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	States have obligations to protect defenders working against corruption by Mary Lawlor Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders   The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, has urged States to find the political will to protect human rights defenders exposing corruption.   “Corruption is fundamentally a human rights issue, and human rights defenders working to prevent it are targeted, even killed, all over the world for their peaceful advocacy,” the UN expert said in a report presented to the Human Rights Council. The report includes details of attacks on journalists, academics, lawyers, medical workers and others for exposing corruption, sometimes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.   “Corruption is often written off as inevitable or harmless, or as a victimless crime. But it’s none of those things. Every time someone takes a bribe, gives a job to an unqualified relative, or diverts money intended for a hospital or a school to their own pocket, it’s an attack on human rights,” she said.   “They’re often attacked because of their success - governments and businesses are afraid of them and what they might reveal,” Lawlor said.   The report includes practical recommendations for States, based on consultations with human rights defenders, NGOs, academic experts and government officials, on how to better support the work of defenders working against corruption.   It also recommends that States should not only end attacks on defenders but publicly applauds the vital contribution they make to fight corruption and to help build just societies based on the rule of law.   “States have obligations to protect defenders working against corruption. This is vital human rights work. Those doing it should be supported by States, not vilified and attacked,” she said.   http://srdefenders.org/at-the-heart-of-the-struggle-human-rights-defenders-fight-corruption/ http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/governance-key-messages-on-negative-impact-corrup.pdf   * Success through perseverance and solidarity: 25 years of achievements by human rights defenders - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. (A/HRC/52/29): http://bit.ly/3yDRDRD   States should end reprisals against anti-corruption human rights defenders   As the world celebrates the International Anti-Corruption Day and the 24th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, we, the undersigned organizations and individuals, urge all UN member states to end reprisals against anti-corruption human rights defenders, and to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of everyone – including those working to promote and defend the rights of other people and to fight and expose corruption.   Anti-corruption human rights defenders – journalists, members of civil society organizations, whistleblowers and others – play a crucial role in the prevention of and in the fight against corruption and the promotion of human rights.   Over the years, they have been instrumental in investigating and exposing corrupt practices and in demanding transparency and accountability and the protection of human rights.   We observe, however, that those who work to expose corruption are often not recognised as human rights defenders, and their efforts may be invisible to the wider human rights community or seen as separate from or peripheral to human rights work.   We note that the role and active involvement of anti-corruption human rights defenders in anti-corruption efforts has been widely recognized in many international and regional anti-corruption instruments, including the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) adopted in 2003.   Among other things, UNCAC requires states parties to promote the active participation of anti-corruption defenders, by “respecting, promoting and protecting the freedom to seek, receive, publish and disseminate information concerning corruption” (Article 13).   In addition, the political declaration on corruption adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2021 reaffirmed the commitment of the international community to recognize the important role that civil society, academia, the private sector and the media play in the detection, prevention and fight against corruption.   We are seriously concerned about the escalating reports of violence, threats, harassment, intimidation, attacks and persecution of anti-corruption human rights defenders and the impunity following on from this persecution in several states.   Anti-corruption human rights defenders continue to face real risk of physical attack, arbitrary arrest and prosecution simply for exercising their human rights including to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.   And states continue to pass laws to restrict access to information while failing to take effective actions to prevent the harassment, intimidation and attacks against those who dare to expose corruption and its impacts on human rights, and to bring suspected perpetrators of the attacks to justice.   We note that the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in her recent report documents several cases of violence, threats, intimidation, harassment, attacks and persecution against anti-corruption human rights defenders.   According to the report, hundreds of defenders all over the world face smear campaigns, criminalization and judicial harassment, and are killed every year for their peaceful work in defence of the rights of others. Very few perpetrators are brought to account for these murders, which only enables the cycle of killings to continue.   We also note that some attacks on defenders are gender-based and that many defenders have been targeted for their work in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic or for fighting against corruption affecting their local communities. Women human rights defenders working against corruption are also often attacked not only for what they do but for who they are.   Continuous threats and attacks against anti-corruption human rights defenders   We continue to receive reports of increasing threats and attacks against anti-corruption human rights defenders, including whistleblowers. These constitute clear violations of internationally recognized human rights including to life, freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, access to information and media freedom.   