22nd Session of the
UN Human Rights Council
Item 3
General Debate
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
An enabling environment for civil society
Delivered by Enrica Barago
Thank you, Mr President.
CIVICUS calls once again the attention of the Human Rights Council to the issue of reprisals against human rights defenders and persons who seek to cooperate or have cooperated with the United Nations in the field of human rights.
We note with great concern that over the last years human rights activists around the world were tortured, detained without trial, beaten, banned from travelling, labelled traitors and subjected to various forms of inhuman treatment, mostly at the hands of state security agents. Civil society has continuously highlighted this phenomenon and has urged States to prevent and ensure adequate protection against such acts.
In particular in countries such as Bahrain, Pakistan, Libya, Uganda and the Russian Federation, human rights defenders face different levels of reprisals by State and non-State actors. In Iran, between 26th January and 22nd February 2013, eighteen journalists were arrested by Iranian authorities, as part of a growing trend whereby security agencies have blocked websites, shut down reformist newspapers and threatened family members of journalists associated with foreign media agencies.
We are however pleased that these issues are gaining more prominence and exposure within the Human Rights Council. We especially commend the efforts of the Special Rapporteur Ms Sekaggya in increasing awareness about human rights defenders at particular risk and we share regret for the outstanding visit requests such as the ones to Belarus, Burundi, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan.
Moreover, we welcome the resolution proposed by Norway focused on legislations that affect human rights defenders with the goal of improving their protection and eliminating laws that impair their work.
In conclusion, CIVICUS urges the Council to adopt by consensus the above mentioned resolution and strongly underlines the necessity to take further measures to strengthen the response to reprisals, both in preventing reprisals and responding appropriately to cases which have already occurred.
I thank you for your attention.