{"id":58486,"date":"2015-11-26T23:55:35","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T21:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/unga-passes-resolution-on-the-protection-of-human-rights-defenders\/"},"modified":"2015-11-26T23:55:35","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T21:55:35","slug":"unga-passes-resolution-on-the-protection-of-human-rights-defenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/unga-passes-resolution-on-the-protection-of-human-rights-defenders\/","title":{"rendered":"UNGA passes resolution on the protection of human rights defenders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                        <span dir=\"ltr\"><br \/>\n                                                    PARIS, France, November 26, 2015\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ &#8212;<br \/>\n                                                <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Observatory for\u00a0the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint FIDH-OMCT programme) commends\u00a0the passing of a United\u00a0Nations General Assembly resolution on the protection\u00a0of human rights defenders in the Third Committee yesterday. At a time when\u00a0human rights defenders have come under\u00a0increasing pressure amidst a growing\u00a0crackdown on civil society in many parts of the world, this resolution is more\u00a0important than ever.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>117 Member States voted yes on the resolution, entitled \u0093Recognizing the\u00a0role of human rights defenders and the need for their protection,\u0094 calls for\u00a0accountability for attacks on human rights\u00a0defenders (including attacks on\u00a0their family members) and urges states to release defenders who have been\u00a0arbitrarily detained for exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of\u00a0expression,\u00a0peaceful assembly and association. Norway, as the main sponsor of\u00a0the resolution, faced many challenges in the negotiation phase with some\u00a0States, notably members of the African Group,\u00a0attempting to significantly\u00a0weaken the text. Nevertheless, Norway and the co-sponsors of the resolution,\u00a0resisted pressure and delivered a strong text.<\/p>\n<p>\nWhile normally adopted as a consensus resolution, this year China and\u00a0Russia asked for the resolution to be put to a vote. Fourteen States voted no\u00a0on the resolution (China, Russia, Syria,\u00a0Burundi, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria,\u00a0Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, North Korea, South Africa, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan).<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n\u0093&#8221;It is no accident that many\u00a0of these States have poor records on the their treatment of human rights\u00a0defenders, including Burundi which recently suspended 10 NGOs this week and\u00a0promotes acts of violence against defenders. It remains however problematic\u00a0that some of these opponents include democracies such as South Africa, which\u00a0owes its anti-apartheid\u00a0struggle and its beacon Constitution to a solid civil\u00a0society movement\u0094,&#8221; said Karim Lahidji, FIDH\u00a0President.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n&#8220;\u0093The fact\u00a0that the resolution was not adopted by consensus reinforces our concerns about\u00a0the shrinking space for civil society organisations and human rights defenders\u00a0across the\u00a0globe. Now more than ever it\u0092s essential that all of us who are\u00a0supportive of independent civil society join our voices to defend not only the\u00a0legitimacy of their work but also to reaffirm\u00a0how essential it is for any\u00a0society wanting to advance human rights and the rule of law\u0094,&#8221; said Gerald Staberock, Secretary General of the World Organisation Against\u00a0Torture (OMCT).<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nJust before the vote, Norway also urged States not to abstain, which\u00a0would represent a failure to recognize the role of human rights defenders and\u00a0the need for their protection. Overall, 40 States\u00a0abstained (Algeria, Angola,\u00a0Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, CAR,\u00a0Comoros, Congo, Cote d&#8217;Ivoire, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador,\u00a0Egypt,\u00a0Eritrea, Fiji, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao People&#8217;s Democratic Republic,\u00a0Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Qatar,\u00a0Swaziland, Tajikistan, Togo, Uganda, United\u00a0Arab Emirates, United republic of\u00a0Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Yemen).<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nFIDH and OMCT, as well as their member organisations, will continue to\u00a0stand up for human rights defenders across the world who have been unjustly\u00a0targeted owing to their human rights work.\u00a0This resolution will serve as an\u00a0important tool for their protection.<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PARIS, France, November 26, 2015\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ &#8212; The Observatory for\u00a0the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint FIDH-OMCT programme) commends\u00a0the passing of a United\u00a0Nations General Assembly resolution on the protection\u00a0of human rights defenders in the Third Committee yesterday. At a time when\u00a0human rights defenders have come under\u00a0increasing pressure amidst a growing\u00a0crackdown on civil [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[428,4585,830],"class_list":{"0":"post-58486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africa","8":"tag-apo","9":"tag-news","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}