The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, wish to draw the attention of the Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the situation of human rights defenders in some OSCE Participating States.
In 2010 and 2011, human rights defenders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continued to operate in a difficult, often hostile and dangerous environment. The climate of impunity that continued to reign for serious human rights violations and crimes under international law threatened independent human rights work and the ability of human rights defenders to document abuse. The lack of accountability and respect for the rule of law remained acute in Uzbekistan,
Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Federation, especially in the autonomous Chechen Republic and in Ingushetia, where arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and other forms of ill-treatment continued to be accompanied with impunity. In an environment of limited judicial independence and executive interferences into the judiciary there was insufficient protection against the arbitrary use of powers. International remedies remained therefore in many of the countries in the region the only feasible avenue for
vindicating their rights effectively. This was particularly evident in relation to the role of the security and intelligence services that factually operate outside an effective system of checks and balances.
The period was marked by the further consolidation of authoritarian rule in the region (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). The situation particularly deteriorated in Belarus, where the presidential elections held on December 19 ended up in a violent crackdown against the opposition and the civil society. Ukraine further moved to authoritarian rule with allegations of a
number of politically motivated persecutions. In addition, in the context of the democratic transitions in North Africa, the authorities of countries in the region started to react particularly strongly to the exercise of the right to freedom of assembly. In Azerbaijan and Georgia, anti-governmental protests in 2011 were followed by a wave of politically-motivated acts of repression and crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators.
Furthermore, the authorities in the region used a variety of means, including restrictive legal frameworks, to limit freedom of expression through licensing regulations, Internet restrictions and other forms of media control. Independent media outlets were subjected to interferences and in some cases closed (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan).
The influence by the international community on countries of the region (Belarus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) has led to no significant improvement. In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the economic and security interests continued to limit the pressure to improve the human rights situation. Moreover, the proximity to war-zones of Afghanistan and the presence of foreign military bases was another reason for the development of cooperation with the West. After a thaw in relations with Belarus since 2008, the European Union imposed sanctions against the country at the beginning of 2011 as a response to the post-electoral wave of repression. The pressure against human rights defenders, however, continued. Although the international community had high expectations of Kazakhstan’s 2010 Chairmanship of the OSCE, it brought no improvements
to the human rights situation. The authorities introduced on the contrary a series of measures restricting freedoms of the Internet and the media and protecting the officials from defamation, and the President from any prosecution.
Obstacles to human rights defenders’ freedoms of association and peaceful assembly
In 2010-2011, the authorities in the region continued to resort to a variety of restrictive laws to impede the work of human rights defenders with the aim to control civil society organisations and by lending to the arbitrary use of powers. This included laws on non-governmental organisations (NGOs), tax laws and assembly laws. National security laws and policies also continued to impose a restrictive framework for human rights defenders’ activities, including counter-terrorism or extremism laws. In Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, human rights NGOs continued to work without official registration, risking prosecution under the Criminal Code (Belarus). In Azerbaijan, the Government put in place stricter rules for registering NGOs. The authorities of Georgia also tightened control over the NGOs working on issues related to South Ossetia and
Abkhazia in the context of the post-war with the Russian Federation. In some countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Russian Federation), State control over the funding of the NGOs, and the multiple attempts by the authorities to discourage and frustrate them from receiving funding from foreign donors was a way to hamper civil society’s activities. In Ukraine, although the legal framework in which human rights defenders operated remained restricted, a draft law on freedom of association discussed by the Parliament could improve the registration of NGOs. Turkmen human rights defenders were for their part on several occasions denied access to OSCE meetings dedicated to human rights by the Kazakhstan Chairmanship, because the Turkmen authorities objected their participation.
Throughout the region, it also remained difficult to organise and hold peaceful meetings dedicated to human rights issues. In Armenia, while a new Law on Assembly was adopted in 2011, freedom of assembly often remained limited in practice. A draft Law on Peaceful Assemblies was also adopted at first reading in Ukraine, providing for a number of improvements while falling still short of international standards, and several peaceful rallies held in favour of the
defence of human rights were repressed. In Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation and Belarus, it remained practically impossible to obtain permission from the authorities to hold a peaceful meeting. Human rights defenders taking part in peaceful assemblies also faced acts of violence perpetrated by law-enforcement authorities, arrested, and sometimes imprisoned or fined
(Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan). In Uzbekistan the fines were so heavy that human rights defenders could not pay them.
Increasing pressure on human rights defenders in the context of elections and of internal violence
In 2010-2011, election periods led to an increase of interferences and threats to human rights defenders, who were easily and often falsely equated with the opposition and subsequently subjected to hindrances and acts of harassment. The pressure on defenders particularly increased in Belarus following the December elections. In Azerbaijan, defenders were particularly exposed after the November 2010 elections. In Kyrgyzstan, the environment after the ethnic clashes in the
south of the country remained extremely volatile for human rights defenders. Those who monitored human rights violations committed during the clashes and worked to protect the Uzbek minority were particularity subjected to harassment. The climate of national security threats also led to the portrayal of human rights defenders as unpatriotic and as threatening national security
and stability (Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan). Moreover, in a number of countries of the region the climate for human rights defenders either renders rigorous human rights work difficult or leads to levels of self-restrain or self-censorship on sensitive human rights issues.
