Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Defenders’

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UN Secretary-General’s Report 2022/23 on Reprisals : lack of progress

September 29, 2023

On Monday 18 September, over 50 activists, members of civil society organisations and diplomatic partners gathered on Geneva’s Place des Nations, unfurling a giant banner celebrating the right to defend human rights, as enshrined in the foundational UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

The banner and gathering were meant to mark the 25th anniversary of the Declaration, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1998. The document explicitly laid out the rights of human rights defenders and the protection owed to them by governments and businesses, emphasising that everyone has the right to advocate and defend rights and fundamental freedoms.

On 28 September 2023, the UN Secretary-General’s report on reprisals was presented, which covers the period from 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2023. Over 220 individuals and 25 organizations in 40 countries across the world faced threats and retaliation from State and non-State actors for cooperating with the UN on human rights.

Human rights defenders and other civil society actors are increasingly under surveillance and continued to face legal proceedings, travel bans and threats, and be given prison sentences for cooperating with the UN and the UN’s human mechanisms.

“A global context of shrinking civic space is making it increasingly difficult to properly document, report and respond to cases of reprisals, which means that the number is likely much higher,” said Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris in her presentation to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/11/16/new-assistant-secretary-general-wants-to-improve-civil-society-participation-in-the-general-assembly/]

Among the growing trends noted in the report is the increase in people either choosing not to cooperate with the UN due to concerns for their safety, or only doing so if kept anonymous. 

Victims and witnesses in two-thirds of the States listed in the report requested anonymous reporting of reprisals, compared with one-third in last year’s report.  And most people who reported facing reprisals for their cooperation with the Security Council and its peace operations, as well as with the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues did so on the condition of anonymity.

A second trend was the increasing surveillance of those who cooperate or attempt to cooperate with the UN, being reported in half of the countries named in the report.  An increase in physical surveillance by State actors was also noted, likely linked to the return to in-person forms of engagement with the UN.

Third, almost forty-five per cent of the in the report continued to apply or enact new laws and regulations concerning civil society, counter-terrorism and national security, which punish, deter or hinder cooperation with the UN and its human rights mechanisms. 
These legislative frameworks represent severe obstacles to long-standing human rights partners of the UN worldwide, and were used to outlaw some of them, raid their offices, and question, threaten or try their staff.

Finally, the specificity and severity of acts of reprisals against women and girls, which constitute half of the victims in this year’s report, was once again identified with concern.

Most of them are human rights defenders and civil society representatives targeted for their cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms and peace operations, but there is also a significant number of judicial officers and lawyers subjected to reprisals for their cooperation with the UN in search of accountability and remedy.

“We have a duty to those who put their trust in us,” said Brands Kehris. “That is why at the UN, we are determined to live up to our collective responsibility to prevent and address intimidation and reprisals against those who cooperate with the organization and its human rights mechanisms.” 

The 40 States referred to in the report are: Algeria, Afghanistan, Andorra, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, the Russian Federation, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Yemen, and the State of Palestine.

The full report at A/HRC/54/61

https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/defenders-gather-before-the-un-headquarters-to-call-for-better-protection-of-their-work/

https://genevasolutions.news/human-rights/punished-for-speaking-up-at-the-un

Human Rights Activists Facing Threats in 40 Countries for Cooperating with UN

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Protest follows sentencing of Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasiruddin Elan in Bangladesh

September 15, 2023

On 14 September 2023 the Cyber Tribunal, Dhaka sentenced to two years imprisonment Odhikar’s Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director ASM Nasiruddin Elan for allegedly breaching Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006. They were charged for releasing a report on extrajudicial killings committed on 5 and 6 May 2013, centering around the Hefazat-e-Islam protests.

Immediately, 39 organizations in a joint call said that Bangladesh should quash their convictions, and end all reprisals against them and other human rights defenders for their legitimate human rights work. The Bangladesh Government has persistently targeted and launched a smear campaign against Khan and Elan, the secretary and director, respectively, of prominent Bangladesh human rights organization Odhikar. Following the 2013 publication of Odhikar’s fact-finding report documenting extrajudicial killings during a protest, both defenders were arbitrarily detained; Khan for 62 and Elan for 25 days. After being released on bail, they continued to face prosecution and judicial harassment on trumped-up allegations that their 2013 report was “fake, distorted, and defamatory.”

After years of stalling, Bangladeshi judicial authorities accelerated the hearings in their case following the designation of US sanctions against the country’s notoriously abusive paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and its officials in December 2021, blaming human rights organizations like Odhikar for this outcome. Their case has been marred with due process violations, such as the failure to provide the defense with advance information on the prosecution witnesses or a copy of the Criminal Investigation Department’s further investigation report until the day before a hearing. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/12/21/harassment-of-adilur-rahman-khan-and-other-human-rights-defenders-in-bangladesh/

After the Government reopened the examination of witnesses and presented additional prosecution witnesses in July and August 2023, the judge convicted Khan and Elan to two years in prison and a fine of 10,000 Bangladeshi Taka (equivalent of USD$91.17).

In addition to targeting Odhikar’s leaders, the Government interfered with the organization’s ability to conduct its human rights work by blocking their access to funds and leaving its registration renewal application pending since 2014. Following the US sanction designations, the Government increased surveillance and harassment against those affiliated with Odhikar and ordered the organization to provide sources and proof for its findings of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. On June 5, 2022, the Government’s NGO Affairs Bureau officially denied Odhikar’s application for renewal, stating that the organization’s publications have “seriously tarnished the image of the state to the world.” See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/06/ohchr-says-nobel-laureate-yunus-and-other-human-rights-defenders-being-harassed-through-legal-proceedings/

The Government then continued to besmirch the organization publicly, even criticizing and questioning the credibility of the US Department of State’s 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Bangladesh for relying on Odhikar’s documentation. United Nations human rights experts have expressed their concerns over the Government’s actions, stating that “the defamation of Bangladeshi-based human rights organisations by high-profile public figures is a clear attempt to undermine their credibility, reputation and human rights work in the country.” [see also: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/foreign-affairs/325311/us-embassy-voices-concern-over-verdict-against]

Human rights defenders should be allowed to conduct their necessary and important work without fear of harassment, intimidation, and reprisals. Instead of prosecuting and punishing those who document and expose human rights violations, the Government should investigate and hold the perpetrators of these violations accountable.

