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Judith Neilson Institute head says events spiralling ‘out of control’ as independent directors quit

The philanthropist Judith Neilson has taken control of the $100m journalism institute she set up at arm’s length four years ago, after independent directors walked out en masse and leaked emails warned the organisation was spiralling “out of control”.

Staff and the media beneficiaries of the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas were left in shock by the departure of the directors amid uncertainty about what the institute’s new mission to promote “social change journalism” would mean.

The executive director of the institute, Mark Ryan, had the support of the independent directors but is unlikely to survive the upheaval.

On Tuesday the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald published a leaked email from Ryan to members of an international advisory council for the organisation, asking them to sign a letter to Neilson expressing concerns about its future.

“Those I spoke to late last week felt it was worth appealing to the patron before events spiralled out of control,” Ryan wrote. “Unfortunately, that ship has well and truly sailed.”

He attached another email from the American journalist Bruce Shapiro, an advisory council member, expressing “grave concern for the future of this crucial project” and alarm at “internal developments”, referring to the resignation of the directors.

Guardian Australia has confirmed the email is genuine. It is understood it was signed by four of the 12 members of the advisory council.

The chief executive officer of Neilson’s family office, Simon Freeman, told Guardian Australia Neilson wanted to move the organisation “in a slightly different direction”.

“Judith recognises the effort of what’s come to date, but has decided that she wants to move in a slightly different direction, which is more focused on social change journalism,” Freeman said.

Sources close to the organisation, who declined to speak on the record, said Neilson was keen to provide “proactive support for journalism that drives social change”, more in line with her support of various charities working in areas of slavery, homelessness, children’s health, affordable housing, climate change and food scarcity.

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It is understood Neilson, who is currently overseas, wants to become more personally involved in the activities of the institute and for it to focus more on the consumers of journalism rather than the producers, including non-English speaking communities and those in regional areas.

Freeman sent an email to staff on Tuesday with more detail about the new direction, which he said would be a “more direct and pragmatic focus on such areas as investigative journalism, photojournalism, grassroots media and enhancing access to quality journalism for those with diverse backgrounds”.

Freeman was appointed to the board after the four independent directors quit, leaving only two directors, both of whom represent Neilson’s interests.

The directors who quit were the former New South Wales chief justice James Spigelman, the Australian’s editor-at large, Paul Kelly, Free TV chief Bridget Fair and the former chief executive of the State Library of Victoria Kate Torney.

Neilson also wants to bring the governance of the institute more in line with her other projects, which have a non-independent board.

To 30 June 2021, the institute had distributed $2.5m in grants and had a total expenditure of $7.7m, according to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

Neilson, the billionaire owner of the White Rabbit art gallery in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale, announced in 2018 she would fund a $100m institute for journalism that would be independently run and would work with media organisations and journalism schools.

The institute has supported journalism by providing education, events and grants. Decisions made about what projects were funded were made based on criteria and determined by the institute and the board. Guardian Australia, like other media organistions, has had several projects funded by the institute, including the Pacific Project.

When she created the institute, Neilson said she supported “evidence-based journalism and the pursuit of truth in an increasingly complicated and confusing world”.

“I am delighted to support the establishment of this Institute and I will look to experienced journalists and other experts to manage and guide its work,” she said in 2018.

“I know that traditional forms of journalism are going through massive change and Australian journalism and intellectual life needs a shot in the arm.”

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Scripts announces full programme of events | Westmeath Independent

Scripts announces full programme of events | Westmeath Independent

Photo: Paul Moore.

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After two years of online and hybrid events, Scripts Ireland’s Playwriting Festival is back with a jam-packed programme from July 7 to July 10 in Birr.

This innovative playwriting festival features a host of exciting performances and workshops for lovers of theatre – those who want to create, perform, and watch live new theatre in the beautiful surroundings of a heritage town.

Live performances include Bloody Yesterday by Deirdre Kinehan, Wake by Irene Kelleher, Looking for América by Janet Moran and an exclusive new work called Promenade Performance created especially for the festival in collaboration with Birr Stage Guild. Jay Ryan’s Living with a Fairy is also on the schedule for family audiences.

Earlier this year, Scripts received a record-breaking number of entries (over 130) to its call for submissions for new short plays. This year’s selected writers are Tony Doyle, Sarah McKenna Dunne and Jacqueline Corrigan and Robert Webster. They will receive a week of mentorship with award-winning Offaly writer Eugene O’Brien during the festival. Then, all three plays will be performed as rehearsed readings by a team of professional actors at the Scripts headline event, Nurtured New Works at Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Sunday, July 10, at 4pm. The winning play will be chosen by a distinguished panel including playwright Christian O’Reilly and Fishamble’s Gavin Kostick. Scripts also continues to collaborate with the national theatre, The Abbey, to support its winning playwright.

