The fundamental and necessary conditions which allow for the creation and maintenance of a safe and enabling environment for civil society are being systematically threatened across the globe. This precipitous decline in respect for fundamental civil liberties, including the rights to expression, association and assembly, is afflicting both emerging and consolidated democracies. The examples highlighted below, while particularly acute, are only illustrative of the global backsliding on the promotion and protection of civil society rights that the Council must address without delay.
In advance of general elections scheduled for May 2015, the Government of Ethiopia has severely escalated its unrelenting crackdown to silence all forms of dissent in the country. With at least 17 journalists behind bars, Ethiopia maintains one of highest rates of imprisoned journalists in the world. Ethiopia, which has only one opposition party representative in its 547 member directly elected lower house, risks sliding deeper into authoritarianism if it fails to address these and other democratic deficits in advance of its upcoming elections.
In Azerbaijan, the government has orchestrated an unprecedented campaign to suppress and persecute human rights defenders, independent media and civil society organizations. In 2014 alone, Azerbaijani authorities convicted or imprisoned 34 HRDs, political and civic activists, and journalists on a number of spurious charges. Moreover, since May 2014, authorities have frozen the bank accounts of at least 50 independent organizations severely undermining the right to freedom of association.
In Bahrain, the government has patently failed to address continued human rights violations in the country. Thousands of political prisoners reportedly remain in prison today and are routinely subjected to ill-treatment and torture. Most recently prominent human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Al-khawaja were convicted under politically motivated charges in a blatant attempt to suppress their legitimate human rights work. We also remain deeply concerned by the government’s growing invocation of national security laws to revoke the citizenship of peaceful human rights defenders.
CIVICUS strongly urges the Human Rights Council to take concerted action to address the continued deprivation of fundamental civil society rights, and calls on the governments of Ethiopia, Azerbaijan and Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release all of human rights defenders persecuted for exercising their legitimate human rights.