Summary

In this report, the Independent Expert engages with the question of compliance under both general international law and international human rights law of the criminalization and suppression of human rights activists and other humanitarian actors who show solidarity to migrants and refugees by assisting them to access the enjoyment of their basic human rights.

The domestic and regional laws and practices that criminalize or suppress the expressions of this kind of solidarity and the behaviour by a section of civil society that suppresses it, are discussed and analysed against the background of the relevant general international law and international and human rights law norms and rules.

Given the continued salience and importance of migration issues in our time; the highly consequential nature of the efforts that have been made by some States, regional organizations and sections of civil society to criminalize or suppress the expression of international solidarity to irregular migrants and refugees; and the serious human rights implications of those actions, the Independent Expert considered it important to focus on this specific issue.