What obstacles do human rights defenders face?
Human rights defenders in many countries have been subjected to the following in order to obstruct their human rights activism: • death threats • arbitrary detention • torture • murder • surveillance • blocking of telephones and Internet access • being discredited through bogus criminal charges or fabricated scandals. Between 2000 and 2005 Amnesty International issued over four hundred Urgent Actions on behalf of human rights defenders believed to be at immediate risk. According to the UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, legislation is becoming widely used to limit: • freedom of association • travel to international human rights forums • access to funding. In recent years the fight against terrorism has led to the introduction of draconian security legislation in many parts of the world, which has negatively affected human rights defenders. While governments have an obligation to protect all members of the population against abuses, including the deliberate killing of
