English  |  Français  |  Español
 
OMCT LogoOMCT logo
Make a donationRSSOMCT on FacebookOMCT on TwitterOMCT BlogHomeAbout OMCTActivitiesCATOMCT NetworkOMCT EuropeContactsMake a donation
  • Urgent campaigns
  • Assistance to victims
  • Human rights defenders
  • ESCR
  • Rights of the child
  • Violence against women
  • Monitoring protection mechanisms
 Save as PDF Print version
Human rights defenders / Reports and Publications / 2009 / June

Steadfast in Protest - The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders publishes its Annual Report 2009

[also available in Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic]

media kit


Paris-Geneva, 19th June 2009. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), which supports, monitors and protects human rights defenders throughout the year, is publishing today its 2009 Annual Report. The report, of which foreword was written by Roberto Saviano, focuses on the year-round fight for human rights throughout the world.

Repression of demonstrations, trade union members arrested, NGOs under surveillance: for years these facts have been related to situations of economic and social imbalance and inequity. The rise in social discontent linked to the world economic crisis has increased the repression recorded in recent years. The Annual Report 2009 of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders shows that in inverse proportion to the fall of the stock exchanges, the inflation of freedom-killing practices and laws relating to the control of the social body was one of the significant characteristics of the problems encountered by human rights defenders in 2008.

Roberto Saviano, author of the foreword, warns: « “crises” in 2008 have already resulted in an increase in social protest movements. In Cambodia, Cameroon, South Korea, Tunisia, Colombia, Zimbabwe and elsewhere, women and men have poured onto the streets to demand respect for their social and economic rights, and the peaceful leaders of these demonstrations are too often the targets of repression. Is this a taste of what is in store for us in the framework of the current crisis and the social movements to which it will legitimately lead? ».

For Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President, « the social tension that has spread to all continents has had, all over the world, consequences in terms of freedoms of assembly, association and expression, which largely go beyond the mere framework of the defence of labour or social rights ».

This report celebrates the steadfast protest of all human rights defenders: « The numerous international human rights instruments and their monitoring mechanisms  are not a sufficient guarantee against violations. If the public opinion does not remain vigilant, their implementation will remain a dead letter. More than ever, in these times of crises, human rights defenders, through their rigorous investigations, their uncompromised actions and their unselfish commitment constitute the last rampart against arbitrariness. Repressive States have understood it well, and increasingly target those defenders of freedom », concludes Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.

This report is published in French, English and Spanish in its entirety. A translation in Russian will be available for the section on Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and a translation in Arabic will be available for the section on the North African and Middle East region.

In addition, an annex containing all cases dealt with by the Observatory in 2008 will be available on a CD-Rom later on.

A press conference is being held on 19 June in Switzerland and several others will be organised throughout July, notably in Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Georgia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, India and Cambodia, thanks to the support from OMCT and FIDH member and partner organisations.

The full version of the annual report in PDF

Analysis by region

  • Foreword and Introduction
  • North Africa and Middle East
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Americas
  • Asia
  • Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
  • Annexes

For more information please contact:

  • FIDH : Karine Appy / Gaël Grilhot : 01 43 55 25 18 / 06 48 05 91 57 / 06 72 284 294
  • OMCT : Delphine Reculeau : + 41 22 809 49 39 / 52 42

Properties

Date: June 19, 2009
Activity: Human Rights Defenders
Type: Reports and Publications

Attachments

  • the full version of the annual report in pdf
    533 pages / 3.47 MB


  • 8 pages / 1.24 MB

  • foreword and introduction
    14 pages / 326 KB

  • north africa and middle east
    65 pages / 427 KB

  • sub-saharan africa
    120 pages / 698 KB

  • americas
    111 pages / 684 KB

  • asia
    119 pages / 752 KB

  • europe and the commonwealth of independent states (cis)
    70 pages / 719 KB

  • annexes
    31 pages / 146 KB

  • obs_report09_cover_eng.jpg
    22 KB

  • russian
    150 pages / 2.32 MB

Share this

Tweet

Languages

This page is available in:

English
French
Spanish


You can also translate it on the fly:

Recently Viewed Articles

OMCT International Secretariat
PO Box 21, 8, rue du Vieux-Billard, CH-1211 Geneva 8, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 809 4939
Fax: + 41 22 809 4929
E-mail:
OMCT Europe
Rue Franklin 111
1000 Brussels
Tel. / Fax: +32 2 218 37 19
E-mail:
OMCT TUNIS
3, Rue Hassen Ibn Nooman
Cité Jardins | Tunis 1002
Tel: +216 71 791 114
Fax: +216 71 791 115
E-mail:
  • Blog
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Rss
  • Privacy Policy