REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN THE AMERICAS

 

 

I.          INTRODUCTION

 

II.          THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS UNIT

 

III.         HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY

 

            A.         Human rights defenders

            B.         International protection of human rights defenders

 

IV.      LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM

 

            A.   Right to life, humane treatment, and personal liberty

            B.    Right of assembly and freedom of association

            C.   Right to the freedom of expression

            D.   Right to privacy and to the protection of honor and dignity

            E.   Movement and residence

            F.   Due process and judicial guarantees

            G.   General duty to guarantee and protect, and to adopt provisions of domestic law

 

V.         PROBLEMS FACED BY HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN THE HEMISPHERE

 

            A.   Extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances

            B.   Attacks, threats, and other forms of harassment

            C.   Smear campaigns and criminal prosecutions detrimental to the work of human
                  rights defenders

            D.   Violation of the home and other arbitrary or abusive entry to the offices of human
                  rights organizations, and interference in correspondence and phone and electronic
                   communication

            E.    Intelligence activities aimed at human rights defenders

            F.    Restrictions on access to information in the hands of the state

                   and habeas data actions

            G.    Arbitrary administrative and financial controls

                   Imposed on the human rights organizations

            H.    impunity in investigations into the attacks on human rights defenders

 

VI.        ESPECIALLY EXPOSED GROUPS OF DEFENDERS

 

            A.         Trade union leaders

            B.         Campesino and community leaders

            C.         Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders

            D.         Judicial officers

            E.         Women

 

VII.       PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

 

            A.         Precautionary measures in the inter-American system

            B.         Precautionary measures decreed from January 2002

                        to December 2005 to protect persons involved in

                        activities of human rights defense.

 

VIII.       THE STATES' RESPONSES ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

 

            A.         Recognition of human rights organizations

            B.         Protection from the State

            C.         Acts that impede or encumber the work of human rights defenders or their
                        organizations

 

IX.        CONCLUSIONS

 

            A.         Importance of the work of human rights defenders

            B.         Problems human rights defenders face in their work

            C.         Especially vulnerable groups of defenders

            D.         Duty of guarantee and protection

 

X.         RECOMMENDATIONS