Joint Statement on the human rights situation in North Africa and Sudan at the 48th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
Joint Oral Intervention, Item 4 – Human Rights
Situation in Africa
48th ordinary session of the African
Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
11
November 2010
CIHRS, FIDH, CFDA, and OMCT
Thank you Madame
Chairperson,
The
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), the International Federation
for Human Rights (FIDH), la Collectif des Familles des Disparus en Algerie (CFDA),
and the World Organization against Torture (OMCT), are deeply concerned about
the grave human rights violations that have continued to take place on a
regular basis in North Africa since the last session of the African Commission
for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). In particular, the past few months have
been dire for Human Rights Defenders, activists, and civil society in Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. We denounce the escalation
in violations of the Rights to Freedom of Expression, Opinion, and Assembly as
enshrined in articles 9, 10, and 11 of the African Charter, as well as in the
ICCPR and other international legal instruments.
Egypt has failed to demonstrate any
real commitment to improving the state of Human Rights in the country. On the
contrary, in May Egypt broke the promise it had made
to the international community and to its own citizens, when it renewed the
Emergency Law, in place almost continuously since 1967, for another 2 years. Egypt continues to use the
protracted Emergency Law as a tool to harass, detain, silence, intimidate, and
torture members of its civil society and stifle dissenting opinion. In
September, three activists, amongst them a researcher at CIHRS, were forcibly
disappeared by unidentified security agencies and interrogated under harsh
conditions before being released.
We
are also deeply concerned about the increase in the use of violence to prevent
peaceful protests and gatherings in Egypt. On the 21st of
September, peaceful demonstrations in Cairo and Alexandria in opposition to the
suspected succession of President Mubarak’s son were met with brutality. The
police and security forces were quick to act in cordoning off crowds, detaining
activists, and using physical force and batons to beat, restrain and limit the
movement of demonstrators. Journalists and people walking by, were amongst
those targeted, attacked, and harassed by riot police and security.
In
addition, the pressure placed on NGOs has also increased to such an extent that
several NGOs having been unable to carry out their work as a consequence of
harassment by the government. The government has launched a hostile campaign
against the Centre for Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS), whose offices
were subjected to surprise inspections, without any
prior notice by the Commission of the Ministry of Social Solidarity in April. The campaign
against CTUWS has only escalated in response to their participation in the 99th
session of the International Labor Association (ILO) in June.
In
Sudan, the situation has continued
to deteriorate since the elections and is particularly concerning for human
rights defenders and journalists. Mr. Abdelrahman Al-Gasim, a prominent human
rights defender from Darfur, was supposed to be here today, before this House, to speak
to you about the human rights situation in his country, as he has done several
times before during his frequent engagement with the Commission. However, on
Saturday night, October 30th, Mr. Al-Gasim was arrested along with 5
other human rights defenders. His whereabouts remain unknown, and no official
charges have been brought against him.
Were Mr. Al-Gasim not forcibly
disappeared and arbitrarily detained by the government of Sudan, he would be here to speak
about the continuing crackdown on Freedom of Expression and Association in the
country. The 2010 National Security Act and 1991 Criminal Act
have been used to undermine journalistic freedom of expression. Both partisan and non-partisan
newspapers have suffered severe blows under the policy of pre-censorship,
whereby editors are intimidated into silence. Journalists have been tried in
unfair trials as a consequence of their writings, and there has been a return
to the practice of blocking websites. Media freedoms have been curtailed also
in the South.
The situation is particularly dire for
those who express dissenting political opinion. Shortly after the arrest of
Popular Congress Party leader Hassan Al Turabi, who was held without charge by
the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) from May 15 - June 30, 4
staff members of party-affiliated newspaper Rai
Al Shaabwere arrested and held incommunicado. At least
two of the journalists were tortured during detention, including through the
use of electric shocks. Under unfair trials, three of the four journalists were
sentenced for prison terms of 2 and 5 years on vague charges of “undermining
the constitutional system” and “publishing false news.” This is merely one
example of the many violations in post-election Sudan,
which warns of more to come as the 2011 referendum approaches.
We
continue to be concerned about the lack of tolerance for dissenting voices in Libya,
where spaces for civil society, independent media, and freedom of assembly
remain extremely limited. Repressive legislation outlawing any form of
independent thought or group activity remains in force, and the red line for
tolerance is drawn at any criticism of the Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi or the
current political system.
The
peaceful exercise of freedom of expression and association remains largely
criminalized, individuals who criticize the authorities or seek to organize
anti-government protests have faced reprisals, and the government still does
not permit the establishment of independent human rights organizations.
In Algeria,
the authorities haverecently revealed they would stop at nothing to supress
Freedom of Expression and Association. In an attempt to silence the voices of
the families of victims of enforced disappearances, the authorities used
violence to break up two consecutive weekly peaceful demonstrations in August.
The families of the disappeared have been participating in these peaceful
demonstrations for over 10 years to demand answers from the government about
the fate of the more than 8000 that were disappeared by the Algerian security
forces between 1992 and this date. On the 4th of August the
authorities denied the families of victims the right to demonsrate, stripping
them not only of their right to truth, but even the ability to seek it. A demonstration took place on the 11th of August where many human
rights defenders, activists, and ordinary citizens, gathered in solidarity with
the families. The security forces suppressed demonstrators including mothers
and old grandmothers of victims. Lawyers and human rights defenders were also
assaulted. The police arrested four demonstrators, among them members of the
Algerian Association for the defense of Human Rights and an 82 year old man.
Authorities in Algeria also
continued to monopolize both the visual and the auditory media, and have been
violent in their rejection of new independent media. In May, the security
forces prevented the organization of a peaceful gathering to demand the lifting
of censorship on the public media and to allow Algerians to create and
broadcast media that is able to represent and reflect the social and political
diversity in the country. The security forces arrested 14 people carrying
banners and interrogated them at a police station before releasing them.
Tunisia continues to have all the features of a police
state, and this July a law was passed further enhancing the system of
repression by the state.The Tunisian
cabinet passed an amendment to article 61 of the Tunisian Penal Code
criminalizing “any persons who shall, directly or indirectly, have contacts
with agents of a foreign country, foreign institution or organization in order
to encourage them to affect the vital interests of Tunisia
and its economic security.” This law could have serious effects on the ability
of human rights defenders to carry out their work and poses
a real risk to
anyone who is critical of the authorities or speaks up
on human rights.
It is not
possible in Tunisia
to set up independent human rights associations without risk of harassment.
Activists can be tried and imprisoned on trumped up charges, and it is not
uncommon for family and friends to be harassed as well. Whilst there are over
9000 official Civil Society organizations in Tunisia, only a few are fully
independent, and none can operate without government interference, from close
surveillance, office raids and smear campaigns; to direct attacks and death
threats.
Not only do these
violations continue unabated in North Africa, but they continue within the
framework of widespread and total impunity. Such a climate offers meager hopes
for accountability, progress, or adequate compensation to victims. We call on
the African Commission to address the state of Human Rigths in this sub-region
through a resolution, and we urge the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
Defenders, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, and the Special
Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention, to undertake fact finding
missions to these countries as a first step towards addressing the tools of
repression used to strangle the civil societies and citizens of North Africa.
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