OMCT welcomes new members into its network

Established in 2002, Promo-LEX focuses onpromoting democratic values, the development of a strong civil society, andimplementation of internationally recognised human rights standards in theRepublic of Moldova, including the Transnistrian region. Its young humanrights activists provide pro bono legal assistance to victims of rights abuse,undertake strategic litigation, conduct human rights research and monitoring,and lobby relevant agencies. They also lead human rights and democracytrainings and work to develop and strengthen the capacity of fellow NGOs,particularly those in the Transnistrian region. The organization’s priorityissues for research and advocacy include access to justice and effective remedyfor residents of the Transnistrian region, freedom from torture and inhuman ordegrading treatment, respect for the rights to liberty and security of theperson, and efforts to stop violence against women. It also runs a program to increasecitizens’ trust in the democratic process in Moldova.

Active since 2007, Xumek works on theprotection and promotion of human rights in Argentina. Considered themost active and well-known anti-torture NGO in the Mendoza region, Xumekcarries out strategic litigation at the national, regional and internationallevel, including on extrajudicial killings and torture. Among others, Xumekrecently successfully litigated a torture case where six guards were sentencedto long prison terms for the torture in 2010 of an 18-year old detainee, WillyVargas, to whom OMCT also provided social assistance through the Victims AssistanceFund.

The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) is acoalition of Chinese and international human rights NGOs with virtual andphysical offices in Mainland and Greater China and North America. In China, thenetwork cannot obtain legal registration as a non-profit organization and facespersecution, therefore the international office plays a key role in sustainingthe network. Over the past 11 years, CHRD has become a key monitor and sourceof information on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment inChina. It also focuses on strengthening the capacity of and supporting localChinese civil society to prevent torture, assist victims, and hold perpetratorsaccountable; helping efforts to provide psychological and social support;raising public awareness about torture; providing emergency humanitarian aidgrants to victims of torture; helping to improve access to justice forpersecuted human rights defenders and victims of torture through legal aidgrants and support for local groups providing aid.

Founded in 2004, Public Verdict Foundation provides comprehensive support tovictims of ill-treatment by law enforcement agencies in Russia, empowerspeople with legal knowledge and skills, expands legal counsel networks andfosters expertise in the sphere of human rights and law enforcement. It is theonly human rights organization in Russia that offers a combination of legal,psychological, and information support and carries out comprehensive researchesof the Russian law enforcement system from the point of view of protection andredress.

Comisión de Derechos Humanos (COMISEDH) is dedicated to the protection andpromotion of human rights in Peru. Its work focuses on torture,sexualviolence against women and girls, transitional justice,collective rights and indigenouspeople’s rights.Since its establishment in 1979, it has been at theforefront of the fight against torture and one of the driving forces behind thecriminalization of torture in the country in 1998. Since then, COMISEDH hasprovided comprehensive assistance to victims of torture and their families. Inparticular, it represents survivors and their family members in their quest forjustice for torture suffered both during the internal armed conflict(1980-2000) and today, to promote accountability and obtain comprehensivereparation and rehabilitation. The scope of its work is national, with emphasison the central-southern Andean region, whose population, with high levels ofpoverty and exclusion, was the most affected by the internal armed conflict.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) is the leading non-governmentalhuman rights organisation in Hungary, working on the protection of humandignity and the rule of law through legal and public advocacy actions. HHCprovides help to refugees, detainees and victims of law enforcement violence. Along-standing partner of the OMCT, the HHC has collaborated on severaloccasions with the OMCT Brussels Office on cases of attacks on civil societyand human rights defenders in Hungary and related efforts to take action at theEU level.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) providessupport and protection to human rights defenders through the publication ofurgent appeals and reports, campaigning and advocacy work, trainings anddocumentation of human rights violations. GCHR, which was founded in 2011, isbased in Lebanon and documents the environment for defenders in the Gulf regionand neighbouring countries, specifically Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Jordan,Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) is the oldest and largest human rights organization inTurkey, with the sole goal to carry out activities to protect andpromote “human rights and freedoms.” It was founded in 1986 by 98 humanrights defenders and has today 28 branches, six representative offices, and7,945 members. It works closely with the Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders, a partnership between the OMCT and FIDH.

The Voice of Freedom Public Foundation (Golos Svobody) wasestablished in 2005 in Kyrgyzstan. Its main goal is to protect and promote thefundamental civil and political rights in the Kyrgyz Republic at both the localand national levels. The organisation is actively involved in criminallegislation reforms, trial monitoring, monitoring of places of deprivation ofliberty, delivery of full-scale legal aid to victims of torture and othercruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and providing psychological andrehabilitation services. It is also active in promoting the implementation and integrationof international standards and principles into national legislation andpractice of law enforcement bodies and providing support to human rightsdefenders. With a particular focus on anti-torture litigation, it has recentlywon compensation to victims of torture for the failure of an effectiveinvestigation. This was the first time that the Kyrgyz courts provided suchcompensation on the basis of a decision of the UN Human Rights Committee. Theorganisation is also part of the Kyrgyz Coalition Against Torture.