ANNUAL REPORT

2018

© Pierre-Yves Ginet
CAR. Survivors of sexual violences supported in the Bemba case

ANNUAL REPORT
2 0 18
 04 President’s Letter

06 The Federation

07 184 Member Organisations

09 International Board

10 International Secretariat

12 Priority Supporting Human Rights Defenders

18

Priority Fostering an Environment Conducive to Democracy
and Freedom

26 Priority Promoting Women’s Rights

32

Priority Fighting Discrimination and Violence Based on Sexual
Orientation and Gender Identity

36 Priority Promoting the Rights of Migrants

40Priority Fighting Impunity and Protecting

CONTENTS

Populations from the Most Serious Crimes

50

Priority Promoting Respect for Human Rights
by Economic Players

60 Financial Report 2018

61 Acknowledgements

The ILVA plant, completely embedded in the city of Taranto. © FIDH

 President’s Letter
© Credit CLAUDIO REYES/AFP
Dear friends,
It is my pleasure to share with you FIDH’s Annual
Report for 2018.
Αlexis De Tocqueville, in his book “Democracy in
America”, rightly observed that if governments
take the place of civil society, people will become
dependent on governments and that will have
a negative effect on society. If civil society is
shrinking, as is currently the case, then obviously
our communities are in trouble. The more civil
society shrinks, the more imperatively it is needed.
The International Federation for Human Rights is
an international organisation which is made up of
civil society member organisations belonging to
different constellations of human rights approaches.
It is by definition an organisation based on a culture
of collective ownership by its members, human
rights defenders.
Our structure, our bottom-up approach, gives
FIDH an advantage, an incomparable international
legitimacy to strengthen our presence and fight
against this shrinking space for civil society. By
consolidating this federative culture, we can respect
our historical legacy and provide effective answers
to fill the gap that the shrinking space leaves.
4 — F I D H ANNUaL R ePORT 2 0 1 8
FIDH is a non-partisan association in terms of non
affiliation to, and distance from, political parties.
Our trademark is our commitment to a fair and just
world, to social and international justice for victims
of human rights violations, and for the most serious
international crimes. We remind ourselves of the old
motto: no peace without justice. Our commitment
to the struggle against impunity, holding individual
perpetrators of crimes against humanity to account
through the international criminal justice system
must remain unshakable, so that justice and
accountability, including for non-State actors and
companies, becomes a defining element of our era.
Otherwise, it will be governed by impunity and war.
Moreover, the fight against fascism is inherent to
FIDH’s historical identity and therefore, we consider
today the emergence of extreme right movements,
and parties, in particular in Europe but also in the
Americas, as a vital threat to human rights and
democracy that we need to tackle by defending the
political and legislative environment and changing
our narrative.
This is why the FIDH legacy of equality as a condition
to freedom is of vital importance. This is also why
FIDH needs to further and deepen its work on
social, economic and cultural rights and seek new
alliances and coalitions with different organisations
and groups, including social movements, youth
networks, and unions, as well as mainstreaming
issues such as the environment.
In this world of change, traditional human rights
dilemmas persist and new challenges are emerging.
The federative alliance of FIDH with local civil
society organisations allows FIDH to articulate an
innovative and unique comprehensive discourse
on human rights universality in our world, based
on the heterogeneity of its components.

More than ever, we need to keep our eyes open,

as our organisation’s motto aptly puts it. Human
rights work is becoming increasingly complicated,
as against us are not just autocratic governments
but also new (State or non-State, international or
national) actors that require a more robust and
multifaceted strategy.
As defined in our 2017-2022 Strategic Plan, and to
contribute to the fight against shrinking space, in
2018 FIDH concentrated its actions around three
strategic axes: defending freedom, promoting
equality and strengthening accountability.
Releasing and strengthening human rights
defenders – particularly emerging and vulnerable
defenders including environmental and land, trade
unionists, indigenous, women’s and LGBTI rights
defenders – and facilitating regional and inter-
regional exchanges among them and with local
civil society organisations have been key to the
defence of freedoms and the preservation of civic
space. Equally important is the promotion of judicial,
political and legislative environments that protect
democratic standards and freedoms guaranteed
by regional and international conventions. The EU’s
activation of the article 7 TEU procedure against both
Poland and Hungary was a key victory in this regard.
and African regions, while also documenting and
denouncing violations and international crimes.
FIDH has also sought accountability for individual,
State and non-State perpetrators, through national
and regional justice systems, extraterritorial justice,
hybrid tribunals and before the ICC. Our use of
community-based human rights impact assessment
methodology, combined with untiring advocacy, has
seen progress for victims of violations by corporate
actors in the Americas and Africa.
This report details our response, our reaction, our
resistance. This is what paves our way to the 2019
Forum and Congress, FIDH’s 40th, in Taiwan, and
the centenary of our existence in 2022.
FIDH strongly believes that by uniting those fighting
for a fair and just world, it will contribute to a world
where dignity and human rights are fully respected
and implemented. Thank you for being with us.
Professor Dimitris Christopoulos,
President (Athens-Paris, June 2019)

FIDH’s promotion of equality is built on its defence of

the universality of rights: all rights for all. In pursuit
of its priorities on women’s, migrants’ and LGBTI
rights, FIDH has opposed anti-liberal social and
government agendas, notably in the Middle East

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 018 — 5

 T he Federation
The Congress
• Is composed of FIDH’s member organisations: 180
as of the end of the FIDH Congress in Johannesburg
in 2016;
• Meets every three years;
• Discusses the FIDH thematic and geographical
priorities and decides on FIDH’s policy orientations.
The International Board
• Comprises 22 volunteers from FIDH member
organisations. The Board is elected by the Congress
and consists of the President, the Treasurer, 15 Vice-
Presidents and 5 Secretaries-General;
• Determines FIDH’s main strategic goals and
orientations, according to the policy orientations set
by the Congress, and approves the annual accounts;
• Meets three times a year and reports to the
Congress.
6 — F I D H ANNUaL R ePORT 2 0 1 8
The Executive Board
• Is composed of the President, the Treasurer, 5
Secretaries-General and 5 Deputy Secretaries-
General;
•Prepares and organises the meetings of the
International Board;
• Meets once a month and reports to the International
Board.
The International Secretariat
• Based in Paris, it is composed of a team of
professionals managed by a Chief Executive
Officer and an Executive Director, who sit as non-
voting advisory members of the International and
Executive Boards. The team is structured by regions,
action priorities, and delegations. The International
Secretariat has permanent delegations at the United
Nations in New York and Geneva, at the European
Union in Brussels, before the International Criminal
Court in The Hague, as well as a regional office
in Tunis; and offices in conjunction with member
organisations in Conakry, Abidjan, Bangui and
Bamako. It also comprises a Communications and
Public Relations department, and an Administrative
and Finance Department.
• In permanent contact with the actors in the field, the
International Secretariat implements the decisions
of the FIDH policy-making bodies in conjunction with
the member organisations, chargés de mission, and
members of the International and Executive Boards.
 Organisations (June, 2019)
184 Member
AFGHANISTAN, Armanshahr/Open Asia / ALBANIA, Albanian
Human Rights Group (AHRG) / ALGERIA, Collectif des
familles de disparu(e)s en Algérie (CFDA) / ALGERIA, Ligue
Algérienne de défense des droits de l’homme (LADDH) /
ANGOLA, Associação Justiça Paz e Democracia (AJPD) /
ARGENTINA, Centro De Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
/ ARGENTINA, Comité De Acción Jurídica (CAJ) /
ARGENTINA, Liga Argentina Por Los Derechos Del Hombre
(LADH) / ARMENIA, Civil Society Institute (CSI) / AUSTRIA,
Osterreichische Liga Fur Menschenrechte (OLFM) /
BAHRAIN, Bahrain Center For Human Rights (BCHR) /
BAHRAIN, Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) /
BANGLADESH, Odhikar / BELARUS, Human Rights Center
Viasna / BELGIUM, Liga Voor Menschenrechten (LVM) /
BELGIUM, Ligue Des Droits De L’Homme – Belgique / BENIN,
Ligue Pour La Défense Des Droits De L’Homme Au Benin
(LDDHB) / BOLIVIA, Asamblea Permanente De Derechos
Humanos De Bolivia (APDHB) / BOTSWANA, The Botswana
Centre For Human Rights – Ditshwanelo / BRAZIL, Justiça
Global (CJG) / BRAZIL, Movimento Nacional De Direitos
Humanos (MNDH) / BURKINA FASO, Mouvement Burkinabé
Des Droits De L’Homme Et Des Peuples (MBDHP) / BURMA,
Altsean Burma / BURUNDI, Ligue Burundaise Des Droits
De L’Homme (Iteka) / CAMBODIA, Cambodian Human Rights
And Development Association (ADHOC) / CAMBODIA, Ligue
Cambodgienne De Défense Des Droits De L’Homme
(LICADHO) / CAMEROON, Maison Des Droits De L’Homme
(MDH) / CANADA, Canadian Centre for International Justice
(CCIJ) / CANADA, Ligue Des Droits Et Des Libertés Du
Québec (LDL) / CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, Ligue
Centrafricaine Des Droits De L’Homme (LCDH) / CENTRAL
AFRICAN REPUBLIC, Observatoire Centrafricain des Droits
de l’Homme (OCDH) / CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC,
Organisation Pour La Compassion Des Familles En Détresse
(OCODEFAD) / CHAD, Association Tchadienne Pour La
Promotion Et La Défense Des Droits De L’Homme (ATPDH)
/ CHAD, Ligue Tchadienne Des Droits De L’Homme (LTDH)
/ CHILE, Corporacion De Promocion Y Defensa De Los
Derechos Del Pueblo (CODEPU) / CHILE, Observatorio
Cuidadano / CHINA, China Labour Bulletin (CLB) / CHINA,
Human Rights In China (HRIC) / CHINA (TIBET), International
Campaign For Tibet (ICT) / COLOMBIA, Comite Permanente
Por La Defensa De Los Derechos Humanos (CPDH) /
COLOMBIA, Corporacion Colectivo De Abogados José
Alvear Restrepo (CCAJAR) / COLOMBIA, Instituto
Latinoamericano De Servicios Legales Alternativos (ILSA)
/ COLOMBIA, Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) /
CONGO, Observatoire Congolais Des Droits De L’Homme
(OCDH) / CROATIA, Civic Committee For Human Rights
(CCHR) / CUBA, Comision Cubana De Derechos Humanos
Y Reconciliacion National (CCHDN) / CZECH REPUBLIC,
Human Rights League (HRL) - Liga Lidskych Prav /
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, Association Africaine
Des Droits De L’homme (ASADHO) / DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF CONGO, Groupe Lotus / DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
CONGO, Ligue Des Électeurs (LE) / DJIBOUTI, Ligue
Djiboutienne Des Droits Humains (LDDH) / DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC, Comisión Nacional De Los Derechos Humanos
Inc (CNDHRD) / ECUADOR, Acción Ecológica / ECUADOR,
Comisión Ecuménica De Derechos Humanos (CEDHU) /
ECUADOR, Fundación Regional De Asesoria En Derechos
Humanos (INREDH) / EGYPT, Cairo Institute For Human
Rights Studies (CIHRS) / EGYPT, Egyptian Initiative for
Personal Rights (EIPR) / EGYPT, Egyptian Organization For
Human Rights (EOHR) / EGYPT, Human Rights Association
For The Assistance Of Prisoners (HRAAP) / EL SALVADOR,
Comision De Derechos Humanos Del Salvador (CDHES) /
ETHIOPIA, Human Rights Council (HRCO) / EUROPE,
Association Européenne Pour La Défense Des Droits De
L’Homme (AEDH) / FINLAND, Finnish League For Human
Rights (FLHR) – Ihmisoikeusliitto / FRANCE, Ligue Des
Droits De L’Homme (LDH) / FRANCE (FRENCH POLYNESIA),
Ligue Polynésienne Des Droits Humains (LPDH) / FRANCE
(NEW CALEDONIA), Ligue Des Droits Et Du Citoyen De
Nouvelle Calédonie (LDHNC) / GEORGIA, Human Rights
Center (HRIDC) / GERMANY, Internationale Liga Fur
Menschenrechte (ILMR) / GREECE, Hellenic League For
Human Rights (HLHR) / GUATEMALA, Centro De Acción
Legal En Derechos Humanos (CALDH) / GUINEA-BISSAU,
Liga Guineense Dos Direitos Humanos (LGDH) / GUINEA-
CONAKRY, Mêmes droits pour tous (MDT) / GUINEA-
CONAKRY, Organisation Guinéenne De Défense Des Droits
De L’Homme Et Du Citoyen (OGDH) / GULF, Gulf Center for
Human Rights (GCHR) / HAITI, Centre Oecumenique Des
Droits Humains (CEDH) / HAITI, Réseau National De Défense
FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 018 — 7

