International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH
Activity Report 2006
Activity Report 2006
International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH
Activity Report 2006
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2
1. PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS 9
Council of Europe 14
Objective 3: Building networks and raising public awareness 15
2. SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE 17
- Case against Donald Rumsfeld 17
Objective 2: Supporting the ICC 21
3. GLOBALISATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS 25
Objective 2: Towards greater justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights 26
Objective 3: Towards accountability of non-state economic actors 28
4. WOMEN’S RIGHTS 30
- The Gulf 32
5. ANTI-TERRORISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS 34
6. MONITORING ACTIVITIES AND SUPPORTING CIVIL SOCIETY 38
7. MOBILISING INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS 46
Impact: This mobilisation has been very useful in feeding the HRC on some of the first situations that it has had to deal with, with testimonies from grassroots NGOs. This created a lot of interest, as proven by the large audience attending the various parallel events, composed of inter alia, UN experts, NGOs representatives, ambassadors and diplomats, as well as representatives of the media. These activities also helped a useful training of HRDs on the new challenges of the Council, and on changes it brought to the former Commission on Human Rights. 47
Impact: FIDH's lobbying activities contributed, in 2006, to the adoption by the General Assembly of the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances (See Chapter on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism), and by the HRC (unfortunately blocked at the GA), of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples. 48
8. INFORMING, RAISING AWARENESS, COMMUNICATION 59
Fundraising aimed at private donors 64
9. INTERNAL ORGANISATION 65
International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH
Activity Report 2006
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Protecting Human Rights Defenders
FIDH pursued its activities in the framework of the programme the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (World Organisation Against Torture / FIDH), which aims to protect human rights defenders, mobilize the international community and raise public awareness.
In 2006, the Observatory issued 324 urgent appeals concerning 58 countries, organized 12 international missions of investigation and trial observation missions (Vietnam, Kirghizstan, Peru, Colombia, Israel, Turkey, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Zimbabwe) and published 5 reports (Russia, Bolivia, Peru, Thailand and Ethiopia). These activities contributed to the release of several defenders, to the legal registration of several NGOs, including the Bahrain Women’s Association, and to the withdrawal of severely restrictive provisions on freedom of association, such as in Sudan.
In terms of mobilizing intergovernmental organisations, three significant developments in 2006 have demonstrated the influence of the Observatory: the OSCE announced the creation of a Special Office dedicated to the protection of defenders; the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe nominated a rapporteur on this issue, with a two-year mandate; and, for the first time, FIDH, in the name of the Observatory, led important advocacy efforts before various organs of the International Labour Organisation, which reacted positively to concerns raised on the situation in Djibouti. The latter activity was undertaken in collaboration with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
Concerning raising public awareness, on the occasion of the publication of the Annual Report of the Observatory, events were organized by the Observatory simultaneously in almost twenty countries. For the first time, the report was published in Russian, contributing to the development of new partnerships in the CEI zone, where restrictions to fundamental freedoms are particularly stringent.
Numerous challenges remain: the Observatory must stay vigilant in relation to the implementation of new specific mandates, the renewal of the mandate of the Special Representative to the United Nations Secretary General, and must continue to support existing mechanisms. Furthermore, the Observatory must be in a position to respond to increasing requests from defenders and NGOs facing a rise in arbitrariness and violence, the regionalization of conflicts and the globalization of repressive tendencies, including the adoption of restrictive legislation, becoming widespread over all continents.
2. Supporting International Justice
Activities have followed two main objectives: accompanying victims before national and international tribunals (legal, judicial and material assistance) and supporting the consolidation of the system of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as its appropriation by FIDH and its member and partner organisations.
In 2006, the FIDH Legal Action Group represented victims as civil parties (“parties civile”) in almost 20 proceedings. The leading cases were:
- 1) The criminal complaint brought in Germany, with the Center for Constitutional Rights, against Donald Rumsfeld and other American officials for acts of torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. This is the only criminal complaint targeting high-ranking officials of the Bush administration and the U.S. Army regarding the use of torture in the fight against terrorism. The case received considerable public attention in Germany, in the United States but also in the Arab world, in Latin America and in Europe;
- 2) The Hissène Habré case: FIDH’s activities notably contributed to the adoption of legislation on universal jurisdiction in Senegal;
- 3) Continued involvement in several proceedings initiated in France, concerning the “Disappeared of the Beach” (Congo-Brazzaville), a Tunisian victim of torture, and a complaint brought against 27 former officials of the Chilean dictatorship. After many years of proceedings, recent decisions bring hope for the opening of trials in the near future.
In addition, FIDH implemented a project aiming at reinforcing and consolidating the system of universal jurisdiction in the states of the European Union, in order to prosecute perpetrators of international crimes.
Before the ICC, activities focused on the support of victims from DRC, CAR and Colombia. The impact of these activities was significant, from the clarification of the system for the participation of victims, to the possible opening of an investigation in CAR. For the first time, a preliminary investigation was launched in Columbia against 69 members of the military accused of having taken part in the massacre of leaders of the community of San de Apartado, a procedure demonstrating the extent to which the ICC is a tool, not only of deterrence in ongoing or recurrent conflicts, but also for provoking action at the national level.
As to the second objective, FIDH trained NGOs and defenders through activities aimed at promoting ratification of the Rome Statute and the implementation of the Statute into national legislation (in 11 countries), and activities aimed at supporting defenders in their actions before the ICC. These activities facilitated the support of national coalitions promoting the ICC and increased dialogue with national authorities: the decision of Yemen to ratify the Statute in March 2007 can be considered to be partly due to such mobilization. FIDH’s efforts also enabled defenders to take full advantage of the ICC mechanisms, the Court’s organs to identify and strengthen contact with defenders coming from countries under analysis or under preliminary investigation by the Prosecutor, and have contributed to the decision of the Prosecutor to adopt an important change in strategy in the new triennial strategy published in October.
After a phase of establishment and consolidation of international justice mechanisms, FIDH must now fully embark on a phase of using criminal and transitional justice tools as a means to implement victims’ rights, to improve the administration of justice at the national level, to prevent the perpetration of new international crimes, in particular in situations of armed conflict, and to support transitional processes.
3. Globalisation and Human Rights
The main objectives of these activities were to train FIDH’s member and partner organisations on the issues of human rights and business, to promote greater justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights, and the accountability of non-state economic actors.
Regarding the first objective, FIDH conducted investigatory and advocacy activities focusing on the publication of the first report analyzing the impact on human rights of a trade agreement (Mexico) impact on human rights, and training and awareness raising activities, in particular in the context of the World Social Forum.
As to the second objective, FIDH organized three investigative missions on economic and social rights (Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mali/Burkina Faso, China). The utility of such missions is well-illustrated by the example of Mali: after many months of mobilization, trade unionists working in a gold mine who had been arbitrarily detained were released. FIDH also used available mechanisms to denounce violations of economic and social rights: in 2006, FIDH submitted observations to national jurisdictions (Indian Supreme Court), to regional courts (European Court for Human Rights) and to international mechanisms such as the United Nations CESCR Committee and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs.
Finally, FIDH advocates for greater legal responsibility of companies to respect human rights and has documented the current practices in terms of companies’ social responsibility in order to expose its limits. This year, a mission was organized in Hungary on this issue. FIDH continued to advocate for a constraining legal framework at the European and international levels, and to mobilize companies to obtain support for these normative processes. Several developments should be underlined: FIDH initiated a reinforced partnership with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and obtained, at the end of 2006, official public commitments from several of the main world distributors to respect fundamental rights in the workplace.
In 2007, on the issue of human rights and business, one of FIDH’s priorities will be to follow the negotiations between the European Union and third countries, in particular those from the ACP zone and from Latin America. Two further challenges for FIDH to overcome are the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Representative on Business and Human Rights, and the concretization the commitments of world distributors to respect and ensure the respect of human rights.
4. Women’s Rights
FIDH’s activity was based on the following priorities: mobilization for the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) into national legislation, the withdrawal of reservations, and the ratification of the Optional Protocol, and the development of investigation and advocacy activities.
This year, FIDH developed a regional campaign in the broader Middle East and North Africa region, based on the international campaign launched by FIDH and its member organisations at the International Conference on Women’s Rights, Beijing + 10, in 2005. FIDH, in partnership with the Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), organized a regional conference in Morocco, entitled “Equality without reservation”. Several follow-up activities were conducted at the national level (awareness raising campaigns in Yemen, Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia), before the League of Arab States, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the European Union.
FIDH conducted two investigative missions and published three reports on the issues of violence against women and gender crimes (CAR, Mauritania, and Mexico/Guatemala) and has broadened its activities to include the issue of the participation of women in decision-making. Concerning advocacy activities, in addition to those conducted before the CEDAW Committee on Togo, Cambodia, Mali, Guatemala, Mexico and the Czech Republic, FIDH was active before the European Union and the African Union. The advocacy conducted by FIDH on the issue of “feminicide” in Mexico and Guatemala had a significant impact: the Commission on Women’s Rights of the European Parliament commissioned a report on “feminicide” in Central America, and a law protecting women from violence was adopted in Mexico.
FIDH seeks to develop further its activities on this priority by focusing its advocacy efforts before the EU (mobilization for the adoption of EU guidelines on women’s rights), before the League of Arab States and before the African Union. The activities aimed at raising awareness of FIDH’s member organisations must remain at the very heart of this strategy, which is why FIDH intends to develop a further regional campaign in Sub-Saharan Africa based on the international campaign for the implementation of the CEDAW Convention.
5. Anti-terrorism and Human Rights
FIDH’s actions focused on monitoring laws and practices; mobilization of international and intergovernmental bodies and legal action; and the development of international protection instruments, with the adoption of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances.
Regarding monitoring and alerting activities, two developments are particularly important: firstly, the reinforcement, as planned, of the partnership with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), FIDH’s member organisation in the United States, to monitor legislative reforms linked to the fight against terrorism and to collect information on the families of Guantanamo detainees; secondly, FIDH’s strong mobilization regarding the arbitrary prosecutions of representatives of the Mapuche community, under Chilean antiterrorist legislation. The new Chilean government has, in response, presented a proposal for legislative reform.
Concerning the use of available mechanisms, in addition to mobilization before the United Nations and the African Union, FIDH focused its efforts, together with CCR, before national jurisdictions, in particular with the Rumsfeld complaint in Germany, and the amicus brief filed in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case before the U.S. Supreme Court, a case in which the Justices ruled the Guantanamo military commissions to be illegal, in violation of American military law and the Geneva Conventions. This historical decision led to an intense congressional and public debate on the methods used by the Bush administration in the fight against terrorism.
Finally, FIDH, having played an active part in the drafting process of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, conducted advocacy at each phase of the adoption process. The United Nations General Assembly eventually adopted the Convention on 20 December 2006.
The main tasks in this regard in 2007 will be to campaign for states to ratify the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, and to strengthen FIDH’s investigative and monitoring action. These activities will be implemented through a new program initiated in early 2007 with the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, aimed at the prevention of torture in the context of the fight against terrorism.
6. Monitoring Activities and Supporting Civil Society
FIDH’s monitoring activities, at the heart of its mandate, first focused on the five thematic priorities. Additional activities concerned the themes of administration of justice and the death penalty, and migration and human rights (based on the decision of the International Board to focus on this issue at the FIDH triennial Congress in 2007). These activities are also organized at the request of member organisations in order to respond to developments at the national level and to new challenges and issues.