It is time to release all human rights defenders and end their prolonged detention
Joint statement by international and regional human rights experts in the context of the continued arbitrary and prolonged detention of human rights defenders
Arbitrary detention remains one of the most common and cruel tools used by repressive authorities to silence those peacefully exercising the right to defend human rights and to dismantle civil society. This intentionally fosters a climate of fear, creating a profound deterrent effect that discourages the legitimate and essential work of activists, human rights defenders, as well as citizens seeking to organize, assemble and express themselves to hold the state accountable for adherence to the rule of law and human rights obligations. Human rights defenders are routinely subjected to trumped-up charges, unfair trials, and the misuse of anti-terrorism and national security laws, which flagrantly violate international human rights standards.
Recent years have seen the persistent use of prolonged pretrial detention and long-term imprisonment against human rights defenders, who are often held in inhumane and degrading conditions. Many face torture, ill-treatment and abuse, and some have died in prison while serving their sentences. In 2021, the report "States that deny the evidence: long-term deprivation of liberty of human rights defenders" (A/76/143) by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders documented the trend of imposing prison sentences of ten years or more. Since 2024, data collected by the SOS-Defenders platform on arbitrarily detained defenders around the world has confirmed the persistence and severity of prolonged detention as a growing global problem. In 2024 alone, SOS-Defenders documented 93 new cases of arbitrary detention of human rights defenders in 11 pilot countries.
During the same year, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OMCT-FIDH) documented numerous cases of defenders serving sentences of 10 years or more around the world. To mention just a few: in Nicaragua, the life imprisonment imposed on indigenous activists Ignacio Celso Lino, Argüello Celso Lino, Donald Andrés Bruno Arcángel and Dionisio Robins Zacarías for defending the Mayangna ancestral territory; in Togo, the seven years of preventive detention and the 10-year sentence imposed on businessman and human rights defender Aziz Goma for having given refuge to young demonstrators; in Thailand, the five years of judicial harassment and the sentence of more than 29 years in prison against the pro-democracy activist Arnon Nampa; in Morocco, the fifteen years of detention of the Saharawi journalists El Bachir Khadda and Mohamed Lamin Haddi; in Belarus, the sentence of 14 years and nine months in prison against the human rights defender Marfa Rabkova of the "Viasna" Human Rights Center, after the 2020 presidential elections.
This misuse and abuse of power destroys lives, livelihoods, families and communities. It stifles and inhibits defenders from carrying out their legitimate and essential work, and discourages others from exercising the right to defend human rights. This is the case in Tunisia, where civil society and defenders are being persecuted by the authorities. Terre d'Asile Tunisie is one of many organisations whose work is being criminalised, with members Cherifa Riahi and Mohamed Joo being arbitrarily detained without trial since May 2024. Such reprisals clearly violate international human rights standards enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, and often, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Today, the undersigned regional and international human rights mechanisms and mandate holders, together with the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, express our deep concern about the global trend of prolonged pretrial detention and long-term imprisonment of human rights defenders. We urge all States to take concrete measures to combat this situation.
Signatories:
Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention
Prof. Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Focal Point on Reprisals and Focal Point on the Independence of the Judiciary in Africa
Roberta Clarke, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Justice Operators
