Month: March 2023

To: All UN Member States

Human rights defenders are people who act with humanity, serve humanity and who contribute to and bring out the best in humanity. They are key to our daily lives – they work so our governments are more transparent and accountable, our environment cleaner and safer, our schools and workplaces fairer, and our futures more sustainable. As human rights defenders confront power, privilege and prejudice, they frequently face a wide range of risks and threats, including against their organisations and their families, friends and loved ones. Despite their vital contribution, both some governments and non-State actors are still seeking to silence defenders as they expose injustices and demand accountability for all.

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders is integral to their protection and recognition, globally. It gathers and responds to information on the situation of defenders around the world, engages constructively with governments and non-State actors and provides expert recommendations to promote the effective implementation of the ‘Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms’ (The Declaration on human rights defenders).

2023 marks 25 years since the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on human rights defenders. The adoption of the Declaration was a critical point in human rights history where it articulated how existing human rights law applies to the situation of human rights defenders, recognised the importance and legitimacy of human rights activity, and the need to protect it along with those who carry it out. It is apposite that this major anniversary coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, reflecting the integral role that human rights defenders play in the realisation of universal human rights.

In 2022, the Human Rights Council reaffirmed the importance of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and its full and effective implementation, and that promoting respect, support and protection for the activities of human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, is essential to the overall enjoyment of human rights, including in conflict and post-conflict situations. In 2021, the General Assembly passed by consensus with 85 State co-sponsors a resolution acknowledging the important and legitimate role that human rights defenders played in the COVID-19 response, as well as the challenges faced as a result.

At the 52nd session of the Council, States will consider a resolution extending the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for three years. This is a key opportunity for States and the Council to demonstrate their support and recognition for the indispensable role human rights defenders play to ensure that all people enjoy freedom, dignity, justice and equality.

Our organisations therefore urge all States to support the resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders by:

participating positively in the negotiations on the resolution;

presenting early co-sponsorship of the text;

resisting any attempts to dilute the mandate or State obligations; and

supporting consensus renewal of the mandate.

Sincerely,

ACAT Belgium

ACAT Germany (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture)

ACAT Italia

ACAT RDC

ACAT Spain-Catalonia

ACAT, GHANA

ACAT-France

ACAT-Liberia

ACAT-Switzerland

ACAT-UK (Action by Christians Against Torture – UK)

Accion Solidaria on HIV/Aids

Action by Christians against Torture in Togo (ACAT TOGO)

Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture – Canada

action by Christians for the abolition of torture – Congo

Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) – Cameroon

Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture of Côte d’Ivoire

Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Burundi (Acat-Burundi)

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum

Agir ensemble pour les droits humains

AlertaVenezuela

Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man

ALKARAMA

Alliance for Democracy in Laos

American Association of University Women (AAUW)

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Amnesty International

Amnesty International Mongolia

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)

Asian Legal Resource Center

Association for Progressive Communications – APC

Association For Promotion Sustainable Development

association for the respect of indigenous rights, sustainable development and human right

Association for women and Children at Risk

Association of balal

Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM)

Aula Abierta

Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM)

Brot für die Welt

Burkina Faso Coaltion of Human Right Defenders (CBDDH)

Bytes For All, Pakistan

Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)

Center to Alternatives to Development

Centre for Human Rights & Democracy in Africa (CHRDA)

Centro de Alternativas al Desarrollo (CEALDES) – Colombia

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)

Child Rights Connect

CIVICUS

CIVILIS Human Rights

Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA)

Committee for Free Expression (Comité por la Libre Expresión C-Libre)

Community Empowerment for Progress Organization

Community Resource Centre (CRC)

Coordiantion of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience

DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)

Emonyo Yefwe International

End Impunity Organization

Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial – ECAP

Euro-mediterranean federation against enforced disappearances

European Network Against Racism

Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany

FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Forum Menschenrechte

Franciscans International

Freedom House

GALE, The Global Alliance for LGBT Education

Geneva for Human Rights – Global Training (GHR)

Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

Global Human Rights Group

Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy (OGCD)

Gulf Centre for Human Rights

Habitat International Coalition

Hallmark Media

Human Rights Association (Insan Haklari Dernegi)

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)

Human Rights Council of Australia

Human Rights Defenders Fund

Human Rights House Foundation

Humanists International

Strategic Human Rights Litigation

IFEX

ILEX Acción Jurídica

In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND)

Inclusive Bangladesh

Indigenous Peoples Rights International

Initiative for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), Inc.

Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA)

International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)

International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka

International Commission of Jurists

International Commission of Jurists Australia

International Dalit Solidarity Network

International Federation of ACATs (FIACAT)

International Planned Parenthood Federation

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

International volunteer organization for women education development

Intersex Society of Zambia

Ivorian Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CIDDH)

Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF.org)

Judicial Reform Foundation Taiwan

Karapatan Alliance Philippines

KIOS Foundation

Law Society of England and Wales

Lawyers without Borders Canada

Maldivian Democracy Network

Mauritanian association for socio-educational development

MENA Rights Group

Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras)

Mongolian Women’s Employment Supporting Federation

Namibia Diverse Women’s Association (NDWA)

Network of the independent Commission for Human rights in North Africa CIDH AFRICA

ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVE WOMEN IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Organization Solidarity Development

OYU TOLGOI WATCH NGO

Peace Brigades International

People Forum for Human Rights(People Forum)

PICUM (Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants)

Plateforme Droits de l’Homme

POS Foundation

Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research (PODER)

PROMEDEHUM

Protection International Mesoamérica

Public Verdict Foundation

Rainbow Pride Foundation

Red Dot Foundation

Refugee Council of Australia

Renewable Freedom Foundation

Riposte Internationale

Rivers without Boundaries

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

Safety and Rights Society (SRS)

SAHR

Scholars at Risk

SHOAA for Human Rights

Society for Threatened Peoples

SOS-Esclaves

Speak Up

Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE )

Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU)

Swedwatch

Syrians for Truth and Justice – STJ

The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House

The Community Action Center at Al-Quds University

The Global Interfaith Network (GIN-SSOGIE)

The Kvinna till Kvinna foundation

The Norwegian Human Rights Fund

The Regional Coalition for WHRDs in MENA (WHRDMENA Coalition)

The William Gomes Podcast

Togolese Coalition of Human Rights Defenders

Tournons La Page

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO)

Viet Tan

West African Human Rights Defenders Network

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

Women’s World Summit Foundation

World Justice Project

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

WWF International

Yemeni Institute for Strategic Affairs

Youth Care Motivators

Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia

Zambia Climate Change Network (ZCCN)

Zo Indigenous Forum (ZIF)

Source: Amnesty International

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says he would not "object" to designating Russia's Wagner mercenary group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, calling its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a "war criminal."

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Garland was asked by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, if he agreed that the Wagner group "should be a Foreign Terrorist Organization under U.S. law."

"I think they're an organization that is committing war crimes, an organization that's damaging the United States," Garland said, noting that the designation is made by the State Department.

Graham, along with a bipartisan group of senators, is sponsoring legislation that would direct the secretary of state to designate Wagner as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Pressed by Graham if he would "object to me making it a Foreign Terrorist Organization," Garland said, "I don't object, but I'd defer in the end to the State Department."

Although the Justice Department is not directly involved in designating foreign terrorist groups, Garland's comments amount to an endorsement in the case of Wagner.

Before making a designation, the secretary of state is required to consult both the attorney general and the treasury secretary.

"The fact that he would not object, I think, is important because what that indicates to me is the fact that in his view ... the activities of the Wagner Group throughout the world, I'd say, primarily in Africa, meet the statutory definitions," said James Petrila, a retired CIA lawyer now an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School.

Founded in 2014, the Wagner Group is run by Prigozhin, a sanctioned oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

With an estimated 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, the majority recruited from Russia's prisons, the paramilitary force has become a veritable arm of the Russian military in Ukraine. It is also accused of committing war crimes and other abuses in Ukraine and elsewhere.

In recent months, the U.S. government has sought to crack down on the Wagner Group.

In December, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken designated the group as an "entity of particular concern."

In January, the U.S. Treasury Department labeled it a Transnational Criminal Organization, a designation that allows the government to seize and block its assets.

But Graham and others pressing for designating Wagner as a Foreign Terrorist Organization say these measures don't go far enough.

Of far greater consequence for the group, they say, would be an FTO designation.

Among other things, it would make providing support of any kind to Wagner tantamount to the provision of "material support to terrorism."

"What that means is that individuals who provide material support, which is broadly defined, to an FTO, have violated the material support to terrorism statutes," Petrila said.

