Civic space in Mongolia is rated as ‘narrowed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Ongoing concerns raised by civil society include reports of harassment, intimidation and reprisals against human rights defenders, especially those working to defend economic, social and cultural rights. Further, provisions of the Criminal Code related to cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies (article 19.4) and sabotage (article 19.6) have been used to prosecute human rights defenders for legitimate activities. There are also concerns about press freedom.
Mongolia’s parliamentary election is scheduled for June 2024. The elections will be the first since the constitutional amendment in May 2023, which increased the number of parliamentary seats from 76 to 126, with 48 of those chosen by proportional representation.
In November 2023, Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, visited the country. She welcomed Mongolia’s “evidence-based approach to reform and call for further action to solidify an independent justice system with human rights at its core.” The Special Rapporteur commended civil society for their work to assess and monitor the independence of the judiciary. She called on “all actors to support and complement the essential work undertaken by civil society organisations to extend access to justice, including to rural herders, persons with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community.”
In recent months, an editor was arrested and detained for 68 days for comments on social media about the courts and is facing various charges. Her media outlet has also been targeted. The government has failed to respond to UN concerns on human rights defender Sukhgerel Dugersuren. Activist Munkhbayar Chuluundorj remains behind bars.
Expression
Editor arrested and website targeted
Journalist Naran Unurtsetseg, the editor-in-chief of the Mongolian news website Zarig.mn, was arrested on 4th December 2024 on charges of contempt of court and spreading false information.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated that a few weeks earlier, on 13th October 2023, the General Judiciary Council, whose role is to maintain the independence of the Mongolian judiciary, had requested the opening of an investigation against Unurtsetseg after she posted comments on social media criticising the activities of the courts and a prosecutor around the inhumanity of a prolonged court hearing involving an elderly individual in Mongolia.
The editor was allegedly charged with contempt of court and “spreading false information” under Article 13.14 of the Criminal Code of Mongolia. A court hearing in the Songinokhairkhan District Court approved the prosecutor’s proposal to detain Unurtsetseg for one month.
Additionally on 2nd December 2023, a legal and administrative body in Mongolia imposed a block on the access to the Zarig.mn website within Mongolian territories, and added the website to the list of illegal domain names. The website was subsequently unblocked two days later.
According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Unurtsetseg has been variously pursued for her journalism work in recent years and faced twelve defamation charges in 2019, followed by four in 2020 – all initiated by politicians mentioned in her reporting. Despite successfully beating most of the cases, Unurtsetseg still faces a fine of around USD 800, roughly the equivalent to two months' salary for the average journalist in Mongolia.
The IFJ urged the Mongolian authorities to “release Unurtsetseg immediately, allow journalists in Mongolia to perform their work without interference, and ensure the press freedom and the freedom of speech is upheld.”
Media activists say that law enforcement agencies and authorities in Mongolia have been using Article 13.14 of the Criminal Code to restrict journalists’ capacity to perform their professional duties by investigating and charging them with crimes under the Code. Article 13.14, which addresses the spreading of false information and stipulates penalties such as fines or public service, came into effect on 10th January 2020. Since then, numerous journalists have faced accusations of crimes. CMJ reports that approximately 10 journalists are currently under investigation.
On 4th January 2024, Mongolian police raided the office of Zarig.mn as authorities filed more serious charges against Unurtsetseg, including allegedly conspiring with foreign intelligence organisations.
Unurtsetseg was released on bail on 9th February 2024, after 68 days of pre-trial detention.
Association
Government fails to respond to UN concerns on activist
Now public: I wrote to the Government of #Mongolia asking about the status of the criminal investigation opened against WHRD & environmentalist Sukhgerel Dugersuren. Unfortunately, we did not receive any response from the Government.@MongoliaGVA https://t.co/06dzi2FmaF
— Mary Lawlor UN Special Rapporteur HRDs (@MaryLawlorhrds) September 5, 2023
On 2nd March 2024, David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, stated in a report by FairPlanet that the UN has yet to receive a response from the government on the case of human rights defender Sukhgerel Dugersuren.
He added: "It is deeply disappointing that the government of Mongolia has failed to provide a response to the letter that my colleagues and I sent in June 2023. Governments should be listening to these environmental leaders, not attempting to silence them by attempting to intimidate them or criminalise their actions."
As previously documented, in 2022 Mongolian woman human rights defender and Executive Director of Oyu Tolgoi Watch (OT Watch), Sukhgerel Dugersuren, was informed by the General Intelligence Agency of Mongolia (GIA) that she was being investigated for crimes under Article 19.4 of the Mongolian Criminal Code, which prohibits the “illegal cooperation with foreign intelligence agency, agent.”
Sukhgerel Dugersuren works closely with communities impacted by large scale development projects. She has a long history of exposing human rights abuses and environmental degradation linked to large scale mining, energy and infrastructure projects.
In June 2023, a joint communication by UN experts was sent to the Government of Mongolia expressing renewed concern about human rights defender Sukhgerel Dugersuren.
Civil society highlight cases of detained activist to UN expert
PEN America statement on Munkhbayar Chuluundorj's case: "PEN America urges Mongolian authorities to immediately set aside his 10-year sentence and release him unconditionally":https://t.co/fUG0VJQuPA
— Enghebatu Togochog (@ETogochog) September 14, 2022
On 6th November 2023, several civil society groups, including the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center, the World Mongol Federation US Chapter and the InterMongol Network, wrote to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers to bring to her attention the case of activist Munkhbayar Chuluundorj. He is serving a 10-year prison sentence on politically motivated charges related to his public criticism of the Mongolian government’s close ties with China.
As previously documented, the prominent activist was arrested in Mongolia in February 2022, part of what campaigners have said is a wider effort to "clean up" Beijing's critics in the country. A founding member of the World Mongols Poetry Association, Munkhbayar Chuluundorj is a well-known blogger, poet and human rights activist known for defending the linguistic, cultural and historical identities of ethnic Mongolians in China’s Inner Mongolia.