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	Laws Designed to Silence: The Crackdown on Civil Society Organizations by Kumi Naidoo Amnesty International   Feb. 2019   Governments across the world are increasingly attacking non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by creating laws that subject them and their staff to surveillance, nightmarish bureaucratic hurdles and the ever-present threat of imprisonment, Amnesty International said in a new report released this week.   Laws Designed to Silence: The Global Crackdown on Civil Society Organizations reveals the startling number of countries that are using bullying techniques and repressive regulations to prevent NGOs from doing their vital work. The report lists 50 countries worldwide where anti-NGO laws have been implemented or are in the pipeline.   'We documented how an increasing number of governments are placing unreasonable restrictions and barriers on NGOs, preventing them from carrying out crucial work', said Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty International.   'In many countries, organizations who dare to speak out for human rights are being bullied into silence. Groups of people who come together to defend and demand human rights are facing growing barriers to working freely and safely. Silencing them and preventing their work has consequences for everyone'.   In the past two years alone, almost 40 pieces of legislation that interfere with the right to association and are designed to hamper the work of civil society organizations have been put in place or are in the works around the world. These laws commonly include implementing ludicrous registration processes for organizations, monitoring their work, restricting their sources of resources and, in many cases, shutting them down if they don't adhere to the unreasonable requirements imposed on them.   A global problem   In October 2018, Pakistan's Ministry of the Interior rejected registration applications from 18 international NGOs, and dismissed their subsequent appeals, without giving a reason.   NGOs in Belarus are subjected to strict state supervision. Working for those NGOs whose registration request is rejected (often arbitrarily) is a criminal offence.   In Saudi Arabia, the government can deny licenses to new organizations and disband them if they are deemed to be 'harming national unity'. This has affected human rights groups, including women's human rights groups, who have not been able to register and operate freely in the country.   In Egypt, organizations that receive funding from abroad need to comply with stringent and arbitrary regulations. This has led many human rights defenders being banned from travel, having their assets frozen and prosecuted. Some could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of receiving foreign funding.   'Amnesty International's offices around the world have also come under attack. From India to Hungary, authorities have abused our staff, raided their offices and frozen their assets in a further escalation of their attack on local organizations', said Kumi Naidoo.   Locked up for failing to comply   Many countries, such as Azerbaijan, China and Russia, have introduced further registration and reporting requirements for NGOs. Failure to comply means imprisonment, a punishment Azerbaijani human rights defender Rasul Jafarov, interviewed for the report, knows all too well.   'I was arrested in connection with activism and demonstrations carried out with my Human Rights Club', said Rasul, who was released from prison in 2016, after being detained for over a year. 'This created an awful atmosphere. Those not arrested or investigated had to close their organizations or stop their projects. Many left Azerbaijan to work abroad'.   This restrictive regulation means NGOs are under constant scrutiny by the authorities. In China, new legislation tightly controls the work of NGOs from registration and reporting to banking, hiring requirements and fundraising.   In Russia, the government has labelled NGOs who receive foreign funding 'foreign agents', a term synonymous with spy, traitor and enemy of the state. The government applies this legislation so broadly that even an organization supporting people with diabetes was heavily fined, put on the foreign agents register and forced to close in October 2018. Medical, environmental and women's groups have also come under fire.   Ripple effect   The repressive policies of the Russian government have caused a ripple effect reaching several other countries.   In Hungary, a number of NGOs are being forced to label themselves as foreign funded as the government seeks to discredit their work and turn the general public against them. Organizations failing to comply with these rules face high fines and ultimately the suspension of their activities. Organizations working in support of migrants and refugees have been purposefully targeted and their staff harassed after a new set of laws were passed in June 2018.   'We don't know what is going to happen to us and other organizations, and what laws will be passed next', said Aron Demeter, from Amnesty International Hungary.   'Several members of our staff have been subjected to online trolling, abuse and threats of violence. Some venues refused to host our events and there were schools that refused to hold human rights education activities for fear of repercussions'.   In some countries, the attack on NGOs is particularly targeted against organizations that defend the rights of marginalized groups. Those promoting women's rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, LGBTI rights, the rights of migrants and refugees and environmental groups are among the worst affected.   'No one should be criminalized for standing up for human rights. World leaders should be aiming to guarantee equality and ensure people in their countries have better working conditions, proper health care, access to education and adequate housing, not targeting those who demand them', said Kumi Naidoo.   'Human rights defenders are committed to creating a better world for everyone. We're not going to give up the fight, because we know how important this work is. World leaders reiterated their commitment to provide a safe environment for human rights defenders at the UN Headquarters in December 2018 during the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on HRDs. They must now ensure it becomes a reality'.   Restrictive laws are also seen in many other countries, even those regarded as more open to civil society such as the UK, Ireland, Australia and the USA. According to CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists, Amnesty International's report has come at a pivotal time.   'This report is timely given the proliferation of restrictions on the legitimate work of civil society organisations', said Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer from CIVICUS. 'By shining a spotlight on the challenges, those who support civil society and human rights values can help stem the tide'. Visit the related web page
