Even the United Nations is not necessarily a safe place for human rights defenders.
In his recently released report on reprisals, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres
named 40 countries across the world where human rights defenders faced threats and retaliation from the state for cooperating with the U.N. on human rights work.
The report, “
Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights,” noted that over 220 people and 25 organizations from these countries faced increased risk of surveillance, legal proceedings, travel bans and threats, for working with the U.N. and its mechanisms.
Among the Asian countries named in the report that are making it
harder for human rights defenders to work are China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
According to the report – which covers the period May 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023 – more human rights defenders are experiencing increased surveillance by alleged state actors. It also noted a growing trend where defenders have opted not to cooperate with the U.N. for fear of reprisal.
The
International Service for Human Rights says “human rights defenders are people who are making the world a better and fairer place by promoting and protecting human rights.”
“Unfortunately, in some countries, the government or powerful corporate interests harass or try to discredit people who defend human rights and lock them out of public discussions and silence their voices.”
The
Global Analysis 2022 report of Frontline Defenders, released last April, says 401 human rights defenders were killed in 26 countries last year. Because they chose to speak out against injustice, “they paid for it with their lives,” says the report.
Some states leery of dissent and which are being called out for their repressive policies have criminalized human rights defenders including those who work for international organizations like the U.N.
Almost 45 percent of the countries named in Guterres’s report — including those in Asia — ”continued to apply or enact new laws and regulations concerning civil society, counterterrorism and national security, which punish, deter or hinder cooperation with the U.N. and its human rights mechanisms.”
“These legislative frameworks represent severe obstacles to long-standing human rights partners of the U.N. worldwide, and were used to outlaw some of them, raid their offices, and question, threaten or try their staff,” the organization said.
“We have a duty to those who put their trust in us,” said assistant secretary general for human rights Brands Kehris. “That is why at the U.N., we are determined to live up to our collective responsibility to prevent and address intimidation and reprisals against those who cooperate with the organization and its human rights mechanisms.”