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| Shirin Ebadi Courtesy of BBC |
Many of us immersed in the human
rights world consider ourselves human rights advocates— promoters of fair
treatment for all, supporters of the rights of the oppressed, activists
committed to human rights standards.
Whether it is on a personal, local, national, or global level, human
rights defenders are those individuals who fight day after day to promote human
rights who ensure that no person or group is denied the basic, fundamental
rights that everyone deserves.
But what happens when it is these
very fighters who are deprived of their rights?
Sadly, more and more of these critical human rights defenders’ own
rights are being threatened and taken away.
Defenders are the targets of violence, intimidation, and repression which
aim to stop them from doing their critical work, and often carried out by their
very own governments. What can be done
to protect these important individuals in the face of repression? How do they still fight to be effective
advocates despite the many obstacles placed in their path?
Who are human rights
defenders?
The notion of a human rights
defender is not a novel one. Although the term
has been used more frequently in recent years, it is synonymous with human
rights activist, human rights advocate, and human rights worker. A human rights
defender is anyone and everyone who acts to promote and protect human
rights. They are individuals,
organizations, or groups of people who fight against human rights
violations. Anyone can be a human rights
defender—a journalist, a government official, a teacher, a lawyer; what they
all have in common is that they defend, promote, and protect human rights in
their work.
What protections are human
rights defenders afforded?
In December 1998, the United
Nations adopted the Declaration
on Human Rights Defenders (formally known as 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 UN General Assembly adopted the
Declaration by consensus, demonstrating the commitment of all the UN member
states to respect the rights of human rights defenders.
The Declaration stresses the
importance of individuals and groups who promote human rights and the role of
their respective states and governments to afford them legal protection. It provides specific protections for human
rights defenders, including, among many others, to conduct human rights work,
to form associations and non-governmental organizations, and to complain about
official policies. The Declaration does
not create new rights, but it provides an official articulation of the rights of
human rights defenders in a straightforward and universally accepted
document.
Governments have a responsibility to implement and honor all of the
provisions of the Declaration, which lays out in detail
the duties of states. Specifically, states
must ensure all citizens are able to enjoy all rights, provide an effective
remedy for persons who claim to have been victims of a human rights violation, and
investigate cases of human rights violations.
As stated in Article 12 of the Declaration, states have a duty to
protect human rights defenders against violence, discrimination, and
retaliation.
To support the implementation of
the Declaration of Human Rights Defenders, the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights (now the Human Rights Council) created the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. The Special Rapporteur
investigates the situations of human rights defenders to make sure that they
are reflective of the goals and provisions of the Declaration. The Special Rapporteur visits
countries around the world, investigates individual cases of concern, and
reports to the UN Human Rights Council on relevant matters related to human
rights defenders. In this capacity, the
Special Rapporteur operates as the liaison between human rights defenders on
the ground and the governments which make up the United Nations.
Despite the approval of the
Declaration on Human Rights Defenders by all UN members, it is not a binding
document and many of states continue to not only ignore their duties to protect
human rights defenders, but to actively persecute them. Repressive
governments often attack human rights defenders because of their work—they
intimidate and harass, arbitrarily arrest and detain, and use torture and other
physical means of violence to stop human rights defenders from doing their
work.
This contradiction is evident in
the example of Shirin
Ebadi, one of the most internationally recognized, powerful human rights
advocates in Iran. She was born in 1947
in Hamadan, Iran, and went on to study law at Tehran University. In 1970, Ebadi became a judge and within five
years became the president of a Tehran city court—becoming the first woman in
Iranian history to hold this position. After
the Islamic Revolution in 1979, however, she was forced to resign from her
esteemed position, as women were deemed “unsuitable for such posts.” Then unemployed, Ebadi opened her own law
practice in 1992, fighting cases that dealt with freedom of expression, human
rights, and women’s rights.
Ebadi encapsulates the notion of a
human rights defender who does not back down in the face of threats and
harassment. In 2003, she received the Nobel Peace Prize,
chosen because “as a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has
spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond.” As Ebadi
herself said
in 1999, “Any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from
birth to death, but I have learned to overcome my fear.” Despite the fact that she has received many threats
demanding that she stop fighting for human rights, and her husband has been
arrested and beaten, Ebadi continues to defend Iranian political prisoners,
activists, and women. She has published
many books about women’s and children’s rights, and has written over seventy
articles on various aspects of human rights in Iran.
Following in Ebadi’s spirit of
promoting democracy and human rights, the Defenders of
Human Rights Center (DHRC), Ebadi’s Iranian human rights organization, aims
to aid the Iranian public in securing human rights (as defined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights) that they are being denied.
Its lawyers provide pro-bono defense of individuals accused of political
crimes, as well as support to families of political prisoners. It publishes reports on the human rights situation
in Iran and works to publicize this information. It helps facilitate dialogue between various
activists and groups in the human rights field, and works to help develop other
human rights organizations, groups, and institutions.
The DHRC has faced threats,
harassment, and intimidation from the government, government officials, and
authorities since its founding. On
January 5, 2009, the Center was forcibly closed and many of its main advocates
and advisors detained. Ebadi fled
Iran following this incident to avoid persecution. In May 2012, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, co-founder
of the Center, was sentenced
to nine years in prison due to his advocacy work. Despite the closure of the Center and the
direct oppression of its main advocates, its members continue to work on
advocating for human rights by publishing articles on the state of human rights
in Iran—demanding the Center be reopened and documenting the abuses that the
DHRC as well as other NGOs have faced at the hands of the Iranian government.
The Declaration of
Human Rights Defenders and Governments of Oppression - can they be reconciled?
The adoption of the Declaration of
Human Rights Defenders and the establishment of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders represent
an important step in the recognition and protection of human rights defenders
worldwide. The Declaration is the first
UN instrument to reaffirm and clarify the rights afforded to human rights
defenders that are most often challenged by governments. As apparent from Shirin Ebadi’s experience in
Iran, however, actions taken against human rights defenders, in clear
contravention of the Declaration, are still prevalent. While the adoption of the Declaration is a
step in the right direction, clearly much more work has to be done. Human rights
advocates must speak out in support of defenders and demand that governments
comply with the letter and spirit of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
It is the brave, resilient human rights defenders, such as Shirin Ebadi, who
work to fight for human rights in under the most oppressive regimes—where human
rights defenders are both needed and retaliated against the most.
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