The threats, intimidation, harassment and persecution also amount to a breach of the legal obligations of states under the various human rights treaties to which they are states parties, And we believe it is imperative to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of anti-corruption defenders to ensure the effective promotion and protection of the rights of other people, and to improve the implementation of states’ legal obligations under the various human rights and anti-corruption treaties to which they are parties.   We therefore call on all UN member states to:   Foster a safe and enabling environment, to ensure that anti-corruption defenders are able to freely carry out their activities in full respect of their human rights and in the defence of the human rights of other people and the fight against corruption without fear of reprisals;   Adopt and implement legislative and other measures for the protection of anti-corruption human defenders, if they do not exist, in line with human rights and anti-corruption standards;   Effectively respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of everyone to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including of those working to promote and defend the rights of other people and to fight and expose corruption, in accordance with Article 13 of UNCAC;   End impunity by thoroughly, impartially, independently, transparently and effectively investigating reports of attacks against defenders in their states, and bringing to justice suspected perpetrators, and ensuring access to justice and effective remedies for victims;   Publicly recognize the value of the work of anti-corruption human rights defenders and denounce threats and attacks against them, consistent with the provisions of UNCAC, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, and human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.   http://www.transparency.org/en/press/states-should-end-reprisals-against-anti-corruption-human-rights-defenders Visit the related web page
	Let us recommit to stand against evil in all its forms by United Nations news, agencies   27 January 2023   (UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remarks at the United Nations Memorial Ceremony marking the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust).   'I want to begin by expressing my deep gratitude to the survivors with us at the United Nations in New York, and those who join online.   You give meaning to our work to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. To defend human rights and dignity. To strive for justice and peace.   Your testimonies shocked the conscience of the world. And your courage, resilience, and endurance continue to inspire us. So from the bottom of my heart, I want to say to you: thank you.   Ninety years ago this year, the Nazi party came to power in Germany. Within months, they dismantled fundamental constitutional rights and paved the way for totalitarian rule. Members of Parliament were swiftly arrested, freedom of the press abolished.   In Dachau, the first concentration camp was built. In Berlin, books were piled on bonfires. And all over Germany, virulent antisemitism became official government policy. Discrimination and exclusion – codified in law – began almost immediately.   Open, organized violence – most notoriously the terror of the Kristallnacht – followed soon after, alongside widespread theft and plunder.   And then the systematic mass murder started. By the end of the war, six million children, women, and men – nearly two out of every three European Jews – had been murdered.   The rise of National Socialism in Germany was made possible by the indifference – if not connivance – of so many millions. We now know the terrifying depths of the abyss into which Germany would plunge. But the alarm bells were already ringing in 1933. Too few bothered to listen, and fewer still spoke out.   Today, we can hear echoes of those same siren songs to hate. From an economic crisis that is breeding discontent… to populist demagogues using the crisis to seduce voters … to runaway misinformation, paranoid conspiracy theories and unchecked hate speech… to growing disregard for human rights and disdain for the rule of law… to surging white supremacist and Neo-Nazi ideologies… to attempts to rewrite history, deny the Holocaust, and rehabilitate collaborators… to rising antisemitism and other forms of religious bigotry and hatred.   At its essence, Holocaust remembrance is a call to be on constant alert. Never to be silent in the face of hate. Never tolerant of intolerance. Never indifferent to the suffering of others.   After all, hatred does not start in a vacuum. The Nazis did not invent antisemitism, eugenics, or notions of racial supremacy. The Holocaust was the culmination of millennia of antisemitic hate.   Throughout history, the hatred that begins by declaring: “You have no right to live among us” sooner or later says: “You have no right to live.”   The painful truth is: antisemitism is everywhere. In fact, it is increasing in intensity. Over the last year, Orthodox Jews were assaulted on busy streets in Midtown Manhattan, Jewish schoolkids bullied in Melbourne, hateful banners hung on a freeway bridge in Los Angeles, and Swastikas spraypainted on the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.   Survey after survey arrives at the same conclusion: antisemitism is at record-highs. And what is true for antisemitism is true for other forms of hate. Racism. Anti-Muslim bigotry. Xenophobia. Homophobia. Misogyny.   Neo-Nazi, white supremacist movements are becoming more dangerous by the day. In fact, they now represent the number one internal security threat in several countries – and the fastest growing.   From Christchurch to Buffalo, from El Paso to Oslo, with targets from mosques to synagogues, refugee centers to grocery stores: We are not just facing violent extremism; we are increasingly facing terrorism. The threat is global – and it is growing.   And a leading accelerant of this growth is the online world. Today, I am issuing an urgent appeal to everyone with influence across the information ecosystem – regulators, policymakers, technology companies, the media, civil society, and governments.   Stop the hate. Set up guardrails. And enforce them. Many parts of the Internet are becoming toxic waste dumps for hate and vicious lies. They are profit-driven catalysts for moving extremism from the margins to the mainstream.   