DATE=04/19/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=UN/HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

NUMBER=2-288910

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A United Nations special investigator warns that the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States increasingly are being used to justify the persecution and intimidation of people who defend human rights. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the investigator has submitted a report to the U-N Human Rights Commission which shows that so-called human rights defenders are under attack by governments in all regions of the world.

TEXT: U-N Investigator Hina Jilani says new anti-terrorist legislation and strategies may be fueling some governments to view human rights defenders with suspicion. As a result, the new laws, enacted in Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Russia, Britain and the United States, may be undermining human rights standards.

///JILANI ACT///

Many of the fundamental freedoms are being curtailed in the name of anti-terrorism measures . Freedom of assembly, freedom

of expression and freedom of association have come under a great deal of strain and are likely to feel further strain. In some ways,

these anti-terrorism strategies have contributed to the increase of militarism in the world. And, that worries me because already I see a connection between militarization and more harsher forms of human rights abuse.

///END ACT///

The Pakistani human rights expert says she has received reports of violations from countries in all regions of the world -- including both emerging democracies and countries with long democratic traditions. During the past year, she sent more than three-hundred and twenty communications and urgent appeals to governments where human rights defenders are reportedly subjected to harassment and intimidation.

She says they sometimes are arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned on supposedly false charges. In the past year, the U-N investigator says, she received reports of 34 defenders who were killed. She says there have been eight assassination attempts, 10 people have disappeared and at least seven have been victims of torture.

///2ND JILANI ACT///

The most disconcerting regional trend arises from Latin America and it emerges as the world region with the majority of

human rights defenders killed during the period under review. Nearly 90 percent of all defenders murdered, which is a total of 30 out of 34 came from this region.

///END ACT///

Ms. Jilani says she has evidence that, in many cases, police officers were directly responsible for violations against human rights defenders. In countries, such as Colombia, she says defenders have been killed by members of paramilitary armed groups with the support of authorities. She notes women who work to defend human rights run particular risks. She says rape is used as a tool of torture and a tool of silencing them.

(Signed)

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