NOHR-S still unlicensed leaving its members under imprisonment threat

On July 13, 2009, the NOHR-S was informed that the Administrative Court decided to postpone to August 25, 2009 the consideration of an appeal filed on December 27, 2006 by the NOHR-S to challenge the refusal issued on August 30, 2006 by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MSAL) following NOHR-S' application for its registration filed five months before.

This decision follows a letter sent by the MSAL on September 3rd, 2008 informing the Administrative Court that criminal proceedings would be launched against NOHR-S members on the basis of Article 71 of the Law of Associations No. 93 of 1958 which foresees a three months’ imprisonment and/or the payment of 1,000 Syrian Pounds for anyone who works in an unlicensed association. NOHR-S members are also subject to prosecution under Article 306 of the Criminal Code which punishes the establishment of an association aimed at changing the social or economic state system to a minimum sentence of seven years' hard labour, should they continue their activities.

Hence, if NOHR-S members are tried by the Criminal Court before the Administrative Court issues its ruling on the registration, then NOHR-S members are liable to imprisonment sentence.

As the state of emergency decreed in 1963 remains in force, State security continues to infringe upon all state affairs, including through its interference with judicial institutions. The case opened against NOHR-S members can be seen as judicial harassment aiming at discouraging human rights defenders from undertaking activities.

The EMHRN and the Observatory call upon the Syrian authorities to respect Article 17 of the Constitution, which enshrines the right to create associations, and therefore to register the organisation without delay, independently of the continuation and outcome of the criminal proceedings initiated against NOHR-S members. The administrative authorities continue to deny registration to human rights associations, although those associations comply with Law No. 93, such as the Human Rights Association in Syria or the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Syria. In this regard, our organisations recall that in its jurisprudence, the UN Human Rights Committee stresses that in accordance with Article 22(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights “the existence of any reasonable and objective justification for limiting the freedom of association is not sufficient. The State Party must further demonstrate that the prohibition of the association and the criminal prosecution of individuals for membership in such organisations are in fact necessary to avert a real, and not hypothetical danger to the national security or democratic order and that less intrusive measures would be sufficient to achieve this purpose”.

The EMHRN and the Observatory also express their deep concern about the general context of harassment against human rights organisations in Syria. The undersigned organisations therefore call upon the Syrian authorities to put an end to the judicial proceedings against NOHR-S members, as well as to guarantee the respect of international standards relating to freedom of association, especially the provisions of the UN Declaration of Human Rights Defenders of December 9, 1998.

For more information, please contact:
REMDH : Mathieu Routier +33 1 48 18 06 86
FIDH : Gaël Grilhot / Karine Appy : + 33 1 43 55 25 18
OMCT : Delphine Reculeau : + 41 22 809 49 39