International Observatory of Human Rights

Last updated
International Observatory of Human Rights
FoundedNovember 2017;6 years ago (2017-11)
TypeNon-profit
INGO
Headquarters London,
United Kingdom
FieldsPress freedom, Refugee Advocacy campaigns, research, advocacy, web TV
Key people
Valerie Peay (Director)
Website observatoryihr.org

The International Observatory of Human Rights (also known as IOHR) is a London-based non-governmental organization focused on exposing human rights violations. [1] It runs a TV channel dedicated to human rights campaigns, the first of its kind, via the netgem.tv interactive platform. [2]

Contents

Profile

Established in November 2017, IOHR has focused on a number of themes relating to prisoners of conscience, arbitrary detentions, the refugee crisis, the challenges of extremism and radicalism, social injustice, and violations of international law. It has also been active on the subject of media freedoms and minority rights. [3] [4] [5] It is a nonprofit organization based in the United Kingdom. [6]

The IOHR was founded by Valerie Peay, who also serves as its director. [7] Peay is also a Trustee Director of the Royal Caledonian Educational Trust in Scotland. [8]

Recent campaigns

#BeARefugeeSponsor

IOHR launched the #BeARefugeeSponsor campaign to call for the expansion of the UK Community Sponsorship of the Syrian Refugees scheme. [9] In August 2018, IOHR held a third event in its #BeARefugeeSponsor series with the aunt of Alan Kurdi, highlighting the benefits of Community Sponsorship and the Canadian experience. [10] Matthew Ryder, London's Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement lent his support to their appeal. [11]

#NotBornARadical

IOHR launched the "Not Born A Radical" campaign to address causes of radicalisation and provide progressive platform for educating and empowering the youth, and engaging returning fighters, prisoners and family members. [12] [13] [14] It has hosted events at King's College London [15] and the University of Rostock. [16]

#FreeRouhaniHostages

IOHR has sought to highlight the case of a growing number of dual citizens who have been incarcerated on return visits to their native Iran.[ citation needed ] In June 2018 IOHR partnered with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in inviting Mrs. Vida Mehrannia, the wife of imprisoned Iranian-Swedish professor Dr Ahmad Reza Jalali, to Brussels and Strasbourg to appeal for an urgent intervention from diplomats and members of the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe the week before President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Europe. [17] [18] [19]

IOHR TV

IOHR launched IOHR TV, a video content channel, in January 2019 to optimise its campaigning activities. [20] [2] It also broadcasts stories on the IOHR website. The format of video material often comprises one-on-one interviews with guests to discuss topical issues. Output also includes content from IOHR events.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Şemdinli</span> Town in Hakkâri Province, Turkey

Şemdinli is a town located in the Şemdinli District of Hakkari Province in Turkey and had a population of 18,220 in 2023. The current mayor is Tahir Saklı from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), elected in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehmet Mehdi Eker</span> Turkish politician

Mehmet Mehdi Eker is a Turkish politician who served as the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey from 2005 until 2015. He was elected a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Diyarbakır for Democratic People's Party in 2002. He was re-elected in 2007 and 2011 for the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was again elected as an MP in 2018.

Refugees of the Syrian civil war are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian civil war. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide. It is often described as one of the largest refugee crises in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sezgin Tanrıkulu</span> Turkish politician

Sezgin Tanrıkulu is a Turkish human rights lawyer known for his defense of the rights of Kurdish citizens. He is currently serving as an MP in the Turkish Grand Assembly with the Republican People's Party (CHP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Şafak Pavey</span> Turkish diplomat, columnist and politician

Şafak Pavey is a Turkish diplomat, columnist and politician. She was a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) representing Istanbul Province. She is the first disabled woman ever elected to the Turkish parliament, and is a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 1996, before she turned 20, her left arm and left leg were amputated after a train accident in Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign fighters in the Syrian Civil War and War in Iraq</span>

Foreign fighters have fought on all four sides of the Syrian Civil War, as well both sides of the War in Iraq. In addition to Sunni foreign fighters, Shia fighters from several countries have joined pro-government militias in Syria, leftist militants have joined Kurdish forces, and other foreign fighters have joined jihadist organizations and private military contractors recruit globally. Estimates of the total number of foreign Sunnis who have fought for the Syrian rebels over the course of the conflict range from 5,000 to over 10,000, while foreign Shia fighters numbered around 10,000 or less in 2013 rising to between 15,000 and 25,000 in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Alan Kurdi</span> Two-year-old Syrian boy who died from capsized boat, August 2015

Alan Kurdi, initially reported as Aylan Kurdi, was a two-year-old Syrian boy of Kurdish ethnic background whose image made global headlines after he drowned on 2 September 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea along with his mother and brother. Alan and his family were Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe from Turkey amid the European refugee crisis. Photographs of his body were taken by Turkish journalist Nilüfer Demir and quickly went viral, prompting international responses. Since the Kurdi family had reportedly been trying to reach Canada, his death and the wider refugee crisis became an issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria</span> Uyghur Sunni jihadist militant group

The Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria is the Syrian branch of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an armed Uyghur Jihadist group with a presence in the Syrian Civil War. While the TIP has been active in Syria, the organization's core leadership is based in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a presence in its home territory of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Istanbul nightclub shooting</span> 2017 nightclub shooting in Ortaköy, Istanbul, Turkey

The Istanbul nightclub shooting was a mass shooting incident on 1 January 2017 around 01:15 local time, in which a terrorist shot and killed 39 people and wounded 79 others at the Reina nightclub in the Ortaköy neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey, where hundreds had been celebrating New Year's Day. Uzbekistan-born Abdulkadir Masharipov was arrested in Istanbul on 17 January 2017. Islamic State claimed credit for his actions. The first hearing in the trial of Masharipov and 51 accused accomplices was held on 11 December 2017, and the next hearing was held on 26 March 2018.

