Hello, all. I’m Maggie Dennis. I’m the VP who oversees our human rights team in its work. Reiterating what the team previously said about not being able to discuss particular situations, I can disclose a little more general points about our approach as you pose, LW, and, I hope, address some of your concerns, Lodewijk.
It’s devastating when community members face targeting for their dedication to supporting free knowledge. This matters a lot to me, to my team, and to all the Foundation. I know it matters to you as well. The Wikimedia Foundation does resource this important work. We have partners in this field with whom we collaborate closely. Our human rights team possesses extensive experience in addressing such issues and also maintains strong connections with NGOs specializing in these areas. We regularly engage with these organizations on both general matters and specific cases. Every situation in which a community member is targeted is unique, and we recognize the need for specialized responses and support. Volunteer well-being is our priority, and we are committed to providing the right assistance for each case. While we believe in the importance of public discourse and transparency, safety always takes precedence. In some instances, the Foundation has found it appropriate to speak publicly to address these challenges and have done so. In others, we may be advised to handle matters differently. In terms of some Wikimedians who might have concerns whether our strategy is the right one, I fully respect that there must be. Because each case is different and frequently these situations are highly complex, we know that even different expert organizations might rank the risk and the right response of a specific situation differently. We have sometimes sought multiple opinions on a case. At the end of the day, we collaborate closely with relevant groups on our response to ensure the safety and well-being of individuals affected and the broader community members who could be impacted. We do the best we can to uphold the principles of free knowledge while prioritizing safety for everyone. While I can’t discuss specific cases, I am always happy to talk about general matters of policy and approach in my quarterly community conversations. We will also answer questions to the extent that we believe we safely can that are posed about the team’s work to talktohumanrig...@wikimedia.org. Depending on the case,the human rights team may provide ways to help or avenues to connect with organizations who are supporting. They may also be able to advise when silence is regarded as the best response. (There are some risks to being too open about who we work with and how we work that we need to consider every time.) People can read more generally about the human rights team <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Team> here. While this is not my area of focus in my role at the Foundation, I also want to generally call out that the Foundation also conducts human rights advocacy routinely in regards to legislation. Our Global Advocacy <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Advocacy> team not only meets with legislators around the world to fight for the rights that keep free knowledge free, but also considers and guides our work by providing proactive human rights assessments and policy development, such as the Human Rights Policy <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Human_Rights_Policy>. Best regards, Maggie On Thu, Oct 5, 2023 at 3:14 AM Lauren Worden <laurenworde...@gmail.com> wrote: > Dear WMF Human Rights Team: > > I would like some clarification on your statement below. In > particular, does your stated approach allow you to follow the best > practices described at > https://freedomhouse.org/2023/summit-for-democracy-political-prisoners > to, e.g., "meet regularly with family members of political prisoners, > advocacy groups, and media outlets and journalists, in public and in > private, in their efforts to secure an individual’s release"? > > The literature review at > https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/17277 states: > "The theoretical and empirical literature attributes several potential > roles to civil society in [security sector and justice reform]. These > include making security and justice institutions accountable, > mobilising a range of social groups for reform, publicising abuses and > advocating for reform, offering technical expertise, and improving > security-citizen relations." > > If the Foundation staff has prohibited itself from engaging with the > public on freeing jailed wikipedians, orchestrating letter writing > campaigns, or coordinating with other NGOs and government agencies, > such as those Andreas has described as having no record of the > imprisoned Arabic Wikipedia administrators, then I would hope that the > CEO or Trustees would step in immediately to rectify any internal > policies such that best practices can be upheld. > > -LW > > > On Tue, Oct 3, 2023 at 3:51 PM WMF Human Rights > <talktohumanrig...