14/04/2008 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg , 14.04.2008 – The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on fringe of PACE spring session, will hold on 17 April a hearing on “the situation of human rights defenders in Council of Europe member states” as part of the preparation of a report on this subject by Holger Haibach (Germany, EPP/CD).
“In some member states, human rights defenders have become the target of multifaceted repression, ranging from direct use of violence to more insidious measures such as administrative obstacles and restrictive laws or defamation campaigns,” said Mr Haibach, pointing out that “very often no investigations are made into these attacks and no proceedings are instituted”.
The precise aim of the hearing is to identify the problems and threats facing human rights defenders in the field, with the help of direct witnesses, and to consider what further action can be taken to protect them.
The hearing will be attended by Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and the representatives of various NGOs (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Front Line, Memorial and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders). The Head of Memorial’s Grozny office will describe the situation in the North Caucasus.
The hearing, which is open to the press, will take place at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg (Room 10) from 8.30 to 10 a.m.