Annual report 2004
The report includes a message from a human rights defender from Bhutan: “I am writing this letter to express my most sincere thanks and gratitude to you all for your concerns, appeals, support and solidarity which helped in my release from Jhapa district prison in eastern Nepal recently. As you all know, I was totally innocent, however, those forces which wanted to destroy our organisation and obstruct our work conspired well, taking advantage of the obsolete and outdated legal system in Nepal and a corrupt police force which is notorious for framing up people for petty sums. Without your support and solidarity, I would have remained in prison even today. I read your appeals and Observatory annual reporting when I was in prison. I drew a lot of strength and hope from them. I used to think there were people with me in this world and I was not alone in this struggle.”
- The entire year 2004 was still strongly affected by the fall-out from the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 and 11 March 2004, which have led many governments to focus on the fight against terrorism, often to the detriment of the protection of and respect for human rights. OMCT has systematically denounced these abuses, particularly those perpetrated within the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons.
- As of December 31, 2004, OMCT had carried out 521 urgent interventions in 71 countries representing 2,733 victims, 109 non-governmental organisations and 39 groups.
- In 2004, thanks to its emergency victim assistance programme which was to take the form of medical, social and / or legal assistance, OMCT assisted 136 people from 22 countries.
Read the full Annual Report 2004 here.