Des Droits De L’Homme (RNDDH) / HONDURAS, Centro De
Investigación Y Promoción De Los Derechos Humanos
(CIPRODEH) / HONDURAS, Comité de Familiares de
Detenidos-Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH) / INDIA,
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) / INDIA,
People’s Watch / INDONESIA, KontraS / IRAN, Defenders
Of Human Rights Center In Iran (DHRC) / IRAN, Justice for
Iran (JFI) / IRAN, Ligue Pour La Défense Des Droits De
L’Homme En Iran (LDDHI) / IRELAND, Free Legal Advice
Centres Limited (FLAC) / IRELAND, Irish Council For Civil
Liberties (ICCL) / ISRAEL, Adalah / ISRAEL, Association
For Civil Rights In Israel (ACRI) / ISRAEL, B’tselem / ISRAEL,
Public Committee Against Torture In Israel (PCATI) / ITALY,
Lega Italiana Dei Diritti Dell’uomo (LIDU) / ITALY, Unione
Forense Per La Tutela Dei Diritti Dell’uomo (UFTDU) / IVORY
COAST, Ligue Ivoirienne Des Droits De L’homme (LIDHO) /
IVORY COAST, Mouvement Ivoirien Des Droits Humains
(MIDH) / JAPAN, Center For Prisoners’ Rights (CPR) /
JORDAN, Amman Center For Human Rights Studies (ACHRS)
/ KAZAKHSTAN, International Legal Initiative (ILI) /
KAZAKHSTAN, Kazakstan International Bureau for Human
Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) / KENYA, Kenya Human
Rights Commission (KHRC) / KUWAIT, Human Line
Organisation (HLO) / KYRGYZSTAN, Human Rights
Movement (Bir Duino-Dyrgyzstan) / KYRGYZSTAN, Kylym
Shamy / KYRGYZSTAN, Legal Clinic Adilet / LAOS,
Mouvement Lao Pour Les Droits De L’Homme (MLDH) /
LATVIA, Latvian Human Rights Committee (LHRC) /
LEBANON, Centre Libanais des Droits Humains (CLDH) /
LEBANON, Palestinian Human Rights Organization (PHRO)
/ LIBERIA, Regional Watch For Human Rights (LWHR) /
LIBYA, Human Rights Association for Recording and
Documenting War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity /
LIBYA, Libyan League For Human Rights (LLH) / LITHUANIA,
Lithuanian Human Rights Association (LHRA) / MALAYSIA,
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) / MALI, Association
Malienne Des Droits De L’Homme (AMDH) / MAURITANIA,
Association Mauritanienne Des Droits De L’Homme (AMDH)
/ MEXICO, Comision Mexicana De Defensa Y Promocion
De Los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH) / MEXICO, Liga
Mexicana Por La Defensa De Los Derechos Humanos
(LIMEDDH) / MOLDOVA, Promo-LEX / MOROCCO,
Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM)
/ MOROCCO, Association Marocaine Des Droits Humains
(AMDH) / MOROCCO, Organisation Marocaine Des Droits
De L’Homme (OMDH) / MOZAMBIQUE, Liga Mocanbicana
Dos Direitos Humanos (LMDDH) / NICARAGUA, Centro
Nicaraguense De Derechos Humanos (CENIDH) / NIGER,
Association Nigerienne Pour La Défense Des Droits De
L’Homme (ANDDH) / NIGERIA, Civil Liberties Organisation
(CLO) / NORTHERN IRELAND, Committee On The
Administration Of Justice (CAJ) / NORWAY, Norwegian
Helsinki Committee (NHC) / PAKISTAN, Human Rights
8 — F I D H ANNUaL R ePORT 2 0 1 8
Commission Of Pakistan (HRCP) / PALESTINE, Al Haq /
PALESTINE, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Al Mezan)
/ PALESTINE, Palestinian Centre For Human Rights (PCHR)
/ PALESTINE, Ramallah Centre For Human Rights Studies
(RCHRS) / PANAMA, Centro De Capacitación Social De
Panamá (CCS) / PERU, Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos
(APRODEH) / PERU, Centro De Derechos Y Desarrollo
(CEDAL) / PERU, Equidad / PHILIPPINES, Philippine Alliance
Of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) / POLAND, Polish
Society of Anti-Discrimination Law (PSAL) / PORTUGAL,
Liga Portuguesa dos Direitos Humanos - CIVITAS /
ROMANIA, The League For The Defense Of Human Rights
(LADO) / RUSSIA, Anti-Discrimination Center Memorial
(ADC Memorial) / RUSSIA, Citizens’ Watch (CW) / RUSSIA,
Memorial HRC – Moscow / RWANDA, Association
Rwandaise Pour La Défense Des Droits De La Personne Et
Des Libertés Publiques (ADL) / RWANDA, Ligue Rwandaise
Pour La Promotion Et La Défense Des Droits De L’Homme
(LIPRODHOR) / SENEGAL, Ligue Sénégalaise des Droits
Humains (LSDH) / SENEGAL, Organisation Nationale Des
Droits De L’Homme (ONDH) / SENEGAL, Rencontre Africaine
Pour La Défense Des Droits De L’Homme (RADDHO) / SOUTH
AFRICA, Lawyers for human rights (LHR) / SOUTH KOREA,
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) /
SPAIN, Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos De Espana
(APDHE) / SPAIN, Federacion De Asociaciones De Defensa
Y Promocion De Los Derecho (FDDHH) / SUDAN, African
Center For Justice And Peace Studies (ACJPS) / SUDAN,
Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SUHRM) / SWITZERLAND,
Ligue Suisse Des Droits De L’homme (LSDH) / SYRIA, Al
Marsad / SYRIA, Committees For The Defense Of Democracy
Freedoms And Human Rights (CDF) / SYRIA, Damascus
Center For Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) / SYRIA, Syrian
Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) /
TAIWAN, Taiwan Association For Human Rights (TAHR) /
TAJIKISTAN, Tajik “Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of
Law” (BHR) / TANZANIA, The Legal And Human Rights
Centre (LHRC) / THAILAND, iLaw / THAILAND, Union For
Civil Liberties (UCL) / THE NETHERLANDS, Liga Voor De
Rechten Van De Mens (LVRM) / TOGO, Ligue Togolaise Des
Droits De L’Homme (LTDH) / TUNISIA, Association
Tunisienne Des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD) / TUNISIA,
Doustourna / TUNISIA, Forum tunisien pour les droits
économiques et sociaux (FTDES) / TUNISIA, Ligue
Tunisienne Des Droits De L’Homme (LTDH) / TURKEY,
Human Rights Foundation Of Turkey (HRFT) / TURKEY,
Insan Haklari Dernegi (IHD) Ankara / TURKEY, Insan Haklari
Dernegi (IHD) Diyabakir / UGANDA, Foundation For Human
Rights Initiative (FHRI) / UKRAINE, Center for Civil Liberties
(CLC) / UNITED KINGDOM, Liberty / UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, Center For Constitutional Rights (CCR) / UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA, Center For Justice & Accountability
(CJA) / UZBEKISTAN, Human Rights Society Of Uzbekistan
(HRSU) / VIETNAM, Comité Vietnam Pour La Défense Des
Droits De L’Homme (CVDDH) / YEMEN, Human Rights
Information And Training Center (HRITC) / YEMEN, Sisters’
Arab Forum For Human Rights (SAF) / ZIMBABWE,
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights)
 PRESIDENT TREASURER
Dimitris Jean-François
CHRISTOPOULOS Plantin
Greece France

VICE-PRESIDENTS
Guissou Artak Adilur
International Board

JAHANGIRI KIRAKOSYAN RAHMAN KHAN

Afghanistan Armenia Bangladesh

Elise Mohamed Aly Maryse

MONGE Mohamed ARTIGUELONG
Ecuador ZAREA France
Egypt

Juan Francisco Drissa Tolekan

SOTO TRAORE ISMAILOVA
Guatemala Ivory Coast Kyrgyzstan

Gerard Gloria Margarita Rosemarie

J-M VAN VLIET CANO LEGUA R. Trajano
Netherlands Peru Philippines

Hafidha Sheila Arnold

CHEKIR MUWANGA TSUNGA
Tunisia Uganda Zimbabwe

SECRETARIES GENERAL

Dan Alice Debbie

VAN RAEMDONCK MOGWE Stothard
Belgium Botswana Malaysia

Pierre Shawan
Esperance JABARIN
Haiti Palestine

HONORARY PRESIDENTS

Patrick Michel Daniel Karim Sidiki Souhayr

BaudoUin Blum Jacoby LAHIDJI Kaba Belhassen
France France France Iran Senegal Tunisia

and in cooperation with:

DEPUTY SECRETARIES GENERAL

Nabeel Paul Florence Bertha

Rajab NSUPU Bellivier OLIVA
Bahrain Democratic France Honduras
Republic
of Congo

PERMANENT DELEGATES

Dobian Mabassa Jomary

Assingar Fall ORTEGON
before the Economic and before the African before the Organization
Monetary Community of Union (AU) of American States (OAS)
Central African States

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 018 — 9

 International Secretariat Updated May, 2019

FIDH – International Secretariat

Éléanore MOREL
Chief Executive Officer
Paris Executive
Juliane FALLOUX Directorate
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Paris

MANAGEMENT
TEAM

10 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Cyril BLIN
Director of Operations Anne ARNOLD Mathieu PICARD
Antoine MADELIN Adéa GUILLOT Lisa SMITH
Paris Financial and Administrative Technical and Human Resources
International Advocacy Director Communications Director Fundraising Director
Director Director
Patricia HUYGHEBAERT Paris Paris Paris
Paris Paris Paris
Deputy Director of Operations
Paris

INTERNATIONAL Brussels
ADMINISTRATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES /
RESEARCH AND OPERATIONS COMMUNICATION FUNDRAISING INFORMATIONS SYSTEM
ADVOCACY FINANCES

Justine DUBY
Programme Officer, «Rule of Law » Project New York
Paris

Yasmine LAVEILLE Maddalena NEGLIA

Anissa DABOUSSI Gaëlle DUSEPULCHRE Samuel HANRYON Solène BAUDY FLOC'H Jane SYMONDS
Head of Desk Head of Desk Marie-France BURQ Sarah LERENARD Audrey COUPRIE
Programme Officer Permanent Representative to the Head of Desk Head of Head of
Middle East & North Africa Globalisation & Human Rights Head of Human Resources Attachée to the Directorate Congress Coordinator Geneva
Middle East & North Africa Desk EU Press Relations Cost Controlling Desk Development
Desk Desk Paris Paris Paris
Paris Brussels Paris Paris Paris
Paris Paris

Maria-Isabel CUBIDES
Khitem BARGAOUI Radhouane SFAXI Felipe VIDAL Julia NARKEVICIUTE
Yosra FRAWES Programme Officer Recruitment underway Eva CANAN Lidya OGBAZGHI
Programme Offcer Accountant Officer Partnerships Officer
FIDH Delegate / Tunisia Globalisation & Human Rights Delegate to the EU Press Officer Administrative Assistant Tunis
Tunisia Tunisia Cost Controlling Desk Fundraising Desk
Tunis Desk Brussels Paris Paris
Tunis Tunis Paris Paris
Paris

Cesar CONTRERAS
Jimena REYES Natalia YAYA MARTELLO José Jans CARRETERO Talya SWISSA Catherine ABSALOM Samia MERAH Recruitment underway
Jurist Céline BALLEREAU TETU Kevin ZINKE
Head of Desk Programme Officer Jurist Consultant, Globalisation & Liaison Officer Delegation to Finance Officer Programme Officer
IDHEAS/FIDH joint Publications Manager Head of The Hague
Americas Desk Americas Desk CAJAR/FIDH joint Programme Human Rights Desk the EU Cost Controlling Desk Fundraising Desk
Programme Paris Informations System
Brussels Paris Bogota Paris Brussels Paris Paris
Mexico City Paris

Ilya NUZOV Daria KOVALEVA Léa MOREAU

Karine BONNEAU Stéphanie DAVID Samba LASA Aloïs CABRER
Head of Desk Programme Assistant Anne VESQUE Consultant
Head of Desk Permanent Representative to the Head of Technician and System
Eastern Europe & Central Eastern Europe & Central Asia Digital Communication Officer Fundraising and Abidjan
International Justice Desk UN Security Council Accounts Desk Administrator
Asia Desk Desk Paris Women’s Rights
Paris New York Paris Paris
Paris Paris Paris

Elena CRESPI Delphine CARLENS Sonia TANCIC Vincent FARGEAS

Tony MINET Lucile COGNACQ
Head of Desk Deputy Head of Desk Permanent Representative Assistant, Digital
Accountant Facilities Management Assistant Bangui
Western Europe Desk International Justice Desk to the UN Communication
Paris Paris
Brussels Paris Geneva Paris

José Carlos THISSEN

Juliette ROUSSELOT Amal NASSAR Halème REKAYA
Manon KARATAS Communication Consultant
Programme Officer Permanent Representative to Head of Project, Optimising of
Delegate to the UN for Latin America and the Bamako
Southern & Western Asia Desk the ICC Finance and Account Processes
Geneva Caribbean
Paris The Hague Paris
Lima
 Delegate to the UN for Latin America and the Bamako
Southern & Western Asia Desk the ICC Finance and Account Processes
Geneva Caribbean
Paris The Hague Paris
Lima

Florent GEEL Tchérina JEROLON Hassatou BA MINTE Sarah FINNIN Mohamed BOUADJENEK
Head of Desk Deputy Head of Desk Programme Officer Project Coordinator, Assistant of Accounts & Cost
Conakry
Africa Desk Africa Desk Africa Desk EU Victims' Rights Directive Controlling (alternating)
Paris Paris Paris The Hague Paris

Zoé BERTRAND Daisy SCHMITT

Programme Officer Programme Officer
Consultants
Africa Desk Women’s Rights Desk
Paris Paris

Alexandra POMEON
Antonin RABECQ
Head of Desk Observatory for the
Deputy Head of Desk
Protection of Human Rights
Africa Desk
Defenders Desk
Paris
Paris

Hugo GABBERO
Alseny SALL Amadou BARRY Deputy Head of Desk
Recruitment underway
Project Officer, Project Officer, Observatory for the Protection
Guinea Project Coordinator
OGDH/FIDH joint Programme OGDH/FIDH joint Programme of Human Rights Defenders
Conakry
Conakry Conakry Desk
Paris

Manon CABAUP
Aboubacar SYLLA Ousmane SOUMAH Mohamed DIOUBATE
Consultant, Observatory for the
Head, Administrative & Finance, Administrative Assistant, Jurist, Legal Clinic
Protection of Human Rights
OGDH/FIDH joint Programme OGDH/FIDH joint Programme OGDH/FIDH joint Programme
Defenders Desk
Conakry Conakry Conakry
Paris

Halimatou CAMARA
Juriste Projet conjoint
OGDH/FIDH
Conakry

Alain KIZINGUERE Evrad BONDADE

Recruitment underway Project Officer Project Officer
CAR Project Coordinator LCDH/FIDH joint Programme LCDH/FIDH joint Programme
Bangui Bangui Bangui

Nicolas GBAGBE
Elisabeth MBAYA
Head,
Programme Assistant
Administrative & Finance,
LCDH/FIDH
LCDH/FIDH joint Programme
Bangui
Bangui

Drissa TRAORE Mamoutou TAOU Yacouba WOYOKOTE

Coordinator, Programme Assistant, Accountant,
AMDH/FIDH joint Programme AMDH/FIDH joint Programme AMDH/FIDH joint Programme
Bamako Bamako Bamako

Willy NETH
Coordinator, MIDH/FIDH joint
Programme
Abidjan

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 11
 PRIORITY
Supporting Human Rights Defenders
1/ ANALYSIS OF PL ANS, CHALLENGES AND
PROGRESS
FIDH conducted activities to support and protect
human rights defenders at risk in close to 30 country-
specific situations. FIDH intervened in various
contexts including in totalitarian States, countries
governed by authoritarian regimes, even in so-called
“democracies” as well as conflict situations.
For decades , human rights defe nde rs and
independent human rights NGOs have been a driving
force to promote freedom of opinion and expression,
pluralism, and the freedoms of thought, speech,
religion and conscience. They have also successfully
advocated for an international legal order that provides
remedies and protection for human rights. Yet, and
particularly in recent years, the rise of the extreme
right, nationalism and religious fundamentalism
has developed, together with the strengthening
of unruled economic globalisation, leading to the
curtailing of women’s rights and migrants rights, the
repression of pro-democracy protests, the capture of
natural resources, the multiplication of social and land
conflicts and the misuse of security and anti-terrorist
laws against peaceful dissent. The consideration of
human rights to address internal and external issues
has eroded, including in Western countries and in a
large number of regional powers, generating negative
impacts in their areas of influence.
Rather than recognising the contribution human rights
defenders make to the well-being of their people, States
have increasingly targeted them, depicting them as
foreign agents, terrorists, threats to national security,
opponents of development or “traditional values”.
Numerous States have passed legislation aiming to
hinder or deny the right to enjoy and defend human
rights. The rights to organise and protest individually
or collectively and to express oneself freely, have been
curtailed and rolled back in many countries, at a time
when illegal surveillance is growing exponentially. In an
increasingly perilous environment, HRDs are subject
to criminal charges, arbitrary imprisonment, fines,
administrative closures, illegal surveillance, smear
campaigns, restrictions on freedom of movement,
and the inability to finance their activities.
12 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Each of these situations requires adapted means
of actions – whether fact-finding, documentation
and alerts to denounce human rights violations and
challenge authorities for legislative reforms, advocacy
for the release of imprisoned defenders, emergency
assistance or support for urgent relocation, and finally
capacity building or institutional grants. In Asia, for
instance, the escalation of attacks against human
rights defenders, including members of FIDH, by both
State and non-State actors, has led to a significant
increase in requests for material and other assistance
for human rights defenders at risk with beneficiaries
notably in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Human rights defenders supported in 2018 have
mainly been defenders of women’s rights (such as in
Iran and Saudi Arabia), LGBTI defenders (Chechnya),
human rights lawyers (such as in Belarus, Sudan),
land and environmental rights defenders (such as in
Chile, Ecuador, Honduras and the Philippines), as well
as defenders of rights violated by business activity
(such as in Colombia and South Africa). A greater
demand has been reported for support through trial
observations (Belarus, South Korea) by trade unionists
as a result of an increase or perpetuation of attacks,
judicial harassment, and criminalisation against
them, especially in economies under autocratic
rule. Reports were published documenting fair trial
violations in Belarus, Chile and the UAE.
Five fact-finding missions were conducted on the
situation of human rights defenders (Colombia, Belarus,
Israel/Occupied Palestian Territories, Peru, Philippines).
An additional mission was conducted in Zimbabwe
in the pre-election context. In 2018, the topics of the
reports revolved around three main issues :
- the protection of lawyers defending human rights
and the fight against their judicial harassment
(Belarus, Sudan),
- the protection of women human rights defenders
(Saudi Arabia),
- t he protection of the freedom of association
(Morocco)

