Human rights defenders more than ever at risk
Geneva-New York-Paris, October 24, 2011. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) releases today its 14th Annual Report on the situation of human rights defenders during a press conference held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Click to access the report and Press release
Click here to access the press kit
While the revolutions that took place in the Arab world in 2011 reminded the international community of the emergency to put the issue of human rights back at the top of its political agenda, utmost attention must be paid to the alerts made by human rights defenders worldwide, and no compromise must be made towards the harassment they face.
The release of the Annual Report is a key momentum of the daily activity of the Observatory. This report tells of the struggle of human rights defenders in about 70 countries - civil society activists, journalists, trade-unionists, lawyers or simple citizens “indignant” at injustice, arbitrariness, or horror.
The document highlights the universality of the claims raised by the “Arab Spring”. As pointed out by Stéphane Hessel and Aung San Suu Kyi in the foreword to the report, “everywhere, respect for human rights was at the heart of the peoples’ claims, (…) These movements did not feed on identity, religious or cultural politics, but were rather founded on the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (…)”.
“At the same time”, FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen says, “human rights defenders are more than ever at risk. As the Report is being published, the blood bath continues in Syria, in Libya and in Yemen. In Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Americas, Asia, human rights defenders are harassed, imprisoned, sometimes tortured”.
For OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock, “far from being recognised for what they are - vital protagonists for change, the guarantors of a free society - human rights defenders are, on the contrary, subjected daily to repression by regimes that are all the harsher for having understood the force and the legitimacy of their claims”. “The present report calls for stronger protection for those involved in human rights and democracy”, he concludes.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), accompanies, follows and protects human rights defenders at risk throughout the year.

Complete version of the annual report
The report is divided by region:
Introduction / Methodology
North Africa / Middle East
Sub-Saharan Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Annexes
Map
Report
is also available in French and Spanish
Press contacts:
OMCT: Sarah Petitpierre: +41 (0) 22 809 49 21
FIDH: Arthur Manet / Karine Appy: +33(0) 1 43 55 90 19 /14 12
The FIDH
and OMCT wish to thank the European Union for making the publication of this report possible, as well as the International Organisation of the
Francophonie, the Republic and Canton of Geneva, the Norwegian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry
of Foreign and European Affairs,
the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Sigrid
Rausing Trust for their support. Its content is the sole responsibility of OMCT
and FIDH and should in no way be interpreted as reflecting the view(s) of the supporting
institutions.
ENG_map observatory
4.31 MB
ENG_Media Kit
8 pages / 1.19 MB
ENG_Press Release
2 pages / 96 KB
ENG_SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
138 pages / 1.82 MB
ENG_Americas
107 pages / 1.65 MB
ENG_Annexes
29 pages / 1.14 MB
ENG_Asia
130 pages / 1.80 MB
ENG_Annual Report 2011
616 pages / 6.29 MB
ENG_Introduction and Methodology
18 pages / 1.13 MB
ENG_Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
111 pages / 1.66 MB
ENG_North africa/ Middle east
79 pages / 1.49 MB
Russian version of the Observatory Annual Report 2011
131 pages / 2.93 MB
Arabic version of the Observatory Annual Report 2011
106 pages / 1.23 MB
Russian version of the Press Kit of the Annual Report 2011
5 pages / 1.14 MB
Publication of the Russian version of the Annual Report 2011
2 pages / 363 KB
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