“Across Europe, individuals and organisations are facing growing harassment, intimidation, violence and criminalisation simply for contributing to the protection of the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. European states must stop this repression”, said today the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, while releasing a Recommendation on the situation of human rights defenders assisting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Europe.
The Recommendation entitled Protecting the defenders: Ending repression of human rights defenders assisting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Europe, gives an overview of the challenges faced by human rights defenders and sets out the steps Council of Europe member states should take to protect them.
In the context of repressive, securitised and militarised asylum and migration policies, states increasingly disregard their obligations to ensure that human rights defenders can work in a safe and enabling environment. As a result, human rights defenders engaged in sea rescue, humanitarian or legal assistance, border monitoring, media reporting, advocacy and litigation, as well as other activities assisting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Europe, are subjected to multiple forms of repression.
The Recommendation addresses the problems human rights defenders face, among which:
- Hostile and stigmatising rhetoric by government officials, parliamentarians and by some media;
- Violence and threats, and lack of action by the authorities to address these;
- Criminalisation of humanitarian or human rights work with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants due to an overly broad application of smuggling laws;
- Denial of access to crucial places to do human rights monitoring or provide assistance, such as detention and reception centres and border zones.
“European governments should see human rights defenders as key partners in ensuring effective and human rights compliant asylum and migration policies. Instead, they treat them with hostility. This deliberate policy is doing harm to the human rights of civil society actors and of the people they serve. By extension, it damages the democratic fabric of societies”, said the Commissioner.
To reverse this repressive trend, the Commissioner calls for urgent action, including:
- Reforming laws, policies and practices unduly interfering with the activities of human rights defenders;
- Ensuring that smuggling laws do not criminalise any form of human rights or humanitarian work with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants;
- Lifting restrictions on access to places and information;
- Ending stigmatising and derogatory rhetoric;
- Establishing effective safety procedures for defenders faced with violence and threats and effectively investigating such incidents.