
Human rights defenders (HRDs) put their lives at stake to defend our
rights in court, on paper, on the street, before the powerful or behind closed
doors. Today, on the occasion of the International
Human Rights Day, OMCT celebrates, thanks them and makes noise
around their plight and achievements to ensure their greater protection.
"We have decided to put up around our offices the portraits of all
the fallen defenders," said Hina Jilani, OMCT's President, who is
based in Pakistan."Now all the walls
are covered."
An estimated 3,500 human rights
defenders have been killed around the world because of their
peaceful work defending the rights of others since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration
on Human Rights Defenders by consensus two decades
ago. In many cases, these killings have been carried out by State agents
or with the collusion of State officials. Most cases have not led to any
charges or convictions. In recent years, the number of killings and the
number of countries in which they take place have done nothing but rise. Many
killings are not even legally documented. Yet pervasive impunity is precisely
what normalizes the killings and perpetuates them. The repression
of land and environmental rights HRDs continues to increase,
and violations are especially serious or systematic in contexts of
conflict, crisis or political transition. The fight against
terrorism is an easy excuse for most States who do not hesitate to invoke
security threats when in fact the real threat is opposition to the interests of
the powerful.
The seven HRDs from Honduras, Mexico,
Sri Lanka, Belarus, the Russian Federation, Guatemala that OMCT
has interviewed in the framework of its #MakeNoise4HRDs social media campaign did
not hesitate: they have taken considerable risks and made huge sacrifices
for the sake of protecting the rights of others. It is our turn to
defend HRDs by letting the world know how much they sacrifice for defending our
rights and how much we owe them. The one thing that
effectively protects HRDs is raising
awareness about the risks they run for us. And if not, at least their message will
still carry on being heard.
Join
our campaign: watch these stories and post them using #MakeNoise4HRDs.
Ruki Fernando
(Sri Lanka):
Yuri Melini (Guatemala):
Alberto Xicoténcatl Carrasco (Mexico):
Dina Meetabel Meza Elvir (Honduras):
Shahinda Ismail (Maldives):
Maksim Kurnikov (Russia):
Olga Karatch (Belarus):
OMCT wishes to thank the Republic and Canton of Geneva for its support. Its content is the sole responsibility of OMCT and should in no way be interpreted as reflecting the view(s) of the supporting institution.

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