Human Rights Action update Jan.24-30

Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

MYANMAR
Human rights defender Kyaw Hla Aung is in poor health in Sittwe prison, in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. He is suffering from arthritis and high blood pressure; moreover there are concerns he is not receiving adequate medical treatment in detention. He has been detained arbitrarily for over six months despite the so-called democratization of the country. Kyaw Hla Aung was arrested on 15 July 2013, the same day that Myanmar’s President Thein Sein promised that there would be no more prisoners of conscience in the country by the end of the year. Despite this promise, many prisoners of conscience – including Kyaw Hla Aung – are believed to be behind bars in Myanmar. Please act on his behalf.

COLOMBIA 
Human rights defenders in the city of Barrancabermeja, in the Magdalena Medio region in north-eastern Colombia, have received death threats.  Please act to call upon   the Colombian authorities to fulfil their obligations regarding the protections of human rights defenders as specified in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, to which Colombia is a state party.

RUSSIA 
Leaders of the Aeroflot airline pilots association have been arrested as part of a union busting action on the part of the government. Please click to protest.  If the form comes up with my details,just replace with yours.

UKRAINE
Amnesty International is gravely concerned for the well-being of Dmitrii Bulatov, a prominent activist in the Euromaydan demonstrations in Kyiv, Ukraine. His family have not heard from him since the evening of 22 January and believe he has been abducted. He is one of the main organizers and participants of the Automaydan rallies whereby convoys of cars participate in the Euromaydan demonstrations which have been ongoing in Kyiv since November 2013. He would be well known to the Ukrainian authorities for his activism. Please act on his behalf.