Human rights defender denied access to Syria!
Paris-Geneva, March 5, 2010. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), together with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), condemn the de facto travel ban imposed by the Syrian authorities against Mr. Wadih Al-Asmar, Secretary General of the Lebanese Centre for Human Rights (CLDH) and member of the Executive Committee of the EMHRN.
On February 21, 2010, Mr. Wadih Al-Asmar, who has been active for many years on the issue of the Lebanese victims of enforced disappearances in Syrian prisons and has been going to Syria steadily since 2003, was denied entry into Syria by the authorities, on the grounds that his name "was included in the computer as persona non grata". It appears that the latter has no possibility to appeal against this entry denial.
The Observatory and the EMHRN denounce these obstacles to the freedom of movement imposed against Mr. Wadih Al-Asmar, which manifestly aim at hindering his human rights activities, and calls upon the Syrian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the right to freedom of movement to both Syrian and international human rights defenders in Syria as enshrined by Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as to ensure that they are able to carry out their work without hindrances, in accordance with international and regional human rights standards, in particular the 1998 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
For more information, please contact:
- FIDH: Gaël Grilhot / Karine Appy: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
- OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 49 39
- EMHRN: Shaima Abu Elkhir: +20 10 10 77 207