The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the
Observatory) releases on Monday, October 24 its 14th Annual Report on the situation of human rights defenders during a press conference held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
"While the revolutions that took place in the Arab world in 2011 reminded the international community of the emergency to put the issue of human rights back at the top of its political agenda, utmost attention must be paid to the alerts made by human rights defenders worldwide, and no compromise must be made towards the harassment they face,” the Observatory said in a Press Statement.
The release of the Annual Annual Report "Steadfast in Protest" is a key momentum of the daily activity of the Observatory. This report tells of the struggle of human rights defenders in about 70 countries - civil society activists, journalists, trade-unionists, lawyers or simple citizens “indignant” at injustice, arbitrariness, or horror.
The 617-page report, published jointly by Mr. Staberock’s Geneva-based World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) headed by Souhayr Belhassen, documents from January 2010 to April 2011 individual cases of repression against human rights advocates in 66 countries worldwide.
Egypt Protests Jan 18, 2011 (pix: Totally Cool) |
“At
the same time human rights defenders
are more than ever at risk. As the Report is being published, the blood bath
continues in Syria, in Libya and in Yemen. In Africa, the Middle East,
Europe, Americas, Asia, human rights defenders are harassed, imprisoned,
sometimes tortured,” says the President International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Souhayr Belhassen.
For the Secretary General World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Gerald Staberock “far from being recognised for what they are - vital protagonists for change, the guarantors of a free society - human rights defenders are, on the contrary, subjected daily to repression by regimes that are all the harsher for having understood the force and the legitimacy of their claims ”. “The present report calls for stronger protection for those involved in human rights and democracy”, he concludes.
For the Secretary General World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Gerald Staberock “far from being recognised for what they are - vital protagonists for change, the guarantors of a free society - human rights defenders are, on the contrary, subjected daily to repression by regimes that are all the harsher for having understood the force and the legitimacy of their claims ”. “The present report calls for stronger protection for those involved in human rights and democracy”, he concludes.
On July 22, 2011, Observatory publishes an international fact-finding mission report on the situation of human rights defenders in The Gambia, which revealed "a climate of fear amongst human rights defenders in the country".
The Observatory said it decided to send a fact-finding mission to
The Gambia from May 2 to 11, 2010 "following allegations of human rights violations against Gambian human rights
defenders and public statement made by President Jammeh in September
2009 threatening to kill anyone who sought to sabotage and destabilise
his Government, in particular human rights defenders and those who
support them."
"On
the basis of elements collected during the mission, the mission report
shows that there is a general climate of fear amongst Gambian human
rights defenders, notably following the still unsolved assassination of
Mr. Deyda Hydara, the Editor and co-founder of the private newspaper
The Point, in 2004, the enforced disappearance of Mr. Ebrima Manneh, a
journalist at the Daily Observer, in 2006, the continuing campaign of
harassment by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) against
journalists, the 2009 presidential threat and, today, the multiplication
of cases of prolonged judicial harassment, which seems to be the new
technique to impede the peaceful activities of defenders," the Observatory outlined. "In addition,
the restrictive legal and institutional framework hampers the promotion
and defence of human rights. In this context, the State institutions
have failed to guarantee effective protection to defenders."
The
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is a joint programme of
the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT), accompanies, follows and protects human rights
defenders at risk throughout the year.
- Author: Modou S. Joof for The Voice Newspaper, Banjul-The Gambia
Read more of the Observatory's mission to Banjul on the following links:
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