While the designation won't end all support for Wagner, it could make some legitimate businesses that currently do business with the group more reluctant, Petrila said.

The State Department has not said whether it is considering applying the designation to Wagner. But in a recent interview with VOA, Beth van Schaack, the State Department's ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice said, "It's extremely important that the most serious consequences that we have in terms of sanctions and accountability criminal accountability, also be focused on the Wagner Group."

Prigozhin has long been in the Justice Department's crosshairs.

In 2018 he was indicted in connection with Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

As part of the effort, the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based "troll farm" controlled by Prigozhin, allegedly created hundreds of fictitious online personas and used the stolen identities of Americans.

The FBI is offering $250,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Branding Prigozhin a "war criminal," Garland said, "Maybe that's inappropriate for me to say as a judge before getting all the evidence, but I think we have more than sufficient evidence at this point for me to feel that way."

Source: Voice of America

The number of children without access to social protection services is increasing every year, putting them at risk of poverty, hunger and discrimination, according to a new report published by the Organization Labor International (ILO) and UNICEF.

The report, More than a billion reasons: The urgent need to build universal social protection for children , warns that between 2016 and 2020, another 50 million children aged 0-15 did not receive basic social protection benefits (particularly child benefits, paid in cash or through tax credits), bringing the total number of children under 15 in this situation to 1.46 billion globally.

“Ultimately, strengthening efforts to ensure adequate investment in universal social protection for children, ideally through universal child benefits to support families at all times, is an ethical and rational decision, and it sets us on the right path towards sustainable development and social justice,” said Shahra Razavi, Director of the ILO's Department of Social Protection.

According to the report, child and family benefit coverage rates declined or stagnated in all regions of the world between 2016 and 2020, meaning that no country is on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of achieving broad social protection coverage by 2030. For example, in Latin America and the Caribbean, coverage dropped significantly from around 51% to 42%, while in other regions it has stagnated or remains low. In Central Asia and South Asia; East Asia and Southeast Asia; Sub-Saharan Africa; Western Asia and North Africa, coverage rates are around 21%, 14%, 11% and 28% respectively since 2016.

When they do not receive adequate social protection, boys and girls are more exposed to poverty, disease, lack of schooling and malnutrition, and are more likely to fall prey to early marriage and child labour.

Globally, children are twice as likely as adults to live in extreme poverty (those struggling to survive on less than $1.90 (PPP*) a day), approximately 356 million children. One billion children also live in a situation of multidimensional poverty or, what is the same, lack access to education, health, housing, nutrition, sanitation or water. The number of boys and girls living in multidimensional poverty increased by 15% during the COVID-19 pandemic, which represented a setback in the progress that had been made to date in reducing child poverty and underscored the urgent need to grant them social protection.

In addition, the pandemic made it clear that social protection is a fundamental response in times of crisis. Almost all the world's governments introduced new social protection programs or quickly adapted existing schemes to support children and families, but most failed to make permanent reforms aimed at ensuring protection against future crises, according to the report.

“When families face economic hardship, food insecurity, conflict and weather-related disasters, universal child benefits can be vital,” said Natalia Winder-Rossi, UNICEF Director of Social Policy and Social Protection. “There is an urgent need to strengthen, expand and invest in child-sensitive and crisis-responsive social protection systems to protect children from poverty and increase resilience. of the most vulnerable households.

The report shows that all countries, regardless of their level of development, have two options: “a best path”, or an investment strategy that strengthens social protection systems; and “an easy way”, a strategy that skips the necessary investments and leaves millions of children behind.

In order to reverse the negative trend, the ILO and UNICEF urge policymakers to take decisive steps to achieve universal social protection for all children, through measures such as the following:

Invest in child benefits, which are a proven and cost-effective way to combat child poverty and ensure children thrive.

Provide a range of child benefits through national social protection systems that also connect families with essential health and social services, such as high-quality free or accessible childcare.

Develop rights-based social protection systems that are gender-sensitive and inclusive and capable of responding to crises to address inequalities; and that offer better results for girls and women, migrant children and children subjected to child labour, for example.

Guarantee sustainable financing for social protection systems through the mobilization of national resources and increasing the allocation of budgets for children.

Strengthen social protection for parents and carers by ensuring access to decent employment and adequate benefits, such as unemployment, sickness, maternity, disability and retirement benefits.

Source: UN Children's Fund