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	Rights activists condemn Twitter ban in Turkey by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)   April 03, 2014   Court in Turkey Orders Twitter Service Restored. (NPR)   Twitter is back on in Turkey after a constitutional court ruled that a government-imposed ban on the social media service was a breach of free expression.   The country''s telecom authority lifted the 2-week-old ban, after it was blocked in the runup to last Sunday''s local elections.   Turkey''s telecommunication authority, or TIB, blocked access to Twitter on March 21. The order followed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan''s remarks that he would "eradicate" the network after a series of anonymously posted audio clips that purported to expose corruption at the top levels of government.   TIB said in a statement that it was in the process of restoring access to Twitter, but it appears that a block on YouTube, imposed last week, remains in place.   The move proved controversial, however, even within Erdogan''s own government. President Abdullah Gul, like many other users, employed a text-to-tweet application that circumvented the ban. He tweeted: "One cannot approve of the complete closure of social media platforms."   March 21, 2014   Turkey banned access to the social media platform Twitter on Friday, hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened in a public speech to shut it down, according to news reports. The move comes just ahead of March 30 elections and follows Erdoğan"s threats to ban Facebook and YouTube.   "Prime Minister Erdoğan can keep stepping up his attacks on social media, but they only serve to show that he is afraid of the message and desperate to shoot the messenger," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "We call on Turkish authorities to restore access to Twitter and to substantiate their claims to democracy by allowing all information to flow freely."   At a campaign rally on Thursday in the western city of Bursa, Erdoğan claimed that a court order justified banning Twitter, according to press reports. The Turkish telecommunications regulator BTK said today that Internet service providers had been ordered to block access to Twitter after several users filed legal complaints in early March about violation of their privacy on the social networking site. BTK said the measure was intended to prevent the possible "victimization of citizens."   "Any court in any country would implement this kind of decision whenever it notices an attack against people"s privacy rights," the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç as saying.   But the English-language Turkish daily Hürriyet Daily News reported today that the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court told the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) that Twitter had been blocked as a result of an "executive decision, not a judicial verdict." TBB had filed a petition with the court requesting that the ban be lifted, the report said.   Twitter is a popular platform for Turkish whistleblowers, who in recent months have shared numerous recordings--allegedly of Erdoğan and his aides--that implicate top-ranking authorities of corruption, abuse of power, and other wrongdoing. Anonymous Twitter accounts have recently said that particularly sensitive recordings were going to be made available on the Twitter on March 25, a few days before the elections, news reports said.   "The rights to freedom of information and freedom of speech are all the more crucial in the run-up to elections," CPJ"s Ognianova said.   The blocking of Twitter has already been overcome by many Turkish Twitter users, including Turkish President Abdullah Gül, who called the Twitter ban unacceptable. He said in a tweet: "There is no way that closing down social media platforms can be approved."   As a sign that the blocking did not have much effect on Twitter traffic, the hashtag #TwitterIsBlockedInTurkey began trending from within the country a few hours after the ban was announced. Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission who is also in charge of the European Union"s digital agenda, called Turkey"s ban "groundless, pointless, cowardly." Visit the related web page
	UN Human Rights Committee urges Nepal to register Tibetan refugees by International Campaign for Tibet   April 2014   The UN Human Rights Committee (HRCmte) urged Nepal to register long staying Tibetans and to ensure that all Tibetans who may have a valid refugee claim are guaranteed access to Nepali territory. This was a part of the concluding observations that the UN HRCmte made when reviewing Nepal’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).   The UN Human Rights Committee commended Nepal for hosting a large number of refugees and asylum seekers in its territory but said it was concerned “at the restrictions imposed on Tibetan refugee rights should the State party deem any activity to undermine the friendly relationship with its neighbor.” It added that it was concerned that the lack of legislation would not protect against refoulement to China. The Committee’s concluding observations can be viewed here.   “We call on the new government in Kathmandu to reaffirm its adherence to Nepal’s human rights obligations and implement the UN Human Rights Committee’s recommendations on Tibetan refugees,” said Ronnate Asirwatham, Government Relations Liaison at the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT).   These observations come after the UN Human Rights Committee reviewed Nepal’s second report on its compliance and promotion of the rights in the ICCPR. The Committee reviews all countries, which have ratified the ICCPR in four year cycles. The review itself is a yearlong process with the State first submitting a report on what it has done to protect and promote the rights in the ICCPR. Then Non Governmental Organization’s can submit issues with regards the States non-compliance with the ICCPR. ICT did submit a report last April highlighting the arrest and detention of Tibetan refugees as well as the issues of freedom of religion and association for Tibetans in Nepal.   Nepal in their reply to the List of Issues that the UN HRCmte submitted said that although Nepal is not a party to the Refugee Convention and its protocols that it was “committed to respecting the principle of non refoulement.” The principle of non refoulement is a key facet of refugee law that concerns the protection of refugees from being expelled or returned to places where their lives could be in danger.   The UN Human Rights Committee’s concluding observation comes days after Human Rights Watch reported that under enormous pressure from China, the Nepalese government restricts the political freedoms of Tibetan refugees living in Nepal, subjects them to abuse and harassment by the security forces, and spies on them for Chinese officials. Commenting on the HRW report ICT said, the Nepalese Government has an urgent responsibility to investigate the role of its personnel in violating Nepal’s international and national obligations to protect those fleeing a credible fear of persecution, and to take measures to prevent future incidents.”   http://www.savetibet.org/un-human-rights-committee-urges-nepal-to-register-tibetan-refugees/ http://www.savetibet.org/statement-by-the-international-campaign-for-tibet-on-the-human-rights-watch-report-on-tibetan-refugees-in-nepal/ http://www.dalailama.com/ Visit the related web page
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