This July, there will also be the unveiling of the very first George B. Miller Award, a new collaboration by Scripts and Youth Theatre Ireland. The selected writers will see their new plays for 11-14 year olds performed for the very first time as live readings during the festival.

For those who want to learn more about the art of playwriting, Fishamble’s Gavin Kostick and playwright Chrisitian O’Reilly will deliver workshops focusing on new writing. Former Scripts winner Lesley Conroy will host Family Proofing Your Arts Practice: A workshop on creative solutions to challenges facing parenting artists at Birr Library. David Walsh from Open Minds will also facilitate Unconscious Bias, exploring the way unconscious bias operates and help participants identify it and understand barriers to truly inclusive creativity.

For the full programme and some exciting special ticket offers, visit www.scriptsireland.com

Scripts Ireland’s Playwriting Festival is kindly supported by Arts Council of Ireland, Offaly County Council, Birr Municipal District, Fishamble and Youth Theatre Ireland and Creative Ireland.

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‘New Kazakhstan’ Needs Independent Inquiry on January Events

‘New Kazakhstan’ Needs Independent Inquiry on January Events

(Berlin) – Kazakhstan’s president Kasym-Jomart Tokaev used a major policy speech on March 16, 2022 to promote a “New Kazakhstan” but fumbled on how the government will remedy the grave human rights violations during protests and violence in January, Human Rights Watch said today. The government needs to make a commitment to establish an independent hybrid body involving national and international experts, to investigate the deaths of 230 people and other abuses.

“The whole scope of human rights violations during the January events should be effectively, independently, and impartially investigated,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It is deeply disappointing that President Tokaev did not use his speech to establish an independent investigation into what happened and to bring those responsible to justice. He should act quickly to rectify this.”

The president instead highlighted the Interdepartmental Investigative Task Force and its ongoing investigation. Its preliminary results claim that the January events were an attempted coup, with some officials taking part. Tokaev emphasized that all those responsible would be held accountable regardless of their official position.

But Tokaev neither acknowledged that the Task Force is not an independent body nor gave any indication that the killings and allegations of torture by security forces would be otherwise independently investigated.

Human Rights Watch has documented Kazakhstan’s failure on many occasions to carry out effective investigations into serious human rights violations or to bring those responsible to justice, including with respect to killings in Zhanaozen in 2011 and the subsequent trials and convictions. Given the authorities’ history of failure in this regard, the government should invite international experts to be part of the investigation. Such a hybrid national-international investigation may offer the best opportunity for these efforts to be successful.

According to the General Prosecutor’s Office, 230 people were killed in the January events, including 19 security officials. The office has said that 149 of those killed were “engaged in attacks on government buildings” while only 20 “accidentally” came under fire. Local human rights defenders say that numbers of those “accidently” killed are higher. In his speech, Tokaev blamed “terrorists” for killing civilians.

Tokaev announced several reform plans, including to remove the death penalty provision from the Constitution, and to revise procedures for political parties to register. The test of any reform of this kind will be whether opposition parties will be able to register.

In a positive step, the president also instructed the prosecutor general to study criminalizing violence against women and children, but what is needed is action, not more study, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch has long urged Kazakhstan to criminalize domestic violence as a stand-alone offense.

In a troubling move, Tokaev rejected calls to reform the law on freedom of assembly, notwithstanding the government’s failure to protect this fundamental right in line with human rights standards.

Regarding the January events, the UN and several governments in March have reiterated their calls on Kazakhstan to establish an independent investigation. At the 49th session of the Human Rights Council, currently underway in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that an investigation should “be thoroughly and independently conducted, delivering accountability.”

The European Union expressed concern “about the violence in Kazakhstan last January and commend[ed] the commitment to investigate the situation.” Switzerland called for an “independent inquiry to be put in place to examine alleged violations of human rights,” and Luxemburg “strongly condemn[ed] the disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters in Kazakhstan.”

Human Rights Watch documented that the Kazakh security forces used excessive force on at least four occasions between January 4 and 6, including lethal force such as shooting at protesters and rioters who posed no immediate threat. Security forces appear to have killed at least 10 people in this way, and the death toll in these incidents is probably much higher.

