10.09.08
Reports

Publication of the Annual Report 2007 of the Observatory - Steadfast in Protest

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Geneva-Paris, June 19, 2008. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), which supports, monitors and protects human rights defenders throughout the year, is publishing today its 2007 Annual Report. The report focuses on the year-round fight for human rights and includes contributions from Hina Jilani, Desmond Tutu, Barbara Hendricks, José Ramos Horta, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Wei Jingsheng. It celebrates the steadfast protest of all human rights defenders.

Sixty years after the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and ten years after the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, many States are still violating these two fundamental texts.

As Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General, said, "in 1998 after difficult negotiations that led to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, we expected the States to adopt measures compliant with their commitments. The 2007 evaluation shows the contrary, that, this year more than ever before, defenders' rights have been abused in an effort to prevent them from carrying out their vital work to defend and protect human rights".

We must recognise that the obsession with “security” henceforth takes precedence over the requirement for citizens’ liberty. Arbitrary arrests, sentences handed out following unfair trials and house arrests continued this year, all measures that hold back the activities of hundreds of human rights defenders throughout the world. Some defenders even paid for their commitment with their life.

"We have to recognise", said Souhayr Belhassan, FIDH President, "that defenders now are suffering from an unprecedented backlash which requires us to be more vigilant than ever".

This report is published in French, English and Spanish in its entirety. A translation in Russian will be available for the section on Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and a translation in Arabic will be available for the section on the North African and Middle East region.

Furthermore, several press conferences are being held throughout June and in early July in France (June 19), Switzerland (June 19), Egypt (June 19), South Africa (June 19), Chad (June 23), Morocco (June 27), India (June), Moscow (July), Belarus (July), Nepal (July), Colombia (July), Peru (July) thanks to the support from the OMCT and FIDH member and partner organisations.

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For more information, please contact:
OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 49 39
FIDH : Gaël Grillhot : + 33 1 43 55 25 18

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