Adoption of an unprecedented resolution at the UN to end the financial strangulation of human rights NGOs
Today, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council gave a strong
response to the increasing trend of curtailing - when not criminalizing -
the activities of human rights defenders by limiting their right to
access funding, especially when they come from foreign countries. The
Council adopted by consensus an unprecedented resolution, introduced by
Norway and co-sponsored by 62 States, affirming that “no law should
criminalise or de-legitimise activities in defence of human rights on
account of the origin of funding”.
“This is a strong signal of support sent by the United
Nations to the defenders around the world who are prevented from funding
their activities, de-legitimised and often criminalised for their human
rights work”, declared Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.
“We welcome the adoption of this important resolution,
through which the UN Human Rights Council is calling for stronger
protection for those actors for change and the guarantors of a free
society”, said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General. “States
have the responsibility to abide by the resolution and ensure that
human rights NGOs are enabled to access funding, as such restrictions
clearly aim at silencing them”, he added.
This resolution confirms and reinforces the previous conclusions of
UN human rights mechanisms affirming the non-compliance of restrictive
and repressive practices and laws with international human rights law.
This was illustrated recently by the decision of the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on Ales Bialiatski’s case,
which stated that Belarus was in breach of its international
obligations in interfering in the funding of human rights NGOs’
activities and requested Belarus to release him immediately.
All relevant UN mechanisms should now build on this text to enhance
the protection of human rights defenders targeted by legislations and
practices curtailing their legitimate activities in many countries.
According to Olga Abramenko, ADC Memorial Director in Saint-Petersburg, “the
new laws adopted in the Russian Federation to regulate NGOs are used to
attack the civil society: right now in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other
places of Russia many independent NGOs are simultaneously being checked
by the police, prosecutors and even tax and fire inspections, with a
special focus on sources of funding. It is an obvious repressive
campaign against human rights defenders, and it is important to have
international solidarity and support”. Ziad Abdel Tawab, Deputy Director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies added that: “While
it is a positive step that Egypt is a co-sponsor to this resolution;
Egypt should live up to its obligations and immediately repeal the
draconian draft legislation on NGOs currently discussed at the Upper
House that aims at strangling the work of national and international
civil society”.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a
joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has recently released
a comprehensive study on restrictions on human rights defenders’ access to funding,
which demonstrates how NGOs’ access to funding, in particular foreign
funding, is increasingly being hindered by governments around the world.
States resort to restrictive laws, smear campaigns and judicial
harassment against human rights defenders as a way to stifle any
criticism, such as in Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt,
Russia, but also Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, India, and many others in all
regions in the world.
For more testimonies of human rights defenders affected by these
restrictions and analyses of human rights experts on this issue, click
here:http://www.fidh.org/Crackdown-on-NGO-funding-The-HRC-12977
Signatories organisations :
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
World Organization against Torture (OMCT)
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS - Egypt)
Human Rights Center VIASNA (Viasna, Belarus)
ADC Memorial (Russia)
Committee Against Torture (CAT, Russia)