The 2019 Tell Rifaat Clashes were a military confrontation between Turkey and allied Free Syrian Army groups against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in early May 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Denmark</span>

Human rights in the Kingdom of Denmark are protected by the state's Constitution of the Realm (Danmarks Riges Grundlov); applying equally in Denmark proper, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and through the ratification of international human rights treaties. Denmark has held a significant role in the adoption of both the European Convention on Human Rights and in the establishment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In 1987, the Kingdom Parliament (Folketinget) established a national human rights institution, the Danish Centre of Human Rights, now the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Secunder Kermani is a British journalist who is Foreign Correspondent for Channel 4 News. Kermani is a former BBC correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was previously a reporter on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Newsnight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act</span> U.S. law on Xinjiang human rights

The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 is a United States federal law that requires various federal U.S. government bodies to report on human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, including internment in the Xinjiang re-education camps.

The Uyghurs in Turkey are members of the Uyghur diaspora that live in Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayhan Bilgen</span> Turkish politician

Ayhan Bilgen is a journalist, politician and former mayor of Kars from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bedia Özgökçe Ertan</span> Politician and lawyer from Turkey

Bedia Özgökçe Ertan is a lawyer and a politician from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a former member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and Mayor of Van.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuncer Bakırhan</span> Kurdish politician (born 1970)

Tuncer Bakırhan is a Kurdish politician and current co-leader of the Kurdish minority interests party DEM Party. He is a former chairman of the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) and the former Mayor of Siirt. He was dismissed from his duties as mayor by the Turkish ministry of the interior, arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign fighters in the Syrian civil war</span>

Foreign fighters in the Syrian civil war have come to Syria and joined all four sides in the war. In addition to Sunni foreign fighters arriving to defend the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or join the Syrian rebels, Shia fighters from several countries have joined pro-government militias in Syria, and leftists have become foreign fighters in the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Tima Kurdi is a Syrian-Canadian author and human rights activist. Born in Damascus, she moved to Canada as a young adult and is based in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Kurdi is the author of The Boy on the Beach, which documents the circumstances that led to the death of her nephews Ghalib and Alan Kurdi, and their mother, Rehanna as they fled the Syrian civil war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmut Toğrul</span> Politician from Turkey

Mahmut Toğrul is a chemist and politician of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP). He is a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey between 2015-2023, representing Gaziantep for the HDP. He is also one of the founders of the Mesopotamia Foundation, which envisions establishing a university where one could be taught in their native language.

References

  1. ↑ "Alan Kurdi's aunt stops in Halifax for book tour | The Chronicle Herald". www.thechronicleherald.ca. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  2. 1 2 "First human rights TV channel vows to "give a voice to voiceless"". Reuters. 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  3. ↑ Tobitt, Charlotte (2018-09-26). "UN Secretary-General calls on Myanmar to pardon and release imprisoned Reuters reporters". Press Gazette. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  4. ↑ Şafak, Yeni. "Protest held in London against oppression of Uighurs". Yeni Şafak.
  5. ↑ "London event discusses oppression of Uighur Muslims". www.aa.com.tr.
  6. ↑ "INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  7. ↑ "'Iran gebruikt mensen met dubbele nationaliteit als onderhandelingsmiddel'". MO*.
  8. ↑ Digital, Connect. "Royal Caledonian Education Trust: Scotland's Armed Forces Children's charity – » About us – RCET Team". www.rcet.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  9. ↑ Woods, Al (21 June 2018). "Is the UK playing its part with refugee resettlement?". Flux Magazine. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  10. ↑ Sadeghi, Bahram (2018-09-17). "'Ik bleek de wind te zijn die Abdullahs gezin de zee op had gedreven'". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  11. ↑ Ryder, Matthew (15 August 2018). "Thank you to @observatoryihr Director Valerie Peay, @CitizensUK and others for a moving evening at the National Liberal Club, hosting #TamiKurdi @noursakr6 and Syrian families sharing their accounts of fleeing war and finding refuge. #BeaRefugeeSponsorpic.twitter.com/WUCnfu3WHw".
  12. ↑ Davidson, Tom (2019-02-22). "Grandparents of baby born to UK jihadist killed in Syria want him to come home". mirror. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  13. ↑ "Grandparents of boy born to jihadist fighter in Syria beg for his return to UK". Metro. 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  14. ↑ "BBC Two - Victoria Derbyshire, 22/02/2019". BBC.
  15. ↑ "Countering radicalisation and safeguarding human rights". European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. 2018-04-27. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  16. ↑ "Forscher in Rostock: Kämpferin oder gute Ehefrau | svz.de". svz. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  17. ↑ "Wife of VUB guest lecturer dr. Ahmadreza Djalali meets top Flemish and European policymakers". VUB Today. 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  18. ↑ Libre.be, La (2018-06-26). "J'attends de la Belgique et de l'Europe qu'elles arrivent à annuler la peine de mort de mon mari". www.lalibre.be (in French). Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  19. ↑ News, Flanders (2018-06-26). "Wife of Tehran death-row lecturer in Brussels". vrtnws.be. Retrieved 2019-05-28.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  20. ↑ "UK gets world's first human rights TV channel to 'give a voice to voiceless'". Metro. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.