HRD killing
Monday 22.2.2021 Philippines - Latest Developments -
Activists and journalists targeted as draconian anti-terror law challenged in the Philippines
In recent months, human rights defenders, trade unions and journalists have been arrested on fabricated charges and killed. The Department of National Defence terminated a decades-old agreement that prohibits state forces from entering University of the Philippines' campuses without prior notice to school officials while security forces raided an indigenous Lumad school in Cebu City. Civil society groups are challenging the draconian anti-terror law in the Supreme Court. Read more
Thursday 18.2.2021 Colombia - Latest Developments -
A deadly January in Colombia
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) warned that January 2021 had been the most violent start to a year since the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian State in 2016. Read more
Thursday 14.1.2021 Honduras - Latest Developments -
Two environmental defenders killed in Honduras
On 24th November 2020, Laura Carolina Valentín Dolmo, a young Garífuna defender and member of the Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH), was found dead in the river Danto in La Ceiba, in the northern Atlantida department. Read more | Read in Spanish
Friday 18.12.2020 Brazil - Latest Developments -
Closing civic space in Brazil: censorship, harassment and attacks on journalists and activists
In November 2020, Brazil held countrywide local elections to elect city councillors and mayors. Politically-motivated attacks and assassinations increased by nearly 200 percent in 2020 in comparison to previous years. Read more
Thursday 17.12.2020 Guatemala - Latest Developments -
Mass protests against reduced budget for social policies in Guatemala
On 20th November 2020, civil society organisation Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos (UDEFEGUA) published a report on the situation of human rights defenders in Guatemala between January and September 2020. Read more
Monday 7.12.2020 Iraq - Latest Developments -
Thousands attend demonstrations marking the one-year anniversary of the popular movement
October 2020 marked the one-year anniversary of the start of the popular movement in Iraq, with demonstrations attended by thousands of people across various cities in the central and southern provinces of Iraq; As the protests continue, activists continue to pay with their lives; In November 2020, the Presidency of the Nineveh Federal Court of Appeal in Mosul issued arrest warrants against four civil society activists: Rayan Jasim Mohammed, Sahar Mohammaed Mustafa, Mohannad Qasim Ismail and Saqr Maan Abdulqadir Al Zakaria. Read more
Thursday 19.11.2020 Peru - Latest Developments -
Upheaval in Peru as president removed
On 9th November 2020, president Martín Vizcarra was removed from office by Peru’s Congress over corruption allegations. Lawmakers voted 105-19 in favour of Vizcarra’s impeachment on the basis of a controversial “moral incapacitation” clause in the country’s legislation, which is set to be evaluated by the Constitutional Court. Read more | Read in Spanish
Tuesday 10.11.2020 Afghanistan - Latest Developments -
Afghan authorities failing to protect activists, journalists as attacks against civilians surge
Since July 2002, the attacks against human rights defenders have persisted with impunity. Journalists continue to face restrictions and attacks for their work while the Vice President has threatened those reporting civilian deaths. Read more
Monday 9.11.2020 Turkey - Latest Developments -
Free speech under siege as government launches new unit to tackle ‘misinformation’
On 27th August 2020, lawyer Ebru Timtik died after she had been on a death fast for the right to a fair trial for 238 days. Timtik had been in detention for three years, after she and other lawyers from the People's Law Bureau were arrested in September 2017 and sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison for membership of a terrorist organisation. Human rights organisations believe that her death was preventable. In addition, , police used pepper spray and fired rubber bullets at crowds who were making their way to the city’s Gazi cemetery, where the lawyer was being laid to rest. Freedom of expression continues to remain under threat in Turkey- with journalists facing physical violence, detention, lawsuits, investigations and/or criminal complaints. In addition free speech continues to be restricted with 9,554 people being sentenced to prison terms for insulting the president in 2019 only. In a worrying development, Turkey’s president launched a new unit to wage information warfare. The purpose of the new unit was described as “taking under control any kind of manipulation and disinformation against Turkey.”
Read more
Saturday 31.10.2020 Mozambique - Latest Developments -
Activists and journalists subjected to threats, offices independent weekly set on fire
Since the most recent Monitor update on Mozambique, the country held local elections on 10 October 2018 and general elections on 15 October 2019. Civil society actors monitoring the elections and journalists reporting on them were subjected to threats and arbitrary arrests. Read more
