their crimes.

I had the opportunity to raise these and other issues when I gave evidence to the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs committee on May 22, as part of its inquiry into the UK government’s international human rights policy. I also questioned UK policy on Sri Lanka, with the UK continuing to deport failed Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, although we have documented that some Tamils previously returned by the UK have then been tortured.

With the support of members of the London Committee, we have also publicised the issue of women’s exclusion from sport in Saudi Arabia, linked to the forthcoming London Olympics, as well as serious human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, the host country for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division (WRD) has been in the forefront of the global struggle to protect the rights of women since it was established over 20 years ago. Headed by Liesl Gernholtz, the division investigates, reports and advocates on human rights violations affecting women, with a focus on violence against women, women’s health and women’s economic rights.

In the past year the WRD has investigated violations of women’s rights in Haiti, South Sudan, Yemen and Turkey. Liesl is particularly proud of the work that the division has done on early marriage. A recent report focused on the impact of early marriage on girls and women in Yemen. According to Liesl, early marriage not only violates the rights of girls are the time of the marriage, but has a life-long impact, interrupting and often ending their education, increasing the risk of maternal mortality and leaving them at higher risk of domestic violence both from spouses and other family members. As one woman interviewed for the report said, “When you marry as a young girl, you die twice.” Working as part of a global campaign, the WRD is using this report and additional research from South Sudan to advocate against early marriage for girls around the world.

To celebrate its 20 year history, the WRD solicited essays from writers, policy makers and activists reflecting on the past 20 years of progress in protecting women’s human rights, and the challenges still facing women today. The resulting book, Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women’s Rights, will be launched in the UK on 4 July 2012. With contributors including Nobel laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams, Human Rights Watch researchers Anneke van Woudenberg, Christoph Wilcke and Rachel Reid, and Liesl herself, and edited by Human Rights Watch Media Director Minky Worden, the book provides a powerful overview of the human rights issues affecting women today. 

A native of South Africa, Liesl began her career as a banking lawyer before working for some of the key human rights institutions in a post apartheid South Africa, including the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the South African Human Rights Commission. She headed up an NGO providing services to women in connection with HIV and violence before joining Human Rights Watch in May 2008.

London Network News 
Right Words Competition a Huge Success

London Network's Right Words competition 2011/12 attracted wonderful new entries this year. The launch of the anthology and prize-giving will take place on Wednesday, July 11 at 6:30 pm at Free Word Centre, English PEN, 60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA. This exciting evening will celebrate the theme of the competition: Freedom of Expression. Right Words 2011/12 is run by Human Rights Watch London Network and English PEN. For more information contact rightwords@englishpen.org

The London Network is currently working on organising a mock trial for December 2012 in which law and human rights students from London universities will be invited to participate. We will publish further details as the project progresses.

For more information about the London Network, or to join, contact Volinka Augustenborg at Volinka8@yahoo.com.