GEO 001 / 0309 / OBS 054
Acts of harassment
Georgia
March 30, 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), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Georgia.
The Observatory has been informed by the Human Rights Centre (HRIDC) about acts of harassment against Mr. Arnold Stepanyan, a defender of the human rights of minorities in Georgia, Chairman of the human rights NGO “Multinational Georgia” and co-founder of the Multiethnic Resource Centre for Civil Education Development.
According to the information received, on March 19, 2009, a district police inspector visited, for the first time, the offices of the Multiethnic Resource Centre for Civil Education Development, though they are located next to the Ministry of Defence in an area closely monitored by law enforcement bodies, and asked questions about the organisation and its leadership.
On the same day, a person, who refused to identify himself, called and asked a staff member whether Mr. Arnold Stepanyan was Chairman of “Multinational Georgia”, whether he was at the moment in the office and when he would come to the office.
In addition, on March 19, 2009, the Tax Inspection Office of the Ministry of Finance closed down a small business called “Arnold Stepanyan”, which was established in 2000 and was run by Mr. Stepanyan’s father in his flat and a company called “Giperioni Limited”, which was co-established by Mr. Arnold Stepanyan in 2006.
These acts follow the transmission to the Council of Europe, early 2009, of a critical alternative report on the protection of minority rights in Georgia, of which Mr. Stepanyan, as Chairman of “Multinational Georgia”, is one of the authors. Mr. Stepanyan is also an expert in the field of inter-ethnic relations, an active member of the Assembly of Tbilisi Armenians and Co-founder of the NGO Coalition “For Democracy”. Finally, Mr. Stepanyan is a member of a group that organised a demonstration held in Tbilisi on March 15, 2009 calling for justice and freedom.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about these acts of harassment against Mr. Arnold Stepanyan, which seem to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities.
The Observatory recalls that as a Participating State of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Georgia must conform with paragraph 8 of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions, which states that the OSCE Participating States recognise “the need for particular attention, support and protection for human rights defenders by the OSCE, its institutions and field operations, as well as by participating States”.
The Observatory also urges the Georgian authorities to conform to the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on Human Rights Defenders, so as to create an environment conducive to human rights defenders, to take effective measures to protect, promote, and respect them, to ensure their access to effective remedies and to take action to prevent attacks and harassment against them.
Please write to the Georgian authorities urging them to:
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Georgia in your respective countries.
Geneva - Paris, March 30, 2009
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of human rights defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax OMCT : + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 (0) 22 809 49 29
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 33 (0) 1 43 55 18 80
Email: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
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