List of signatories: 

  1. Advocacy Forum Nepal 
  2. Amnesty International
  3. Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network (ADPAN)
  4. Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
  5. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  6. Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
  7. Association of Family Members of the Disappeared, Sri Lanka
  8. Capital Punishment Justice Project, Australia 
  9. Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR)
  10. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  11. Defence for Human Rights Pakistan (DHR)
  12. Desaparecidos – Philippines
  13. Eleos Justice, Monash University, Australia 
  14. Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
  15. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
  16. Forum ONG Timor-leste
  17. Free Jonas Burgos Movement
  18. HAK Association, Timor-leste
  19. Human Rights First
  20. Human Rights Hub
  21. Human Rights Watch 
  22. Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared Families (IKOHI)
  23. International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED)
  24. International Federation of ACATs (FIACAT)
  25. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
  26. Karapatan Alliance Philippines (KARAPATAN) 
  27. KontraS (the Commission of the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) 
  28. Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM)
  29. Legal Literacy – Nepal
  30. Liga Guatemalteca de Higiene Mental
  31. Madres de Plaza de Mayo – Linea Fundadora, Argentina
  32. Martin Ennals Foundation
  33. Nonviolence International Canada
  34. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights 
  35. Sindhi Foundation
  36. The Asian Alliance Against Torture (A3T) 
  37. Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, Washington DC
  38. We Remember-Belarus
  39. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Odhikar itself denounces the arrest, trial and imprisonment of these two human rights defenders and added that “It believes that justice has not been served. As an organisation Odhikar has drawn the sustained wrath of the establishment for becoming the voice of the victims of human rights violations, including those of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention and against the suppression of free expression and assembly; and for its engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms. Earlier the government arbitrarily deregistered the organisation. Today’s judgement is likely to have a chilling effect on human rights defenders and civil society organisations around the country.“

Also: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/human-rights-bangladesh-european-parliament-moves-resolution-expressing-concern-3418651

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/14/bangladesh-quash-conviction-and-release-rights-defenders

https://www.newagebd.net/article/212570/switzerland-canada-27-rights-groups-condemn-jailing-adilur-elan

but then on 16 October “Bangladesh rights activists Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan were released on bail Sunday evening after being in prison since Sept. 14 in a cybercrime case.”: https://www.voanews.com/a/top-bangladesh-rights-activists-released-on-bail-/7313942.html

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More join Maryam Al-Khawaja’s solidarity trip to Bahrain……to be continued

September 14, 2023

On 7 September 2023, Maryam Al-Khawaja announced that she would return from exile to Bahrain to try and save her father Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/11/maryam-al-khawaja-risks-prison-by-returning-to-bahrain-to-press-for-her-fathers-release/]. Now Front Line’s Interim Director Olive Moore announced that she will accompany Maryam on the trip to Manama this week to press the Bahraini authorities to release him. Other leading human rights figures have announced their participation in the trip, including Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General; Tim Whyte, Action Aid-Denmark’s Secretary General; and Andrew Anderson, former Front Line Defenders Executive Director and Amnesty International staff member.

“Front Line Defenders owes a debt of gratitude to Abdulhadi, both as a former staff member and friend to many in the organisation, but more importantly as a principled and trailblazing human rights defender in Bahrain and the region. We will not rest until the Bahraini authorities free him and the human rights defenders Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace and Naji Fateel, both also unjustly imprisoned for over a decade.” said Moore.

The exact timing of the solidarity trip is not being publicised, but it comes the same week as the Bahraini Crown Prince visits Washington, DC, and more than a dozen human rights organisations, including Front Line Defenders, have also called on President Biden’s administration to demand the release of human rights defenders.

“Now is the moment for the Biden administration to step up to the plate and show solidarity with human rights defenders in Bahrain. In meetings with the Crown Prince this week, the US government must be unequivocal in its calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and other unjustly imprisoned human rights defenders,” said Olive Moore.

Human Rights Watch stated on 11 September: “If Maryam al-Khawaja can have the courage to risk her life for democracy and human rights in Bahrain, the least the Biden Administration can do is show the political strength to use its leverage to call on its allied government to free its political prisoners.“

The same day Human Rights First’s Brain Dooley blogged about two prisoners (among the hundreds on hunger strike) that have told him about the daily reality of the protest.

One of them is 49-year-old Ahmed Jaafar Mohammed Ali, who has been in prison since he was extradited from Serbia in January 2022 and Sayed Sajjad who has been in prison since September 2013, and is one of the inmates negotiating with the prison authorities. See more at: https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/two-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-in-bahrain-tell-of-their-ordeal/

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/front-line-defenders-director-join-solidarity-trip-bahrain-free-abdulhadi-al

https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/audio/2023/09/11/bahrain-brutality-and-biden

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230914-bahrain-activist-says-to-return-home-for-father-despite-arrest-fears-1

Posted in Amnesty international, Front Line, HRF, HRW, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
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Group of UN Experts on Nicaragua finds escalating persecution against human rights defenders

September 14, 2023

Nicaragua has increased human rights violations and persecution of the opposition as it ratchets up its efforts to stifle dissent, a United Nations group of experts monitoring the country said on 12 September 2023.

The Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, that the government continues increasing pressure on human rights defenders to force them to leave the country.

That persecution has extended to the education sector, where the government has systematically cancelled the legal status of private universities and seized their campuses.

“We have observed the intentional and severe deprivation of economic and social rights, in particular the right to education and academic freedom,” said Jan-Michael Simon, chair of the group. “Today, the university sector of Nicaragua as a whole no longer has independent institutions. Nicaragua is being stripped of its intellectual capital and critical voices, leaving the country’s prospects and development on hold.”

Last month, the government confiscated the prestigious Jesuit-run University of Central America in Nicaragua. It was the latest in a series of actions by authorities against the Catholic Church, but also among some 27 higher education institutions that have been cancelled and confiscated.

The group noted that religious figures, in particular from the Catholic Church, are increasingly targets of attacks and some have been forced to leave the country. Once abroad they are sometimes stripped of their nationality and have their assets in Nicaragua confiscated.

The university and other education institutions were important centers of dissent during the popular protests in April in 2018 that became a referendum on President Daniel Ortega’s administration. Ortega was re-elected after jailing seven potential competitors in 2021.

The government’s pursuit of the opposition has continued and intensified. Students and other opposition figures have been imprisoned or forced into exile.

In February, the Nicaraguan government put 222 prisoners on a plane to the United States, declaring them traitors.

“The seriousness of these violations, in conjunction with the other crimes documented to date, perpetrated by reason of the political identity of the group targeted, leads the Group of Experts to conclude that these constitute prima facie the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds,” the group said.

See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/02/21/nicaragua-death-in-detention-and-sham-trial/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/09/group-experts-nicaragua-finds-escalating-persecution-against-dissent-and-crackdown?sub-site=HRC

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nicaraguas-human-rights-violations-persecution-dissidents-rise-103128377

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Call to release human rights defender Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov and others in Tajikistan

September 14, 2023

With Tajikistan marking its Independence Day on 9 September 2023, CIVICUS and the Brussels-based International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) called on 7 September 2023 on Tajikistan’s authorities to immediately release imprisoned human rights defender Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov, and other activists and journalists detained for their human rights activities.

“Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov is a peaceful human rights lawyer and activist who has sat in jail for far too long on trumped-up charges,” said Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS Chief Programmes Officer. “As Tajikistan celebrates its national day, the authorities must free him and others unjustly imprisoned without hesitation.”

Authorities arrested Manuchehr on 28 May 2022 while he was a member of “Commission 44,” an official body investigating a November 2021 extrajudicial killing which sparked mass protests in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). Prosecutors falsely charged Manuchehr with participating in a criminal association and publicly calling for violent change of the constitutional order. After a closed trial which failed to meet international fairness standards, Tajikistan’s Supreme Court sentenced him to 16 years’ imprisonment in December 2022.

“It is completely absurd that the government appointed someone to a commission to investigate and report on human rights violations and then charged that same person for doing the work they were commissioned to do,” said IPHR director Brigitte Dufour. “Manuchehr should be released immediately.”

Manuchehr’s continued detention is symptomatic of the ongoing civic space restrictions in Tajikistan, which is one of the world’s most repressed countries. Tajikistan authorities have repeatedly levelled trumped-up charges of “extremism” and “terrorism” against journalists, bloggers and activists who criticise the government. CIVICUS Monitor, which assesses civic space worldwide, rates Tajikistan as “closed,” its worst possible ranking.

CIVICUS and IPHR recognise Manuchehr as part of the Stand As My Witness campaign, which advocates for the release of jailed activists and human rights defenders worldwide.

On 11 September 2023 the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Freedom for Eurasia, and Freedom Now demanded that he Tajik authorities drop trumped up charges against Nizomiddin Nasriddinov and immediately release him. Nasriddinov, a political activist, was recently extradited from Belarus at the request of the Tajik government.

https://www.civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/news/6551-civil-society-demands-tajikistan-release-jailed-human-rights-defender

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/11/tajikistan-free-political-activist-and-drop-charges

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Sakharov Fellowship for Human Rights Defenders – Call for Applications

September 11, 2023

The European Parliament’s Sakharov Fellowship is a two-week training experience for human rights defenders from non-EU countries. Since its inception in 2016, this program has empowered individuals to champion human rights across the globe, thanks to the initiative of the Sakharov Prize Community at the 25th Anniversary Conference.

EU Sakharov Fellowship Scholarship

What We Offer:

  • Training in Brussels and Venice: Immerse yourself in a comprehensive program that delves into EU and international human rights frameworks, policies, and mechanisms. Equip yourself with the skills to advocate for positive change and protect human rights.
  • Networking Opportunities: Join an expanding network of Sakharov Fellows to share best practices and disseminate knowledge. Forge lasting connections with the European Parliament and EU Delegations in your home country.
  • Bespoke Curriculum: In Brussels, focus on EU policies, funding opportunities, communication skills, and security challenges facing human rights defenders. Engage with EU decision-makers, Members of Parliament, and NGOs. Enjoy opportunities for individual advocacy and networking.
  • Venice Experience: At the Global Campus of Human Rights, benefit from academic expertise in international human rights law, practical tools, and case studies. Learn from distinguished academics, human rights leaders, and Sakharov Prize laureates.
  • In-Person and Online: Our program will be held in person in Brussels and Venice, with the flexibility to switch to an online format if necessary due to health concerns.

Who Should Apply:

If you have a proven track record in advocating for human rights in an NGO, organization, or individually, this fellowship is for you. Proficiency in English, enabling active participation in discussions and workshops, is essential. We aim to ensure diversity in terms of gender, geography, and human rights focus in our selection process.

Benefits:

The Sakharov Fellowship covers return travel from your home country, accommodation in Brussels and Venice, and a daily living allowance.

Application Deadline: Midnight, October 8, 2023 (CET)

Confirmation Emails: Successful candidates will receive confirmation by November 17, 2023. Regrettably, we will not be able to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

For more information and to apply, go to the website.

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Human Rights Defenders at the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council

September 11, 2023

On 6 September 2023 the ISHR published its formidable overview of key issues at the upcoming, 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council (from 11 September – 13 October). I have extracted from it – as ussual [for 53rd see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/06/20/human-rights-defenders-issues-at-the-53rd-session-of-the-un-human-rights-council/], the issues most direclty affecting Human Rights defenders

To stay up-to-date: Follow @ISHRglobal and #HRC54 on Twitter/X, and look out for their Human Rights Council Monitor.

Thematic areas of interest

Reprisals

During the 54th session, Ghana, Fiji, Hungary, Ireland and Uruguay will present a draft resolution on cooperation with the UN. ISHR urges all States to support the adoption of a HRC resolution that strengthens the UN’s responses to reprisals.

On 28 September, the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights, Ilze Brands Kehris, will present the Secretary General’s annual Reprisals Report to the Council in her capacity as UN senior official on reprisals. States raising cases is an important aspect of seeking accountability and ending impunity for acts of reprisal and intimidation against defenders engaging with the UN. It can also send a powerful message of solidarity to defenders, supporting and sustaining their work in repressive environments.

This year, ISHR launched a campaign regarding five cases. ISHR urges States to raise these cases in their statements:

  • Anexa Alfred Cunningham (Nicaragua), a Miskitu Indigenous leader, woman human rights defender, lawyer and expert on Indigenous peoples rights from Nicaragua, who has been denied entry back into her country since July 2022, when she participated in a session of a group of United Nations experts on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. States should demand that Anexa be permitted to return to her country, community and family and enabled to continue her work safely and without restriction.
  • Vanessa Mendoza (Andorra), a psychologist and the president of Associació Stop Violències, which focuses on gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive rights, and advocates for safe and legal abortion in Andorra. After engaging with CEDAW in 2019, Vanessa was charged with ‘slander with publicity’, ‘slander against the co-princes’ and ‘crimes against the prestige of the institutions’. She has been indicted for the alleged “crimes against the prestige of the institutions” involving a potentially heavy fine (up to 30,000 euros) and a criminal record if convicted. States should demand that the authorities in Andorra unconditionally drop all charges against Vanessa and amend laws which violate the rights to freedom of expression and association.
  • Kadar Abdi Ibrahim (Djibouti) is a human rights defender and journalist from Djibouti. He is also the Secretary-General of the political party Movement for Democracy and Freedom (MoDEL). Days after returning from Geneva, where Kadar carried out advocacy activities ahead of Djibouti’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), intelligence service agents raided his house and confiscated his passport. He has thus been banned from travel for five years. States should call on the authorities in Djibouti to lift the travel ban and return Kadar’s passport immediately and unconditionally.
  • Hong Kong civil society (Hong Kong): Until 2020, civil society in Hong Kong was vibrant and had engaged consistently and constructively with the UN. This engagement came to a screeching halt after the imposition by Beijing of the National Security Law for Hong Kong (NSL), which entered into force on 1 July 2020. States should urge the Hong Kong authorities to repeal the offensive National Security Law and desist from criminalizing cooperation with the UN and other work to defend human rights.
  • Maryam al-Balushi and Amina al-Abduli (United Arab Emirates), Amina Al-Abdouli used to work as a school teacher. She was advocating for the Arab Spring and the Syrian uprising. She is a mother of five. Maryam Al Balushi was a student at the College of Technology. They were arrested for their human rights work, and held in incommunicado detention, tortured and forced into self-incriminatory confessions. After the UN Special Procedures mandate holders sent a letter to the UAE authorities raising concerns about their torture and ill treatment in detention in 2019, the UAE charged Amina and Maryam with three additional crimes. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found their detention arbitrary and a clear case of reprisals for communicating with Special Procedures. In April 2021, a court sentenced them to three additional years of prison for “publishing false information that disturbs the public order”. States should demand that authorities in the UAE immediately and unconditionally release Maryam and Amina and provide them with reparations for their arbitrary detention and ill-treatment.

Other thematic debates

At this 54th session, the Council will discuss a range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and issues through dedicated debates with the:

  1. Special Rapporteur on truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence
  2. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
  3. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
  4. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
  5. Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and waste
  6. ID on HC oral update on drivers, root causes and human rights impacts of religious hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence

In addition, the Council will hold dedicated debates on the rights of specific groups including with the:

  1. Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons
  2. Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Country-specific developments

Afghanistan

The Council will hold an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan on 11 September, and on the OHCHR report on Afghanistan on 12 September, and will consider a resolution on the human rights situation in Afghanistan at this session.

ISHR supports the call of Afghan human rights defenders to the Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. We also support the call to establish a parallel independent investigative mechanism in the upcoming September session and to ensure meaningful follow up to the joint report of the Special Rapporteur and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, as well as continuation of a dedicated discussion at the Council on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. Accountability for widespread human rights violations, including gender apartheid and other crimes against humanity, is imperative to securing sustainable peace and development in the country.

Algeria

We urge States to demand that Algeria, a Council member, end its crackdown on human rights defenders and civil society organisations, amend laws aimed at silencing peaceful dissent and stifling civil society, and immediately and unconditionally release arbitrarily detained human rights defenders and activists, including in the interactive dialogue with the Working Group on arbitrary detention. Since the beginning of the Hirak pro-democracy movement, the Working Group has issued at least 6 decisions of arbitrary detention, highlighting Algerian legislation that is inconsistent with international law, violations of due process and the right to a fair trial, as well as violations to the right to freedom of expression, discrimination based on language, ethnicity and religion. They have also condemned Algeria’s abuse of counter-terrorism legislation. States should call on Algeria to implement the recommendations of the working group.

We also urge States to address the case of reprisals against HRDs Kaddour Chouicha and Jamila Loukil, members of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) before its dissolution by the Algerian authorities. They were prevented from traveling to attend the pre-session organized by UPR-info, a clear case of reprisals against human rights defenders attempting to cooperate with the UPR. Chouicha, Loukil and other HRDs are charged in a criminal case, which includes ‘enrollment in a terrorist or subversive organization active abroad or in Algeria’. They are still awaiting trial as the authorities postponed their court session on 15 June 2023. If convicted of these charges, they face up to twenty years imprisonment.

Bahrain

Civil society organisations, including ISHR, have requested States to urge Bahraini authorities to unconditionally release all those sentenced for their political opinions, including human rights defenders Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Abduljalil Al-Singace, and in the meantime, to ensure that they are provided with life-saving medical care to prevent an imminent tragedy. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/08/20/500-bahraini-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-over-conditions/]

Burundi

The Council will hold an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Burundi on 22 September. As serious human rights violations persist in Burundi and the Government has failed to hold per­petrators accountable or take the concerns raised by Burundian and international actors seriously, the Coun­cil should not relax its scrutiny. The Council should extend the Special Rapporteur’s mandate for a further year.

China

31 August marked one year since the release of the groundbreaking OHCHR report finding possible crimes against humanity committed by the Chinese government in Xinjiang. This Council session also marks one year since the failure of the Council, and most of its Council Members, to stand by principle against Beijing’s coercion and promote a dialogue on the human rights of Uyghurs. Since that time, the recommendations of the OHCHR’s report have been echoed by the CERD in its Urgent Action decision on Xinjiang, by the CESCR and CEDAW in their respective Concluding Observations, and by 15 Special Procedures mandates in their seven benchmarks on Xinjiang. Yet, in a surprise visit to the region in August, President Xi Jinping reiterated its hardline policy and called for further efforts to ensure ‘social stability’ and ‘control illegal religious activities’. States should take collective action to urge China to implement key recommendations from the OHCHR Xinjiang report, and from relevant UN Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures, with a focus on root causes of violations that commonly affect Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese human rights defenders, including the abuse of national security laws and measures.

States should further ask for the prompt release of human rights defenders targeted by the Chinese government’s renewed crackdown on human rights lawyers, including lawyer Lu Siwei at risk of refoulement from Laos, activists Chang Weiping, Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong, recently convicted to lengthy prison sentences, as well as Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan, detained en route to meet with EU diplomats in Beijing. Ten years after the detention, and subsequent death in custody, of woman human rights defender Cao Shunli on her way to attend China’s UPR in Geneva, the Council must also pierce the veil of impunity for egregious cases of reprisals, and call on China to acknowledge its responsibility, bring perpetrators to justice and provide adequate remedy. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/05/human-rights-lawyer-gao-zhisheng-and-the-practice-of-enforced-disappearances-joint-letter/]

Egypt

Recent arrests and arbitrary detention of several media figures, dissidents and their family members in Egypt are indicative of the ongoing crackdown on basic freedoms and liberties in the country, and reflect a lack of genuine political will to improve the human rights situation by the Egyptian government. In the last ten years, Egyptian human rights organisations have recorded the enforced disappearance of no less than 3,000 citizens for varying periods of time, death by mistreatment and medical negligence of at least 1,200 people in detention centers, the sexual assault of at least 655 people and their family members, and the extrajudicial killing of more than 750 people. The continued silence on Egypt by States at the Council will only encourage further violations. NGOs continue to urge States to ensure appropriate action on Egypt at the Council though the establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanisms on the human rights crises in the country. As an immediate step, States should deliver a follow-up joint statement condemning the human rights situation in the country and calling on the Egyptian government to refrain from continuing to carry out wide-spread human rights violations.