By using algorithms that amplify hate to keep users glued to their screens, social media platforms are complicit. And so are the advertisers subsidising this business model. That is why I have called for regulation that clarifies responsibility and improves transparency.   We know how easily hate speech turns to hate crime, how verbal violence breeds physical violence, how diversity and social cohesion are undermined – as are the values and principles that bind us together..   We all have a role to play. We can never let hate have the last word. We cannot allow old hatreds to find new outlets and impunity on digital platforms. Together, we must confront falsehoods with facts, ignorance with education, indifference with engagement.   Because “never again” means telling the story again and again. We must tell the stories of the persecuted. The mass murder of the Roma and Sinti. The torture and murder of other victims targeted by the Nazis: persons with disabilities. Germans of African descent. Homosexuals. Soviet prisoners of war. Political dissenters and countless others.   And above all, we must tell the stories of all the children, women, and men who were systematically murdered and who together made up the rich and vibrant mosaic that was Jewish life in Europe.   We must remember the Holocaust not as the history of 6 million deaths; but as 6 million different stories of death.   We remember people like Janusz Korczak, the Polish doctor, educator and head of an orphanage in Warsaw. He refused offers to escape the Warsaw Ghetto and stayed with the 200 children under his care – all the way to Treblinka, so they would not die alone.   We remember Friedl Dicker Brandeis who taught art to children in the Theresienstadt Ghetto – encouraging them to paint or draw so that, if only for a moment, they might feel safe. In 1944, Friedl and her students were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.   Today, as we remember them and countless, nameless others, we also reflect on our responsibility: Our responsibility to honour the memory of those who perished. To learn the truth of what happened, and to ensure that neither we, nor future generations, ever forget.   To refuse impunity for perpetrators anywhere. To stand against those who deny, distort, relativize, revise, or otherwise whitewash their own complicities or that of their parents or grandparents with regards to the Holocaust.   And our responsibility to intensify our efforts in prevention – to discredit prejudice, to resolve conflicts and settle disputes before they erupt. Today and every day, let us recommit to stand against evil in all its forms and work for a world of peace, human rights, and dignity for all.   http://bit.ly/3XSjB75 http://www.unesco.org/en/days/holocaust-remembrance http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/hate-speech-strategy.shtml   Holocaust Remembrance Day - Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect   On Friday, 27 January, the international community will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, honoring the millions of victims of the Holocaust, and the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.   The systematic persecution and extermination of more than six million Jews, including more than a million murdered within the confines of Auschwitz, remains one of the darkest chapters in human history.   In addition to commemorating victims, International Holocaust Remembrance Day also recognizes the role of educational programs in teaching about the Holocaust in order to educate future generations on the tools to prevent genocides.   This year’s theme, “Home and Belonging,” highlights the humanity of Holocaust victims and survivors, as well as the dangers of hate speech, antisemitism, Holocaust distortion and denial and prejudice.   In recent years the hatred and antisemitism that begat the Holocaust is experiencing a resurgence around the world, with a worrying rise in neo-Nazism, hate speech and Holocaust denial. Despite the Holocaust being one of the most well documented mass atrocities in history, Holocaust denial and distortion has been amplified on social media platforms with ease.   By systematically negating the facts of history, genocide deniers manufacture doubt, seed discord and mistrust, strengthen contested narratives about the past, present and future, and create conditions that may lead to the recurrence of atrocities.   Genocide denial is not only an attempt to minimize or redefine the scale and severity of the crimes committed, but it also often contributes to the dehumanization of survivors and victims.   Savita Pawnday, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Global Centre stands with and honors all of the victims of the Holocaust and of Nazism. Auschwitz-Birkenau is a warning from history of the consequences of indifference and inaction in the face of mass atrocities. If we do not resist those who deny the humanity of others, we risk repeating the horrors of the past.”   As history has taught us, genocide does not happen overnight. Genocide is preventable if warning signs – such as hate speech and systemic discrimination and marginalization – are taken seriously and followed by early action.   Member states should institute education curriculums that inculcate values and behaviors that counter hate and prejudice. States should also incorporate modules on preventing and responding to atrocity crimes in their education system, including modules on how to prevent and to resist incitement.   http://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust http://www.yadvashem.org/ http://sfi.usc.edu/collections/holocaust http://sfi.usc.edu/what-we-do/collections http://www.auschwitz.org/en/ http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/kenburnsclassroom/film/us-and-the-holocaust/   http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/public-statements.shtml http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133912 http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2023/07/turk-calls-states-combat-weaponization-religious-differences http://www.icrc.org/en/publication/4556-harmful-information-misinformation-disinformation-and-hate-speech-armed-conflict http://www.icrc.org/en/digitharium/digital-dilemmas-dialogue-3 Visit the related web page
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