[liberationtech] Fwd: Democracy News: February 15, 2017

Wed Feb 15 14:22:54 PST 2017

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "World Movement for Democracy Team" <world at ned.org>
Date: Feb 15, 2017 12:57 PM
Subject: Democracy News: February 15, 2017
To: <clift at publicus.net>
Cc:

*Renewed Crackdown on Egyptian Civil Society *

On February 2, 2017, Citizen Lab published the “Nile Phish Report:
Large-Scale Phishing Campaign Targeting Egyptian Civil Society
<https://citizenlab.org/2017/02/nilephish-report/>.” The report details the
several-month campaign against Egyptian activists who received various
“phishing” emails including one that claimed
<https://citizenlab.org/2017/02/nilephish-report/> to be a copy of an
arrest warrant for Azza Soliman
<http://www.movedemocracy.org/democracy-alert-egyptian-authorities-arrest-women%E2%80%99s-rights-activist-azza-soliman>,
the founder of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance
<https://www.unodc.org/ngo/showSingleDetailed.do?req_org_uid=16630>
(CEWLA). Several of the activists targeted by the attacks are affiliated
with Case 173
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/09/20/egypt-ruling-risks-eradicating-human-rights-work>,
or the “NGO foreign funding case,” and it is believed that the attacks are
intended to support state surveillance against them. Citizen Lab has
refrained from attributing the attacks to any particular entity, but the
Egyptian state is suspected
<https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/egyptian-human-rights-activists-are-being-targeted-in-dangerous-hacking-campaign>
of playing some role in the attacks, yet another indication of an
increasingly hostile environment for civil society in the country.

Attacks against Egyptian civil society have continued offline as well.
Three weeks ago, the government placed a travel ban on Negad El Borai, an
Egyptian human rights lawyer and the Director of United Group for Law
<https://ug-law.com/>, for his involvement in the “NGO foreign funding
case.” On February 4, 2017, another travel ban
<http://www.omct.org/statements/2016/02/d23618/> was issued against civil
society activist Gamal Eld, Executive Director of the Arabic Network for
Human Rights Information
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T90694006-aa44-4178-bc4f-fd3a647820f3/09d3c2f2-bc3f-4463-a803-c210caea9ef5>
(ANHRI). Five days later, Egyptian security forces shut down
<https://timep.org/commentary/bricks-in-the-wall-el-nadeem-the-ngo-law-and-egypts-crackdown/>
El
Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture
<http://www.alnadeem.org/en> (El Nadeem).

Learn more about Egyptian activists who have been wrongfully targeted for
their human rights work, and what you can do to help at
helpsetthemfree.org/egypt <http://www.helpsetthemfree.org/egypt/>.

*Featured in this Issue:*

   - *Renewed Crackdown on Egyptian Civil Society *
   - *Freedom House's "Freedom in the World 2017" Reports Decline in Global
   Freedoms*
   - *World Movement for Democracy Participants Meet at 9th Geneva Summit
   for Human Rights and Democracy*
   - *Call for Applications: The Gender and Technology Institute in Asia*

___________________________

*HELP POLITICAL PRISONERS #SetThemFree Campaign*
www.helpsetthemfree.org
<https://default.salsalabs.org/Tc0dc7b4d-bb28-4c8d-8666-57114d733286/ad65af83-f92b-48f1-8e4b-f87227f39fb0>

*___________________________ STAY CONNECTED ___________________________*
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<https://www.youtube.com/user/wmdontheweb>

www.movedemocracy.org
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T424a2117-74e0-4f44-9084-9283cfab7793/ad65af83-f92b-48f1-8e4b-f87227f39fb0>
<http://bit.ly/2eQGLYR>

*World Movement for Democracy (WMD) Participants Meet at 9th Geneva Summit *

On February 21, 2017, activists will convene to discuss global human rights
issues at the 9th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy
<https://www.genevasummit.org/>, in Geneva, Switzerland. The event is held
in conjunction with the UN Human Rights Council’s annual session, which
will meet later that week. Jose Luis Gascon, Chairman of the Commission on
Human Rights
<http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CHR/Pages/CommissionOnHumanRights.aspx>
(CHR) will be the first Filipino speaker
<https://globalnation.inquirer.net/151985/philippines-in-spotlight-at-geneva-meet-over-drug-war-slays>
featured at the Summit since its inception in 2009. Gascon will testify
about the decline of human rights in the Philippines due to the country’s
recent “war on drugs” initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte. The war has
resulted in an estimated 4,800
<https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/philippines>
extrajudicial killings “by police and unidentified gunmen since he took
office.” In November 2015, Gascon was an opening speaker at the World
Movement for Democracy's Seoul Assembly, which you can watch here
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T3826c265-dee4-419d-95f0-421348bbbbee/422e003d-8300-4903-82a3-f787913a748c>.

Other speakers at the event include: Svitlana Zalishchuk
<http://www.movedemocracy.org/svitlana-zalishchuk-ukraine>, Ukrainian
Parliamentarian and former journalist; Antonietta Ledezma, activist and
daughter of the imprisoned Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma
<http://www.helpsetthemfree.org/antonioledezma/>; Rosa Maria Paya a Cuban
pro-democracy human rights activist and the President of the WMD
participant network JuventudLAC
<https://default.salsalabs.org/Tb3d99bb0-aaae-4576-bfbb-aad17a925e97/422e003d-8300-4903-82a3-f787913a748c>,
as well several other prominent activists. Zalishchuk is a Steering
Committee member of the World Movement for Democracy. Registration for the
event is free and available online
<http://www.genevasummit.org/registration/>.

*Freedom House's "Freedom in the World 2017" Reports Decline in Global
Freedoms*

On January 31, 2017, Freedom House released its “Freedom in the World 2017
<https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FH_FIW_2017_Report_Final.pdf>”
report, an annual report that rates political and civil rights around the
world. For the 11th consecutive year, Freedom House found that every region
in the world experienced a decline in freedom, stating that: “a total of 67
countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties in
2016, compared with 36 that registered gains.” Ethiopia and Venezuela
experienced two of the most dramatic declines in freedom due to various
forms of systematic suppression of political dissent.

Since November 2015, the Ethiopian government has killed at least 500
people in their crackdown
<https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/ethiopia> on Oromo
protesters. The government’s decision to issue a six-month state of
emergency has resulted in the arbitrary detention of individuals critical
of the state, such as Ethiopian politician Dr. Merera Gudina
<http://www.movedemocracy.org/democracy-alert-egyptian-authorities-target-womens-rights-activist>.

For the first time, Venezuela was downgraded to “not free,” a score merited
by the government’s efforts to block both the Presidential recall
referendum, as well as the legislative branch’s attempts to pass laws
enabling Venezuelans' access to international humanitarian aid, and the
release of political prisoners. Read Freedom House’s interactive version of
the “Freedom in the World 2017” report and their individual country reports
here <https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2017>.

*Call for Applications: The Gender and Technology Institute in Asia*

The Tactical Tech Collective
<https://tacticaltech.org/news/apply-gender-and-technology-institute-asia>
(TTC), is accepting applications for their next Gender and Technology
Institute (GTI) in Asia. During the meeting, GTI attendees will learn
practical ways to leverage technology in their activism, as well as how to
“build movement-based discussions around security and privacy from a
gendered perspective.” The four-day meeting will convene at the end of
April 2017 in South or South East Asia; however, the exact location of
event has yet to be determined.

Learn more about GTI and how to apply here
<https://tacticaltech.org/news/apply-gender-and-technology-institute-asia>.
Applications for the upcoming session will close on February 27, 2017 at
23:59 CET.
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