	People in North Korea trapped in a cycle of deprivation and repression by Tomas Ojea Quintana Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK   May 2019   People in North Korea trapped in vicious cycle of deprivation,and repression - UN human rights report. (OHCHR)   People in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are trapped in a vicious cycle, in which the failure of the State to provide for life's basic necessities forces them to turn to rudimentary markets where they face a host of human rights violations in an uncertain legal environment, according to a new UN human rights report.   The report, published by the UN Human Rights Office highlights how the public distribution system in the DPRK has been broken for over two decades and how, as people seek to eke out a living in a legally precarious parallel economy, they are exposed to arbitrary arrest, detention, and extortion.   Based on 214 first-hand accounts of escapees gathered by UN Human Rights staff in South Korea in 2017 and 2018, the report describes how the most fundamental rights of ordinary people in the DPRK are widely violated because of economic mismanagement and endemic corruption.   'The rights to food, health, shelter, work, freedom of movement and liberty are universal and inalienable, but in North Korea they depend primarily on the ability of individuals to bribe State officials', said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.   Since the economic collapse of the 1990s, people have been unable to survive through a State-led model of centralized economic planning and distribution, which includes State-assigned jobs and the dispensation of food, clothes and other rations.   As a result, working in the informal sector has become an essential means of survival or else, as one interviewee put it: 'If you just follow instructions coming from the State, you starve to death'.   However, when people try to engage in rudimentary market activity, they face arrest and detention, including for travelling within the country, for which a permit is required.   This situation invariably leads to a series of further serious human rights violations, due to absence of rule of law and due process guarantees.   People often experience inhumane and degrading treatment in detention, and are sometimes subjected to torture during interrogation and disciplinary procedures.   The whole system is based on the informal but pervasive practice of bribing State officials who are in a position to enable people to side-step State requirements and regulations in order to work in the private sector and avoid arrest.   The constant threat of arrest and prosecution provides State officials with a powerful means to extort money and other favours from people desperate to avoid detention in inhumane conditions, the report says. In addition, the living conditions and treatment of detainees can also depend on the payment of bribes.   As another escapee said to UN human rights officials: 'I felt it unfair that one could bribe one's way out of [detention], when another suffers much more as a result of being unable to bribe. Bribery is effective in North Korea. One cannot lead a life in North Korea if he or she does not bribe his or her way'.   The report also details how women seeking ways to make ends meet are particularly vulnerable to further abuse at the hands of third parties, including brokers and traffickers.   The UN Human Rights Chief called for far-reaching changes: 'Our report is a stark illustration of how important it is that the Government tackles the country's profound human rights problems. Only then can the endemic system of corruption which pervades all aspects of life be effectively dismantled', she said.   The report stresses how the State has not fulfilled its obligations under international human rights law to realize the right of its citizens to an adequate standard of living.   It has neither sought to modify a failed public system, nor helped to establish a functional and legal private sector to alleviate the economic destitution facing much of the population.   Meanwhile, huge resources continue to be directed towards military spending. The country maintains one of the world's largest standing armies, representing the world's highest ratio of military personnel to the general population.   This has also resulted in the removal of over one million young men and women from the workplace and into the armed forces.   According to UN entities operating in the DPRK, in 2019 around 10.9 million people (over 43 per cent of the total population) are undernourished and suffer from food insecurity.   Almost 10 million people do not have access to safe drinking water and 16 percent of the population does not have access to basic sanitation facilities, increasing the risk of disease and malnutrition.   People living in northeastern and rural provinces suffer most from the lack of basic services, and the 2018 Global Hunger Index classified the level of hunger in the country as serious and bordering on alarming.   'These are extraordinary and appalling figures', said Bachelet. 'You rarely find this level of deprivation even in countries wracked by conflict. I am concerned that the constant focus on the nuclear issue continues to divert attention from the terrible state of human rights for many millions of North Koreans. Not just civil and political rights, but also social, cultural and economic rights which are just as important'.   The full picture of the standard of living in the DPRK is far from clear due to the scarcity of data and the lack of access to the country by UN human rights staff, as well as experienced NGOs.   This is compounded by the oppressive domestic environment, in which there is no space for people to express their views, for independent civil society organizations to operate, or for journalists to report freely on the situation.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/CountriesMandates/KP/Pages/SRDPRKorea.aspx
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