Mary Lawlor | Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

Posts Tagged ‘Mary Lawlor’

Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders: open vacancy for impartial and competent candidates

July 29, 2025

In March 2026, the UN Human Rights Council (the Council) will appoint the next Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders. The role of this Special Rapporteur is essential: they promote the work of those who defend human rights and they protect human rights defenders at risk. The Special Rapporteur serves in a voluntary capacity and is independent of the UN, States and non-governmental organisations. As other Special Rapporteurs, they are tasked by the UN to monitor and report on human rights situations around the world. They also provide advice and recommendations for the implementation of those rights.

The four rapporteurs until now have all been of exceptional calibre:

Mary Lawlor (Ireland)

2020-2026

She became a Board member of the Irish Section of Amnesty International in 1975, was elected Chair from 1983 -1987 and in 1988 became its Director. She founded Front Line Defenders in 2001 to focus specifically on the protection of human rights defenders at risk.

On 1 May 2020, she took up the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, where she has adopted a people-centred approach to the mandate. Her mandate was renewed for another three-year term by the UN Human Rights Council in April 2023.

She is also currently an Adjunct Professor of Business and Human Rights in the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), School of Business, Trinity College Dublin.

Mr. Michel Forst (France)

2014 – 2020

Mr. Michel Forst (France) was Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders from June 2014 until April 2020. From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Forst was the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, and between 2012 and 2013 he was the Chair of the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.

Mrs. Margaret Sekaggya (Uganda)

2008 – 2014

Mrs. Margaret Sekaggya (Uganda) was the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders from 2008 to 2014. Before her appointment as Special Rapporteur, Ms. Sekaggya was the Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission and a High Court Judge in the country.

Ms. Hina Jilani (Pakistan)

2000 – 2008

Ms. Hina Jilani (Pakistan) was Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders from 2000 – 2008. In 1980, she and her sister founded Pakistan’s first women-only legal practise. She became an Advocate of the Supreme Court shortly after her tenure as Special Rapporteur came to an end.

We should be campaigning so the new person appointed is independent, impartial and competent and comes from a background that represents the diversity of our world.

Are you a suitable candidate? Apply! (1) Complete the online survey (2) Submit the application form in Word format. The deadline for applications is 31 August 2025, noon Geneva time (CEST).

Apply now

https://crm.ishr.ch/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=1648&cid=8618&cs=4d4377e0b21634e99cf8fa9460dc5085_1752823212_168

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Hina Jilani, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggaya, Mary Lawlor, Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, vacancy

Rapporteur dismayed by continued criminalisation of human rights defenders after her visit to Algeria

February 1, 2025

On 30 January 2025 Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said that Algeria continues to restrict and harass human rights defenders for their peaceful activities, an independent human rights expert said today.

“More than a year after I visited Algeria – at the end of 2023 – I am deeply disappointed to see that human rights defenders in different fields of work, some of whom I met, are still being arbitrarily arrested, judicially harassed, intimidated and criminalised for their peaceful activities under vaguely worded provisions, such as ‘harming the security of the State’,” said Mary Lawlor. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/12/07/mary-lawlor-returns-from-algeria-visit/]

“The case of Mr. Merzoug Touati, an independent journalist and human rights defender who has been subjected for years to trials on spurious charges, is among the most alarming cases I have recently examined,” Lawlor said.

“Since 2024, he has been detained three times. During his latest arrest, in August 2024, his family was reportedly subjected to ill-treatment. He was then allegedly physically and psychologically tortured while in police custody for five days. He continues to be judicially harassed even after his release,” the expert said.

“No less concerning is the arrest of three human rights lawyers and a young whistleblower between February and July 2024,” Lawlor said, highlighting the cases of Toufik Belala, Soufiane Ouali and Omar Boussag.

Belala was summoned for interrogation three times since April 2024 and finally accused of publishing false information that may threaten the security of the State, before being freed under judicial control.

The human rights lawyer Soufiane Ouali was taken from his home during a violent dawn raid by police in July 2024, and placed in custody along with 14 others, including the young whistleblower Yuba Manguellet. They were charged under Article 87bis of the Penal Code, a vaguely worded counter-terrorism provision that is often misused to crackdown on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

Other restrictive articles of the Penal Code have been used to accuse human rights lawyer Omar Boussag of ‘incitement of an unarmed gathering’ and ‘contempt of an official body’ following the publication of his posts on Facebook.

“These are not the only cases,” Lawlor said. “The environmental rights defender Karim Khima has been pursued for years in court for organising protests against a housing development on land with historical remains and for the protection of the ecosystem around Lake Mezaia, which is threatened by the planned construction of an amusement park. Fortunately, he was finally acquitted.”

Lawlor also drew attention to the case of the ‘Collectif des Familles de Disparus,’ an organisation set up during the Algerian Civil War in the 1990s to seek answers to the forcible disappearance of persons. This year, the organisation has repeatedly been prevented from holding events by huge contingents of police forces surrounding its office in Algiers. Its female lawyer and members, many of whom are mothers of disappeared persons, have been manhandled and forced to leave the location on these occasions.

“I want to repeat that I met nearly all of these human rights defenders,” the Special Rapporteur said. “Not one of them was in any way pursuing violent acts. They all must be treated in accordance with international human rights law, which Algeria is bound to respect.”

She said that during her visit to Algeria, she also met with many public officials in an atmosphere of constructive exchange. “I am therefore doubly disappointed to see that restrictions against human rights defenders are continuing,” Lawlor said.

https://reliefweb.int/report/algeria/algeria-special-rapporteur-dismayed-continued-criminalisation-human-rights-defenders-after-her-visit

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/01/algeria-special-rapporteur-dismayed-continued-criminalisation-human-rights

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Algeria, criminalisation, detentiion, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, Merzoug Touati, news, Omar Boussag, politics, Soufiane Ouali, Toufik Belala, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

Egypt: Special Rapporteur concerned about use of anti-terrorism legislation HRDs

January 17, 2025

An independent human rights expert expressed on 15 January 2025 concern about the continued application of anti-terrorism legislation in Egypt to imprison human rights defenders.

“Although there has been some progress with the release of some detainees and the development of a national human rights strategy, Egypt persists in routinely misusing counter-terrorism legislation and recycling criminal charges against human rights defenders,” said Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

“What is particularly striking is the continued detention of human rights defenders past their release date by repeatedly charging them with similar, if not identical, terrorism-related accusations, in a practice commonly known as “rotation” or “recycling”,” Lawlor said.

The Special Rapporteur previously raised concerns in this regard in 22 communications sent to the Government of Egypt since May 2020. The practice of “rotation” was also highlighted by the UN Human Rights Committee in its concluding observations on Egypt’s last review in March 2023.

In particular, the Special Rapporteur expressed concern over the use of this practice to detain three human rights defenders for lengthy periods of time.

“It is shocking that instead of being released at the end of her five-year sentence on 1 November 2023, human rights lawyer Ms. Hoda Abdel Moneim was detained again under new charges. And one year later, a third set of charges was brought against her. She is now facing two new trials, with one of the new charges – ‘joining an unnamed terrorist organisation’ – being identical to that for which she had completed her sentence in 2023, in violation of the principle of double jeopardy”, Lawlor said.

In November 2024, the same terrorism-related charge was brought against another woman human rights defender, Aisha al-Shater, who was tried in the same case with Abdel Moneim. This charge is also identical to that for which she is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.

In a third case, human rights defender and lawyer Ibrahim Metwally has been arbitrarily detained without trial for over four years. He was arrested in 2017 at Cairo Airport, while he was on his way to Geneva to meet with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Although the Cairo Criminal Court has ordered his conditional release twice, he was repeatedly charged with new terrorism-related offences, one of which he supposedly committed in prison. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention previously found Metwally’s detention to be arbitrary and noted that it amounts to an act of retaliation for cooperation with the UN.

“It is outrageous that Mr Metwally is facing trial in three cases, including that of ‘conspiring with foreign entities’, which appear to be in relation to his cooperation with the UN and his peaceful human rights work in Egypt prior to his detention,” Lawlor said.

The Special Rapporteur noted that the poor prison conditions in which the three human rights defenders are held were equally alarming. The human rights defenders have had health problems from the start of their arrest and have reportedly been denied adequate medical treatment despite the severity of their conditions, which may amount to physical and psychological ill-treatment.

“It is unacceptable for prison authorities to deny recommended surgery, bar the transfer of a detainee to a hospital, or withhold medical records from the detainee’s family and lawyer,” Lawlor said.

The Special Rapporteur is in contact with the authorities of Egypt on this issue and has urged them to meet their international human rights obligations, by which they must abide.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/01/egypt-special-rapporteur-concerned-about-use-anti-terrorism-legislation

https://african.business/2025/01/apo-newsfeed/egypt-special-rapporteur-concerned-about-use-of-anti-terrorism-legislation-against-human-rights-defenders

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/egypt

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Aisha al-Shater, anti-terrorist laws, detention, Egypt, Hoda Abdel Moneim, Human Rights Defenders, Ibrahim Metwally, Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

UN special rapporteur ‘dismayed’ at Turkey’s jailing of human rights lawyers

January 17, 2025

A United Nations special rapporteur on Thursday 16 January 2025 condemned Turkey’s continued use of counterterrorism laws to imprison human rights lawyers and activists, calling it a violation of international human rights obligations.

Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, expressed alarm over the long-term detention of nine Turkish human rights lawyers and activists who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on what she described as “spurious terrorism-related charges.”

The group includes eight members of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD) who were arrested between 2018 and 2019 and convicted under Turkey’s Anti-Terror Law: Barkın Timtik, Aytaç Ünsal, Özgür Yılmaz, Behiç Aşçı, Engin Gökoğlu, Süleyman Gökten, Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Oya Aslan. They were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison in what has been widely criticized as an unfair trial, known as the ÇHD II trial.

Another arrestee, lawyer Turan Canpolat of the Malatya Bar Association, was imprisoned in 2016 based on the testimony of a client who later admitted he had been coerced. Canpolat was convicted of alleged links to the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, which Ankara accuses of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The Gülen movement denies involvement in the coup.

Canpolat was detained in 2016 after responding to a police search at a client’s residence, only to find himself accused based on doctored evidence and coerced testimony. Despite the dismissal of related charges against others implicated in his case and the recanting of key testimony, he remains in prison. His conviction was based on his legal representation of companies later closed by emergency decrees after the coup, a move critics argue criminalizes standard legal work. International legal groups have denounced his imprisonment as a miscarriage of justice, calling for his release.

All nine lawyers are currently held in high-security prisons, and Canpolat has reportedly been kept in solitary confinement for nearly three years without a disciplinary order, a practice the UN expert found “extremely disturbing.”

Lawlor has raised concerns about their cases since the beginning of her mandate in 2020, but Turkey has continued to criminalize their work. “I remain dismayed that the criminalization of their human rights work has not stopped,” she said.

She urged Turkish authorities to comply with international human rights law and guarantee fair appeal hearings for the detained lawyers. “I am ready to discuss this further with Turkish authorities,” she added.

The Turkish government has repeatedly been criticized for using broad anti-terror laws to silence political dissent and imprison journalists, lawyers and activists. Since the 2016 coup attempt, Turkey has arrested thousands on terrorism-related charges, often based on tenuous evidence such as social media posts or association with banned groups.

International human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have condemned Turkey for what they describe as politically motivated prosecutions and the erosion of due process. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Turkey in multiple cases, finding that it has violated the right to a fair trial and engaged in arbitrary detention.

https://www.turkishminute.com/2025/01/16/un-special-rapporteur-dismayed-at-turkeys-jailing-of-human-rights-lawyers-under-terrorism-laws4

seealsohttps://www.fidh.org/en/region/europe-central-asia/turkey/turkey-unacceptable-attacks-on-the-legal-profession

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti-terrorist laws, Barkın Timtik, criminalisation, human rights, human rights lawyers, Mary Lawlor, news, Oya Aslan, politics, Turan Canpolat, Turkey, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

UN General Assembly: UN expert urges recognition of vital work of defenders for 2030 Agenda

November 10, 2024

On 17 October 2024, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, presented her latest report in an interactive dialogue with United Nations member States during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in the Third Committee.

In an interactive dialogue presenting her report to the Third Committee of the General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor urged States to acknowledge the crucial role of human rights defenders in achieving seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and advancing 2030 Agenda. During the interactive dialogue, Mary Lawlor highlighted human rights defenders’ contributions to various SDGs, including zero hunger (Goal 2), good health and well-being (Goal 3), quality education (Goal 4), gender equality (Goal 5), clean water and sanitation (Goal 6) as well as affordable and clean energy (Goal 7). The report illustrates specific examples of human rights defenders’ work and contributions to each of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

During the dialogue, the Special Rapporteur noted that ninety percent of SDG targets are linked to human rights obligations. Given that only seventeen percent of the goals are on track, she emphasised the need for human rights defenders to be supported in their work in making the SDGs a reality. She noted that despite this crucial work of defenders in advancing the SDGs, they face severe barriers and threats including stigmatisation, criminalisation and other violations of fundamental rights.

In her concluding remarks, the Special Rapporteur emphasised that amidst global disagreements, the SDGs represent a rare consensus and urged States to support, partner with and respect HRDs working to support 2030 Agenda. Mary Lawlor in her recommendations, urged States to publicly acknowledge the essential role human rights defenders play in advancing the 2030 Agenda and called for legal frameworks that protect rather than restrict defenders and civil society in their legitimate work in achieving SDGs.

https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/unga79-un-expert-urges-recognition-of-the-vital-work-of-hrds-in-fulfilling-the-2030-agenda

See also SDG – Human Rights Data Explorer : https://sdgdata.humanrights.dk/en/node/252884

and

https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/business-human-rights-environment/human-rights-and-environmental-rights/cop-29-environmental-defenders-must-be-protected

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: 2030 Agenda, danish institute for human rights, environmental defenders, Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN General Assembly, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

Call for Input: Special Rapporteur’s Human Rights Council report on human rights defenders in remote and rural areas

September 26, 2024

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders is seeking input for her upcoming report to the Human Rights Council, which will focus on human rights defenders working in remote and rural areas. The report, to be presented in March 2025, will explore the unique challenges faced by these human rights defenders, such as geographic isolation, limited access to resources, and lack of meaningful consultation. Despite these challenges, human rights defenders in these regions play a critical role in defending human rights, maintaining public institutions, and ensuring the rule of law.

This call for input invites contributions from a range of stakeholders, including States, businesses, civil society organizations, and human rights defenders themselves. The aim is to assess the nature of threats, obstacles, and opportunities for human rights defenders in these remote regions. Submissions should focus on topics like gender-specific challenges, protection strategies, successes achieved, and examples of good practices. These inputs will help shape practical recommendations on improving safety, access to resources, and support for defenders in rural areas.

The collected inputs will inform the report and be published on the OHCHR website to foster dialogue and improve protection measures for human rights defenders in these challenging environments.

Posted in Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: call for proposals, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, news, OHCHR, rural areas, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and development

August 19, 2024

The General Assembly received the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor.

In the report, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, highlights the contributions made by human rights defenders to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In the report, she demonstrates that, across every one of the 17 Goals, human rights defenders are placing human rights at the core of sustainable development and, in doing so, are assisting States in their responsibility to leave no one behind. The Special Rapporteur highlights that this work is being made more difficult by increasing restrictions on the right to defend rights.

Download Report (PDF | 431.83 KB | English version)

https://reliefweb.int/report/world/report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-defenders-a79123-enarruzh

Posted in Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: development, environmental defenders, General Assembly, Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, Reliefweb, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

UN experts call for justice for Tunisian human rights defender Sihem Bensedrine

August 12, 2024

UN experts called on the Tunisian authorities to respect the right to judicial guarantees and judicial protection of Sihem Bensedrine, who was arrested on 1 August 2024.

“In a context marked by the suppression of numerous dissenting voices, the arrest of Ms Bensedrine raises serious concerns about the respect of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in Tunisia and has a chilling effect on journalists, human rights defenders and civil society in general,” the experts said.

https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/5A2E5622-80B0-425E-A2AE-2703983126B4

Bensedrine is the former President of the Truth and Dignity Commission (TVD) which documented the crimes committed under previous regimes, and a journalist who has long denounced human rights violations in the country.

Since 2021, she has been involved in a judicial investigation into the alleged falsification of a chapter in the TVD´s final report regarding corruption in the banking system. The independent human rights experts have already held discussions with the Tunisian government concerning this investigation.

“This arrest could amount to judicial harassment of Ms Bensedrine for work she has undertaken as President of the Truth and Dignity Commission,” the experts said. “It appears to be aimed at discrediting information contained in the Commission’s report, which could give rise to legal proceedings against alleged perpetrators of corruption under the previous regimes.”

The Special Rapporteurs urged Tunisia to uphold its obligation to protect members of commissions of enquiry into gross human rights violations from defamation and civil or criminal proceedings brought against them because of their work, or the content of their reports.

“We call for strict respect for Ms Bensedrine’s right to judicial guarantees, including the right to a fair trial by due process, impartiality and independence, and for an end to abusive proceedings and reprisals against her.”

The experts: Bernard Duhaime, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

On 25 september 2026 Amnesty issued an urgent appeal as she is at risk for a re-arrest

https://www.miragenews.com/un-experts-demand-justice-for-tunisian-rights-1292532/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/08/un-experts-call-justice-tunisian-human-rights-defender

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/12/tunisia-hollows-out-its-media-landscape-ahead-elections

but then in February2025 comes the good news over releases:https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250219-tunisia-court-orders-release-of-top-rights-activist

but:

https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/tunisia-25-year-prison-term-for-prominent-human-rights-defender-sihem-bensedrine-an-outrageous-injustice

Posted in awards, HRW, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: bernard duhaime, digest of human rights awards and laureates, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Irene Khan, Journalist, judicial harasment, Mary Lawlor, news, politics, Sihem Bensedrine, Truth and Dignity Commission (TVD), Tunisia, UN Special Rapporteurs, woman human rights defender

Israeli continues to target human rights defenders in the West Bank

July 29, 2024

The Israeli authorities continue to target human rights defenders in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, through prolonged administrative detention without charge, humiliation and ill treatment, an independent expert said calling for an end to such treatment.

“UN Special Procedures experts, including myself, have raised similar concerns multiple times, and this time I want to bring to the attention of the Israeli government the recent cases of Mr. Bassem Tamimi, Mr. Omar al-Khatib, Ms. Baraa Odeh, Ms. Sumoud Mtair and Ms. Diala Ayesh,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

The five human rights defenders were arrested between October 2023 and March 2024, either from their home or as they returned from abroad. They were ordered to be held in administrative detention for periods ranging from four to six months, subject to unlimited renewal. Two of them have yet to be released.

Bassem Tamimi, from Ramallah, is an organiser of peaceful protests against the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands; Omar al-Khatib, from Jerusalem, campaigns against the forced eviction of Palestinian families from the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah; Baraa Odeh, from Bethlehem promotes youth rights; Sumoud Mtair, from Hebron, is active in the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign; and Diala Ayesh is a human rights lawyer who documents the detention conditions of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel. All but al-Khatib and Ayesh were released at the end of their administrative detention periods.

“All five human rights defenders were arrested without warrant. They were not given any reason as to why there were being detained. They were all interrogated without the presence of a lawyer. They were not allowed contact with their families,” Lawlor said.

“Four of them were reportedly slapped, beaten, humiliated, sent from one prison to another in the space of one or two days, and made to sign documents in Hebrew they could not understand. The three women detainees have been held in deplorable conditions, in dirty cells and given insufficient and poor-quality meals.”

https://www.miragenews.com/un-expert-israel-must-halt-targeting-1282213/

https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/24/07/2024/un-official-calls-on-israeli-authorities-to-stop-targeting-palestinian-human-rights-defenders

Posted in Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Baraa Odeh, Bassem Tamimi, Human Rights Defenders, Israel, Mary Lawlor, Middle East, Omar al-Khatib, Palestine, Palestinian, Sumoud Mtair, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, West Bank

Lawlor: more than 400 human rights defenders, journalists in DRC targeted within a year

June 22, 2024

On 19 June 2024, Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders expressed alarm at increasing targeting of human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly in villages and provinces in the east of the country, as the armed conflict intensifies.

“Attacks, intimidation and killings of human rights defenders continue on a daily basis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite repeated calls for authorities to step up efforts to investigate human rights violations in the country and arrest and bring perpetrators to justice,” she said

From June 2023 to April 2024, the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC documented incidents of intimidation, threats of physical violence, attacks and acts of reprisals targeting 387 human rights defenders and 67 journalists, perpetrated by both State agents and armed groups.

Lawlor noted that two women human rights defenders, members of the Youth Movement for Change (LUCHA), had been facing violence and death threats from Twigwaneho armed group since November 2023.

“When LUCHA organised public protests against recent attacks on their village in the South Kivu province, the rebel group sent armed forces to arrest them, forcing them to flee and go into hiding. To this day, they continue to receive death threats and live in hiding,” the expert said. One of the women’s mothers was abducted by the same rebel group in February 2024 and reportedly executed for not revealing her daughter’s whereabouts.

Obedi Karafuru, a human rights defender and head of the workers’ committee, was shot dead by unidentified men in his home village in rebel-held Rutshuru territory in North Kivu province. The Special Rapporteur noted that he had been working to secure fair compensation for former workers on a logging project and had been complaining to authorities for the past four years about death threats against him and his colleagues. “No investigation has been opened into the murder,” Lawlor said.

A human rights defender received death threats in February 2022 when he questioned the effectiveness of the Government’s state of emergency in North Kivu, stating that authorities had failed to guarantee the safety of the population. “The death threats forced him into hiding, as State authorities never responded to his call for protection,” the expert said. Four women human rights defenders from the women-led organisation Tous pour la Paix et la Cohésion Sociale, have been victims of kidnapping and violence following activities they organised around women’s rights.

The expert noted that the DRC adopted a law on the protection of human rights defenders in 2023, which meets the minimum international standards, and ensures special protection for women human rights defenders as well as physical protection of human rights defenders and their families.

“Many executions of human rights defenders are preceded by death threats,” Lawlor said, referring to the report she presented to the Human Rights Council in 2021. “Unless the physical integrity of human rights defenders is guaranteed, they will not be able to fully contribute to the construction of a just society that respects human rights,” she said.

“I call on authorities in the DRC to take all necessary measures to ensure a safe working space and protection for human rights defenders, as well as to guarantee the exercise of their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and to effectively and reliably investigate all cases of executions in accordance with international standards, including the Minnesota Protocol, and bring those responsible to justice,” Lawlor said.

This statement is endorsed by Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/war-on-activists-more-than-400-human-rights-defenders-journalists-in-drc-targeted-within-a-year-20240620

Posted in Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Africa, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Gina romero, Human Rights Defenders, journalists, LUCHA (NGO DRC), Mary Lawlor, Morris Tidball-Binz, news, Obedi Karafuru, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards