25th session of the UN Human Rights Council: Joint statement delivered during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders

25th session

Agenda Item3

Joint oral statementby the International Federation for Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory forthe Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Clustered InteractiveDialogue with the Special Rapporteurs on the Situation of Human RightsDefenders and on Torture

March 10,2014

Checkagainst delivery

Mr.President,

MadamSpecial Rapporteur,

FIDHand OMCT, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, commend the work Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya hascarried out the past six years as she is presenting her last report to theCouncil, and welcome the latter’s focus on the work of the mandate and on themain elements of a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders.

MadamSekaggya,

We areconcerned by the number of States that persistently deny country visits, and bythe lack of replies to your communications. As the review of the mandate offersan important opportunity for the Human Rights Council to reaffirm its strongcommitment to the protection of human rights defenders, we call on the Councilto renew the mandate, to urge States to cooperate fully with it and to takeeffective measures to ensure defenders' unhindered access to regional andinternational human rights bodies without fear of reprisals.

While States have the duty to protect humanrights defenders and to ensure that they operate in a safe and enablingenvironment as rightly mentioned in your report, attacks, judicial harassment,restrictive laws, smear campaigns as well as impunity for human rightsviolations against the latter continue to perpetuate an environment of hostilityfor their activities.

In Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ethiopia,India and Russia, laws restricting access tofunding for NGOs have continued to jeopardise human rights actions, as wasrecently the case for the Russian NGO ADC “Memorial”, which was officially declareda “foreign agent” following an unfair trial in December. Drafts on the questionof NGO funding are also still pending in Bangladesh, Bahrain,Egypt and Israel.

The multiplication of anti-LGBT laws have been another dangerous setbackin a number of countries such as Nigeria, Russia,and more recently Uganda, putting the activities of defence ofLGBT rights at serious risk.

In addition,in many countries known for repressing dissenting voices, we are concerned thathuman rights defenders remain arbitrarily detained in relation to theirpeaceful activities: Hilal Mammadovin Azerbaijan,Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain, Ales Bialiatski in Belarus,David Ravelo Crespo in Colombia,Abdolfattah Soltani in Iran, Mazen Darwish in Syria,Muharrem Erbey in Turkey, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk inThailand, as well as a number of defenders in Uzbekistan,to quote a few among many others.

Impunity forviolations such as extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances isanother worrying trend that maintains civil society in a climate of fear, andimpedes the development of a safe and enabling environment. In Thailand,as March 12 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of humanrights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, we are seriously concerned over theThai government’s recent indication that it wants to close the investigation.In Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria, thewhereabouts of human rights defenders have remained unknown, and no properinvestigation has been conducted.

Over thepast years, in a number of countries, defenders advocating for the right toland or denouncing the environmental impacts resulting from the activities oftransnational corporations have also been on the forefront of repression fromboth State or non-State actors. Here again, the general context of impunity hascompelled these defenders to operate in a disabling environment.

In light ofthis alarming situation, we sincerely hope, Ms. Sekaggya, that the States willcomply with the recommendations of your report, so that the space of action forhuman rights defenders be expanded rather than shrunk, that human rightsdefenders be duly protected rather than criminalised, that all violationsagainst the latter be duly investigated and sanctioned.

Thank youvery much.