Shining light on Human Rights Defenders in Exile
Published on 27 Mar 2024, 12:41 PM
Human Rights Council side event on worrying trend of increasing human rights defenders in exile
.jpg)
Side event of the Human Rights Council 55th session on HRDs living in exile.
Human rights defenders (HRDs) conduct invaluable work in promoting the rights of others, holding those in positions of power accountable, and raising awareness on rights violations. Far too often, they are at risk of facing reprisals including surveillance, threats, harassment, arbitrary arrests, torture, and enforced disappearance. As a result of these threats to their security, HRDs are forced to leave their home countries to seek protection. Many continue to advocate for human rights while in exile by sharing information received from contacts on the ground and using regional and international mechanisms and forums to bring attention to the issues.
The increase in HRDs forced into exile is part of a larger trend of restrictions on fundamental freedoms in countries across the world. Civicus’ 2023 “People Power Under Attack” report found that civic freedoms are being curtailed in a growing number of countries and that civil society is under severe attack in 118 out of 198 countries and territories.
Side event Resisting in exile: voices of human rights defenders
Flyer for the side event organized by the Center.
To bring attention to this worrying phenomenon, the CCPR Centre in collaboration with Forum Asia, Defend Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, the Martin Ennals Award, and the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights held a side event during the 55th session of the Human Rights Council. The event, entitled “Resisting in exile: voices of human rights defenders,” featured participation and testimonies from HRDs in exile and a video statement by Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. In her video, Ms. Lawlor emphasized the alarming trend of increased harassment, threats, and intimidation of HRDs by States and the need to bring attention to the particular vulnerabilities of HRDs in exile. She encouraged relevant actors to continue to submit cases to her mandate so can continue to support HRDs in exile and raise awareness of this issue.
The event provided a unique platform for HRDs in exile from different regions to share their testimonies with member States, UN experts and officials, and civil society organizations with about 80 participants attending. Three HRDs in exile, Guillermo José Medrano from Nicaragua, Abdul Aziz from Sudan, and Sara Nabil from Afghanistan, were able to participate in person on the panel. Other exiled HRDs, Beatriz Borges from Venezuela and Sayed and Maryam Ak Khawaja from Bahrain, shared their testimonies through video statements. The event also included the reading of two anonymous testimonies from HRDs in exile from Burundi and Guatemala.
In their statements, the speakers highlighted the effects living in exile has had on themselves and their loved ones. In particular they emphasized the difficulty of leaving their family and friends behind, settling into a new country, and finding ways to continue to advocate for human rights with limited resources. These circumstances negatively impact the mental and physical well-being of HRDs and their loved ones. The speakers also stressed that they continue to be persecuted from their governments while in exile including facing risks of extradition by their host country, threats made against their family still in their home country, and persistent intimidation and surveillance.
“I am stigmatized in everyday life. People say ‘this one is a refugee,’ which constantly reminds me of the loss of my country. I can’t travel outside my country of exile because I can’t get a visa and I’m always blocked even in East African countries, My children still ask me why can’t we go back." - Burundian HRD living in exile
Additionally, the speakers addressed the particular needs HRDs in exile require including legal, political, and financial support to increase their protection. Some speakers also made recommendations to the Human Rights Council including:
- Put in place long-term mechanisms for the protection and integration of HRDs in exile in the host countries, including family reunification
- Guarantee recognition of the work of HRDs in exile by providing them with the necessary means to carry out their work
- Ask governments to guarantee/facilitate the mobility of HRDs in exile by granting travel documents and visas
- Ask governments to stop the persecution against human rights defenders in their countries of origin so exiled HRDs can go back to their countries