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > > In the interest of safeguarding confidential information and ensuring > the safety of our community members, the Foundation will not publicly > disclose details regarding human rights cases. The Human Rights Team > recently updated its meta page to clarify this approach. Our primary > concern is to uphold the safety and privacy of everyone involved. At the > same time, our inability to discuss these matters should not be read as > inaction. We care deeply about volunteer safety and our role, more > generally, involves different levels of internal support, wider advocacy > and partnerships with others depending on the circumstances of an event. > > > > On Tue, Oct 3, 2023 at 6:06 AM Andreas Kolbe <jayen...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> Let's put it a different way then: > >> > >> Is anyone at the WMF doing anything in support of the two jailed Saudi > Wikimedians, be it liaising with international or regional human rights > organisations, the US State Department, briefing journalists so the wider > public is aware of the situation, or anything else to make sure Osama and > Ziyad aren't forgotten about as they start (by my calculation) their fourth > year in jail? > >> > >> I am asking because the press reports published at the start of this > year do not seem to have led to any significant coverage of the two > Wikimedians' plight on the websites of major human rights organisations. > (If I have missed any, please let me know.) > >> > >> For example, I found nothing at all on the website of Reporters without > Borders. Similarly, the most recent Amnesty International report on the > "crackdown on online expression" in Saudi Arabia includes several mentions > of Twitter users but none of Wikipedians: > >> > >> > https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/saudi-arabia-alarming-crackdown-on-online-expression/ > >> > >> Amnesty's report specifically mentions that a Twitter user was > sentenced for supporting women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul but > fails to mention that one of the jailed Wikimedians uploaded Loujain > al-Hathloul's Commons picture, which is used in her Wikipedia articles. > >> > >> I didn't find anything about Osama and Ziyad or, more generally, > Wikimedians in Saudi Arabia on the website of the EFF. > >> > >> There is a mention of Osama and Ziyad and the fact that they were > Wikipedians on the PEN website: > >> > >> https://pen.org/report/freedom-to-write-index-2022/ > >> > >> The U.S. State Department's 2022 country report on Saudi Arabia, > published in March 2023, includes a mention of Osama's 32-year prison > sentence, but doesn't make clear that he was jailed for being a Wikipedian, > and Ziyad is not mentioned: > >> > >> > https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/saudi-arabia/ > >> > >> Will this be remedied in the U.S. State Department's 2023 country > report? I think each country report covers the period up to October of the > preceding year, so this month will be the last chance to make sure the 2023 > report published next spring will include information on Osama and Ziyad's > prison sentences and their Wikipedia activity. > >> > >> Andreas > >> > >> > >> > >> On Mon, Sep 25, 2023 at 11:09 PM The Cunctator <cuncta...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >>> > >>> Frankly, that's implausible. > >>> > >>> On Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 3:37 PM DerHexer via Wikimedia-l < > wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote: > >>>> > >>>> I do think that posting any kind of response to these questions on a > public mailing list would do more harm than good. Thank you. > >>>> > >>>> Best, > >>>> DerHexer > >>>> Wikimedia Steward > >>>> > >>>> Am Montag, 25. September 2023 um 21:20:21 MESZ hat Andreas Kolbe < > jayen...@gmail.com> Folgendes geschrieben: > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Dear all, > >>>> > >>>> As there was a recent press mention of Osama and Ziyad[1] (see "In > the Media" in the current Signpost issue) – does the WMF's Human Rights > Team (cc'ed) have any update on their situation? > >>>> > >>>> Has anyone else heard any news? If I recall correctly, Osama had > married not long before being jailed in 2020 – has anyone been in touch > with his wife? > >>>> > >>>> Is there anything the community can do? > >>>> > >>>> Andreas > >>>> > >>>> [1] > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_imprisoned_for_editing_Wikipedia > >>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, > guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >>>> Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/CSBF3UGYR7BDU5XPYZFYQAABPXXY5PDG/ > >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > >>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, > guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >>>> Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/XMEMSGXX7XH3R7MSYZFGKR6PMRCWDDKB/ > >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, > guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >>> Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/YKDNQDXMBNSD7OX6YKLN4RLJAYWC5WGO/ > >>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/FIAFNJ7XAKLXEAKU4MSUR7MTTWSY3IGE/ > > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/KM37DQGP6QN4QCAKTJWESDWUN3FV6OAJ/ > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org -- Maggie Dennis She/her/hers Vice President, Community Resilience & Sustainability Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
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