Statement by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders at the 31st session of the Human Rights Council

3 March 2016

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the honour to address the Human Rights Council in my capacity as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

If you permit, Mr. Chair, before I start my presentation I would like to pay a special tribute to all those defenders that have been killed during the course of the year, and I would like to pay special attention to the case of Berta Cáceres, who was recently killed in Honduras.

Today, I am presenting my annual thematic report, which is focused on good practices in the protection of human rights defenders. In addition, you have before you a report on my country visit in 2014 to Burundi, as well as a report with my observations on the communications sent and replies received in the course of 2015.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In November 2014, I conducted an official visit to Burundi. During the visit, I observed that in spite of great obstacles and a difficult environment, the country had an active and competent civil society that continued the hard work in spite of severe threats. Journalists and defenders were seen as opposition in the eyes of the Government. I could identify such challenges as lack of protection for defenders and the impunity for violations committed against them, as well as stigmatization and criminalization of legitimate human rights activities. This was worrying at the time, and contributed to the tragic developments we have seen in the country over the past year.

It is with great regret that I have observed the events that have taken place after my visit and since April 2015. Even though my report (A/HRC/31/55/Add.3) contained some updates in relation to these events, due to the submission deadline it has been impossible to reflect fully the escalation of violence and the extremely difficult situation facing civil society and human rights defenders over the past few months. Since my visit, human rights defenders and their families have suffered many attacks, brutal persecution and had to flee the country in a climate of increasing repression. Some of them have also been victims of enforced disappearances or have been assassinated. Even family members of defenders are not spared, for example the assassination of the son of a prominent human rights activist Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa by an unknown police officer. Pierre, who himself survived an assassination attempt, is with us today.

We have also seen the impact of all public statements being given inside or outside Burundi, that appear to be aimed at inciting violence and contribute to the perpetuation of violence and impede the search for a peaceful solution.

Despite this and as you are aware, with other fellow mandate-holders we have on a regular basis kept the Council and the international community abreast of our concerns about the impact of violence on human rights and the situation of defenders through communications, press-releases and public statements. The Council’s decision to dispatch investigative team to Burundi is for me an important step towards improving human rights protection in the country, and I do hope coordinated solutions will soon be identified to prevent further outbreak of a violent open conflict.

Now, I would like to say a word on the growing difficulties in securing a country visit. As you know my mandate has more than 17 outstanding country visit requests. Some States have not reacted to the requests for years, while others have not communicated specific dates for a visit, despite their expressed commitment. At the same time, I have repeatedly engaged with Governments of Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines, seeking their acceptance of numerous dates for a visit in 2015. Despite my attempts, I have not been able to carry out a country visit in 2015, which is an important part of my mandate. I intend to follow through on those requests in 2016, and hope that the States concerned will give due attention and respond positively.

In that context, I wish to add my appreciation to the Government of Hungary for accepting my visit, which took place last month. My preliminary observations on the visit were discussed with the Government and are publicly available. The Council will have my final report at its session in March 2017. In the meantime, I hope my end of mission statement will contribute to the second round of Hungary’s Universal Periodic Review in May 2016.

I am also grateful to the Government of Australia for accepting my request to visit in the first half of October 2016. And I am in close consultations with the Government of Mexico, Serbia, Brazil as well as authorities in Kosovo,* to follow-up on a visit by my predecessors in order to review the implementation of recommendations in the context of the current situation of human rights defenders.

Distinguished delegates,

As part of my mandate, I have also addressed many cases on the situation of individual human rights defenders and their families, and have also raised concerns concerning human rights organizations, as well as draft legislations negatively impacting on the environment in which defenders operate.

You will see in my observation report (A/HRC/31/55/Add.1), that within a year I have sent a total of 208 communications to 79 States, both individually and in collaboration with other mandate-holders, addressing the situation of 422 individuals. The report also contains 11 cases of alleged reprisals for cooperating with the United Nations, amounting to smear campaigns, travel bans, harassment, intimidation, denial of medical treatment, arrest, detention, direct threat and physical attacks.

My report on communications is an accessible and transparent tool for human rights defenders, civil society and States alike, presenting alleged violations that have been brought up over the past year, following up on the updates received on individual cases. Communications are grouped by regions, which contain a summary of regional trends of risks and threats facing human rights defenders in each region. It is possible to consult full versions of the communications and replies through the report’s hyperlinks.  

I thank those States that have provided replies to my communications and encourage all other States to reply to allegations raised in my communications in due time.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

My annual report (A/HRC/31/55) provides a brief overview of the activities that I have carried out since the previous reporting period, which included seven regional consultations with more than 500 human rights defenders, including 280 women defenders, from 110 States.

As was underlined in my last report to the General Assembly, the recent developments concerning the situation of human rights defenders around the world are extremely worrying. The threats facing them may be physical, psychological or socio-economic, and may be conditioned by the interaction of multiple factors, including poor governance, absence of the rule of law, an upsurge of religious and political intolerance and fundamentalism, or tensions over development issues. The situation is made more volatile owing to an increase in repressive laws and regulations designed to delegitimize and criminalize human rights activities of defenders, including by restricting their funding or obstructing their activities with burdensome bureaucratic requirements tape. A number of counter-terrorism and security policies have also posed new challenges to defenders, including new restrictions on their individual freedoms and increasing the risks that they face.

And we should be honest with ourselves: many examples show that the attacks against human rights defenders are very often linked to deliberate attempts to stifle and close civil society space.

My thematic report (A/HRC/31/55) is set against that background of risks and challenges, and tries to explore good practices in the protection of human rights defenders, understood as a practice that contributes to the full respect of defenders’ rights and strengthens their security, including by mitigating the risks they face, addressing threats and building support for their work. I wish to thank all States, civil society organisations, defenders, donors and other organisations that completed the questionnaire.

In the context on on-going crackdown against defenders, the choice to focus on good practices in the protection of human rights defenders is also a clear reminder to the international community and to member states that the effective protection of those who defend our rights largely depends on political will and accountability. We cannot expect success in the protection of defenders if on the contrary we try to hamper their work and weaken their direct environment. There is clearly a need for coherence and real commitment from all stakeholders.

The report before you aims to achieve one of the objectives of my mandate, which is to explore, strengthen and replicate new methods and tools to enforce protection mechanisms for defenders. My report therefore conceptualizes protection practices, including at the local, national, regional and international levels. It also outlines protection initiatives in three interrelated areas: first, practices that strengthen the resources and capacities of defenders; second, practices that foster an enabling environment for the defence of their rights; and third, regional and international practices that support their protection at the local and national levels.

My report concludes by seven principles that should underpin good practices in the protection of human rights defenders:

• Good practices should adopt a rights-based approach to protection, empowering defenders to know and claim their rights and increasing the ability and accountability of those responsible for respecting, protecting and fulfilling rights.
• Such practices should recognise the diversity of defenders.
• They should be gender-sensitive, apply intersectionality lens to risk assessment and protection initiatives, and recognise that some defenders are in greater risk than others because of who they are or because of what they do.
• Measures to protect defenders should focus on their ‘holistic security’, including physical security, digital security, and psychosocial wellbeing.
• Good practices would accept that defenders are inter-connected, and also focus on the rights and security of groups and family members who share the risks of defenders.
• They should be participatory and involve defenders in the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies and tactics for their protection.
• Finally, good protection practices should be flexible, adaptable, and tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of defenders.

I hope my report will trigger a long overdue debate on ways and means to strengthen our practices in protecting human rights defenders, as well as replicate and disseminate them in different contexts.
I remain at your disposal to be part of this debate.
Thank you for your attention.

* The reference to Kosovo is to be understood in accordance with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.