"Report highlights rising reprisals against human rights defenders cooperating with the UN", 20 Sep 2017

A major new UN report warns that a growing number of human rights defenders around the world are facing reprisals for cooperating with the UN on human rights... The report... names 29 countries where cases of reprisal and intimidation have been documented...  All the cases highlighted in the report occurred from June 2016 to May 2017 and involved individuals and groups which have cooperated with the UN...“It is frankly nothing short of abhorrent that, year after year, we are compelled to present cases of intimidation and reprisals carried out against people whose crime – in the eyes of their Governments – was to cooperate with UN institutions and mechanisms,” said UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour. “We are aware of cases where individuals we are communicating with have been abducted, detained, held incommunicado, or disappeared,” he added... Gilmour also expressed deep concern over the ongoing situation of a Bahraini human rights defender, Ms. Ebtesam Abdulhusain Ali Alsaegh, who “has reportedly been beaten and sexually assaulted, and remains in detention”... The report urges all States to stop reprisals, investigate existing allegations, provide effective remedies and adopt and implement measures to prevent recurrence.