A bad year for human rights defenders comes to an end and it is fitting to so with drawing your attention (again) to Amnesty International‘s BRAVE campaign which has branded 2017 as a “bad year to be brave”. Since the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in December 1998, at least 3,500 activists have been killed – an average of 180 deaths a year – and the annual death toll shows no sign of diminishing. [e.g. in 2014, Front Line Defenders recorded 136 killings of human rights defenders; in 2016 that number had risen to 281 – and this year is set to be the deadliest year yet – see also my post: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/07/13/stop-the-killings-you-can-help-front-line/].
In the Brave campaign Amnesty highlighted a number of high profile deaths in 2017:
- Heather Heyer, who was killed in August in Charlottesville while protesting against a white supremacist rally [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/08/14/human-rights-defender-heather-heyer-murdered-in-protest-against-hate-in-charlottesville/]
- The murders of Syrian opposition activist Orouba Barakat and her journalist daughter Halla, who were stabbed to death in their Istanbul apartment in September
- The death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese anti-corruption journalist killed in a car bomb in October [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/12/11/maltas-aditus-foundation-urges-government-to-improve-relationship-with-human-rights-defenders/]
- The death of Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel laureate and democracy activist, who died in July after a gruelling nine years in prison [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/07/13/liu-xiaobo-a-giant-human-rights-defender-leaves-a-lasting-legacy-for-china-and-the-rest-of-the-world/]
Amnesty warned of a wider “open season” on activists – which has seen alarming numbers of people imprisoned, threatened, beaten and abused in attempts to silence them. [ see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/12/06/amnesty-just-published-major-report-on-human-rights-defenders/]
Better forget this year and put our hope in 2018, but do not forget the human rights defenders themselves who are willing to pay the price as long as we pay attention…
have a good New Year…
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 