Judicial harassment of human rights defenders throughout the region and ill-treatment in detention
Throughout the region, human rights defenders continued to be subjected to judicial harassment and arbitrary detentions as reprisals for their activities (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan). Uzbekistan remained the country with the highest number of human rights defenders serving long prison sentences, most often in
strict regime colonies. Furthermore, due to the poor conditions of prison facilities and acts of ill-treatments against them, in most cases their health drastically deteriorated. In Turkmenistan, the exact number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including human rights defenders, remained unknown as the prisons remained closed to international and local observers. In Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Federation, some human rights defenders also
continued to serve their sentences often with allegations of ill-treatment in detention. Some of them were refused parole or applications for early release (Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan).
Assaults and threats left unpunished
In 2010 and 2011, human rights defenders faced threats and assaults from both State and non-State actors in several countries of the region (Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). Turkmen human rights defenders working in exile reported death threats and harassment by the authorities. In both Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan, human rights defenders’ families and acquaintances were frequently threatened. In several countries such as the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, human rights defenders were physically abused. Some attacks were carried out by - or in the presence of - law enforcement authorities. In the Russian Federation, human rights defenders were targeted in connection to the investigation of environmental degradations and alleged corruption. In addition,
activists defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) as well as combating discrimination and racism were again victims of violence by neo-Nazi groups. Defenders documenting cases of corruption were also targeted in Georgia, Tajikistan and Ukraine, where a journalist disappeared. In most of the cases these threats and attacks were not investigated. In the Russian Federation, only one out of the several cases of assassination of
human rights defenders reached to the hearing stage resulting in a final verdict.
Ongoing surveillance and defamation campaigns against human rights defenders
Human rights defenders were also subjected to ongoing surveillance and defamation campaigns. In Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and in Azerbaijan in general, but also in the Chechen Republic (Russian Federation), Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, human rights defenders were subjected to defamation campaigns orchestrated by the authorities. Some were stigmatised as “enemies of the people” (Kyrgyzstan), “traitors” and “Russian spies” (Georgia),
“enemies” and “Armenians” (Azerbaijan), as “working for Western donors” and “lobbying sanctions against the authorities” (Belarus), as “minorities protectors” and “anti-Russian” (Russian Federation), and as “traitors” and “terrorists” (Uzbekistan). Such defamation campaigns aimed at discouraging human rights defenders to carry out their activities and to encourage violence against them by the population.
Human rights defenders were also put under strict surveillance in almost all countries of the region. Their ability to communicate freely was particularly undermined in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as their phone lines were tapped and their e-mails controlled. In addition, during the presidential election campaign in Belarus, human rights defenders - especially those monitoring the elections - were subjected to long checks at the border and
confiscation of materials. Human rights defenders were also harassed by the customs in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
Obstacles to freedom of movement of human rights defenders
A number of obstacles to human rights defenders’ freedom of movement were observed in 2010 and 2011 in some countries of the region. In Uzbekistan, security services regularly followed or put Tashkent-based human rights defenders under house arrest, or impeded those working in the regions from coming to the capital. In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, they were often denied the
right to leave the country. One Turkmen journalist from RFE/RL who lives in exile was denied entry into his homeland. In these countries, the authorities were particular vigilant of people having contacts with foreigners. Belarus also ordered several Russian human rights defenders monitoring the human rights situation at the national level to leave the country.
Recommendations
In view of the situation of human rights defenders in the OSCE area, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders urges OSCE Participating States to:
•Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of human rights defenders in the OSCE Participating States;
•Put an end to the continuous repression of human rights defenders and their
organisations;
•Release immediately and unconditionally all human rights defenders since their detention is arbitrary as it only aims at sanctioning their human rights activities;
•Order immediate, thorough, impartial and transparent investigations into the above-mentioned threats, and attacks in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law;
•Fully recognise the vital role of defenders in the advent of democracy and the rule of law;
•Review their national legislation to conform with international and regional human rights instruments, in particular regarding freedoms of association and assembly;
•Comply with the provisions of the final document of the 1990 Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension, of the
Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) and of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly;
•Support and implement all recommendations brought to them from the March 2006 Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Human Rights Defenders;
•Comply with the provisions of the resolution titled “Strengthening OSCE
engagement with human rights defenders and national human rights institutions”, adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Kiev on July 10, 2007;
• Support and implement all recommendations brought to them from the March 2006 Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Human Rights Defenders;
•Comply with the provisions of the resolution titled “Strengthening OSCE
engagement with human rights defenders and national human rights institutions”, adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Kiev on July 10, 2007;
• Fully take into account the suggestions of commitments listed in the Report
submitted to the OSCE Ministerial Council in response to MC Decision No. 17/05 on Strengthening the Effectiveness of the OSCE;
• Strengthen the Focal Point for Human Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions established by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in order to provide it with means to develop its protective mandate.
Contacts:
– E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
– Tel and fax FIDH: + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
– Tel and fax OMCT: + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29