Documentary film “Indifference and Impunity”

A film by Daniel Schweizer / CH 2010, F/d/e, digital, 10 min.

As part of the “Defend the Defenders” initiative, two Swiss personalities, lawyer and politician Dick Marty and the mime and clown Dimitri took part in a solidarity mission carried out by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) in February 2010 to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During their visit they had the chance to talk to victims of sexual violence, the human rights defenders who are trying to help them and officials. Both men were shocked by the gravity of the crimes and by the impunity of the perpetrators.

This short documentary seeks to bring this terrible human drama to the attention of a wider public and to encourage the search for solutions. Access:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCij_APWl-4&playnext=1&videos=itHQ-xcWc4E&feature=mfu_in_order

In 2007, in the face of growing dangers that threaten the women and men who fight for respect for human rights, OMCT – with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs – called upon several Swiss and international personalities to put their fame in the service of the protection of human rights defenders.

The main goal of the sponsorship project “Defend the Defenders” is to protect the defenders who have become victims from persecution and acts of harassment as a result of their activities in defense of fundamental rights and freedoms. By encouraging Swiss and international personalities to rally around these defenders, the project has created a chain of solidarity which extends beyond the restricted circle of “specialists” and aims at mobilising public opinion, the only real counterweight to the arbitrary power of States.