Engagements and media in Mongolia 2017
2017/09/05
Following the two-day National Consultation on Human Rights Defenders, on 4-5 September FORUM-ASIA and its members from Mongolia, the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) and Globe International center (GIC) consulted and met with a range of stakeholders on human rights issues in Mongolia, including civil societies, local human rights defenders, political parties — among them the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) and the Democratic Party — and the Mongolian National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC). Son Chay, a Member of Parliament from Cambodia joined in most of these meetings to share his experiences and insights.
FORUM-ASIA was impressed with and welcomed the seeming dedication to the promotion and protection of human rights by all these actors. Particularly recommendations accepted in the recent Universal Periodic Review cycle, new legislations and draft laws seemed promising.
Stemming from the consultation with the human rights defenders — on 2-3 September — there were several areas of concern identified, which echoed those raised in similar meeting in 2015 and 2016, which were presented to the other stakeholders:
- Related to businesses and human rights, particularly related to mining and large development projects, there was an urgent call to the Government to initiate a nation-wide consultative process to draft and afterwards implement a National Action Plan.
- The urgency to address challenges when it comes to the right to food, where also highlighted. Food should be: nutritious, safe, affordable, accessible, and acceptable — with the latter referring to food both meeting local/traditional needs and being sustainable. To be able to achieve this, it was recommended that an independent laboratory be set up to assure these requirements are met.
- When it came to the realisation of women’s rights, several areas of concern were highlighted, in particularly the need to: assure the effective protection of victims of domestic violence; overcoming the income inequality gap and generally the number of women living in poverty; address various health concerns, in particular the need to decrease infant and maternal mortality rates and adolescent pregnancies; and guarantee the participation of women in all aspects and levels of society.
- Related to children’s rights, the human rights defenders urgently recommended for the policy on children rights to be implemented across all areas of public policy, and for the Government in particular to put an end to the use of children as jockeys in horse racing.
- On the topic of discrimination, the Government of Mongolia was requested to ensure an end to all forms of discrimination against vulnerable or minority groups, in particular against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people or those living with HIV/Aids.
- While the death penalty has been abolished in Mongolia, the Secrecy Law is used to keep information about past cases of capital punishment confidential. However, based on the right to information the human rights defenders are asking for this use of the Secrecy Law to be abandoned.
- Finally, concerns were raised related to guaranteeing both the right to information and freedom of expression in the country. Recent cases of the use of defamation charges against reporters, and other human rights defenders, are a serious cause for concern, particularly in cases where reporters are unwilling to reveal their sources.
In all these areas some progress was made in the last years, however, true change seemed to be blocked by the lack of comprehensive action.
In the dialogue with political parties questions were raised on whether they had a dedicated structure or unit within their party to engage with human rights defenders and civil society. More so, several parties expressed their commitment to start meeting with local human rights organisations on a regular basis.
During the meeting with the MPP, human rights defenders and civil society were invited to formally approach the Strategy Research Centre of the party about their various human rights concerns. They specifically invited the local human rights defenders to work with the MPP on child rights and the right to food. Additionally, the party welcomed the suggestion to have human rights training for all party members.
In the meeting with the MNHRC the two main topics of conversation were: the draft Law on Human Rights Defenders, and the need for amendments to the founding law of the National Human Rights Commission. There was also mutual agreement to collaborate further in the future, particularly on the rights of children, specifically when it comes to horse races.
Unfortunately, requests for meetings with the Legal Standing Committee did not come to fruition. While a meeting with the Human Rights Sub-Committee was cancelled at the last moment.
Finally, on 6 September a press-conference was organised for the outcomes of the week of events to be shared with local media. Several TV stations, newspapers and online news-sites attended. To read the full statement, including a version in Mongolian, click here.
FORUM-ASIA was impressed with and welcomed the seeming dedication to the promotion and protection of human rights by all these actors. Particularly recommendations accepted in the recent Universal Periodic Review cycle, new legislations and draft laws seemed promising.
Stemming from the consultation with the human rights defenders — on 2-3 September — there were several areas of concern identified, which echoed those raised in similar meeting in 2015 and 2016, which were presented to the other stakeholders:
- Related to businesses and human rights, particularly related to mining and large development projects, there was an urgent call to the Government to initiate a nation-wide consultative process to draft and afterwards implement a National Action Plan.
- The urgency to address challenges when it comes to the right to food, where also highlighted. Food should be: nutritious, safe, affordable, accessible, and acceptable — with the latter referring to food both meeting local/traditional needs and being sustainable. To be able to achieve this, it was recommended that an independent laboratory be set up to assure these requirements are met.
- When it came to the realisation of women’s rights, several areas of concern were highlighted, in particularly the need to: assure the effective protection of victims of domestic violence; overcoming the income inequality gap and generally the number of women living in poverty; address various health concerns, in particular the need to decrease infant and maternal mortality rates and adolescent pregnancies; and guarantee the participation of women in all aspects and levels of society.
- Related to children’s rights, the human rights defenders urgently recommended for the policy on children rights to be implemented across all areas of public policy, and for the Government in particular to put an end to the use of children as jockeys in horse racing.
- On the topic of discrimination, the Government of Mongolia was requested to ensure an end to all forms of discrimination against vulnerable or minority groups, in particular against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people or those living with HIV/Aids.
- While the death penalty has been abolished in Mongolia, the Secrecy Law is used to keep information about past cases of capital punishment confidential. However, based on the right to information the human rights defenders are asking for this use of the Secrecy Law to be abandoned.
- Finally, concerns were raised related to guaranteeing both the right to information and freedom of expression in the country. Recent cases of the use of defamation charges against reporters, and other human rights defenders, are a serious cause for concern, particularly in cases where reporters are unwilling to reveal their sources.
In all these areas some progress was made in the last years, however, true change seemed to be blocked by the lack of comprehensive action.
In the dialogue with political parties questions were raised on whether they had a dedicated structure or unit within their party to engage with human rights defenders and civil society. More so, several parties expressed their commitment to start meeting with local human rights organisations on a regular basis.
During the meeting with the MPP, human rights defenders and civil society were invited to formally approach the Strategy Research Centre of the party about their various human rights concerns. They specifically invited the local human rights defenders to work with the MPP on child rights and the right to food. Additionally, the party welcomed the suggestion to have human rights training for all party members.
In the meeting with the MNHRC the two main topics of conversation were: the draft Law on Human Rights Defenders, and the need for amendments to the founding law of the National Human Rights Commission. There was also mutual agreement to collaborate further in the future, particularly on the rights of children, specifically when it comes to horse races.
Unfortunately, requests for meetings with the Legal Standing Committee did not come to fruition. While a meeting with the Human Rights Sub-Committee was cancelled at the last moment.
Finally, on 6 September a press-conference was organised for the outcomes of the week of events to be shared with local media. Several TV stations, newspapers and online news-sites attended. To read the full statement, including a version in Mongolian, click here.