When faced with urgent requests for support because
of threats – whether new or permanent – different
means of action are used: 439 urgent alerts (urgent
appeals, press releases, statements, open letters) were
dispatched to thousands of stakeholders, influencers
and decision-makers, followed by advocacy dialogue
at national, regional and international levels to end
harassment of human rights defenders.
Following the publication of urgent appeals or of fact
finding reports, FIDH systematically transmits the
information to relevant institutional stakeholders,
such as the EU delegations in the field, the UN
Special rapporteur on the protection of human
rights defenders as well as other relevant UN
Special procedures (see below on Saudi Arabia).
On numerous occasions, the urgent appeals are
followed up with phone-calls to human rights focal
points at EU delegations to ensure an appropriate
followup as part of the EU’s guidelines on human
rights defenders. Appeals and reports are also sent
to the European Parliament and EU Member States,
participating to the mobilisation of these institutions
and countries. As such, numerous urgent resolutions
of the European Parliament echo concerns on the
safety and security of human rights defenders.
As a result of all these advocacy efforts, nine key
statements, decisions, and/or resolutions were issued
by the European Parliament (on Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Egypt, Bahrein, United Arab Emirates) and the UN
(Burundi, Thaïland, Saudi Arabia, Iran) to protect
human rights defenders.
Follow-up of pending cases included a case filed before
the African Court on Human and People’s Rights against
Rwanda for violating the freedom of association of
human rights defenders. FIDH also followed up on
an amicus curiae submission request before the East
African Court of Justice (EACJ) concerning Burundian
NGOs. In Colombia, an amicus curiae was submitted to
the Constitutional Court of Colombia on the exclusion
of defenders from being appointed as judges at special
jurisdictions for peace. FIDH’s mobilisation contributed
to key amendments to the law. Trial observations took
place in Bahrain and Chile. Additional trial observations
were conducted to respond to emergencies (Belarus,
Honduras, South Korea).
FIDH continued with a long-term approach to support
human rights defenders from members organisations
as well as outside the federation, in order to plead
for their release when under arbitrary detention. A
positive response was received from the UN Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding the release
of HRDS in Sudan. In 2018, FIDH contributed to the
release of 116 HRDs (see below).
FIDH also provided emergency grants to 30 human
rights defenders and 3 NGOs notably in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Honduras, the Maldives, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Thailand,
Uganda and Yemen. Emergency grants covered
in particular costs relating to physical security,
communication support, transportation support,
humanitarian assistance (including family support),
urgent relocation, legal support, and digital security.
In 2018 requests for emergency grants, material
and solidarity support aiming to improve their
situations (14 temporary relocation grants allowing
HRDs to escape harassment and threats, 19 material
assistance grants, five solidarity support) came
mainly from HRDs and human rights organisations
outside FIDH’s network.
FIDH has allocated 11 grants to local human rights
organisations and groups to support, consolidate and
expand their operational capacities, develop sensitive
initiatives and to prevent and respond to increasing
infringements faced by human rights defenders
and their organisations. Five grants were allocated
to strengthen the capacities of local human rights
defenders’organisations to prevent and respond to
developments adversely affecting human rights and
human rights defenders’ situations (Honduras, Israel,
Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan). Six grants
were allocated to strengthen the protection of local
organisations confronted by contexts of hostility
for their human rights activities, allowing them to
maintain operations (Cambodia, Iraq, the Maldives,
Uganda, Syria, Yemen).
Outreach missions took place to meet human rights
defenders working on Algeria, Bangladesh, North
Korea, the Maldives, and Venezuela. They also took
place in countries not initially planned (Sri Lanka,
Uzbekistan), where HRDs face challenges in terms
of connectivity with international advocacy groups
and mechanisms and their ability to document past
human rights violations. The flexibility of outreach
missions is essential to identify potential new partners
and assess existing risks and needs for HRDs in terms
of documentation, support and security.
Regional strategic and capacity-building workshops
in Ecuador and Johannesburg have allowed FIDH to
strengthen the capacities of defenders, NGOs and
member organisations, to protect themselves and
to develop expertise on the issue of criminalissation
of HRDs.
The protection of human rights defenders worldwide
requires strong and strategic partnership. Under
the Consortium ProtectDefenders.eu, the European
Union Human Rights Defenders mechanism, FIDH
strengthened synergies with the other 11 international
and regional partners on various defender protection
related components.
Since 1997, FIDH partners with the World Organisation
against Torture under their programme entitled the
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders that seek to provide urgent support and
protection to human rights at risk via documentation,
mobilisation, emergency grants, missions, advocacy
and global analysis of trends and contexts.
FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 13
 Supporting Human Rights Defenders
2/ IMPACTS and SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES

Objective 1 – Protect human rights defenders in situations of insecurity

Expected outcome 1.1: Defenders escape repression and are better protected

Highlights oF release of human rights defenders

Abdolfattah Soltani, lawyer and founding member of member organisation Defenders of Human
Rights Centre (DHRC) in Iran was released after spending more than seven years in jail. But,
on 13 June 2018, prominent Iranian attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, a major figure in the fight for
human rights, was arrested and detained. Months later, in March 2019, she was handed a 33-year
prison sentence and 148 lashes, following an unfair trial. FIDH continues to tirelessly demand
the inconditional release of Nasrin and of all other human rights defenders imprisoned in Iran.

Throughout 2018 FIDH has continued its mobilisation, particularly before various EU institutions
and EU member States, on the case of its Deputy Secretary General Nabeel Rajab, imprisoned
in Bahrain since 2016 for having denounced, in various tweets, interviews and articles, human
rights violations committed during the war in Yemen led by the Saudi coalition, and the use of
torture in Bahraini prisons. The press conference that FIDH organised in Beirut in January 2018
on Nabeel Rajab and the state of human rights in Bahrain resulted in a very large international
media coverage (Reuters; Associated Press; AFP FR; AFP Eng; AFP AR; EFE; Prensa Latina;
AntaraNews; EuropaPress; Al Jazeera Arabic; Al Jazeera English; Al Akhbar News; Bahrain
Mirror; Waki Online; Press TV). In 2018, the European Parliament called for sanctions against
Bahrain. Besides the awareness raising on his situation at the international level, intense
advocacy led the City of Paris to name Nabeel an honorary Citizen.

In Chile, FIDH monitored the trials against several Mapuche activists prosecuted under anti-
terrorism legislation. In May 2018, FIDH welcomed the acquittal of human rights defender
Machi Francesca Linconao.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders was strongly invested in its
support to Human rights defender OyubTitiev, who was detained since his arrest on 9 January
2018. Titiev and the human rights NGO for which he was working, Memorial, have long been
a thorn in the side of the local authorities due to their key role in documenting grave human
rights violations in Chechnya. He was released on parole in June 2019 after serving 17 months
of a four-year prison sentence on fabricated charges.

FIDH issued a number of urgent appeals for the release of labour rights defender and former
KCTU Secretary General Lee Young-joo in South Korea. In order to ensure that the European
Commission takes on its responsibilities correctly, raising their cases and actively engaging with
the South Korean authorities, a joint letter was addressed to trade commissioner Malmstrom
to this effect. FIDH was the only international organisation to observe the trial for the whole
three days and gave interviews to the local media to share its findings. The combination of
all these means of action contributed to the release of Lee Young-joo on 14 June 2018 after
being sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term and a fine.

14 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
 Expected outcome 1.3: Decision-makers take more action to protect defenders

The international community and the Human Rights

Defenders World Summit
With Amnesty International, ProtectDefenders.eu, Front Line Defenders and several other organisations,
FIDH co-organised the Human Rights Defenders World Summit 2018, which was held in Paris inOctober to
mark the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. The Summit brought together
a diverse group of more than 150 human rights defenders from around the world for three days of meetings,
panel discussions, networking and workshopping. These activists, who are at the forefront of struggles for
social, political and environmental changes in their countries, had the opportunity to connect and engage
with regional and international human rights organisations, global government leaders, the United Nations,
donors and the private sector.

The first Human Rights Defenders World Summit took place 20 years ago in 1998 at the Palais de Chaillot,
Paris, the same location where this year’s closing ceremony was held. After three days of discussions and
strategy development spanning regional and global issues, environmental rights and women human rights
defenders and the increasing attacks on human rights defenders everywhere, the momentum culminated
in the presentation of a landmark Action Plan which was presented to the UN General Assembly during a
plenary session held in December 2018. Alice Mogwe, FIDH Vice-President, was nominated to make the
speech and introduce the action plan.

The ambitious Action Plan proposes a concrete set of measures and calls for a lasting commitment from States,
businesses, financial institutions, donors and intergovernmental institutions to act to protect human rights
defenders and to take concrete actions to offer better protection and create a more favourable environment for
their work. The Action Plan stresses that it is everyone’s responsibility to create an environment in which it is
truly possible and safe to claim our human rights. However, it emphasises that those with power, State and non-
State actors, must take the lead in creating a safe and enabling environment for those who defend human rights.

ADVOCATING FOR WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN

SAUDI ARABIA
The report Condemned to Silence, the situation of women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, which documents
discrimination and analyses the architecture of the Saudi repression system, was launched in early 2018. The
findings were crucial to advocacy in a situation where fact-finding missions and dialogue with key stakeholders
are impossible. It was the first research produced by FIDH organisation on Saudi Arabia. The report was widely
covered in the media, and was presented to the CEDAW Committee where FIDH’s concerns and recommendations
were echoed by the Committee members on the occasion of their review of Saudi Arabia. On 31 May 2018, the
European Parliament voted a strong resolution on the situation of women’s rights defenders in Saudi Arabia
following key advocacy meetings on the basis of the report.

Later on and as the mobilisation increased around the UN Human rights Council in Geneva (through side events,
joint NGO letters, advocacy and NGO statements in the Human rights Council), a cross-regional group of 36
States, issued a joint statement at the Council on 7 March 2019, calling for the release of detained women
right defenders in Saudi Arabia and sending a strong signal to the Saudi authorities that the Council will hold
its members accountable.

Following this important mobilisation, on 28 March, the Saudi authorities provisionally released two women
human rights defenders, Aziza Al Yousef and Eman Al-Nafjan. On 2 May, four other women human rights
defenders were provisionally released: Hatoon Al-Fassi, Amal Al-Harbi, Maysaa al-Manea and Abeer Namankani.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 15
 Supporting Human Rights Defenders
Objective 2: Strengthen human rights defenders’ capacity to take action

Expected outcome 2.1: Defenders and NGOs have additional means and are better equipped

INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING AND CAPACITY-BUILDING

In the Americas: In July the Observatory organised a workshop in Ecuador with the participation
of 10 lawyers from member organisations in eight Latin American countries and 20 local
partners who had been criminalised. On the basis of each individual case, the workshops made
it possible to reflect on the strategies of action using, in particular, those described in a draft
guide of the Observatory. The workshop also provided training on regional and international
human rights standards related to criminalisation. The Observatory is committed to follow
up on some of the cases. Participation was balanced between human rights lawyers and
grassroots HRDs from remote areas. Attention was also paid to gender balance. The main
objective of the training was to discuss the growing phenomenon of criminalisation in the
region in relation with industrial projects, and to define strategies to counter multifaceted
harassment from the authorities and/or non-State actors. The training allowed the participants
to outline various national contexts of hostility specifically related to the defence of territory
and the environment. All the cases presented highlighted the root causes of criminalisation
stemming from weak or dysfunctioning institutions, and notably the grip of the executive – but
also pressure from private actors – over the judiciary. From the diversity of cases presented in
the workshop, the participants chose four emblematic cases to be followed up with possible
strategies from a legal and advocacy perspective. This training led to greater networking
among participants from different countries and regions, to greater knowledge of country
situations and criminalisation, and to concerted strategies to push back and regain civic
space for communities confronted with harassment in contexts of unbridled development
violating human rights.

In South Africa: Following the Community-Based Human Rights Impact Assessment

conducted in 2017 in South Africa, revealing the devastating human and environmental toll
of inadequate mine closure, a strategic and capacity-building workshop was conducted in
2018 in Johannesburg. Co-hosted by member organisation Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR),
the workshop was attended by more than 60 delegates from mining-affected communities
and grassroots mineworkers’ committees from each of the major mining regions of South
Africa. This workshop put the issue of HRDs and especially of women HRDs affected by the
mining at the center of the debate. The member organisation is now much more involved at
national, regional and international level and regarded as an expert in business and human
rights issues.

16 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
South Korean labor leader Han Sang-Gyun was charged with incitement to violence following an anti-government demonstration
and faced arbitrary detention. © Danny Kim/AFPTV/AFP