Israel/OPT

While Israel rejected all the recommendations on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and refugee return made by states during its UPR review, States should reiterate their commitment to putting an end to 75 years of denial of the Palestinian’s people inalienable rights to return and self-determination.

During HRC 53, civil society welcomed the resolution put forward by the OIC to ensure the full implementation of the United Nations database of businesses involved in Israeli’s settlement enterprise in the occupied Palestinian territory. States must ensure that the mandate is implemented in full as it represents a question of credibility to the Council, including by ensuring that the budget adopted in the fifth committee of the General Assembly later this year is in line with the programme budget implications (PBI). 

Russia

The Council will hold an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Russian Federation on 21 September. The Council will also be called upon to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur (HRC Resolution 51/25). ISHR strongly supports the renewal of the mandate and urges States to oppose Russia’s candidacy to the Human Rights Council.

The human rights situation in Russia continues to deteriorate, while Russia also continues to perpetrate atrocity crimes in Ukraine In recent months, Russia has enacted laws providing immunity against war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the ‘State’s interests’, intensified its assault against LGBT persons, adopted further measures to repress civil society and silence independent journalists, and continued to arbitrarily imprison human rights defenders. Of further and direct relevance to the Council, Russia adopted a new law on 28 April 2023 which criminalises assistance, cooperation or confidential communications with international bodies, which may include the HRC and its mechanisms. These regressive developments, and the lack of any improvement in the human rights situation in the country, clearly warrant the extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.

With respect to Russia’s candidacy for the Council, ISHR only campaigns against countries based on strict and objective criteria. Russia manifestly fulfils all of these criteria, being a country: (1) responsible for a pattern of reprisals against those who cooperate with the UN; (2) responsible for the repression of civil society (Russia is ranked as ‘closed’ (scoring 17/100 in the Civicus Monitor); and (3) directly responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine according to the HRC-mandated CoI. On ISHR’s HRC candidate scorecards, Russia scores just 1/20 on objective criteria.

Saudi Arabia

In light of the ongoing diplomatic rehabilitation of crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi authorities’ brazen repression continues to intensify. Some notable recent trends as documented by ALQST include, but are not limited to: the further harsh sentencing against individuals for peaceful social media use, including a death sentence issued against a man for tweets, the prosecution of women such as Manahel al-Otaibi over her choice of clothing and support for women’s rights, the ongoing forcible disappearance of prisoners of conscience including Mohammed al-Qahtani [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/78383825-0b3f-4bca-883a-b81e1baecd09]and Essa al-Nukheifi beyond the expiry of their sentences, and; regressive developments in relation to the death penalty, including a surge in executions (95 individuals were executed in 2023 so far), and several young men at imminent risk of execution for crimes they allegedly committed as minors. Human Rights Watch has documented the brutal massacre of migrants at the Yemen border, in what may amount to further crimes against humanity. ISHR continues to call for States at the Council to adopt a resolution mandating an independent international monitoring and investigative mechanism on massive human rights violations perpetrated in and by Saudi Arabia.

Sudan

On 12 September, the Council will hold Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s oral update on Sudan.

Sudanese Women Rights Action published a report “laying an overview of the conditions of women’s rights and gender equality in Sudan as an extended crisis started on October 25th, 2021, when the military took over the power in Sudan, ending the transitional period on a bloody note…the report presents verified information about the crises scope, context, and responses from a gender perspective based on the needs on the grounds, the challenges, and the recommended interventions according to local actors and women activists.” ISHR urges the implementation of  the recommendations identified by women activists including to “Pressure both fighting parties to commit to sustainable Ceasefire; Pressure the fighting parties to open humanitarian corridors; Provide urgent funding to the humanitarian aid interventions; Ensure protection and evacuation of women and WHRDs from fighting areas”. Ahead of HRC54, ISHR joined over 110 NGOs in reiterating a call on the Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism on Sudan with a mandate to investigate human rights violations and abuses in Sudan, collect and preserve evidence, and identify those responsible.

Tunisia

We regret that the Council failed to exercise its prevention mandate and address the deteriorating human rights situation in Tunisia during HRC 53, during which the High Commissioner and UN Special Procedures raised alarm at the escalating pattern of human rights violations and the rapidly worsening situation in Tunisia following President Kais Saied’s power grab on 25 July 2021. In the last two years in Tunisia there has been a significant erosion of the rule of law, attacks on the independence of the judiciary, reprisals against independent judges and lawyers and judges associations, a crackdown on peaceful political opposition and abusive use of “counter-terrorism” law in politicised prosecutions, as well as attacks on freedom of expression and threats to freedom of association.

In an open letter against the “Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership between the European Union (EU) and Tunisia” and against the EU’s border externalisation policies, 379 researchers and members of civil society decried the use of vulnerable populations as scapegoats to mask the failures of public policy in Tunisia. While Tunisian authorities were persecuting Black African foreign nationals, including migrants, asylum seekers and refugees – deporting at least 1,200 sub-Saharan nationals to the borders with Libya and Algeria, in inaccessible and militarised desert zones, leaving them abandoned without water and food – the signing of the Memorandum effectively gave Tunisia “a blank check, following a strategy that is all the more irresponsible given its inefficacy”. Unless States tackle “the structural socio-economic causes of so-called irregular migration”, and radically rethink access to mobility, “this security approach to border management will only make crossings more deadly and strengthen smugglers”. Addressing these grave violations cannot be done without also urgently addressing the rule of law crisis in the country.

Venezuela

The UN’s fact-finding mission on Venezuela (FFM) will report to the Council on 25 and 26 September. The Mission will focus on the situation for human rights defenders in the country – an essential focus given the existing and proposed legislation adversely affecting civic space, and the threats and attacks HRDs face. The recent sentencing of 6 union leaders, denounced by UN Special Rapporteurs, is a clear example of the criminalisation of HRDs, as is the continued detention of the HRD Javier Tarazona, since July 2021, and that of many other real or perceived opposition figures. The continuing impunity in regard to the killing of defender Virgilio Trujillo Arana a year ago is an example of how little will exists to prevent attacks against HRDs.

In its first report in 2020, the FFM stated that it had reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity had been carried out in Venezuela, with the principal targets of violations including social activists and political leaders at the forefront of protests. The recommendations made by the FFM at that time have not been implemented. We recall that Venezuela continues to refuse to engage with the FFM or allow it to enter the country.

States must participate in the interactive dialogue with the FFM to highlight the essential role of HRDs; express utmost concern at the ongoing, systematic threats, attacks and restrictions against civic space, and urge the Venezuelan authorities to take immediate steps to implement the recommendations issued by the UN human rights system. States must speak out forcefully in support of the FFM and its work, and encourage other states to do the same. This vital accountability mandate must be supported and its recommendations echoed, so that victims of violations in the country can believe that one day justice will be done.

Other country situations:

The High Commissioner will provide an oral update to the Council on 11 September 2023. The Council will consider updates, reports and is expected to consider resolutions addressing a range of country situations, in some instances involving the renewal of the relevant expert mandates. These include:

  • Interactive Dialogue on the report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and Interactive Dialogue on the OHCHR report on Myanmar
  • Interactive Dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner on Nicaragua and oral update by the Group of Experts on Nicaragua
  • Interactive Dialogue on the report of the OHCHR on Sri Lanka
  • Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia
  • Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
  • Interactive Dialogue on the interim oral update of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Belarus
  • Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine and Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner oral update on Ukraine
  • Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner and experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Interactive Dialogue on the oral update of OHCHR on technical assistance and capacity-building for South Sudan
  • Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Cambodia and presentation of the Secretary-General’s report
  • Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Somalia
  • Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on the Central African Republic
  • Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner on the interim report on Haiti
  • Presentation of the High Commissioner’s report on cooperation with Georgia
  • Presentation of the High Commissioner’s report on cooperation with Yemen

Council programme, appointments and resolutions

Appointment of mandate holders

The President of the Human Rights Council has proposed candidates for the following mandates:

  1. Special Rapporteur on minority issues
  2. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
  3. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
  4. Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
  5. Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, several members

Resolutions to be presented to the Council’s 54th session

At the organisational meeting on 28 August resolutions were announced (States leading the resolution in brackets):

  1. From rhetoric to reality: a global call for concrete action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (Africa Group)
  2. Technical assistance and capacity-building in the field of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Africa Group)
  3. Question of the death penalty (Benin, Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Mongolia, Republic of Moldova, Switzerland)
  4. Special Rapporteur on truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence – mandate renewal (Argentina, Morocco, Switzerland)
  5. Human rights and Indigenous Peoples (Guatemala, Mexico)
  6. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan – mandate renewal (EU)   
  7. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi – mandate renewal (EU)
  8. Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances – mandate renewal (Argentina, France, Japan, Morocco)
  9. Implementation of the UN declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas (Bolivia)
  10. Technical assistance and capacity-building for Yemen in the field of human rights (Lebanon on behalf of the Arab Group)
  11. Special Rapporteur on Russia – mandate renewal (Luxembourg on behalf of 26 EU countries)
  12. Right to privacy in the digital age (Austria, Brazil, Germany, Liechtenstein, Mexico)
  13. A world of sports free from racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (Brazil and Africa Group)
  14. Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights (Fiji, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland, Uruguay)

The core group on Sudan (Germany, Norway, UK, US) announced that they are considering presenting a resolution on Sudan at this session. The core group on Syria (Germany, France, Italy, Jordan, Netherlands, Qatar, Turkiye, UK, USA) also announced that they are considering presenting a resolution on the human rights situation in Syria.

Read here the three year programme of work of the Council with supplementary information.

Read here ISHR’s recommendations on the key issues that are or should be on the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council in 2023.

https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/hrc54-key-issues-on-agenda-of-september-2023-session/

Posted in Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Joint Mobile Group, OHCHR | 2 Comments »
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OHCHR says Nobel laureate Yunus and other human rights defenders being harassed through legal proceedings

September 6, 2023

Human rights advocates and human rights defenders, including Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, are being intimidated and harassed through legal proceedings, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to create a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders and other civil society representatives to carry out their essential work for the welfare and protection of all people in Bangladesh.

“Yunus has faced harassment and intimidation for almost a decade. He currently faces two trials that carry potential prison sentences – one on charges of violating labour laws, the second for alleged corruption,” said media briefing notes on Tuesday 5 September 2023. [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/6DBC0C10-C787-488A-9063-6875D17FF051]

“While Yunus will have the opportunity to defend himself in court, we are concerned that smear campaigns against him, often emanating from the highest levels of government, risk undermining his right to a fair trial and due process in line with international standards.

“We have also been following closely the cases brought against the leaders of the Odhikar organization, Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasiruddin Elan, in which the verdicts are due to be delivered on Thursday (7 September). The criminal charges relate to a fact-finding report they compiled 10 years ago on extra-judicial killings. Both have faced harassment and intimidation, and their organisation’s licence was not renewed.” [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/06/16/un-and-ngos-denounce-odhikars-deregistration-in-bangladesh/ and https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/88F17E2F-F919-580F-2FDA-59B8E24ACBF6]

The OHCHR media briefing further said the legal harassment of civil society leaders, human rights defenders and other dissenting voices, is a worrying sign for civic and democratic space in Bangladesh. “These cases also represent an important test for the independence of the judiciary in Bangladesh.”

The High Commissioner urges the judicial authorities to ensure the most rigorous review in these cases to ensure that rights to due process and fair trial are strictly and consistently applied.

The OHCHR high commissioner further said, “We are also studying closely the new Cyber Security law which has been presented to parliament to replace the problematic Digital Security Act. The new law will replace imprisonment with fines and increase the scope for bail for several offences, but it is very important that parliament address the remaining concerns to prevent any further arbitrary use of the law to suppress freedom of expression.”

See: https://www.eurasiareview.com/06092023-bangladesh-to-fire-govt-lawyer-who-voiced-support-for-yunus/

and https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/verdict-against-odhikar-leaders-deferred-14-sept-696306

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/j64f1g8pwt

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/09/bangladesh-legal-harassment-hrds-and-civil-society-leaders

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UN Special Rapporteurs express serious concern about Kashmiri human rights defenders

September 5, 2023

The Pakistan Observer of August 11, 2023 carries the story which I wished Indian newspapers would also cover..:

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts have expressed their serious concern at the arrest, detention and accusations brought against Kashmiri human rights defenders Irfan Mehraj and Khurram Parvez, which they said are “designed to delegitimize their human rights work and obstruct monitoring of the human rights situation in” Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir

A joint communication released by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts, and which is available at the website of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders [https://srdefenders.org/india-arrest-detention-of-kashmiri-human-rights-defenders-irfan-mehraj-khurram-parvez-joint-communication/], said, “We underline the legitimacy of their work and of the activities of the JKCSS and express our fear that the arrest and detention of Mr. Mehraj, as well as the continued detention of Mr. Parvez since 2021 and his involvement in the second case at hand, are designed to delegitimize their human rights work and obstruct monitoring of the human rights situation in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/81468931-79AA-24FF-58F7-10351638AFE3]

“As we have repeatedly stressed in the past, counter-terrorism legislation should never be used to sanction human rights defenders. We express our abhorrence at the continued instrumentalization of national-security measures and discourse to undermine, obstruct and persecute those peacefully promoting, defending and seeking the advancement of human rights in the country, as well as to frustrate accountability for human rights violations.”

Disagreeing with the definition of a terrorist by the Modi government, the joint communication said, “As we previously raised in OL IND 7/2020, we are deeply concerned about the definition of ‘terrorist act’ in the UAPA, which substantially departs from the model definition offered by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and provides broad powers to the executive, without oversight or control from the judiciary. We further remind your Excellency Government that the definition of terrorism and terrorism offences must be ‘genuinely’ terrorist in nature in accordance with the elements identified by the Security Council in its resolution 1566 (2004).”

The statement warned that “Conflation of human rights work with terrorism is inconsistent with the obligations of State affirmed by the Security Council that counter-terrorism activities by States should not conflict with other international law obligations, particularly human rights, and with the agreed consensus of Member States contained in the Global Counter-Terrorism strategy opposing the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society (A/RES/60/288).”

“We also note our deep concerns about allegation of ‘terror funding’ and highlight that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has set forth international practices and guidelines aimed at preventing global money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF recommendations, while non-binding, provide recognized international guidance for the countering of terrorism financing. Recommendation (1) states that ‘countries should apply a risk-based approach (RBA) to ensure that measures to prevent or mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing are commensurate with the risks identified’ Recommendation (8) provides guidance to States on the laws and regulations that should be adopted to oversee and protect NPOs that have been identified as being vulnerable to terrorist financing concerns.”

“Such measures must be ‘focused and proportionate’; ‘ ‘one size fits all’ approach to address all NPOs is not appropriate.’ FATF has reaffirmed that State compliance with Recommendation (8) and the other FATF Recommendations ‘should not contravene a country’s obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international human rights law to promote universal respect for, and observance of, fundamental human rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression, religion or belief and freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.”

Blaming India for targeting civil society, the joint statement said, “We are concerned that these arrests appear to contravene a “risk-based” approach to countering terrorism finance and appear to demonstrate a misuse of countering terrorism finance laws and practice to disproportionately target civil society.”

It is worth mentioning here that the “communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of India on 5 June 2023. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this time frame.”

The communication stated that “If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database”.

“Since the communication was sent, the detention of Mr. Mehraj and Mr. Parvez has twice been extended following petitions by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), with the latest extension granted on 27 July 2023. Both human rights defenders remain detained in Rohini Prison in Delhi”.—KMS.

see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/02/09/forgotten-kashmir-something-has-to-be-done/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/03/india-un-expert-demands-immediate-end-crackdown-kashmiri-human-rights

https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28286

UN rights defenders, experts say India misusing laws to disproportionately target civil society in IIOJK

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Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and the practice of enforced disappearances: joint letter

September 5, 2023

We, the undersigned organizations, call on the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng ahead of the sixth anniversary of his disappearance on August 13. 

And as we near “The International Day of the Disappeared” on August 30, we also condemn the Chinese government’s use of enforced disappearances as a tactic to silence and control activists, religious practitioners, Uyghurs and Tibetans, and even high-profile celebrities, entrepreneurs, and government officials. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/08/31/enforced-disappearances-in-china/]

Gao Zhisheng was one of the first human rights lawyers to emerge in the early 2000s and he became an important leader of China’s rights defense movement. He took on cases to help migrant workers and defend spiritual practitioners, including Falun Gong adherents and Christians. Gao wrote open letters to China’s top political leadership to call attention to the plight of Falun Gong practitioners and the abuse he had suffered while defending them. 

In 2006, Gao was sentenced to three years in prison on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” and after being released on parole, he was repeatedly disappeared for extended periods and tortured by police between 2007 and 2011. In December 2011, state media reported that Gao had been imprisoned in the Uyghur region to serve out his sentence after violating terms of his parole. He was then released in 2014 but remained under house arrest.

Gao’s relatives in China, as well as fellow rights lawyers and activists, who previously remained in contact with him, have not heard from him since August 13, 2017. Ever since then, Chinese authorities have, implausibly, claimed that Gao is not under any “criminal coercive measures.”   

Over the past six years, Gao has effectively remained in a state of enforced disappearance. 

Gao Zhisheng’s wife, Geng He, although living in the United States, has continued to advocate for him, pleading with the Chinese government to allow the world to “see him if he’s alive, or see his corpse if he’s dead”. Most recently, she has demanded that he be put on trial if he is guilty, and at the very least, that his lawyers should be allowed to meet with him and family members should have videoconferences. 

However, the Chinese government has not provided Geng He with even this minimum amount of information. 

On several occasions United Nations bodies and human rights experts have sought information about Gao Zhisheng’s status, but the Chinese government has refused to clarify his situation. Most recently, in 2020, the Chinese government responded to a letter from six UN Special Rapporteurs by claiming that, “In August 2014 Mr. Gao was released, having served his sentence. Since his release, the public security authorities have not taken any coercive measures against him.”

Gao Zhisheng’s case has been treated under the humanitarian mandate of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (case no. 10002630). The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had also previously issued an opinion in 2010 stating that Gao’s detention was arbitrary under international law and calling for his immediate release, but Gao has remained under control of the authorities ever since.

Enforced disappearances of other human rights defenders

While Gao Zhisheng’s case is arguably the most famous and well-documented case of prolonged enforced disappearance in blatant violation of international law, there are several other noteworthy cases: 

Former human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were detained in April 2023 as they were taking the subway to attend an event at the European Delegation in Beijing. They have been arrested and charged with “inciting subversion of state power,” but authorities have prevented lawyers from visiting them, and their 18-year-old son is under “house arrest.”  See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/yu-wensheng/

Human rights activist Jia Pin has been missing since September 24, 2022. He was last known to have been traveling to Beihai City in Guangxi. His friends do not know where he is, although some speculate that he may have been taken away by Henan provincial police.

Protester Peng Lifa, was taken away by authorities on October 13, 2022 after engaging in a one-man protest on the Sitong Bridge in Haidian District in Beijing against China’s stringent COVID measures and against the rule of Xi Jinping. There have been no reports about where Peng Lifa is being held.

Jiangsu-based human rights defender Tao Hong has been a victim of enforced disappearance since September 9, 2022, after she signed a open petition showing concern for the death of Mao Lihui, a petitioner who police claimed died via self-immolation while detained in a hotel. Before being detained, Tao Hong told friends on WeChat that she “absolutely wouldn’t commit suicide” – as a pre-emptive warning not to believe authorities should she mysteriously turn up dead.

Journalist Yang Zewei, who goes by the pen name Qiao Xinxin, was presumably taken away in Laos on May 31 by what is believed to have been a joint Chinese and Laotian policing effort. Earlier in the year he had launched a campaign to urge for the dismantling of the Great Firewall, an action he labeled as the #BanGFW movement. Before being detained Yang had tweeted that authorities were harassing his relatives in his hometown, and he also declared that he would not commit suicide in detention. On August 8 it was confirmed that he had been returned to China and was being held at the Hengyang Detention Center in Hunan.

Falun Gong practitioners Chen Yang (陈阳) and Cao Zhimin from Hunan province have been held incommunicado since October 2020, after being detained when studying spiritual scriptures with fellow believers. Yang had previously been jailed for four years for his activism and Cao had been held with her five-year-old daughter at an extralegal detention facility in 2010. According to the couple’s daughter, now a teenager studying in the United States, relatives in China have been unable to meet with them since their detention and lawyers hired were stopped from representing the couple. They are believed to have been sentenced to prison in November 2022, but the length of sentence remains unknown, no formal notification was sent to the family, and no news is available on their condition in custody. 

Enforced disappearances of Uyghurs and Tibetans

The Chinese Communist Party, composed solely of Han Chinese officials at the highest levels of decision making, continues to use systemic enforced disappearances of non-Han groups to control, intimidate, and silence them. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/08/18/un-experts-demand-detailed-information-on-nine-tibetan-environment-defenders/

In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), also known as the Uyghur region or East Turkistan by Uyghurs, there likely remain hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs who are subjected to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance through the legal system. In 2022, the Xinjiang High People’s Procuratorate, stated that 540,826 people had been prosecuted in the region since 2017. In November 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged China to “immediately release all individuals arbitrarily detained in the XUAR, and to provide relatives of those detained or disappeared with detailed information about their status and well-being.”

As the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has noted, there is almost no public data about the criminal justice system in the region since 2020 and the government has not made public criminal verdicts or provided relevant information to the OHCHR. Furthermore, as a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) opinion noted in a 2022 decision finding that three Uyghurs – Qurban Mamut, Ekpar Asat and Gulshan Abbas – had been arbitrarily detained and were victims of enforced disappearance, no verdicts were ever made public and the Chinese government did not respond to the UN with any information regarding the proceedings, “it is unclear if they have indeed stood trial at all.”  In another case from 2022, the WGAD issued an opinion that found that Abdurashid Tohti, Tajigul Qadir, Ametjan Abdurashid and Mohamed Ali Abdurashid had been arbitrarily detained. The Chinese government refused to provide any information about the detention and or of any legal proceedings against them, and the WGAD was “disturbed at the total secrecy which appears to surround the fate and whereabouts” of the four people.

In Tibet, the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has been missing since May 17, 1995.  In 2022, UN human rights experts have raised their concerns regarding the arrest, detention and subsequent enforced disappearance of Tibetan writer Mr. Lobsang Lhundup (pen name of Dhi Lhaden), musician Mr. Lhundrup Drakpa, and teacher Ms. Rinchen Kyi, in connection with their cultural activities advocating for Tibetan language and culture. Dhi Lhaden and Rinchen Kyi were subsequently released.

On August 10, UN experts urged Chinese authorities to provide clarification on the situation regarding nine imprisoned Tibetan environmental human rights defenders, including information about why they were imprisoned, where they were detained, and their current health conditions. The nine defenders are Anya Sengdra, Dorjee Daktal, Kelsang Choklang, Dhongye, Rinchen Namdol, Tsultrim Gonpo, Jangchup Ngodup, Sogru Abhu and Namesy. 

Disappearances as a form of governance [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/08/31/enforced-disappearances-in-china/]

Even powerful and famous people in China are not immune to becoming victims of disappearances: 

..

More broadly, the Chinese authorities appeared to have increasingly adopted disappearances as a form of governance. In 2012, the government amended the Criminal Procedure Law to allow for the police to hold suspects in non-detention facilities for up to six months, depriving those investigated for national security crimes of access to lawyers, family members, or other detainees – a practice known as “residential surveillance in a designated location” (RSDL). The government continues to use RSDL, despite numerous UN independent experts urging its abolition because it is a form of secret detention and enforced disappearance, and therefore incompatible with China’s human rights obligations and despite countless cases of torture and other ill-treatment occurring in RSDL having been exposed. 

In 2018, the National Supervision Law created a “retention in custody” (or liuzhi) system to subject Chinese Communist Party members and public employees to incommunicado detention for up to six months for disciplinary infractions and alleged dereliction of duty, including, but not limited to, corruption. The system is run by a non-judicial, non-law enforcement body, the National Supervision Commission (NSC) and precedes formal detention and arrest. 

As humanity approaches the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), we urge the Chinese government to take seriously the fundamental principles of human rights enshrined in the UDHR.

Unconditionally and immediately free Gao Zhisheng, and all others who are victims of enforced disappearance, and pending that release, allow for Geng He and other family members as well as Gao Zhisheng’s lawyers to communicate with him through in-person visits and/or videoconferencing.

Provide other relatives of those detained or disappeared with detailed information about their status and well-being.

End the practice of enforced disappearance, which gravely impacts some of the core rights articulated in the UDHR, such as the right not to be subjected to torture, the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and even the right to life. 

Abolish RSDL (Articles 72-75 of the Criminal Procedure Law) and liuzhi (Article 22 of the National Supervision Law), and any other laws and regulations providing for practices tantamount to enforced disappearance.

Cosigned by, in alphabetical order:

ARTICLE 19

Campaign For Uyghurs

China Aid

China Against the Death Penalty (CADP)

Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation

Dialogue China

European Criminal Bar Association 

FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights

Freedom House

Friends of Falun Gong (FoFG)

Front Line Defenders

Hans Gaasbeek, Coordinator of the Foundation Day of the Endangered Lawyer

Human Rights in China (HRIC)

Human Rights Now

Humanitarian China

International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers

International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD) 

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

Judicial Reform Foundation

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada 

New School for Democracy Association

PEN America

PEN International

Safeguard Defenders

Symone Gaasbeek-Wielinga, President of the Dutch League for Human Rights

Taipei Bar Association Human Rights Committee 

Taiwan Bar Association Human Rights Protection Committee

Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network

Tencho Gyatso, President of The International Campaign for Tibet 

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy 

The Rights Practice

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/release-human-rights-lawyer-gao-zhisheng-and-end-practice-enforced-disappearances

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