Human Rights Watch has also documented that Kazakh security forces arbitrarily arrested peaceful protesters and others, and ill-treated and tortured some detainees, including with beatings with batons and electric shocks. According to official figures, 8 people detained in connection with the January events have died in pretrial detention centers and 234 criminal cases have been initiated on allegations of torture. Tokaev acknowledged the use of torture during the January events and condemned it as a barbaric practice.

An appropriate fact-finding investigation needs to be well-resourced, genuinely independent and transparent, and have access to government information. The scope of its mandate should allow it to examine the full circumstances around the deaths including the potential responsibility of all those in security forces or other government agents for these violations, as well as allegations of torture and other abuses of those detained in connection to the January events. Its findings should be made public.

Kazakhstan should commit to acting on the conclusions of the investigation by providing victims with a remedy for the violations and holding those responsible to account, Human Rights Watch said. Should the government of Kazakhstan fail again to conduct an effective investigation that meets international standards, other bodies such as the UN Human Rights Council should consider taking steps to do so.

“President Tokaev has made some concrete suggestions on the country’s future, but without an accounting for the grave abuses that occurred in January, these reform ideas appear hollow,” Williamson said. “The president should demonstrate that his commitment to the truth is more than lip service and establish a hybrid independent investigation into the January events.”

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Kazakhstan: Set Independent Inquiry into January Events

Kazakhstan: Set Independent Inquiry into January Events

(Berlin) – The Kazakhstan government should invite international experts to join its domestic investigative efforts into serious human rights violations during the January 2022 protests and violence to ensure that the results are seen as credible, Human Rights Watch said today. The statement followed a meeting between Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Kazakhstan’s foreign affairs minister, and Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

“Kazakhstan has announced investigations and commissions to examine the January events, but the government has a long history of such efforts failing to bring accountability or justice,” Roth said. “A hybrid investigation, with international experts joining national investigators, offers the best opportunity for these new investigative efforts to be more successful.”

Roth raised those points during the conversation with Foreign Affairs Minister Tileuberdi. According to Kazakhstan authorities, at least 225 people were killed, and many injured in early January in shootings by security forces and violence in Almaty and elsewhere. Those killed included 19 members of the security forces. Thousands of people were detained. Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented dozens of cases of arbitrary detention, mistreatment and torture in detention, and lack of access to lawyers.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, several UN human rights experts, the United States, and the European Union’s human rights envoy have called for an independent investigation into the January events. The best way to guarantee that independence is through a hybrid national-international investigation, Human Rights Watch said.

Such a fact-finding investigation needs to be well-resourced, genuinely independent and transparent, and have access to government information, Human Rights Watch said. The scope of its mandate should allow it to examine the circumstances around the deaths in the context of the protests in Almaty on January 4 through 6, the possible responsibility of police forces or others for these violations, and allegations of torture and other abuses. Kazakhstan should commit to receiving and considering the conclusions of the investigation, providing a remedy for the violations, and holding those responsible to account.

It is important for international personnel involved in the investigation to be able to make a sustained and dedicated long-term commitment to the effort, Human Rights Watch said. Roth suggested to the government that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN Human Rights Council are possible sources of support and expertise. Short-term visits by international observers, while important, will not yield the genuine partnership that sustained involvement by dedicated personnel will provide.

Human Rights Watch has documented Kazakhstan’s failure on many occasions to carry out effective investigations into serious human rights violations or to bring those responsible to justice, including with respect to the killings in Zhanaozen in 2011 and the subsequent trials and convictions.

Human Rights Watch has published two reports about the January events. Kazakhstan: Killings, Excessive Use of Force in Almaty documents that the Kazakh security forces used excessive force on at least four occasions, including lethal force such as shooting at protesters and rioters who posed no immediate threat. At least 10 people appear to have been killed in this way by security forces, and the likely death toll in these incidents is probably much higher.

The second report, Kazakhstan: Protesters Arbitrarily Arrested, Beaten, documents that Kazakh security forces arbitrarily arrested peaceful protesters and others, ill-treated and tortured some detainees, including with beatings with batons and electric shocks.

Should the government fail to conduct an effective investigation that meets international standards, Human Rights Watch said, OSCE members should invoke the Moscow Mechanism, an OSCE investigation procedure, and UN Human Rights Council members should address the issues at their next session.

“The government of Kazakhstan under president Kasym-Jomart Tokaev says it is committed to a new approach to economic and political affairs following the January events,” Roth said. “Accounting for grave recent abuses needs to be part of this process. To avoid a deep stain on its record, Kazakhstan’s investigation should meet the highest international standards.”