Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

I reported earlier that on 28 February the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of their joint programme the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, organised a meeting on (legal) restrictions increasingly imposed on human rights defenders. This was followed up on 11 March with an oral intervention at the UN Human Rights Council. 

The statement referred to the recently published Annual Report 2013 of the Observatory, which states that NGOs’ access to funding, in particular foreign funding, is increasingly being hindered by governments around the world. Restrictive laws combined with unfounded criticism, smear campaigns and judicial harassment directed against human rights defenders because of the source of their funding create a hostile environment towards their activities as a way to silence them. Belarusian law now prohibits any possibility for an NGO to hold a bank account in an institution based abroad, and criminalises the use of so-called unauthorised funds. These new provisions were adopted as FIDH Vice-President and “Viasna” President Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to 4.5 years’ imprisonment after he made use of foreign funds to finance human rights activities in his country. In the Russian Federation, NGOs receiving foreign funds now face criminal liability if they fail to add the mention “foreign agent” on all official documents. In Ethiopia, regulations on foreign funding forced NGOs to reduce their activities and dismiss part of their staff or stop human rights related activities. In India, the Government continues to use the new Foreign Contributions Regulation Act FCRA of 2012 and its Rules of May 2011 to restrict access to foreign funding by national human rights NGOs. In this context, several NGOs in Tamil Nadu have seen their bank accounts being temporarily frozen for months on end, on the basis of unfounded accusation of diverting funds. Some of them even after obtaining successful orders from the High Court. We are also extremely concerned with the number of restrictive pieces of legislation currently under examination, notably in Egypt, Bangladesh, Bahrain and beyond, which might have further highly negative consequences on the ability of NGOs to freely make use of foreign funds for peaceful and legitimate human rights activities. In Egypt, several CSO bills are currently being tabled. The draft of the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs is among the most restrictive ones, as it aims at significantly curtailing the operations of foreign organisations in Egypt and at restricting the ability of NGOs to receive or provide international funding.

The Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in her last report to the General Assembly that “States should refrain from imposing legal restrictions on potential sources of funding for associations, including foreign sources”. Last but not least, restrictions on foreign funding also seriously jeopardise the ability of many NGOs that are not based in Geneva to come and interact with UN experts and mechanisms.

via United Nations : United Nations: 22nd session of the Human Rights … – FIDH.

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• On 28 February meeting in Geneva on topic crucial to human rights defenders: funding restrictions (thoolen.wordpress.com)

This entry was posted on March 16, 2013 at 16:38 and is filed under FIDH, human rights, OMCT.

Tags: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Ethiopia, FIDH, funding, Geneva, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, India, International Federation for Human Rights, judicial harassment, legal restrictions, Non-governmental organization, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Russia, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, World Organisation Against Torture