Press release: Launching of the 2005 annual report of the Observatory

Steadfast in Protest

On the occasion of the publication of the 2005 Annual Report of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH/OMCT)

Report under embargo until March 22, 2006, 0h01GMT.

A press conference will be held on March 22, 2006:

In Geneva (Switzerland), at La Pastorale, Route de Ferney 106, at 11:00 am

This conference will be followed by a presentation of the report, in the framework of the “Etats Généraux des droits humains 2006”, at La Maison de Grütli, Geneva, at 6:30 pm, in the presence of Mrs. Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,

Other regional and national press conferences will be held on this occasion:

In Tunisia, Nepal, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Brussels (Belgium), and in several other countries.

This report will also be presented before the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), during the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting dedicated to human rights defenders, in Vienna (Austria) on March 30 and 31, 2006.

Finally, a press conference will be held in Moscow (Russian Federation) following the publication, in Russian, of the chapter on “Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States”.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) publish the annual report 2005 of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. This publication will be an opportunity to alert the international public opinion on the situation of these men and women who, in spite of the tremendous risks they face, persist in denouncing the human rights violations they have witnessed. The report presents the situation of 1,172 human rights defenders oppressed, as well as obstacles to freedom of association in nearly 90 countries. This report is not only an indicator of the state of freedoms of association and expression in the human rights area, but it also highlights the main tendencies of arbitrariness worldwide, and the fight of those who try to stand up to it.