Steadfast in Protest : Publication of the Arabic Version of the Annual Report 2009 of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Geneva-Paris, July 27, 2009. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), which supports, monitors and protects human rights defenders throughout the year, is publishing today the Arabic version of its 2009 Annual Report[1]. Two press conferences will be held today in Cairo and tomorrow in Amman, in the presence of representatives of the Observatory and of civil society organisations of the region, as well as, in Cairo, of the Special Rapporteur of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders.
Repression of demonstrations, trade union members arrested, NGOs under surveillance: for years these facts have been related to situations of economic and social imbalance and inequity. The rise in social discontent linked to the world economic crisis has increased the repression recorded in recent years. The Observatory Annual Report 2009 shows that in inverse proportion to the fall of the stock exchanges, the inflation of freedom-killing practices and laws relating to the control of the social body was one of the significant characteristics of the problems encountered by human rights defenders in 2008.
For Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President, «the social tension that has spread to all continents has had, all over the world, consequences in terms of freedoms of assembly, association and expression, which largely go beyond the mere framework of the defence of labour or social rights».
This report celebrates the steadfast protest of all human rights defenders: «The numerous international human rights instruments and their monitoring mechanisms are not a sufficient guarantee against violations. If the public opinion does not remain vigilant, their implementation will remain a dead letter. More than ever, in these times of crises, human rights defenders, through their rigorous investigations, their uncompromised actions and their unselfish commitment constitute the last rampart against arbitrariness. Repressive States have understood it well, and increasingly target those defenders of freedom», concludes Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.
In the North Africa / Middle East region, human rights defenders were not spared in the persistent and resurgent internal conflicts in certain countries. In addition, several countries in the region remained under a state of emergency and defenders continued to be tried by special courts set up through emergency legislation. There was also widespread recourse to the law to restrict defenders’ fields of activity and to criminalise their work or silence them. Arbitrary judicial proceedings against defenders were legion. Added to this were smear campaigns, arbitrary arrests and routine obstacles to freedom of movement, physical attacks, torture and enforced disappearances.
The Arabic version of the report is available on OMCT website at:
/files/2009/06/5606/obs_annual_report_2009_arabic.pdf
For more information please contact:
- OMCT : Delphine Reculeau : + 41 22 809 49 39
- FIDH : Karine Appy / Gaël Grilhot : +33 1 43 55 25 18
[1] The Arabic version of the Annual Report 2009 only covers the section devoted to North Africa and Middle East, as well as the country fact-sheets on Arabic-speaking countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The compilation of all cases dealt with by the Observatory in 2008 in North Africa and Middle East will be soon available in Arabic too. The whole version of the Report is available in English, French and Spanish on both OMCT and FIDH websites, and was launched in Geneva on June 19, 2009. An annex containing all cases dealt with in 2008 will be available on a CD-Rom later on.