London, 10 December 2012
The theme of this year’s celebration of International Human Rights Day is inclusion and the right to participate in public life. Inclusion and participation – guaranteed in particular by the rights to freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of assembly and association and the right to take part in elections, in public life and decision-making – are key themes in ERT’s work. In many of its projects, ERT has highlighted the connection between discrimination and the lack of effective participation in public life.
On the occasion of International Human Rights Day 2012, ERT calls on all those working to ensure inclusion and participation in public life to place the rights to equality and non-discrimination at the heart of their efforts.
Some examples of ERT’s current work on the relationship between equality and public participation include:
Working on behalf of the stateless
ERT’s work on statelessness focuses on stateless migrants languishing in immigration detention and stateless Rohingya who have suffered persecution for decades in their native Myanmar. Neither group has the political freedom to express their views or have a say in their own future through participating in democratic processes. ERT is also a founding member of the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) - a civil society alliance with over 60 members in over 30 countries. With support from ERT, the ENS has today issued a statement calling on European and other states to end statelessness and ensure that those without a nationality are not deprived of a voice.
Calling for equal political participation in Malaysia
On 12 November 2012, ERT launched “Washing the Tigers: Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Malaysia”. Among a wealth of important new findings, this report documents serious problems with Malaysia’s electoral system – as highlighted by the Bersih protest movement – and the links between of political participation and discrimination.
Strengthening equal rights in respect of freedom of expression
ERT works in a number of countries, including Azerbaijan, Belarus and Sudan, where discrimination on grounds of political opinion is part of a wider pattern of political repression. In Sudan, ERT works with the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) network, many of whose members have been harassed, detained and tortured because of their work. Today, the JHR is unable to hold a planned public celebration because of a further wave of repression by the National Intelligence and Security Services. ERT expresses its solidarity with the members of the JHR.
Promoting equal participation for LGBTI persons
ERT works in a number of countries, such as Guyana, Jordan, Kenya and Malaysia, which continue to criminalise same-sex relationships. In Guyana, for example, LGBTI persons are excluded from participation in many areas, including public life. With support from ERT, the Society for Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has established the Guyana Equality Forum, which on Saturday 8 December held a “Walk for Equality” to raise awareness of the exclusion suffered by LGBTI persons and other discriminated groups in Guyana.
Safeguarding human rights protection in the UK
ERT has today joined a group of over 60 NGOs based in the UK in an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, which calls on the UK government to retain and strengthen the Human Rights Act and not to give in to calls for its repeal or regressive amendment. In November 2011, ERT participated in a consultation on the future of the UK Human Rights Act, calling on the government to retain the Act and to sign and ratify Protocol 12 of European Convention on Human Rights which provides an autonomous right to non-discrimination.
The Equal Rights Trust is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites
Type:
