Enforced disappearances are reaching alarming levels worldwide, while human rights defenders face increasing persecution and surveillance, United Nations experts warned the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on 20 October 2026 citing thousands of unresolved cases and growing threats to those seeking justice and accountability.
Andrea Bolaños Vargas, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, warned that criminalization has become the most prevalent global threat facing those who expose abuses and defend fundamental freedoms. Presenting findings from a survey of 1,122 respondents, she reported that 66 per cent of women human rights defenders believed their situation had deteriorated, rising to 78 per cent among LGBTIQ+ women defenders. Three quarters said restrictive laws and regulations had undermined their work.
“Criminalization is combined with disinformation and stigmatization, surveillance, arbitrary detention, administrative restrictions, funding restrictions, digital attacks, and in some cases, violence against defenders themselves, as well as their families,” she said. Such threats extend even to regions with long-standing democratic traditions. “The human cost is enormous,” she stressed, reporting that 83 per cent of survey respondents experienced negative effects on their mental health. Nearly half of the women human rights defenders surveyed reported having to leave their homes to seek safety, with 24 per cent internally displaced and 22 per cent forced into exile.
Even exile offers no guarantee of protection, she warned, citing surveillance, attacks against relatives, deprivation of nationality and other forms of transnational oppression. “Protection alone is not enough,” she declared, adding: “The aspiration must be that no one has to risk their safety, freedom or life to defend human rights.” [see e.g. https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2026/09/28/over-130-human-rights-experts-issue-global-call-for-states-to-end-transnational-repression/]
Delegates Clash over Imprisoned Activists
…The Czech Republic’s representative highlighted the imprisonment of human rights defenders in Belarus and the Russian Federation, drawing attention to Ukrainian activists Iryna Danylovych and Amet Suleymanov, held in Russian Federations prisons without adequate medical care.
Germany’s delegate urged Moscow to release two Indigenous human rights defenders and called on China to free Hong Kong lawyer Chow Hang Tung.
Rejecting the criticism, China’s representative accused Germany of spreading “smears”. “Some countries and political forces seek to portray criminals as human rights defenders to whitewash their unlawful and criminal conduct,” he said.
Belarus’s delegate dismissed the Czech Republic’s allegations concerning medical care for detainees, insisting that free healthcare is available to all, including prisoners. The Russian Federation’s representative, meanwhile, accused Ukraine and the Baltic States of persecuting those defending Russian-speaking populations, citing the arrest of Latvian activist Viktor Gushchin.
The European Union’s representative, speaking in its capacity as observer, warned that growing fear and self-censorship among people cooperating with United Nations human rights mechanisms represents “a substantive loss to us all”, expressing concern over technology-facilitated transnational repression….
