UN Human Rights Council: End reprisals against those engaging with the UN | Joint letter

See full joint letter .pdf (ENG) (updated signatory list)

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada is among 30 NGOs participating in a 5 October 2021 joint letter sent to UN Human Rights Council members and observer States. Initiated by the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) seeking support for a UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution to strengthen responses by the UN and States to end intimidation and reprisals against those who engage with the UN. For background see ISHR’s overview. See the UN Secretary General’s annual report on reprisals to the HRC and the Assistant Secretary General’s statement on 29 September 2021 indicating a possible pattern of in several countries including China, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Viet Nam, as well as India, Israel, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Venezuela. Also see the May 2021 ISHR report demonstrating that sustained UN attention to reprisals has a positive impact for human rights defenders subjected to such reprisals. (See ISHR’s 1:40-minute video summary.)

To: Members of the UN Human Rights Council

CC: Observer States

5 October 2021

HRC48: Support resolution on ‘Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights’ at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council

Fiji, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland and Uruguay have presented a draft resolution at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council on cooperation with the UN. The draft resolution aims to strengthen the responses by the UN and States to put an end to acts of intimidation and reprisals against those who engage with the UN. We urge your delegation to support the adoption of the draft resolution and resist efforts to undermine and weaken it.

Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights at the community, national, regional and international levels, to exercise freedoms of expression, association and to communicate with intergovernmental organisations. States have an obligation to ensure the safety and security of persons seeking to engage with the United Nations, including online, to prevent reprisals by State or non-State actors and to condemn, ensure accountability, and access to an effective remedy where reprisals do occur. This right is explicitly recognised in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and is codified in specific treaty provisions[1], and was reaffirmed by the Human Rights Council at its 42nd session.

The draft resolution also aims to draw attention to the worsening trend of reprisals and intimidation and strengthen the responses by the UN and States. It invites the Secretary-General to submit his annual reprisals report also to the General Assembly as from its seventy-seventh session, which will ensure greater attention to the issue and contribute to a more coherent system-wide response across the UN. The draft resolution also welcomes the role of the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights (ASG) and encourages the ASG to strengthen efforts for a more comprehensive UN system wide response to preventing and addressing reprisals, including by information gathering and data analysis and improving and coordinating responses by all UN actors.

The draft resolution also welcomes the steps taken by the President of the Human Rights Council and encourages the President to continue addressing acts of intimidation and reprisals including publicly. The Council President has the responsibility to protect the Council’s processes and defend its integrity, particularly as it relates to the right of civil society to participate fully and safely in its work. Attacks against those that cooperate with the Council, or its mechanisms, constitute not solely an attack on those individuals but on the institution itself, and the President has a crucial role to play in preventing and addressing those attacks. The President addressing reprisals with concerned States and providing information on cases to the Council at each session is an integral aspect of meeting that responsibility.  The Council should highlight the importance and legitimacy of publicly addressing cases of reprisals where appropriate, since evidence shows that sustained attention by the UN as well as follow-up on cases by multiple actors within the UN system are more likely to positively impact victims and the Presidency has had a very poor record of publicly engaging on reprisal cases related to the HRC in recent years.

We urge your delegation to support the adoption of the draft resolution on ‘Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights’ and to resist efforts to undermine and weaken the draft resolution.

Sincerely,

1. Access Now
2. Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights

3. Amnesty International

4. ARTICLE 19

5. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUMASIA)

6. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

7. Center for Reproductive Rights

8. Centre Africain pour la Démocratie et la Gouvernance (CADEG)

9. Centro para los Defensores y la Justicia (CDJ)

10. Chinese Human Rights Defenders

11. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

12. Coalition of African Lesbians

13. Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience

14. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)

15. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)

16. Franciscans International

17. Human Rights House Foundation

18. Human Rights in China

19. International Commission of Jurists

20. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

21. IFEX

22. International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality)

23. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)

24. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

25. Karapatan, Philippines

26. Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada

27. Minority Rights Group International (MRG)

28. Peace Brigades International

29. Réseau Camerounais des Organisations des Droits de l’Homme (RECODH)

30. Sexual Rights Initiative

31. World Evangelical Alliance

[1] See: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Torture, Article 15; Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 11; Optional Protocol to the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 13; and Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, Article 4.