Special Features

Human Rights Watch: Iranian Women Still Banned from Watching Volleyball

February 18, 2016

Yesterday marked the beginning of the first ever beach volleyball tournament hosted in Iran. Despite repeated promises from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) that the ban on women attending matches would not be upheld – women were DENIED entry at the gates and intimidated by local officials.

A group of Iranian women traveled far, at great personal expense, all on the assurance from the FIVB that they would finally put an end to this blatant discrimination. However, when they tried to enter the stadium they were turned away by security.

The FIVB made a statement, saying that there was a “slight misunderstanding” with security personnel but that this has been “resolved”.

Excuse our pessimism, but we’re growing tired of these empty promises. Unless this discriminatory ban is overturned, Iranian women who want to attend matches will continue to face great risks.

We have TWO more days left in the tournament, TWO more days to pressure the FIVB to let the women of Iran watch volleyball.

Help us achieve this by sharing our call to #Watch4Women on Twitter and Facebook.

Tweet the FIVB now!

Paste the message below on the FIVB’s Facebook page
Shame on you FIVB for failing the women of Iran, yet again. Let women attend the Kish Open in Iran. #Watch4Women bit.ly/1O3Mh6B

Stand with Human Rights Watch and the women of Iran. Visit http://www.hrw.org/watch4women to find out how you can pressure the FIVB to ban Iran from hosting until they stop banning women.

With much gratitude,

Minky Worden,
Director, Global Initiatives, Communications
Human Rights Watch

NGO Monitor Annual Report 2015

February 2, 2016

NGOMannual_report2015

ICTJ | In Focus: Japan’s Apology to South Korea Shows What Public Apologies Should (Not) Do

February 2, 2016

In Focus

Japan’s Apology to South Korea Shows What Public Apologies Should (Not) Do

In this op-ed, ICTJ President David Tolbert argues that Japan’s recent, controversial apology to South Korean “comfort women” falls short of international standards.

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Other News

Lebanon: ICTJ Study Shows Viability of a National Commission to Uncover Fate of the Missing and Disappeared

Twenty-five years after the end of the Lebanese Civil War, the families of the missing and forcibly disappeared in Lebanon are still waiting for answers about the fate of their loved ones. A new report by the International Center for Transitional Justice says the country seems to be ready to address this issue through an independent national commission and lays out the features of a successful future commission.

Ugandan victims of the LRA have waited over a decade to see the group’s leadership held accountable for crimes committed during the armed conflict with Uganda’s government. They saw it happen last week, when former LRA commander Dominic Ongwen appeared in court for an important hearing at the International Criminal Court.

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Publications

More Than Words: Apologies as a Form of Reparation

This report explores many of the issues and challenges likely to be faced by those considering a public apology as a form of reparation for victims of serious human rights violations.

View Report

Opening Up Remedies in Myanmar

This briefing paper calls on the soon-to-be-established NLD-led Burmese government to seriously consider taking steps to deal with Myanmar’s troubled past as a way to help end the cycle of violence and human rights violations in the conflict-torn country.

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More Publications

Press Release- Measuring the Hate: The State of Antisemitism on Social Media

January 27, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: On International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th) the Online Hate Prevention Institute has released a groundbreaking report “Measuring the Hate: The State of Antisemitism on Social Media”. The report tracks over 2000 items of antisemitism reported to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The items were tracked over 10 months and at the end of the period, only 20 per cent has been removed.

The response by social media platforms is unacceptable given the a sharp rise in violent hate crimes against Jewish people around the world. Last year, we saw four French Jews killed in an attack on a Jewish supermarket, a community security volunteer killed outside a Synagogue in Denmark, multiple knife attacks on Jews in Israel and a range of other serious antisemitic incidents. Rampant online antisemitism is also playing a significant role in self-radicalisation and the spread of violent extremism in parts of the Arab world and within some Muslim communities.

The new report examines the spread of antisemitism across Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. It also explores the spread across four categories of antisemitism. In both cases the removal rates over time are presented. This report is a world first in empirically examining these issues the responses of the world’s three largest social media platforms.

The four categories of antisemitism explored are: the promotion of violence against Jews; traditional antisemitism such as conspiracy theories, racial slurs, and accusations such as the blood libel; Holocaust denial; and New Antisemitism which relates to the State of Israel. Traditional antisemitism accounted for almost half the items reported.

The report also outlines where each type of antisemitism occurs, with content promoting violence against Jews far more likely to be found on Twitter, while content promoting Holocaust denial was most likely to be found on YouTube. There was also evidence of significant variations in way the social media companies responded to online antisemitism.

Within each company there was a significant variation depending on the category of antisemitism. The best response rates came from Facebook where content promoting violence against Jews showed a 75% chance of eventually being removed. The worst case was YouTube videos containing New Antisemitism, that is, antisemitism related to the State of Israel, where only 4% has been removed after more than 10 months.

Online hate speech is fuelling hate crimes around the world. Governments are starting to respond to the inadequate response by social media companies to this problem. Last year, German prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against senior Facebook executives in response to growing incitement on the platform against immigrants, and Facebook, Google and Twitter have since agreed to remove hate speech reported in Germany within 24 hours and to use the definition of German law rather than their own standards. Facebook has since announced a one million dollar project to tackle online hate in Europe.

Dr Andre Oboler, CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Institute warned that, “time is running out for social media platforms to improve their response to the crisis of dangerous content their technology is helping to spread through society. Governments around the world are demanding better regulation of hate, incitement and radicalisation material. This report shows that some platforms are doing more to meet this challenge than others, but all have a long way to go. The current situation is simply not good enough.”

The full report is available at: http://ohpi.org.au/measuring-antisemitism/

NOTES

The Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) is an Australian charity dedicated to tackling the problem of online hate including antisemitism, online extremism, cyber-racism, cyber-bullying, online religious vilification, online misogyny, and other forms of online hate attacking individuals and groups in society. OHPI aims to be a world leader in combating online hate and a critical partner who works with key stakeholders to improve the prevention and mitigation of online hate and the harm it causes. Ultimately, OHPI seeks to facilitate a change in online culture so that hate in all its forms becomes as socially unacceptable online as it is in “real life”.

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War Crimes Prosecution Watch Volume 10, Issue 23 – January 25, 2016

January 26, 2016

War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line.

Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group.

Contents

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Central African Republic & Uganda