Front Line Defenders reports that 156 HRDs were killed or died in detention in 25 countries in the first eleven months of 2015. More than half of those killings, 87, took place in Latin America, with Colombia alone accounting for 54 killings. Outside the Americas one of the starkest figures was the total of 31 targeted killings of HRDs in the Philippines.

This situation marked a general increase over the previous year, both in the number of killings and in the number of countries where they occurred. Killings were reported in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey and Yemen.

Overall, 45% of the killings were linked to the defence of environmental, land and indigenous peoples’ rights. Other groups targeted included HRDs working on corruption and impunity as well as journalists and other HRDs using the media – including online and social media – to denounce abuses. Another area of concern is the targeting of women human rights defenders, who are exposed not only to risks related to their work, but also to gender-based violence, harassment and stigma.

Arbitrary detention and judicial harassment were by far the most common tactics used by African states against HRDs. Front Line Defenders documented such cases in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Somaliland, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 2015 also saw the space for HRDs in Angola, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda shrink further, due to new laws and increased governmental interference with the work of independent human rights organisations or new laws.

Defending human rights in Latin America remained extremely dangerous and the criminalisation of the defence of human rights and peaceful protest movements persisted. The most worrying issue remained extreme violence. Most at risk were environmental, indigenous peoples’ and land rights defenders; they were the victims of 41% of the killings in the region. Almost all of these cases were linked to opposition to so-called ‘mega-projects’, especially those conducted by mining companies. HRDs working on sexual orientation and gender identity were also a particular target. LGBTI rights defenders accounted for 15% of the killings reported in the region, making them the second-most targeted group.

HRDs in many countries in Asia continued to work in a hostile environment, and were targeted through surveillance, intimidation, threats and harassment, arbitrary detention, and torture. Judicial harassment intensified in Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and was reported in Cambodia, China, India, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. In India, HRDs Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand faced court proceedings on fabricated charges of embezzlement, misuse of funds and ‘anti-national propaganda’. Physical assaults by police, plain-clothed agents or unidentified thugs were on the increase, and occurred in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Maldives, Nepal and Vietnam. In Vietnam, according to local monitors, at least 60 activists and bloggers, including six women, were violently attacked in the first eleven months of 2015.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, NGOs are excluded from public life, deprived of visibility because of increased control over mainstream media, and depicted as foreign agents or as motivated by financial gain. Legislative restrictions were coupled with smear campaigns in Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

In May 2015, three years after its infamous ‘Foreign Agent Law’, the Russian Federation passed a law on ‘undesirable organisations’. According to this vaguely formulated legislation, the General Prosecutor authority can declare foreign organisations undesirable if they are deemed to present a threat to Russia’s constitutional order, its defence or its security. This gives significant scope for arbitrary application. In particular, the law makes any cooperation by Russian citizens with ‘undesirable organisations’ an offence punishable with up to six years’ imprisonment. Four international groups were included in the list at year’s end, including the Open Society Foundation. Other donor organisations have closed their programmes in the country as a result of the law, thus depriving civil society groups of important support.

The use of state security and counter-terrorism laws against HRDs continued to be a common tactic of repression across all regions. The excuse of the ‘fight against terrorism’ since 9/11 has been recognised as one of the key drivers for closing civil society space worldwide. With the increase in security concerns following the wake of terror attacks in Ankara, Beirut, Bamako, Paris, Tunis and elsewhere in 2015, there is a real risk that HRDs may be affected further, both in relation to the situation in their own countries and vis-à-vis support from abroad. This is a particular concern, for example, in relation to visas for temporary relocation in cases of extreme danger. “It is of the utmost importance that legitimate police and security work against those who use terrorism and mass attacks against civilians does not undermine the protection available to and needed by HRDs”, said Ms Lawlor.

Ms Lawlor also highlighted how “the environment for HRDs across the globe is increasingly restrictive and punitive and the offensive against them has reached new heights. Yet the international reaction to these deteriorating circumstances has remained weak. The Irish Government, other EU member states and those countries who believe in democracy, the rule of law and human rights must adopt an automatic policy of publicly condemning the killings of HRDs ”.

“Despite a continuing backlash against human rights defenders where HRDs have received sentences ranging from 6 to 8 and a half years for alleged economic crimes following unfair trials, it has been business as usual for the Council of Europe with a mealy mouthed response to this targeted repression”, she added.

In conclusion Ms Lawlor said, “The EU is quite happy to raise the situation in Burundi or Belarus but when it comes to Ethiopia, China, Mexico or Azerbaijan it’s a different story. Ireland and the EU must be as strong speaking up for human rights defenders in countries where they have political, economic and strategic interests as they are when it comes to the usual suspects”.

For further information or to interview Mary Lawlor please contact:

Jim Loughran, Head of Media and Communications, Front Line Defenders

Email: jim@frontlinedefenders.org; Tel +353 1 2123750+353 1 2123750 Mobile +353 (0)87 231 60 49+353 (0)87 231 60 49

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/30347