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 17
 PRIORITY
FOSTERING AN ENVIRONMENT
CONDUCIVE TO DEMOCRACY AND
FREEDOM
1/ ANALYSIS OF PL ANS, CHALLENGES AND
PROGRESS
In recent years, democratic standards and the Rule
of Law (RoL) have been increasingly challenged in
all regions of the world. The space for civil society
has been progressively shrinking. An extremely
polarised political discourse has also contributed to
building a narrative which openly defies democratic
standards.To address these challenges, action took
place at national, regional and international levels
during 2018.
The threats to the Rule of Law and the related
shrinking space for civil society were addressed
under different angles and different means of action
in 2018, as FIDH adapted its approach to different
situations.
In a number of European Union Member States,
there has been a sharp increase in legislative
initiatives and laws seeking to restrict civil liberties.
As these situations are extremely problematic for
the effectiveness and future of fundamental rights,
democracy, and the Rule of Law in the EU, our main
focus was on Poland and Hungary (see below) in
2018. In Poland, under the pretence of promoting
Catholic and traditional values, changes triggered
for the past three years by the Law and Justice Party
(PiS) have had direct impacts on access to sexual
and reproductive rights and LGBTI+ persons’ rights,
under a broader context of liberated hate speech,
stigmatising discourse against minorities, and
harassment of human rights NGOs. Documentation
on the threats to the Rule of Law were therefore
addressed through the lens of violations of women’s
18 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
rights and LGBTI+ people’s rights. The report entitled
“All Downhill from Here” launched in November 2018
highlighted the downgrading of the Rule of Law in the
country, and underlined the negative consequences
of attacks against the judiciary in the protection
afforded to women’s rights and LGBTI+ persons’
rights. This documentation was used for advocacy
purposes at the European Union and UN levels and
at the level of EU Member States (see below).
Electoral processes have remained a source of
tensions or extreme violence in many countries. In
2018, FIDH monitored such processes in countries
that include Russia, Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya. In DRC, ahead
of the general elections held in December 2018,
FIDH and its member organisations (LE, ASADHO
and Groupe Lotus), mobilised intensely to ensure
that this process did not result in serious human
rights violations. Throughout the year, FIDH and its
members published at least 30 public documents
(position papers, press releases, op-ed, urgent
appeals) containing concrete recommendations
for the organisation of free, transparent and secure
elections ; they intervened on several occasions in
the media and conducted multiple advocacy actions
towards regional and international institutions
(ACHPR, AU, UNSC, HRC, EU) to ensure that they
echoed such recommendations. In October 2018,
FIDH also provided a dedicated training to Congolese
human rights defenders on the documentation
of election-related human rights violations.
Such multifaceted mobilisation led to increasing
pressure from civil society organisations, regional
and international institutions on DRC authorities.
Violence (including sexual violence by defence and
security forces) during election processes were
documented in Kenya, following the 2017 general
elections (see priority on promoting women’s
rights). In Burundi, FIDH and the ITEKA League
issued a position paper in May 2018 , ahead of a
referendum vote on a constitutional amendment
that would allow President Pierre Nkurunziza to
run for additional terms, extending his increasingly
dictatorial presidency. FIDH held a press conference
presenting its position paper analysing the content
of the proposed reform and how the regime had
used its campaign promoting the reform as a tool
of terror. The press conference also launched a viral
campaign I Love / I Leave Burundi, which parodied
a travel advertisement campaign to call attention
to the fate of 400,000 Burundians who had had to
flee their country over the past years due to political
violence. In Cameroon, considering the deteriorating
security situation ahead of the presidential election
of October 2018, in particular in the anglophone
regions of the country, FIDH, and its member (MDHC)
and partners (REDHAC and CHRDA) called upon
all parties to refrain from any acts of violence
and respect the Rule of law. This action resulted,
among others, in a resolution taken by the African
Commission echoing the recommendations.
Thailand was also under scrutiny in 2019, ahead of
the general elections scheduled for March 2019.
FIDH continued to monitor individuals arrested on
lèse-majesté charges since the serious human rights
violations resulting from the repressive policies and
actions implemented by the ruling military junta
following the May 2014 military coup.. Regarding
crimes of lèse-majesté, arrests completely stopped
after several years of successful documentation and
international advocacy from FIDH. Also, in 2018, the
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD)
issued its fifth opinion on a case of lèse-majesté
detainee – all five cases were triggered by FIDH
communications.
People wearing black bands on their eyes and mouth demonstrate in Stolen Justice silent protest at the Main
Square in Krakow, Poland on 21 January, 2018. ©Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto, Krakow, Poland, 21/01/2018
A further focus for FIDH was the repression of
dissidents and crackdown on freedom of expression
and assembly, targeting media, students, activists,
and political opposition. In reaction to killings by
police and para-state groups of about more than
3100 demonstrators in Nicaragua, FIDH carried out
advocacy missions in Geneva, Paris and Brussels
with member organisation CENIDH, and issued press
releases calling for the international community
to condemn President Daniel Ortega’s repression
and demand the release of more than 700 political
prisoners. FIDH also denounced the adoption by the
Putin regime of laws that contradict international
human rights provisions and aim to silence any
kind of protest against its policies (see below). On
the same theme, an urgent resolution was adopted
in November 2018 by the European Parliament on
the human rights situation in Bangladesh, informed
by grassroots information provided by FIDH and
its member organisation Odhikar. FIDH further
denounced, jointly with its member organisation from
Sudan (ACJPS), the repression of massive protests
that broke out in the country in December 2018.
In addition to documentation, several rounds of
advocacy meetings were conducted in Brussels by
FIDH and its partners concerning Burundi and DRC
in order to call on the EU to keep up pressure on
the authorities ahead of the referundum/elections
and to maintain individual sanctions (asset freeze
and visa bans) against targeted perpetrators of
human rights violations and/or acts undermining
democracy (see below).
FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 19
 FOSTERING AN ENVIRONMENT
CONDUCIVE TO DEMOCRACY AND
FREEDOM
In Europe, in the context of the article 7 of the
Treaty of the European Union (TEU) procedure,
new targets for advocacy were also identified to
shift from the European Parliament to Member
States and the Council of the EU(see below). To
increase pressure on EU Member States as the
main advocacy target, FIDH also identified the
need to work in parallel in Brussels and in capitals.
FIDH also started to explore avenues to better
support CSOs in a context of shrinking space by
building and strengthening alliances with local and
regional NGOs and networks and by contributing
to reflection around new mechanisms under
elaboration at EU level.
In light of blockages at national level, FIDH also
addressed the threats to the Rule of Law at regional
level. In the Americas, for instance, in many cases
massive corruption aggravates attacks on the Rule
of Law and human rights. FIDH and a Coalition of
25 human rights organisations from the region
attended the eighth Summit of the Americas in April
2018 to call on the continent’s States to address,
effectively and as a priority, the issue of corruption
from a human rights perspective. A document was
published to present the coalition’s proposals for
lines of action to achieve democratic governance
in the Americas.
FIDH also continued advocacy to address attacks
on the independence of multilateral mechanisms, in
particular at the regional level in Africa. Throughout
2018, FIDH has continually expressed its concerns
on the consequences of the foreseen institutional
reforms of the African Union for the African human
rights system, and mobilised intensely, for the
20 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
preservation of the independence, and de facto
effectiveness, of the African Commission on Human
and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
On the front of the fight against terrorism while
respecting human rights, FIDH and its member
o rganisatio n , A MDH , lau nc he d a re p o r t in
November 2018 on the situation in Central Mali
which emphasised the entrenchment of terrorist
armed groups, the intensification of inter-communal
violence and the abuses committed in the context of
anti-terrorism operations for the sake of “security”.
The report called on the Malian government to
prosecute the perpetrators of serious crimes and
abuses committed in the region – including those
committed by the military. This report was the first to
detail the spiral of inter-communal violence triggered
by jihadist attacks, the army’s punitive operations,
and the government’s withdrawal of public services
from the region. Receiving widespread media
attention, the report’s grim predictions about the
“new epicentre of the Malian and regional conflict”
were unfortunately confirmed in the months that
followed. The bloody cycles of reprisals, between
Dogon and Fula civilians, intensified and the conflict
expanded to neighbouring Burkina Faso. At UN level,
the report was disseminated to UN Security Council
Member States, the Executive Office of the Secretary
General, the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rightst, the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations, and the Special Rapporteur. The report
contributed to the reflection at the UN in New York
around the renewal of MINUSMA’s mandate to
the fight against impunity in Central Mali, through
assistance to the Malian authorities, and its re-
adjustment in the asymmetric context in which it
operates.
At the global level, intensive advocacy was conducted
on the basis of FIDH’s report entitled The UN counter-
terrorism complex: bureaucracy, political influence and
civil liberties, first published in October 2017. The
report and its findings and recommendations were
presented to a large number of Member States and to
the Permanent Representative of Peru and his team
before they started their two-year mandate in the
Security Council as Chair of the Counter-Terrorism
Committee. The report was also presented in 2018
to the newly established Office of Counter-Terrorism,
the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directive (CT /
PVE), the OHCHR and other relevant UN bodies and
Human Rights Special Procedures. This report had
an unprecedented impact throughout the UN system
as it was circulated widely by FIDH as well as by the
Executive Office of the Secretary General and the
OHCHR. Other Special procedures (on Extrajudicial
executions, Freedom of Expression, and Human
Rights Defenders, among others) also made very
positive comments about the report, whilst the
community of academic experts and NGOs active
at the UN acknowledged the timely relevance of
the first research on the UN counter-terrorism
architecture from a human rights perspective by
a human rights NGO. The OHCHR welcomed the
report and enhanced its cooperation with FIDH on
CT /PVE issues through consultative meetings and
brainstorming sessions.
On the death penalty, in 2018, FIDH’s main focus
continued to be on retentionist States (Bahrein,
Botswana, Pakistan, Belarus) to follow up on
recommendations and reports issued in 2017
(The Death Penalty in Belarus: Murder on (Un)
lawful Grounds, published by FIDH and Viasna,
and Triggers for the abolition of the death penalty in
Africa: a Southern African perspective, published by
FIDH and Distshwanelo). As capital punishment
is often ordered following unfair trials, and its use
is often discriminatory, new leverages have to be
considered in these countries in the absence of
political and legislative progress to foster moratoria
and abolition of the death penalty. A briefing note
and accompanying press release ahead of the EU-
Pakistan Human Rights Dialogue were issued by
FIDH to address human rights violations, as well as
the situation of death penalty of the country, one of
the world’s top executioners. A fact-finding mission
by FIDH and its member orgnisation in Pakistan was
conducted in November 2018 (see below).
At the international level, FIDH is a founding
member of the World Coalition against the Death
Penalty. FIDH was actively mobilised with its
member organisations on 10 October, the World
Day Against the Death Penalty, aiming, in 2018, to
raise awareness on the inhumane living conditions
of people sentenced to death (publication of op-ed
and press release). FIDH and “Viasna” also jointly
participated in a hearing of the Council of Europe
on the death penalty in Belarus, the only country
in Europe that still carries out capital punishment.
Throughout the year, FIDH continued its mobilisation
to ensure adoption, by the African Union, of the
draft protocol on the abolition of the death penalty
in Africa, submitted by the ACHPR. At the United
Nations level, following a campaign led by Amnesty
International, to which FIDH contributed through its
advocacy work with Member States at the UN, a total
of 123 UN Member States – the highest number on
record to date – voted at the General Assembly in
favour of resolution for a moratorium on executions.
FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 21
 FOSTERING AN ENVIRONMENT
CONDUCIVE TO DEMOCRACY AND
FREEDOM
2/ IMPACTS and SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES

Objective 1 – Counter Authoritarianism

Expected outcome 1.1: Member and partner organisations with enhanced capacity to act for freedoms
and democratic principles

A Pact for Equality and Individual Freedoms in Tunisia

FIDH, leading more than 90 organisations and civil society groups, issued a Pact for Equality and Individual Freedoms in
Tunisia on 24 July 2018, outlining the fundamental rights that all Tunisians should enjoy. The pact calls for strengthening
efforts to end torture and all other forms of violations of human dignity, as well to respect sexual freedom and gender
orientation, inherent in fundamental human rights. It makes the presumption of innocence and the guarantee of access
to a fair trial, as well as a prohibition on arbitrary arrests, central elements of the Rule of Law.

Expected outcome 1.2: Authorities obstructed in their freedom-destroying, arbitrary and anti-
democratic initiatives

Article 7 procedures against Poland and Hungary:

flouting EU founding principles is not without
consequences
The work conducted specifically in Poland and in Hungary has brought results, namely by leading for the first time
in EU history to activation for both Hungary and Poland of the article 7 TEU procedure. FIDH has long advocated for
the need for the EU to make better use of existing mechanisms in order to react to threats to its own founding values
by Member States. FIDH research work has also contributed to exposing the shortcomings of existing mechanisms
and political decisions which have had a negative impact on the Rule of Law and human rights in some Member
States, and has encouraged exploration of new avenues by which the EU could hold Member States to account on
their respect for its founding values.

With respect to Poland, FIDH has been documenting and denouncing Rule of Law and human rights violations, with a
focus on women’s rights and LGBTI+ people’s rights, based on findings gathered through field missions and provided by
its member and partner organisations active on the ground. In 2018 FIDH urged the authorities to refrain from adopting
policy and legislation which would further restrict these rights. Impacts generated at the European Parliament included
a letter sent by five MEPs across political groups to First Vice President of the European Commission Timmermans,
raising FIDH’s concerns and recommendations on the need for reforms in Poland.

•••

22 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
 •••
The Sargentini Report from the European Parliament concluded in September 2018
that there was a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the EU’s founding values
protected under article 2 of the European Treaty on European Union. The report requested
that the European Council activate the article 7 TEU procedure against Hungary. Since
the procedure was launched in September 2018, new measures have been taken by
the Hungarian authorities which further erode the Rule of Law and human rights in the
country, including judicial independence, media freedom, academic freedom, freedom of
expression and association, and civil society space. FIDH has been strongly advocating
for the activation of the Article 7 (1) TEU mechanism against Hungary since 2013 and
continues to call on all EU institutions, particularly the Council (Member States), to hold
the Hungarian government accountable for Article 2 TEU violations.

Objective 2 – Support a Fight against Terrorism that is Respectful of

Human Rights

Expected outcome 2.1: Authorities with heightened awareness of the importance

of respecting human rights while fighting terrorism

Russia 2012-2018: 50 anti-democracy

laws within the last presidential
mandatE
Ahead of the football World Cup, hosted by Russia, FIDH published a table
documenting 50 laws and regulations that have been adopted between
July 2012 and November 2017 and have been used by Russian authorities
to restrict freedoms and the ability of human rights organisations
to operate in Russia. The table illustrates how broad legislation on
extremism grants authorities the power to crack down on political and
religious freedoms and silence critical voices. This documentation
work was complemented by the publication of op-eds and interviews by
the head of FIDH’s Eastern Europe-Central Asia desk, for international
media outlets including CNN, The Independent, RFI, and Le Monde.
This work was followed by advocacy activities in New York before the
UN, where FIDH followed up on its our analysis of the counter-terrorism
architecture of the UN, introducing human rights defenders from Russia
and Kazakhstan to discuss the counter-terrorism policies and practices
in their countries for the first time with UN counter-terrorism experts.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 23
 FOSTERING AN ENVIRONMENT
CONDUCIVE TO DEMOCRACY AND
FREEDOM

Counter-terrorism, civil society and the UN

On the frontline of the protection of human rights in the context of the fight against
terrorism, FIDH’s mobilisation in New York has resulted in a significant outcome, with the
establishment by the UN Secretary General of a specific unit in charge of relations with
civil society organisations, within the Office on Counter-terrorism (OCT). FIDH was part
of a small group of civil society organisations invited to the first high-level conference
in the General Assembly, organised in June 2018, paving the way to institutionalise civil
society’s participation to such an arena. FIDH, together with Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and Rights Watch UK was invited to make a statement during
the plenary session.

The creation of the CSO liaison unit was a significant recognition of the role and value
of civil society in the fight against terrorism. This was fed by a number of initiatives
that FIDH organised: repeated advocacy carried out in New York, notably with highly
sensitive exchanges on Russia; the organisation of a workshop at Columbia university
with human rights organisations and UN officials; and the organisation in early July by
the Observatory, of the Inter-mechanism meeting, assembling human rights defenders
protection mandates from across inter-governmental organisationsto meet with
counter-terrorism mechanisms and institutions.

Objective 3 – Promote the Universal abolition of the Death Penalty

Expected outcome 3.1: Progress towards universal abolition of the death penalty

Concrete recommendations on Pakistan

A joint fact-finding FIDH-HRCP mission was conducted in Pakistan in November
2018 to document the criminal justice system in Pakistan and the numerous
failures that result in such high numbers of death penalty sentences in the
country. The mission resulted in concrete policy recommendations related
to the judicial system, the capacities of defence lawyers, and the scope
of the application of the death penalty, which could drastically reduce the
number of death penalty cases and convictions, if bolstered by strong and
sustained advocacy initiatives. The documentation will be used for advocacy
purposes in 2019.

24 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
A man shows his inked finger after casting his vote at a polling station during the parliamentary elections in Herat, Afghanistan on October 20, 2018.
© Mir Ahmad Firooz / Anadolu Agency

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 25
 PRIORITY
PROMOTING WOMEN’S RIGHTS
1/ ANALYSIS OF PL ANS, CHALLENGES AND
PROGRESS
In 2018, FIDH conducted four fact-finding missions
with a focus on sexual violence and sexual crimes
committed in: Darfur; in Kenya ; in Libya against
migrants on their road to Europe (see priority on
migrants); and in Mali (see priority on democracy
and freedom).
In Kenya, FIDH and its member organisation, the Kenya
Human Rights Commission (KHRC), conducted a two-
stage fact-finding mission (in July and December)
to document cases of sexual violence committed
in the context of post-electoral violence. Interviews
organised during both missions provided a broad
picture of the extent and different forms of sexual
violence perpetrated in Western Kenya, the State’s
response in this region and a better understanding
of survivors’ current situation, including access to
legal and medical assistance. The report that will be
released in 2019 aims to recommend the reforms that
are required to ensure a more effective prevention
and handling of election-related sexual violence
by Kenyan authorities in preparation for the next
presidential election that will take place in 2022.
The documentation work requires a specific
methodology when it comes to sexual violence and
crimes in conflict-related situations. As FIDH member
organisations are often “generalist” human rights
organisations with different levels of expertise on
women’s rights, FIDH has worked on strengthening
their capacity in this regard, through coaching and
training, workshops, exchanges of experiences –
including with partner organisations specialised in the
defence of women’s rights – and through a “learning
by doing” approach during fact-finding missions. As
a result, several subsequent actions were taken by
member organisations: a press release and joint Op-
ed on abortion in Chile and worldwide, and a training
of police forces on sexual violence in Ghana.
FIDH also provided expertise on this issue at the
international level with recommendations and
advocacy at the ICC, to encourage the Court to
strengthen its gender strategy both internally and
26 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
in its investigations and prosecutions, and to ensure
accountability for sexual and gender-based crimes.
In this respect, FIDH released a report regarding
Conflict-related Sexual Crimes and Accountability,
and submitted an Article 15 communication to the
ICC on sexual violence committed in the context
of the conflict in eastern Ukraine (see priority on
Fighting Impunity).
At national level, victims’ support with a holistic
approach (including legal and psycho-social support)
was provided in Ivory Coast, Central African Republic,
Mali and Guinea during criminal proceedings brought
before national courts for acts of sexual violence.
Progress in establishing responsibilities in the area
of sexual and gender-based crimes was made on
the case of Ntaganda (accused of 13 counts of war
crimes, including rape and sexual slavery of civilians)
before the ICC and, on the basis of extraterritorial
jurisdiction, on the case of sexual and gender-based
crimes committed in Syria and Iraq against the Yazidi
community (see priority on fighting impunity). At
regional level, FIDH continued to work on a complaint
to be lodged before the ACHPR based on testimonies
of Sudanese refugee survivors of sexual and gender-
based violence collected in Eastern Chad.
In 2018, FIDH also coordinated the drafting of a
publication on the impact of litigation in the fight
against sexual violence in Africa, with the aim of
highlighting how litigation before national, regional
and international courts can bring changes in public
opinion, legal frameworks, as well as in the life of
survivors, and analyse the relevance of this very
specific mode of action. The publication, which
gathers articles from lawyers, experts, women’s
rights activists, will be launched in 2019. FIDH and
its member organisation in South Africa, Laywers
for Human Rights (LHR), also continued to support
the ACHPR in disseminating the Guidelines on
Combating Sexual Violence and its Consequences
to African Union Member States, AU organs and
institutions, lawyers, civil society organisations and
other relevant stakeholders. FIDH and LHR were for
 Pro-abortion activists demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Health in Santiago, Chile, on 26 March 2018. © CLAUDIO REYES/AFP
instance invited by the ACHPR to train members
of the judiciary and security forces in Ghana on
concrete ways of implementing, at national level, the
provisions contained in the Guidelines. The training
was provided in October 2018, in cooperation with
FIDH member organisation in Kenya (KHRC).
On 8 March 2018, International Women’s Rights Day,
FIDH launched a webpage presenting 100 shocking
statistics on violence and discrimination against
women worldwide. Visuals on statistics on violence
against women were also produced for the International
Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
(25 November). This communication action attracted
about 16 000 visits via social media . and highlighted
the scale of sex-based discrimination and the many
areas in which these abuses occur: relationships,
marriage, health, work, politics, access to land, media
visibility, and more. Inequalities between women and
men, and particularly discriminatory domestic laws
were an FIDH focus in 2018 with a strategic workshop
in Tunisia on equal inheritance rights held together with
the Association tunsienne des femmes démocrates
(ATFD) (see below). FIDH also supported the campaign
‘All Jobs for All Women’ conducted by ADC Memorial
to condemn lists of professions forbidden for women
in Russia and supported Saudi defenders in their
advocacy before the United Nations and the European
Union, as part of the campaign highlighting the severe
discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia and the
appalling situation of women’s rights defenders. This
resulted in denunciations and recommendations made
by the CEDAW committee, UN Special Procedures,
on the occasion of the Universal periodic review of
Saudi Arabia, and on the occasion of a European
Parliament resolution on June 2018, addressing
some of the serious concerns raised by FIDH and its
partner organisations about the situation of Women
Human Rights Defenders (see priority on human rights
defenders). It also fed the media debate about the
situation of women in Saudi Arabia, whereby following
announcements by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin
Salman of reforms on Saudi women’s rights to drive,
the crackdown on the women’s rights activists was
put into the spotlight. There is an ongoing need for
multiple forms of advocacy directed at various political,
religious and social players as well as international
bodies to ensure that States ratify international and
regional human rights treaties protecting women’s
rights and human rights and that domestic law is
harmonised in line with the ratified treaties.
In the field of sexual and reproductive rights, activities
addressing the impact on women’s rights of political
instrumentalisation of religion were conducted in
2018, highlighting the influence of the Catholic Church
in Poland and Chile and its impact on women’s access
to sexual and reproductive rights. This was also an
opportunity for FIDH to strengthen its partnership
with women’s rights organisations in Poland and
Chile identified in 2017. The report on Poland on the
backlash of the rule of law issued in November 2018
(see priority on democracy and freedom) included
a focus on the situation of women’s sexual and
reproductive rights. It is also the case for the 2018
report on sexual and reproductive rights in Chile
highlighting violations of women’s rights despite
the new law adopted in August 2017, lifting the total
ban on abortion in three exceptional cases. FIDH
prioritised international human rights protection
mechanisms (UN treaty bodies, respectively before
the CEDAW Committee for Chile and the Working
Group on Discrimination against Women for Poland)
as a leverage tool for progressive recommendations
to fight discrimination against women and highlight
States’ responsability to respect, protect and fulfill
women’s human rights in line with their obligations
under international law.
FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 27
 PROMOTING WOMEN’S RIGHTS
2/ IMPACTS and SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES

Objective 1 – Fighting Violence against Women

Expected outcome 1.2: Greater normative protection of women from violence

A groundbreaking judgement: No more

time limit to prosecute sexual offences
in South Africa
In South Africa, FIDH member organisation Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) – who
partnered with FIDH on developing the ACHPR’s Guidelines on Combating Sexual Violence
and its Consequences – engaged in litigation action at national level in 2018, aiming to bring
about changes to legal norms to better combat sexual violence. Following a complaint
filed by eight victims of sexual violence committed between 1970 and 1989, when they
were between the ages of six6 and 15 years old, the South African Constitutional Court
declared that Section 18 of the Criminal Procedure Act (which provides that sexual violence
offences, other than rape and forced rape are subject to a 20-year prescription period),
was unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court’s decision was taken after more than a
year of proceedings during which LHR made submissions supporting the complaints
filed by the eight victims. In its submission, LHR pointed out that the distinction between
sexual offences, as brought about by Section 18 of the CPA, does not accord with the
theory of punishment, prevention, retribution, and deterrence as principles of criminal
law in South Africa. The practical effect of Section 18 is to shield certain perpetrators
(of non-penetrative sexual offences) from prosecution, while other perpetrators (of rape
and compelled rape) go unpunished due to an arbitrary lapse of time. On 15 June 2018,
LHR and FIDH welcomed the Court’s decision in a joint press release. Considering the
historical significance of the judgment and on what it meant for the prosecution of sexual
violence in South Africa and beyond, LHR and FIDH included an article on this case in
their joint publication on the impact of litigation actions for cases of sexual violence.
This decision is in line with the ACHPR Guidelines, which encourage States to take the
necessary measures to ensure that statute of limitations does not apply to the most
serious sexual offences, to guarantee that victims will have access to justice for these
offences throughout their lives (Guidelines 39.1 and 43.2).

28 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
 Exptected outcome 1.3: Progress in establishing responsibilities for violence against women
and in victims’ right to reparation

Impact of documentation and advocacy work on

crimes committed in the Kasaï region of DRC
Following a fact-finding mission carried out, in July 2017, on the serious crimes, including sexual
crimes , committed in the Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), FIDH and its
members organisations (LE, ASADHO, Groupe Lotus), published a detailed report highlighting
survivors’ testimonies and conducted, throughout 2018, intensive advocacy work aimed at
ensuring that national, regional and international entities take concrete actions to provide justice
and reparation to survivors. In February 2018, the ACHPR followed FIDH’s recommendations
through adoption of a Resolution denouncing the serious crimes, including sexual crimes,
committed in the Kasaï and requested authorisation to dispatch its own fact-finding mission
to the region. In July 2018, the UNHRC team of experts on the situation in Kasaï published a
mission report which extensively refers to the information and testimonies collected by FIDH
and its member organisations, in particular in relation to sexual crimes. The report, which
indicates that the crimes committed in Kasaï may amount to crimes against humanity and
war crimes, echoes recommendations made by FIDH on accountability measures needed for
crimes of such magnitude and gravity.

Objective 2 – Fighting against Gender Discrimination

Expected outcome 2.1: Decision-makers become more engaged in the fight

against discrimination against women

Regional workshop in Tunisia on women’s

equal rights to inheritance
On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against
Women in November 2018, FIDH and its member organisation in Tunisia, ATFD,
organised a Regional Seminar for the promotion of equal inheritance rights for
women and men in the three Maghreb countries. The seminar brought together
experts and women’s rights defenders from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Other
feminists from Iran, Afghanistan, Mauritania, Egypt and Libya were also invited
to share their views and strategies, and the Special Rapporteur of the ACPHR on
women’s rights attended, providing a valuable continental perspective.

This seminar aimed to coordinate efforts for the promotion of equal inheritance
rights for women and men, in relation to current debates on this issue in the three
Maghreb countries. Proposed reforms in this area have been heavily critised by
conservative Islamist groups.

On the same day as the seminar, the Tunisian Council of Ministers passed a
progressive bill recognising women’s equal rights to inheritance. This is the
first of its kind in the MENA region, where in most countries, women continue to
inherit half of men’s share. Relentless advocacy led by FIDH Tunis desk, but also
our member organisations, especially the Association Tunisienne des Femmes
Démocrates (ATFD), contributed to this great step.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 29
 PROMOTING WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Objective 3 – Promote and Protect Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Expected outcome 3.1: Sexual and reproductive rights are better protected in law and in practice

Abortion in Chile: women face countless

obstacles
A year after the adoption of the Law 21.030 on abortion, FIDH and Observatorio Ciudadado
(Citizen Observatory) rigorously analysed the obstacles that women and girls face in
accessing legal and safe abortion services in Chile, and proposed recommendations
on how to protect the full enjoyment of their sexual and reproductive rights in a 2018
report entitled “Abortion in Chile: women face countless obstacles”. The Law 21.030,
while marking an important step in reforming one of the world’s most backward legal
frameworks which criminalised and totally prohibited the practice of abortion, left much
progress to be made: more than 97% of women, according to some estimates, continue
to be deprived of the right to legal and safe abortion. This report was based on the
findings of an investigative mission conducted in 2017, research and interviews with
women’s rights defenders as well as a thorough analysis of the law and its implementing
decrees regulating conscientious objection. The report received coverage in regional
and international press (such as G1 Grupo Globo, Telesur, RFI).

Earlier in the year, in March 2018, FIDH and its member organisation had submitted an
alternative report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW Committee), ahead of its review of Chile’s report. The alternative
report specifically focused on the reform of the legislation on abortion, underlining the
progress made but also the serious shortcomings of the new law. It also highlighted the
urgent need to decriminalise abortion completely, in order to guarantee the protection
of women’s rights. The CEDAW Committee echoed FIDH’s concerns and recommended
the State party decriminalise abortion in all cases. Since then, Chile withdrew a
regressive decree on conscientious objection and worked towards the adoption of a
more progressive one.

30 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Feminists hold banners during a protest against restrictions in Abortion Law in Warsaw on March 23, 2018.
© Maciej Luczniewski / NurPhoto

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 31
 PRIORITY
FIGHTING DISCRIMINATION AND
VIOLENCE BASED ON SEXUAL
ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY
1/ ANALYSIS OF PL ANS, CHALLENGES AND
PROGRESS
In 2016, Fighting discrimination and violence based on
sexual orientation and gender identity was adopted
at the Congress in South Africa and now is part of
FIDH’s Multi-Year Strategic Plan (2017-2022). In
addition to the protection of LGBTI+ rights defenders
in danger (see priority on human right defenders),
this priority is guided by the aim to:
- p romote political and legislative progress at
national levels towards positive commitments,
bills and laws against violence and discriminations
based on sexual orientation and gender identity;
and
- a ct towards the withdrawal, suspension, non-
adoption of bills that run counter to the rights of
LGBTI+ persons and international human rights law.
Human rights instruments prohibit discrimination
on several grounds, including on sexual orientation
and gender identity. Under international law, the
State has an obligation to prohibit discrimination
in the enjoyment of human rights.
In 2018, advocacy was conducted in order to engage
decision-makers in the fight against violence and
discrimination against LGBTI+ persons. It was based
on fact-finding documentation such as in the case of
Poland or on a thorough legal analysis of a number of
laws in a specific State such as Tunisia (see below).
In Poland, although the conservative government
has not yet introduced further restrictions to LGBTI+
people’s rights, the political climate does not favour
changes that would further liberalise the country’s
legal framework and address protection gaps. On
the contrary, the conservative discourse promoted
by the ruling party has provided fertile ground for
discrimination and violence against LGBTI+ people
and organisations working on LGBTI+ rights. As a
consequence, attacks against LGBTI+ people and
organisations have multiplied over the past few
years and LGBTI+ rights organisations have seen
their space shrinking. Advocacy work conducted
32 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
in 2018 at the EU resulted in a letter sent by five
members of the European Parliament across
political groups to the First Vice President of the
European Commission, raising FIDH’s concerns and
recommendations on the need for reforms in Poland.
Further advocacy work will be conducted in 2019
in Poland and in the capitals of the Member States
of the EU in this regard (see priority on democracy
and freedom).
Engaging the responsibility of States for violence
and discrimination against LGBTI+ persons was also
sought through other leverages such as the Moscow
Mechanism under the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) umbrella. FIDH, in
partnership with various organisations including
the Russian LGBT Network, advocated support
in favour of the activation of such a mechanism
in Russia. In September 2018, OSCE activated a
mechanism in the case of Russia, upon the request
of 16 Member States requesting a fact-finding
mission to document violations of human rights
committed in Chechnya since 2017, notably against
LGBTI+ persons and human rights defenders.
FIDH’s work on strategic litigation also allowed
advancement on LGBTI+ rights at both the legal and
the political level. FIDH, through the Litigation Action
Group, continued to follow-up their involvement via
third-party interventions in five ongoing proceedings
before national and regional courts. In 2018, FIDH
welcomed the favourable decision from the Court
of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Coman
& Hamilton (Case C-673/16) (see below).
 The LGBTI+ flag flies over a demonstration against impunity in Guatemala. © Orlando Estrada / AFP

2/ IMPACTS and SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES

Objective 1 – Fight against discriminatory laws and policies

Expected outcome 1.2: Decision-makers become more engaged in the fight against violence and
discrimination against LGBTI+ persons

COLIBE’s report on Tunisia paving the way

for decriminalisation of homosexuality
On 24 July 2018, FIDH, leading more than 90 organisations and civil society groups,
issued a Pact for Equality and Individual Freedoms, outlining the fundamental rights
that all Tunisians should enjoy. The pact called notably for respect for sexual freedom
and gender orientation and to repeal Article 230 of the Tunisian Criminal Code, which
criminalises homosexuality. Echoing FIDH’s concerns, an official report from the
Commission des libertés individuelles et de l’égalité (COLIBE) took into account most of
the recommendations. In October 2018, members of the Parliament, although at the end
of their mandate, submitted a draft bill in this regard.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 33
 FIGHTING DISCRIMINATION AND
VIOLENCE BASED ON SEXUAL
ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY
Objective 2 – Fight against violence, discrimination and stigmatisation

Expected outcome 2.1: Engaging the responsibility of States for violence and discrimination against
LGBTI+ persons

A landmark decision of the

CJEU: EU free movement law
should apply to same-sex
couples
FIDH is involved via third-party interventions in five ongoing
proceedings before national and regional courts in relation
to LGBTI+ rights. On 5 June 2018, in a landmark decision in
the Coman & Hamilton Case (Case C-673/16), the Court of
Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that a spouse
of a same-sex marriage must enjoy the same freedom of
movement rights as a spouse of a different-sex marriage.
Defining for the first time “spouse” within the EU Directive
on the exercise of freedom of movement as gender-neutral,
the CJEU decision made it clear that same-sex spouses of
EU citizens must now be granted residence rights in the
same way as different-sex spouses. FIDH, with other NGOs,
intervened as a third party with an amicus brief submitted
to the Romanian Constitutional Court in 2016 providing
comparative case-law and European jurisprudence regarding
the right to private life, the right to non-discrimination and
the recognition of same-sex marriage concluded abroad.

34 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
People take part in Pride Walk, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 28 July 2018.
© Arroyo Fernandez/Nur Photo

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 35
 PRIORITY
PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS
1/ ANALYSIS OF PL ANS, CHALLENGES AND
PROGRESS
Through its network of members and partners in
countries of departure, transit and arrival, FIDH
documents violations of the human rights of migrant
persons throughout their journeys, strengthens the
capacity of its member organisations to document
such situations, and calls on national authorities
to adopt legal and political reforms. Fact-finding
missions were conducted in 2018, in Cox’s Bazar
refugee camps in Bangladesh regarding the situation
of Rohingya migrants, as well as on the living
conditions and detention of migrants in Libya and
the crimes committed against them. Concerning
Bangladesh, the significant amount of information
collected during these visits required considerable
processing as well as verification through multiple
sources. The situation of the Rohingya, particularly
women, will remains a focus in 2019.
In the face of migratory flows and repeated tragedies
in the Mediterranean, which have claimed thousands
of victims these past twenty years, the approach of
the European Union’s and its member States remains
focused on security and border monitoring rather than
on respect for fundamental rights and saving lives.
The reception crisis has revealed the urgent need to
address the inherent shortcomings of the current
approach. Despite the commitments undertaken by
the EU and its member States, their response has
largely remained insufficient and lacks respect for the
fundamental rights of migrants and refugees. In light
36 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
of the rising number of deaths in the Mediterranean,
the need to address the consequences of the EU’s
migration policies, to shape its potential reform, and
to ensure migrants’ and refugees’ rights are placed
at its core each time, is more crucial than ever.
Over the course of 2018, FIDH continued to denounce
the failure of European migration policy and called
on the EU to overhaul its approach in order to
protect human rights. Five years to the day after
the Lampedusa tragedy in which at least 368 people
died, FIDH, jointly with Amnesty International, the
European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Human
Rights Watch and the International Commission of
Jurists, called on European leaders to ensure the
Aquarius continues to save lives at sea.
Following the strategic regional seminar in Athens in
July 2017 on litigation avenues in favour of migrants’
rights, FIDH and its member organisation in Belgium
filed an amicus curiae as a third-party intervention -
M.N. and others v. Belgium - in a case of a Syrian family
applying for a visa at a Belgian embassy in Beirut
(Case 3599/18) (see below). The case was declared
admissible by the EctHR and sent to Grand Chamber.
This could have potential impact on other ongoing
procedures. Follow-up of cases was also undertaken
in 2018, notably the “left-to-die case” and other cases
(Hirsi v. Italy, MT v. France, JB v. Greece).
 Migrant workers looking at job advertisements in a market in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. November, 2017. © ADC Memorial

2/ IMPACTS and SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES

Objective 1 – Support Laws and Policies that Protect the Rights of Migrants

Expected outcome 1.1: Member and partner NGOs supported to build their capacity to act

Documentation of crimes committed

against migrants in Libya
Between November 2017 and February 2018, FIDH, with the assistance of Medici per i
Diritti Umani (MEDU) and Associazione Ricreativa Culturale Italiana (ARCI), carried out
a fact-finding mission on the living conditions and detention of migrants in Libya and
the crimes committed against them. In this context, FIDH collected testimonies in Italy
and France from 33 migrant persons who had travelled through Libya and were detained
in Libyan prisons between 2011 and January 2018. The documentation established a
clear pattern of crimes against humanity, including sexual and gender-based crimes,
against migrants in Libya.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 37
 PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS
Expected outcome 1.3: Engaging the responsibility of the perpetrators of violations of the
rights of migrants

Use of third-party interventions to advance the

rights of migrants in Europe
The M.N. and others v. Belgium case relates to the refusal by a Belgian embassy in Beirut to grant
a visa to a Syrian family, and the concerns application of article 3 of the European Convention on
Human Rights which prohibits torture, and “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. A
third-party intervention was submitted in September 2018 by FIDH with its member organisation in
Belgium aiming to engage the Belgian state’s responsibility to comply with their obligations under
the Convention, under which Contracting States are prohibited from refusing to issue visas to travel
to their territory when requested by those who have an arguable claim that he or she is at real risk
of an Article 3 violation in a third State. This is particularly the case if no other legal route to safety
exists and where if denied such visas, refusal would leave the applicants at a real risk of exposure
to violations of Article 3. FIDH will continue to pursue this case in 2019.

Objective 2 – Promote the Rights of Migrant Workers

Expected outcome 2.1: Decision-makers more mobilised for protection of the rights of migrant workers

Report Sheds Light on the Plight of Kyrgyz

Migrant Workers
The report Invisible and exploited in Kazakhstan: the plight of Kyrgyz migrant workers
and members of their families, published on 27 June 2018, detailed numerous human
rights violations affecting Kyrgyz migrant workers in Kazakhstan, drawing particular
attention to the situation of vulnerable persons including women migrant workers and
minor migrants accompanied by their parents or travelling alone. The report also contained
numerous recommendations to the Kazakh and Kyrgyz authorities, as well as regional and
international organisations including the European Union and the International Labour
Organisation (ILO), with the view to increasing their protection of labour migrants. In
September 2018, FIDH also submitted a communication to the ILO on forced labour. By
ratifying the ILO conventions, Kazakhstan has agreed to guarantee certain labour rights
for workers, including migrants. But these international obligations remain unfulfilled.
The report was also used as a support for advocacy at the OSCE and at the UN to the
Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, to advocate for a communication to be sent to
the Kazakh authorities. It resulted in a December 2018 letter from the Special Rapporteur
on Human Trafficking, directed to authorities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and raising
the issues identified in the report.

38 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
African migrants settle under the bridge of a motorway on the outskirts of Algiers, Algeria, July 24, 2017.
© Billal Bensalem / NurPhoto

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 39
 PRIORITY
Fighting Impunity and Protecting
Populations from the Most
Serious Crimes
1/ ANALYSIS OF PL ANS, CHALLENGES AND
PROGRESS
I n 2 018 , F I D H h a s c o n t i n u e d t o s u p p o r t
implementation of the right to an effective remedy for
victims of international crimes, as a first exercise of
their rights to truth, justice and reparation. Fighting
impunity for the most serious crimes is a key element
in preventing their repetition, through the judgement
of those responsible, the implementation of victims’
rights and, ultimately, strengthening the rule of law.
Documentation of international crimes aiming to
establish facts and responsibilities regarding the
most serious crimes continued as planned in 2018
with fact-finding missions in various countries, in
situ (Ukraine, Mali, Bangladesh, Georgia, Sudan,
Kenya, Mexico, Colombia) or outside of the country
when it was not possible to access the victims in
the country at stake (Turkey for crimes committed
in Syria, France and Italy on crimes committed in
Libya). Political missions were also organised in
particular in Haiti, Ivory Coast and Georgia.
Before national juridictions, in the countries
where the crimes have been committed, FIDH
and its Litigation Action Group (LAG) continued
to play an active role, together with FIDH member
organisations, to represent victims of international
crimes, in particular in Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea
Conakry and Central African Republic (see below).
Stronger focus has been made on Latin America
in relation with some positive developments in the
region: in Colombia, the Special Court for Peace
40 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
has just been established and constitutes the main
remedy for victims of international crimes. In Peru,
the Special Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court
of Justice affirmed that the pardon granted to former
President Fujimori was unconstitutional, following
a judgement of the Interamerican Court for Human
Rigts, to which FIDH and others had submitted
an amicus curiae. Meanwhile in Mexico, efforts
of victims supported by FIDH and civil society
organisations aimed to qualify the most serious
crimes committed in the country as crimes against
humanity.
Following various missions in Haïti, FIDH and its
partners RNDDH and CEDH published a report on the
proceedings against those responsible for crimes
committed under Jean-Claude Duvalier’s regime,
calling on the Haitian authorities to demonstrate a
real will to prioritise justice, the fight against impunity
and the rule of law, guaranteeing the independence
of the judiciary while giving it sufficient resources
to carry out its mission, as well as to lift the omerta
on the crimes of the past and actively participate
in the duty of memory and the right of victims to
the truth. On the duty of memory, the history of
political violence in Guinea, particularly under
Ahmed Sékou Touré’s rule, has long been taboo,
with archives destroyed or hidden. Sixty years after
Guinea’s independence, FIDH and RFI published a
book, written with Guinean authors, to offer new
interpretations of this history and stimulate debate.
Two thousand people were present at the book’s
launch at the Palais du Peuple in Conakry, the same
place where Sékou Touré had given his inflammatory
speeches. Several publicly recorded RFI programs
and the extensive national coverage allowed the
launch to become a major topic of national debate.
In France, following the judgement of the French
Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation), confirming the
continuity of the crime of enforced disappearances,
the Prime Minister signed the extradition order for
Mario Sandoval. This is the last of the numerous
steps in the proceedings in France since 2014,
when Argentina requested the French authorities to
extradite Mario Sandoval to face trial in Argentina
for the enforced disappearance of Hernan Abriata
during the military dictatorship.
When national proceedings in the country where
the crimes have been committed are not available,
using extraterritorial jurisdiction may be the ultimate
remedy for victims of international crimes. In France,
FIDH and its partners within the French Coalition
for the International Criminal Court led advocacy
in support of the reform of French legislation on
extraterritorial jurisdiction for crimes of genocide,
crimes against humanity and war crimes, to repeal
some of the criteria prohibiting its application.
However, the French government opposed the
suggested amendments and the law finally passed
in early 2019. This recent development illustrates
the strong reticence of French authorities to allow
broader access to victims of international crimes
to French courts. FIDH also led strong advocacy
towards French political and judicial authorities,
in the context of the creation of a new National
Prosecution Office merging the antiterrorism
prosecution office and the war crimes prosecution
unit, to alert on the possible risks of dilution and
lack of visibility of the war crimes prosecution unit
within this new structure.
In 2018, FIDH continued to use the ICC as an
accountability tool when national justice systems
were unable or unwilling to genuinely investigate
and prosecute perpetrators of international crimes.
FIDH continued to monitor the ICC’s judicial and
institutional developments. In 2018, the ICC
conducted investigations and prosecutions in 11
situations, nine of which are in Africa (Uganda,
DRC, CAR I and II, Kenya, Sudan, Libya, Ivory
Coast I and II, Mali, Burundi), and one in Georgia.
It is conducting preliminary examinations in the
situations of Bangladesh/Myanmar, the Philippines,
Venezuela, Palestine, Iraq/UK, Ukraine, Colombia,
Guinea, and Nigeria. In 2018, FIDH continued
to submit communications to the Office of the
Prosecutor pursuant to Article 15 of the ICC Statute,
to contribute to initiating or advancing preliminary
examinations, investigations and prosecutions.
These communication related to international
crimes and the ICC’s juridiction in Ukraine, Mexico,
Colombia, Georgia, Central African Republic. FIDH’s
submissions also aimed to encourage positive
complementarity efforts through the ICC process,
when possible.
Following a novel request for ruling to assert
jurisdiction by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) over
a specific crime committed against the Rohingya,
the Pre-Trial Chamber I decided, in September 2018,
that the Court has jurisdiction over the alleged
deportation of members of Rohingya from Myanmar
to Bangladesh, and potentially over other crimes
against humanity as long as an element of these
crimes occurred on the territory of a State Party
to the ICC (in this case, Bangladesh). In 2018-2019,
three suspects allegedly responsible for crimes
committed in the ‘CARII’ and Mali situations were
transferred to the ICC and the charges against them
are yet to be confirmed.
In contrast to these positive developments, the
acquittal of Jean-Pierre Bemba on appeal on 8
June 2018 raised serious concerns relating to the
qualification of ICC judges and to the OTP’s standards
of evidence collection and case presentation. FIDH
and its members organisations largely denounced
the standards applied. The scathing response of
FIDH, which had supported many of the victims,
was widely quoted and discussed in the press. In
September 2018, FIDH and its member organisations
in the Central African Republic (CAR), LCDH and
FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 41
 Fighting Impunity and Protecting
Populations from the Most
Serious Crimes
OCDH, who have accompanied victims since 2002,
completed a new mission with victims of the Bemba
case. Rejection of the ICC, lack of understanding,
gap between the acquittal of Jean Pierre Bemba
and what they actually lived through, and hope for
assistance from the ICC Trust Fund for Victims, were
among the feelings and expectations of victims.
FIDH was also active in the facilitation of exchanges
between victims and member organisations and
organs and units of the Court.
These judicial developments still took place in a
context of ongoing budgetary restrictions, lack
of States’ cooperation and support to the ICC, in
particular when new ICC situations face additional
cooperation-related challenges. Additionally,
political threats to the Court and positions taken
against its work were part of the increasingly
diverging views on multilateralism and on how to
tackle global problems.
On the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the ICC
Statute, FIDH published a report on consolidating
and expanding on the 10 main challenges to an
effective and independent International Criminal
Court. The challenges were also discussed during
the 17th session of the Assembly of States Parties,
where an FIDH delegation organised and supported
the organisation of seven side events (see below).
FIDH also participated in the international event
organised by the Mukwege Foundation, “From words
to action: repairing the wounds of wartime sexual
violence” and the presentation of the Survivors’
Reparations Initiative, in the Hague.
In parallel, FIDH also supported victims’ access
to hybrid courts. Despite the real difficulties (lack
42 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
of political support, resources, staffing, expertise
and prosecutorial strategies) that the Special
Criminal Court in Central African Republic faces,
FIDH continued, through its permament presence
in the country, to advocate for the setting up of
the Court and the first investigations to start, and
to support victims and their legal representation.
Other announced initiatives (in South Sudan, Sri
Lanka) are at a standstill.
In 2018, FIDH intensified its interaction with the
International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism
(IIIM) for Syria, in the context of FIDH’s ongoing
litigation. FIDH also advocated for accountability
efforts on Myanmar and the creation of a second IIIM
for Myanmar to be set up by the UN Human Rights
Council. At the European level, several rounds of
advocacy meetings were conducted in Brussels by
FIDH and its partners concerning Burundi and DRC
in order to call on the EU to keep up pressure on the
authorities ahead of the referendum and elections
and to maintain individual sanctions (asset freeze
and visa bans) against targeted perpetrators of
human rights violations (see below).
In countries confronted with significant violence,
the fight against impunity contributes significantly
to the resolution of crises or conflicts. However, the
urgency of protecting people in these situations
is all too often hampered by the United Nations
Security Council being paralysed, the lack of action
or resources of regional intergovernmental bodies,
and by unilateral or coalition military interventions,
including those of emerging regional powers. In such
an environment, other means of actions have to be
undertaken, and other means of influence identified.

It is in this context that FIDH developed its work on

Yemen: in order to address the crisis, FIDH focussed
on France as a strong ally and partner of the Arab-led
coalition waging war in Yemen. FIDH released in April
2018 a report entitled French arms sales: ‘Indicators of
presence’ in Yemen and the necessary reform of control
mechanisms, which became the first report to clearly
establish ‘indicators of presence’ of French military
material used by the Saudi coalition in Yemen, and
as such not only highlighted France’s violation of
its legal obligations under the Arms trade treaty, but
also rendered France potentially complicit of war
crimes and crimes against humanity committed
by the Arab coalition. Documentation was made
possible via an investigation carried out online and
interviews with arms industry professionals. In the
months following its publication, journalists and
other NGOs (notably Amnesty International and
Disclose) uncovered additional information. The
report was widely covered by the press, including:
AFP, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Le Monde, Middle East
Eyes, RFI, FR24, Arte. A significant effort to influence
and mobilise public opinion and legislators is still
underway to improve Parliamentary control over the
sale of French weapons, which remains under the
responsibility of the executive authority.
Similarly, in July 2018, the FIDH report “Egypt:
Repression Made in France” denounced how
several French companies sold—with the approval
of the French government—surveillance equipment,
vehicles, and weapons to the Egyptian regime, which
used them to repress civil society. Identified and
tracked on social media networks, with the help of
French companies, many citizens were arrested,
tortured, and some were summarily executed. Today,
Egypt is detaining over 60,000 political prisoners. On
the same subject, FIDH filed a lawsuit and became a
civil party in a judicial investigation opened in France
against the former managers of Amesys, a French
company which was involved in surveillance and
tracking of opponents to Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.
At FIDH’s request, the scope of the investigation was
widened to include the Egyptian case.
The sale of surveillance equipment is, at the
time of this report, not yet suspended, but FIDH’s
advocacy efforts have contributed to a shift in the
French government’s public statements, notably
by French President Emmanuel Macron, in support
of Egyptian civil society, notably in the context
of the fight against terrorism. FIDH’s work also
contributed to the drafting of a list of detained and
prosecuted human rights defenders and activists
to be transmitted by the French authorities to the
Egyptian authorities, at the Presidential level, in
support of a call for their release and the suspension
of their prosecution.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 43
 Fighting Impunity and Protecting
Populations from the Most
Serious Crimes
2/ IMPACTS and SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES

Objective 1 – Document the most serious crimes

Expected outcome 1.1: Establishing the facts and responsibilities regarding the most serious crimes

Supporting Yazidi victims of sexual and gender-based

crimes committed by ISIS
In October 2018, the findings of FIDH’s two documentation missions was made public in a report on “Sexual and gender-
based crimes against the Yazidi community: the role of ISIL foreign fighters” that sets out clear recommendations addressed
to national and international stakeholders on justice and accountability for ISIS crimes. The report called for prosecution
of foreign fighters by national and international courts on charges of sexual crimes amounting to genocide and crimes
against humanity, in a context where the response of the authorities thus far has been limited to the fight against terrorism.
Wih the attendance of Nobel Prize laureate Nadia Murad, herself a Yazidi survivor, the press conference launching the
report presented the occasion to reiterate the demand that certain jihadists be tried not only for belonging to a terrorist
organisation, but also for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Objective 2 – Support access to justice for victims

Expected outcome 2.1: Engaging criminal responsibility of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes

Before national jurisdictions : Support to victims of

grave human rights violations in West Africa
FIDH and the LAG have a longstanding commitment to victims of grave human rights violations in West Africa.

In the Central African Republic, FIDH and its LAG’s strategy to fight against impunity has been implemented by
continued work documenting crimes committed by all parties to the conflict (including recent and ongoing crimes),
and outreach to victims and their communities. This work will materialise in criminal complaints to be filed with the
newly created hybrid Special Criminal Court. The LAG is accompanying local lawyers as well as victims and victims’
groups and will provide legal representation, enabling them to act as civil parties in the proceedings. In parallel and
to enhance the effectiveness of the LAG’s work before the Court, FIDH has continued to reach out to and engage
with Court representatives and international organisations active in CAR.

•••

44 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
 •••
In Mali, FIDH continued to follow up its support programme for the victims of the most
serious crimes committed during the occupation of the North before the national justice
system, and advocated for further ICC action on the situation in Mali. FIDH also continued
to support the victims in the Sanogo putschist trial before the national justice system.

In Ivory Coast, FIDH continued its upport for victims of the most serious crimes committed
during the electoral crisis (2010-11) before the national justice system, while advocating
for further ICC action. In Guinea, FIDH’s support continued for victims of the 28 September
2009 massacre, 2010 torture and the repression of the 2007 demonstrations before the
national justice system.

In mid-October 2018, the yearly LAG West Africa meeting was held in Bamako, Mali,
building on the positive exchange and outcomes of the strategic meetings that were held
in Ivory Coast and in Senegal. The follow-up meeting brought together LAG members
from countries where FIDH accompanies victims of grave human rights violations before
national jurisdictions (i.e. Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and Mali)
and LAG lawyers with experience of representing victims before the Extraordinary African
Chambers for the trial of Hissène Habré, and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of
Cambodia (ECCC). This strategic meeting, held on a yearly basis, is key to develop strategies
and processes on the issues of trial strategy, communication strategy and how to ensure
victim and witness safety as well as effective reparations and is of growing importance
in light of the increasing number of national proceedings that FIDH is engaged in in the
region, as well as of the growing challenges and obstacles faced by victims before national
justice systems in the region.

Continued support to Syrian civil society

and victims in search of accountability
The justice gap for Syria, where the only avenue for activating accountability
mechanisms remains national courts applying extraterritorial jurisdiction, has
remained a key preoccupation for FIDH and the LAG. In March 2018, to mark the
conflict entering its eighth year, the LAG launched a dedicated webpage entitled
“Syria: in search of justice” to draw attention to the extent of the violations
committed since March 2011, the need for and obstacles to accountability,
including the various issues and challenges facing victims seeking to access
extra-territorial justice, and also to highlight the work of FIDH and the Syrian
Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) to fight against impunity
through litigation while presenting realistically to affected communities what
the outcomes of such intiatives could be. FIDH’s investment over the course
of the project in building strategic relationships with key Syrian groups active
on documentation and justice has led to concrete results in 2018. Working
closely with SCM, FIDH and the LAG have been documenting crimes committed
by a non-State actor: Jaysh al Islam, a salafist group and one of the largest
armed factions in Syria that effectively controlled the eastern Ghouta, close
to Damascus, for a number of years before the area was retaken by the regime
earlier this year. Given the pattern and extent of violations observed, it is a priority
for FIDH and SCM to shed light on the actions of such actors in Syria, and to
ensure that accountability initiatives relating to Syria target all perpetrators for
all crimes committed. Work is ongoing to identify potential suspects in other
European jurisdictions.
•••

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 45
 Fighting Impunity and Protecting
Populations from the Most
Serious Crimes

•••
FIDH has also continued its active support to Syrian civil society groups and in particular
groups representing victims, as they are an important leverage for reaching out to victims and
witnesses who can provide vital information to investigators and prosecutors. In September
2018, FIDH hosted a delegation from SCM and the Cesar Families Association, for a series of
meetings with French political and judicial authorities focused on ensuring accountability for
crimes committed against civilian detainees and disappeared. These activities complement
the LAG’s ongoing contribution to the French Prosecutor’s preliminary investigation relating to
the Cesar photos, notably through identifying key witnesses. Since the opening of a criminal
investigation based on the Cesar photographs in France in 2015, FIDH and its Syrian member
organisation, SCM, have actively contributed by identifying key witnesses who have testified
as well as by sharing documents and material evidence on systematic torture of detainees
by the Syrian regime.

International arrest warrants were issued by French judges in October 2018 targeting three
high-ranking regime officials (who are still in office inside Syria) in the Dabbagh case (initiated
by FIDH in 2016, with LAG lawyers representing the Dabbagh family). These developments
affirm FIDH and SCM’s joint strategy to fight against impunity for grave violations committed
in Syria since March 2011 through recourse to extraterritorial jurisdiction, which today
represents the only avenue for justice open to Syrian victims.

Finally, FIDH has continued its active contribution to three cases under judicial investigation
before the French war crimes unit concerning serious international crimes in Syria, including
war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and enforced disappearance, in which LAG
lawyers represent FIDH and victims as civil parties. This work has included filing key
documents and other pieces of information with investigating judges, requesting them to
take certain steps to advance the investigations, identifying key witnesses, documenting
their testimony and organising their travel to Europe to formally testify in the investigations,
and communicating publicly on cases.

Before the ICC : Ukraine and sexual crimes

Since 2014, FIDH and its Ukrainian partners have called for the opening of an ICC investigation,
providing key information and testimonials both on crimes committed during the Maidan events and
in the Donbass region, conducting advocacy missions before relevant stakeholders in The Hague
and Kijv, and organising training workshops in Ukraine. In September 2018, FIDH and its partner
organisation EUCCI submitted an extensive confidential communication to the ICC Prosecutor’s
Office on previously underreported sexual crimes committed in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. These
findings are specifically echoed in the annual report of the Office of the Prosecutor on preliminary
examination. More than 60 newspaper articles, mainly in Ukraine, were published, and several
interviews with TV (Current Time) and radio (Deutsche Welle) were done.

46 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Before the ICC : focus on Mexico
Since 2014, FIDH and its partners in Mexico have submitted information and documentation to the
Prosecutor of the ICC to open a preliminary examination on the alleged crimes against humanity
committed in Mexico, in particular Baja California and Coahuila. In June 2018, FIDH and its partners
published a report “Article 15 Communication under the Rome Statute to the International Criminal
Court regarding the alleged commission of crimes against humanity in Chihuahua, Mexico, between
2008 and 2010”, with the support of more than 80 Mexican organisations. This communication,
together with confidential annexes, were presented to the OTP on 11 June 2018, followed by a press
conference in The Hague (with representatives of FIDH, CMDPDH and Paso Del Norte) and meetings
with the Mexican Embassy. It must be highlighted that this action contributes to the increasing
visibility of the effects of the war on drug trafficking, particularly those created by the militarisation
of public security. The publication of the report received both national and international media
coverage.

Objective 3 – Strengthen Justice Mechanisms

Expected outcome 3.1: Mechanisms to fight impunity created or strengthened

Spotlight on extraterritorial jurisdiction

Key results can be highlighted in 2018 in European States on cases initiated by FIDH
and its member organisations. Proceedings against alleged perpetrators of international
crimes committed in Syria and Iraq have multiplied in particular in Europe on the basis of
extraterritorial jurisdiction. Through its Litigation action group, FIDH has played an active
role in supporting member and partner organisations to activate extraterritorial justice
in France, Switzerland and, going forward, aims to do so in Germany, The Netherlands
and Belgium. This is the result of a strategic decision to narrow the situations of focus in
order to test the potential of universal and other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction as
an effective tool to fight impunity when other avenues for victims’ access to justice are
blocked. In addition, the EU Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes Network
of contact points (created following strong advocacy from civil society organisations
including FIDH) played a key role to support investigation and prosecution of international
crimes in Europe, in particular through the specialised war crimes units. Though, the
mandate and resources of these specialised units continued to be challenged.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 47
 Fighting Impunity and Protecting
Populations from the Most
Serious Crimes

Spotlight on the ICC and 17th session of the ASP

In a week-long 17th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Statute of the ICC that took place in
The Hague from 5 to 12 December 2018, States renewed their support to the ICC in the face of strong attacks
against the Court its credibility and universality and hampering potential future investigations. An FIDH delegation
actively participated throughout the ASP and defended five key recommendations to States Parties and the
Assembly for a strong and effective Court of last resort. While FIDH welcomed such collective political support
for accountability, it noted the paradox of States’ inadequate financing of the Court’s operations. That said, FIDH
welcomed with great appreciation the statement made by ten States Parties expressing their disappointment
at the budget and the need for the Court to be financed in accordance with its real needs. During that session,
FIDH co-organised seven side events, on the Bemba Case, challenges in preliminary examinations, some
country situations, victims’ participation, drug trafficking and crimes against humanity. FIDH also launched a
collection that examines both setbacks and success on victims’ participation at the ICC taking stock of the past
20 years, based on experiences of lawyers and NGOs working in support of victims from Afghanistan, Burundi,
Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Kenya, Myanmar, Palestine and Uganda.

FIDH released a report entitled Unheard, Unaccounted: Towards Accountability for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
at the ICC and Beyond. In this report, FIDH gives a critical assessment of the investigation and prosecution of
perpetrators of sexual crimes by the ICC and others. FIDH provides a series of recommendations to the Court,
civil society and States to better adopt a gender perspective in investigations and prosecutions conducted by
the ICC, and in its support for victims. This report is based on investigations and consultations conducted over
three years with NGOs, victims of sexual violence and their lawyers, international experts and ICC representatives.
It was released in English, French and Spanish, and accompanied by an explanatory short promotional video
screened in the presence of numerous SGBV experts, ICC Deputy Prosecutor and other ICC representatives,
representatives of embassies and many NGOs.

Objective 4 - Support the protection of populations in situations of conflict and crisis

Expected outcome 4.1: Populations in situations of conflict and crisis better protected

SANCTIONING perpetrators of human rights violations

through individual restrictive measures
Several rounds of advocacy meetings were held in Brussels to call on the EU to keep up the pressure
on the authorities and to maintain individual sanctions against targeted perpetrators of human rights
violations. In October 2018, EU Member States renewed the individual restrictive measures (asset freeze
and visa ban) against four individuals in Burundi. In the same vein, the EU Member States decided on
December 2018 to keep 14 individuals on the list of targeted sanctions. This included sanctions against
Mr Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary who was topping the chain of command of security forces responsible
for the massacre of around 3000 persons in the Kasai in 2017. The rounds of advocacy meetings and
the regular information provided on the DRC by FIDH and its leagues contributed to the EU decision,
despite the strong opposition of the DRC authorities.

