Another wish was for a ‘one year, one right’-campaign – on freedom of association, a right that is increasingly undermined by state authorities around the world.
In recent years, HRHN has registered that the right to freedom of association has come under attack, most often by state authorities who want to use legal means and red tape to silence their opponents, among them not the least independent human rights organisations. In all four of HRHN’s regions of engagement, there’s an increasing trend to introduce new legislation or intensify the implementation of already exisiting laws, to achieve this. Registration procedures for organisations are getting ever more complex, and in ever more places, any kind of activity is illegalised until the organisation’s application for registration is processed. In some places, annual re-registration is also required, making it virtually impossible to abide by the law and operate legally – which of course is the whole purpose of introducing new laws and procedures in this field.
For these reasons, there’s an urgent need to pay special attention to such violations of basic and essential organisational human rights. Many of HRHN’s member organisations are already up against such restrictions to their activities, and the network’s response, it was decided, will be a year-long campaign. The details, however, the actual activities, are yet to be worked out and decided upon. Besides this, the annual meeting approved of HRHN’s International Advisory Board’s revised and recommended plan of action for 2010 – 2012. Networking and capacity building, institution building, lobbying and advocacy will remain at the heart of HRHN’s activities, with fundraising for all these three areas also being recognized as essential. Meanwhile, another Human Rights House, in Tblisi, Georgia, was given full membership status in the network. The Human Rights Centre in Baku was approved for associate membership status.
Two more statements were also finalised, one on the freedom of expression situation in Azerbaijan, focussing not the least on the continued detention of journalist and editor-in-chief Eynulla Fatullayev, the other, in line with the network’s prioritised campaign, encouraging the UN Human Rights Council to establish a special mandate on freedom of association and peaceful assembly. Working groups elaborated on the particularities of the increased cooperation requested for election campaigns and elections, with further trainings and mobile support units consisting of members of HRHN from different regions concentrating its attention on rural and peripheral ares, where human rights violations often go unnoticed, being identified as among the highest priorities. There was also a request to combine field missions with advocacy initiatives and articles on the HRHN website that identify and analyse trends in the election-related human rights violations.
Also see:
New film and photography document: Azerbaijan and Belarus remain unfree societies, 22 September 2010
HRHN annual meeting opens in Vilnius, 22 September 2010
