ProtectDefenders.eu partners continue to denounce the existence of a structural pattern of violence and impunity around territorial conflicts in Brazil. The recent killings of two members of the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST), together with the climate of stigmatization against people who defend land rights show the intensification of the crisis of the right to defend human rights in the country:

• On December 8, José Bernardo da Silva and Rodrigo Celestino, members of the MST in the Dom José Maria Pires camp, located in Alhandra (State of Paraíba), were assassinated by hooded and heavily armed men. Only in 2018 at least 13 MST militants have been killed. In addition, currently, at least 152 MST camps are under threat of eviction.

ProtectDefenders.eu partners are calling on the Thai authorities to ensure that no person is prosecuted or held criminally liable for defamation for activities protected under international law. The government should decriminalize defamation in Thai law and protect individuals and human rights defenders from abusive litigation aimed at curtailing the exercise of freedom of expression:

• This call is voiced in the context of recent complaints brought by the Thammakaset Company Limited against human rights defenders Nan Win and Sutharee Wannasiri for bringing attention to labor rights violations at a Thammakaset-owned chicken farm in Thailand. The complaints relate to a film produced by the non-governmental organization Fortify Rights about previous defamation complaints brought by Thammakaset against 14 of its former workers from Myanmar. In the film, released in October 2017, three former workers described how the company brought criminal defamation charges against them after the workers reported labor violations to the Thai authorities, including unlawfully low wages, failure to pay overtime, and confiscation of their identity documents, including passports. In October 2018, Thammakaset filed criminal and civil defamation complaints against Nan Win, one of the migrant workers featured in the film, and Sutharee Wannasiri, a woman human rights defender and a former Human Rights Specialist with Fortify Rights.

Thailand - ranked 140th in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index -, is ruled by a military junta called the National Council for Peace and Order, ubiquitous and all-powerful, and led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, a press freedom predator. It keeps journalists and citizen-journalists under permanent surveillance, often summons them for questioning, and detains them arbitrarily. Any criticism of the junta is liable to lead to violent reprisals made possible by draconian legislation and a justice system that follows orders. 

Since the launch of ProtectDefenders.eu, 19 emergency grants have been allocated to activists at risk, four local human rights organisations have accessed funding, and an HRD has been temporarily relocated away from risk. In addition, at least ten training actions have benefited Thai HRDs. The EU HRD mechanism has conducted six field-monitoring and one outreach mission to the country and develops an ongoing advocacy and monitoring work on the situation of HRDs in Thailand.

 The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (an FIDH - OMCT partnership)
 

Front Line Defenders


Reporters Without Borders/ Reporters Sans Frontières 

ProtectDefenders.eu is deeply alarmed by recent reports of acts of harassment and interrogation of human rights defenders in Kazakhstan.

On 16 December 2018, at least 15 human rights defenders and journalists from different cities in Kazakhstan were brought to police stations in a coordinated operation, interrogated and released with no charges filed. 

These coordinated interrogations are believed to be part of the tactic applied by the Kazakh authorities in order to intimidate human rights defenders and activists and, consequently, prevent participants from taking part in protests held on 16 December, and called by the DCK. The demonstrations in solidarity with the victims of violent protest suppression are held annually on December 16, the Independence Day of Kazakhstan.

In Kazakhstan, ranked 158th in the RSF World Press Freedom Index, the main opposition national newspapers were all banned in 2013, the remaining few are collapsing under the impact of fines, and any new independent newspaper is inevitably closed within months. Journalists are often arrested and the Internet is now closely controlled, with mass surveillance, imprisonment of bloggers and frequent cuts in access to news websites, social networks, and messaging services.

In Kazakhstan, since the beginning of the program, ProtectDefenders.eu has allocated at least 4 emergency grants to HRD at risk, provided two grants to local organisations, and temporarily relocated six human rights defenders. Moreover, the EU HRD mechanism has delivered two training programmes and four advocacy missions benefiting Kazakh defenders and developed an ongoing monitoring and advocacy work on the situation of HRDs in the country.

COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

• Indonesia 1

• Nicaragua 2

• Russia 2

• OPT 1

• Yemen 2

• Belarus 2

• Thailand 1

• Pakistan 3

• Jordan 1

• Egypt 6

• Vietnam 1

• Tajikistan 2

• Kazakhstan 2

• Bolivia 1

• Honduras 1

• Uzbekistan 1

• India 2

• DRC 4

• Ecuador 1

• Zambia 1

• Togo 1

• Iran 3

• Western Sahara 1

• Cambodia 1

• Bangladesh 5

• Brazil 1

FIELDS OF ACTION

• Civil and political rights 10

• Women’s Rights 6

• Land & Environmental Rights 3

• LGBTI Rights 5

• Freedom of Expression 4

• Freedom of Association 1

• Religious Rights 1

• Prisoners Rights 2

• Documenting violations in conflict 1

• Office security 2

• Labour Rights 2

• Children Rights 3

• Refugee Rights 1

• Minorities Rights 1

• Impunity / Justice 1

• Digital security 1

• Youth Rights 1

• Self-determination 1

• Students' rights 7

• Good governance 2

• Digital security 1

• Torture 3

TYPE OF SUPPORT

• Legal support 6

• Urgent relocation 19

• Medical support 9

• Family support/ Solidarity 4

• Individual security 6

• Office security 4

• Psychosocial support 1

• Digital & IT security 3