MARUAH Singapore

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders has submitted his report to the UN Human Rights Council, highlighting good practices in the protection of human rights defenders at the local, national, regional and international levels. He outlines protection initiatives in three interrelated areas: practices that strengthen the resources and capacities of defenders; measures that foster an enabling environment for the defence of their rights; and regional and international initiatives that support their protection at the local and
national levels.

The report can be found at the link below [look for A/HRC/31/55  & A/HRC/31/55/Add. 1]
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx 

The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, submitted his report to the UN Human Rights Council, regarding the relationship between freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression, highlighting the normative analogies and practical synergies between the 2 rights.

The report can be found at the link below [look for A/HRC/31/18]
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomReligion/Pages/Annual.aspx

Ms Braema Mathi, President of MARUAH, was interviewed recently by SIX-SIX.com, on issues relating to human rights.

http://www.six-six.com/article/braema-mathi-to-stick-to-the-words-human-rights-is-advocacy-in-itself

A video summary can also be found below.

TODAY has written an article on our forum.

The robust rejection on social media of the xenophobic vitriol that was spewed following the riot in Little India should give confidence to the Government and Singapore society that the online community is capable of regulating itself, said academic and political commentator Cherian George at a panel discussion on freedom of expression and democracy yesterday.

Read more at the link below.
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/post-riot-discourse-shows-online-community-capable-self-regulation?singlepage=true

Democracy is more of a culture than a way of governing or a political system. It is a historical process that must go through its evolution. No country can be a quasi democracy. It is in fact democratic people that make a society democratic, says Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi

Read her article at the link below.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/shirin-ebadi/framework-of-democracy-is-human-rights-law

The theme for this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities is “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all”.

To observe this day, we want to help remove barriers that limit accessibility and participation by persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and development. The first part of our initiative is to collate feedback from you and to pass them on to the relevant government agencies.

Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states that

‘State Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas’.

The Government has indeed taken steps to improve the lives of persons with disabilities. For instance, the Building and Construction Authority (“BCA”) has set up the “Our Friendly Built Environment Portal” to create awareness on friendly built environments which is key to making Singapore an all-inclusive and barrier-free society.

However, we would to bring more attention to this portal and to complement the feedback mechanism which has been provided at BCA’s website.

From now until 31 December 2012, whenever you come across any area(s) which has been well designed for persons with disabilities or any area(s) which can be improved, please provide us with your feedback in the following format and provide pictures where possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Singapore’s human rights record will be reviewed at an upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session this Friday.

MARUAH was part of the Coalition of Singapore NGOs (COSINGO), which submitted a joint shadow report in November 2010.
https://maruah.org/2010/11/01/coalition-of-singapore-ngos-cosingo-submission-to-universal-periodic-review/

At the same time, MARUAH also submitted its shadow report, focusing specifically on the Internal Security Act and the death penalty.
https://maruah.org/2010/11/01/maruah-upr-submission-on-the-death-penalty-and-preventive-detention-without-trial/

Questions submitted in advance by several UN member countries have been uploaded to the webpage below.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/PAGES/SGSession11.aspx

Also, MARUAH president Ms Braema Mathi is currently at the UN, as part of the process and to raise awareness of the human rights issues currently facing Singapore.

The live video of the session will be streamed at the link below at 3pm Singapore time, 6 May 2011.
http://www.un.org/webcast/unhrc/index.asp