Executive Summary
Human rights defenders and victims of human rights violations who engage with the United Nations (UN) can face intimidation and reprisals for doing so. How well does the UN track such cases? And what becomes of them after the UN raises an incident? These are the questions tackled in this report. It offers a quantitative analysis of the cases documented in the UN Secretary-General (SG)’s past 11 annual reports on intimidation and reprisals (published between 2010 and 2020) as well as, for a subset of those cases, of individual case developments and impact assessments provided by victims and their representatives. Such an analysis of the available data on intimidation and reprisals holds significant insights that can inform and strengthen the UN’s policies and action on reprisals.
Between 2010 and 2020, the SG reports documented a total of 709 cases or situations of intimidation and reprisals. Of these, 473 were cases in which the affected individuals or organisations were named. These documented cases only represent the tip of the iceberg that is the worldwide problem of human rights defenders or victims facing intimidation or reprisals for cooperating with UN human rights entities. While the appointment of the Assistant SecretaryGeneral (ASG) for Human Rights as the UN’s ‘senior official’ on intimidation and reprisals led to an increase in resources directed at the topic, which directly translated into better reporting and follow-up on cases, there is still room to strengthen the UN’s response.
The data analysis presented in this report shows that intimidation and reprisals happen around all points of contact between UN actors and victims of human rights violations or human rights defenders, regardless of whether such contact happens within their country, outside of it, or via remote means of communication. All UN entities dealing with human rights issues should therefore establish clear protocols on how to prevent and respond to potential intimidation and reprisals connected to their work. The data also reveals a striking lack of reporting of cases and situations in countries where civil society space is known to be closed or highly restricted.
In terms of the impact UN action has on reprisal cases, the survey data suggests that sustained attention by the UN as well as follow-up on cases by multiple actors within the UN system are more likely to positively impact victims. This finding is a strong argument for UN actors to live up to their responsibility and act consistently and in a sustained manner on reprisal cases that happen in connection to their work. They should do so in addition to sharing them with the senior official. This particularly concerns the Human Rights Council (HRC) Presidency, which in recent years has had a very poor record of publicly engaging on reprisal cases related to the HRC.
Furthermore, the data reveals that 21 out of the 47 current HRC Member States have been cited in SG reports for carrying out intimidation and reprisals in the past five years – unacceptable conduct for members of the UN’s most eminent human rights body. When electing new members to the HRC, voting countries should take into account applying States’ intimidation and reprisal records.
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April 30, 2021 at 07:40AM
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UN Action on Reprisals: Towards Greater Impact - A Quantitative Analysis of the Scope and Impact of UN Action on Intimidation and Reprisals Through the Lens of the Secretary-General's Annual Reports - World - ReliefWeb
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