48 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
 © Pierre-Yves Ginet

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 49
 PRIORITY
PROMOTING RESPECT FOR HUM AN
RIGHTS BY ECONOMIC PL AYERS
1/ ANALYSIS OF PL ANS, CHALLENGES AND
PROGRESS
Promoting respect for human rights by economic
players has been a long-standing priority for
FIDH with the objective to defend human rights
in the context of global economic development.
International human rights law and norms lay down
the obligations of governments to protect, respect,
and fulfill human rights of both individuals and
groups. In recent years, however, the role of non-
State actors, particularly transnational corporations,
in respecting and protecting these rights has seen
fast-moving developments. Today, together with
the State’s duty to protect, respect and fulfil human
rights, the responsibility to respect human rights
is a global standard of expected conduct for all
business enterprises, wherever they operate.
Individuals and communities affected by economic
activities also face major difficulties in documenting
violations of their rights and struggle to access
and secure effective redress for the harm suffered.
In 2018, FIDH organised investigative missions
in close cooperation with its local member and
partner organisations to document violations of
human rights by companies, using the human
rights impact assessment methodology that
promotes participation of affected communities
(C o m m u nit y-B ase d H u m a n Ri g hts Im p ac t
Assessments, or COBHRIA). In response to needs
expressed by member organisations, FIDH has
conducted missions for example in Brazil regarding
the activities of Vale, one of the the world’s leading
mining companies (see below).
Documentation work was mainly focused on the
negative impact of business on human rights,
especially on the right to live in a healthy environment
and on connected economic, social and cultural
rights. It was used for different purposes: to pressure
companies to withdraw from economic projects
which violate human rights international law (as in
the case of the tramway project in Jerusalem); or
to mitigate the negative impacts of such projects
on individuals and communities (as in the case of
50 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Brazil), and to challenge the State duty to protect
human rights on its territory, including against
business-related human rights abuses (as in the case
of ILVA in Italy). A 2018 report, submitted by FIDH
and more than 20 NGOs from Latin America, at the
UN during the UPR on China, was used for advocacy
purposes to challenge Chinese investments in five
countries in Latin America where they do not comply
with international law (see below).
Like companies, investors have a responsibility
to respect human rights in line with the 2011 UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
(UNGPs) and the OECD guidance on Responsible
Business Conduct for Institutional Investors. This
means, among other things, that investors should
identify and address human rights risks and impacts
in their investment portfolios, and use their leverage
to influence investee companies to respect human
rights. FIDH, in the framework of its work on the
Libertés et Solidarité ethical mutual fund, managed
by LBPAM Asset Management, further developed in
2018 its methodology based on a qualitative analysis
of corporate behaviour on human rights (using
both public information and its network) to assess
companies on their human rights performance.
This exercise contributes human rights expertise
to improve the measurement of human rights
performance of companies and to engage dialogue
with companies and investors as a way to shape
practices and advice for implementation of effective
human rights due diligence in supply chains. At least
five major French companies and one business
association, including major companies targeted
by the 2017 French Duty of Vigilance Law, asked
FIDH to provide a space for dialogue and feedback
on effective implementation. This also shows that
FIDH is recognised by companies as a credible and
authoritative stakeholder on this issue. In March,
FIDH also organised a public event with investors
and stakeholders to present its biannual report
assessing the way in which European Union Member
States fulfil their human rights obligations. This

study enabled the manager of the Libertés & Solidarité
fund to select the top 15 bond issuers among those
States ranked most highly by FIDH.
In 2018 FIDH also continued to challenge the
impunity of European companies supplying
surveillance equipment to repressive regimes, a
topic on which it has been active for several years
through documentation, litigation and advocacy.
In November 2017, FIDH, with the support of its
French and Egyptian member organisations, filed a
complaint with the French war crimes unit that led to
the opening of a criminal investigation into the sale
of surveillance equipment to the Syrian, Egyptian
and Libyan regimes, which was then used to crack
down on opponents and human rights defenders (see
below). FIDH also followed up the cases previously
brought before the African Court on Human and
Peoples’ Rights concerning toxic waste dumping by
the Trafigura company in Ivory Coast, and concerning
lead contamination of workers in Mali.
At the global level, FIDH continued to actively
contribute to the UN Forum on Business and
Human Rights, organising panels and participating
in discussions, and to the work of the UN working
group on Business and Human Rights. FIDH
also hugely contributed to the work of the UN
Intergovernmental working group on the issue
of transnational corporations and other business
enterprises with respect to human rights (IGWG)
with detailed legal observations and propositions
on the zero draft of a UN binding instrument on
Business and Human Rights (see below), presented
by the Chair of the IGWG. FIDH acknowledged the
positive aspects of the draft instrument – such as
Third session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations
and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, October 2018, Geneva. © FIDH
the centrality of victims, the obligation to adopt
mandatory due-diligence legislation and the focus
on liability – but highlighted that many other facets
needed further development, such as the provisions
on scope, jurisdiction or the rights of victims and
access to justice.
Beyond the UN, advocacy work was conducted
at the European level towards a European Union
action plan to strengthen national and European
legal frameworks governing the responsibility
of economic actors and towards human rights
provisions in EU Trade and Investments treaties
and Free Trade Agreements with third countries,
including Cambodia, South Korea and Myanmar.
In 2018, the FIDH Peruvian member organisation
Equidad solicited FIDH to advocate for a more
cross-cutting approach on Human Rights within
the OECD policies and practices, in particular in the
accession procedure. This lead to a reflection on new
entry points for leverage at the OECD. A mapping
exercise on the OECD conducted in 2018 showed
that the Public Procurement Committee is the most
accessible entry point to start to diffuse human rights
advocacy beyond the Responsible Business Conduct
(RBC) Working Party of the Investment Committee.
This exercise has been useful to strengthen the
relationship with the OECD and with OECD Watch. In
2018, the OECD also adopted the General Guidance
on Human Rights Due Diligence, written with the
contribution of several stakeholders including
civil society organisations. FIDH also brought a
case, with Iranian member organisation Justice For
Iran and partner organisations Redress and OECD
Watch, to the Italian National Contact Point (NCP,
as part of an OECD mechanism) regarding an Italian
company’s contribution to human rights violations
in Iran. Despite a negative response of the Italian
NCP in June 2018, dialogue is still open with the NCP
and with the company, notably to provide answers
to the arguments found in the initial assessment.
FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 51
 PROMOTING RESPECT FOR HUM AN
RIGHTS BY ECONOMIC PL AYERS
2/ IMPACTS and SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES

Objective 1 – To promote economic players’ accountability

Expected outcome 1.1: Member and partner organisations supported in documenting human rights
violations by economic actors

COMMUNITY-BASED Human Rights Impact

Assessments (COBHRIA)
Brazil: A fact-finding mission was conducted in March in support of communities affected
by the activities of Vale, the world’s leading mining company, in the state of Maranhão.
The documentation work followed a study done in 2011 by FIDH partner Justiça Nos
Trilhos and member organisation Justiça Global, using the COBHRIA methodology. This
methodology was also shared at a special event at the World Social Forum in Brazil in
March 2018. On 26 November 2018, Justiça nos Trilhos was announced as the first-ever
recipient of the Business and Human Rights award for their “outstanding work” with
local communities in Brazil to address human rights and environmental abuses by
mining and steel companies. The award was presented at the UN Forum on Business
and Human Rights.

The mission followed up whether the recommendations made by the 2011 COBHRIA
were taken into account by the company and the authorities to redress the human rights
violations suffered by the inhabitants of Piquià de Baixo as a consequence of the mining
and steel industry operations. A significant recommendation from the communities
was followed up in September 2018: representatives of the Piquiá de Baixo community
signed the contract launching the construction of a new district where 312 families will
be relocated.

South Africa: FIDH followed up its work on previous COBHRIA with its member
organisation Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) regarding the impacts of a mining
company (Blyvooruitzicht Mine) on the environment and the access to basic services
of a village composed of 6000 people.

The COBHRIA methodology has also been promoted in light of a new program aiming
to identify countries in Africa or Asia where such an approach could be further used.
A call for proposals has been launched to select the countries where such COBHRIA
could be conducted in 2019.

52 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
 Documentation used to support litigation
AND advocacy
The ILVA case: The European Court of Human Rights adopted a decision of 24 January
2019 asking the Italian government to immediately adopt all the necessary measures
needed to stop and prevent pollution in the area of Taranto created by ILVA. The decision
referred verbatim to one of the recommendations of the report published by FIDH and
its member organisation UFTDU and partner organisations HRIC and Peacelink (Italy)
in April 2018. The report is a key legal analysis, inter alia, of the EU jurisprudence on the
right to a healthy environment and will be used also in the future to frame the work in
that direction in other EU countries.

On the same note, in the Latin American and Caribbean region where Chinese presence in
global extractive and infrastructure industries has increased sharply in the last decade,
FIDH and more than 20 NGOs from Latin America submitted a report during the pre-session
of the UPR in September that revealed systematic violations of environmental and human
rights by Chinese banks and private or state companies (in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,
Ecuador and Peru). The report concludes that these are not isolated incidents, but reveal
a recurring pattern of behaviour of human rights violations. The joint submission to the
UPR of China regarding the impact of Chinese corporations in Latin American countries,
along with a side-event to launch the report at the UPR pre-session, and several advocacy
meetings with State delegations to advocate for the inclusion of recommendations on
extraterritorial HR obligations, resulted in four States (Kenya, Peru, Ecuador, Palestine)
taking up the main recommendation on China’s extraterritorial obligations. China has
decided in March 2019 to accept these recommendations.

T ramway in J erusalem: J oint

documentation and advocacy to
pressure companies
FIDH with French member organisation LDH, Palestinian member
organisation Al-Haq and French partners CFDT, Solidaires, AFPS and
Plateforme des ONG Françaises pour la Palestine highlighted the
participation of three French companies in the Jerusalem light-rail
construction, which aims to connect West Jerusalem to the Israeli
settlements in the Palestinian territory of East Jerusalem in violation
of international law. Advocacy around this joint report resulted in the
disengagement from the tramway project by two companies targeted
by the report (Systra in 2018 and Alstom in early 2019). It should be
noted that the broad impact of this report and the advocacy is also due
to the fact that the activities were lead in coalition, the third initiative
of its kind (the first two concerned Orange and a French bank), with
the involvement of human rights and international solidarity NGOs as
well as trade unions.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 53
 PROMOTING RESPECT FOR HUM AN
RIGHTS BY ECONOMIC PL AYERS
Expected outcome 1.2: Member and partner NGOs with enhanced capacity to act for the protection
and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights

South Africa: strategic and capacity-building

workshop
Following the COBHRIA conducted in 2017 with member organisation Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR),
revealing the devastating human and environmental toll of inadequate mine closure, a strategic and
capacity-building workshop was conducted in 2018 in Johannesburg. Co-hosted by LHR and FIDH
Secretary-General from member organisation DITSHWANELO (the Botswana Centre for Human Rights),
the workshop was attended by more than 60 delegates from mining-affected communities and grassroots
mineworkers’ committees from each of the major mining regions of South Africa. This workshop managed
to put the issue of HRDs and especially Women HRDs affected by mining at the center of the debate.

The communities’ concerns and requests were summarised in a document submitted to government
officials, with 17 recommendations regarding participation and access to information, environmental
and social rehabilitation, basic services and infrastructure, closure certification process, employment
and housing.

Since working on this case, LHR is now much more involved at national, regional and international
levels and regarded as an expert on Business and Human Rights issues.

Expected outcome 1.3: Companies and investors more engaged in protecting human rights
and the environment

Focus on methodology for further engagement

with companies and investors
In 2001 FIDH, together with La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM), established the
Freedoms and Solidarity Fund. The Fund is a ground-breaking example of cooperation between a
human rights organisation and an investor in order to measure and support the improvement of
respect for human rights by companies and States. The Fund provides FIDH with the opportunity
to directly influence investment strategies and choices of LBPAM while allowing more effective
engagement with companies in order to improve their human rights practices. To achieve this
objective, FIDH has developed its own methodology with a human rights based approach to assess
the human rights performance of investors. In 2018 the methodology has been updated and around
140 companies were screened.

All bonds and equities that are part of the Fund are selected on the basis of respect for human
rights by the States and companies that issue them. The Fund has set principles and a dedicated
methodology that govern its investments in bonds and equities. The basic human rights that FIDH
wants to promote within countries and companies include, but are not limited to, gender equality and
women’s rights, non-discrimination, eliminating corruption, better governance, social and economic
rights and freedom of expression/right to information. Bonds can be issued by governments/sovereign
countries or by non-sovereign entities (companies). Equities are specific to listed companies.

54 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Objective 2. To support access to means of recourse/redress

Expected outcome 2.1: A normative environment more favourable to the

protection of human rights by States, companies and international organisations

Focus on advocacy at the UN on the draft Treaty on

Business and Human Rights
FIDH has persistently advocated for a UN binding instrument on Business and Human Rights.
With the first draft treaty issued in June 2018, FIDH has conducted extensive consultations
and advocacy work before, during and after the fourth session of the UN Open-ended
Intergovernmental Working Group mandated to elaborate the treaty.

Before: FIDH commissioned Dr Irene Pietropaoli, Research Fellow in Business and Human
Rights at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, to write a briefing paper
on advocacy strategies regarding the treaty in order to give member organisations some
concrete suggestions to leverage their own authorities’ positions. In September 2018, in
a meeting in the Philippines, ESCR-Net members of the Corporate accountability working
group (CAWG) held strategic discussions around business and human rights issues, including
strategic discussions on the UN Treaty, corporate capture, protection of human rights
defenders, and documentation strategies. FIDH also supported member organisation LHR
and partners CALS and Action Aid to organise a preparatory conference in South Africa in
August 2018 with the objective to prepare for the fourth session of the IGWG.

During: FIDH gave a number of oral statements at the session and held a multitude of
bilateral meetings with diplomats, to provide inputs to the first draft of the treaty. During
the fourth IGWG session in Geneva, FIDH participated with a delegation composed of six
members of the International Secretariat and four representatives of member organisations
from South Africa, Peru, Myanmar, and Armenia. Strategic meetings were held with seven
FIDH members present in Geneva: LHR from South Africa, Equidad from Peru, Justiça Global
from Brazil, Al-Haq from Palestine, ALTSEAN Burma, Kenya Human Rights Commission and
CSI from Armenia. Three additional members attended, from Kenya, Brazil and Palestine.
An in-depth analysis of the draft treaty presented by the Working Group was published in
September. FIDH held direct advocacy meetings with six States during the fourth session
(Mexico, France, Italy, Peru, Canada, Switzerland) and with the EU. A blog article was written
by FIDH on the draft on the Business and Human Rights Resource centre’s website. Member
organisations Al-Haq from Palestine and Justiça Global from Brazil autonomously wrote a
blog article on the draft treaty on the Business and Human Rights Resource centre’s website.
FIDH was invited to speak on an expert panel on liability in front of the fourth session. In
addition, two side events were organised on the issues of 1) State Owned Enterprises and
the scope of the treaty, and 2) Human Rights Defenders in the treaty. FIDH also co-sponsored
three other side events.

After: Five advocacy position papers were published on the treaty addressing the issues
of corporate capture, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, feminist and gender-
responsive lens, and conflict-affected areas.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 55
 PROMOTING RESPECT FOR HUM AN
RIGHTS BY ECONOMIC PL AYERS

After several years of struggle, positive case

law and a new bill in South Africa
In September 2018, the Constitutional Court of South Africa dismissed an appeal against
an order that, among other decisions, prevented the disconnection of the piped water
supply to the Blyvooruitzicht village. The decision brought to an end the multi-year struggle
by the community, represented by LHR, to retain access to water after the Mine initiated
liquidation proceedings in 2013. The company’s sudden abandonment of the site meant
that many of its environmental and socio-economic closure obligations went unfulfilled,
and the community’s access to basic services – previously provided by the Mine – was
threatened. A bill to amend the National Environmental Management Act of South Africa
was recently proposed, to strengthen mechanisms for financial provisioning and to provide
for a “sustainable closure solution” and the possibility of establishing new industries on
rehabilitated mine sites, thereby avoiding the prevalence of ghost towns which are often
associated with mine closures.

Expected outcome 2.2: Trade and investment agreements that take protection of human rights better
into account

Advocacy to release human rights defenders under

the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement

FIDH continues to position itself as a key interlocutor in the area of human rights business and trade
before the European institutions and has acceded to the status of member organisation of the Trade
expert group launched by the European Commission in February 2018, to advise the EC’s trade policies
from a human rights expert point of view. FIDH is also part of the Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) set up
to monitor the economic and sustainable development chapter of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
In that framework, FIDH raises cases of human rights violations documented in the context of the
implementation of the trade agreement.
In this context, FIDH echoed appeals of its Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders,
urging for the release of the former KCTU Secretary General Ms Lee Young-joo, detained and sentenced
to a three-year suspended prison term and a fine, as well as former KCTU president Han Sang-gyun.

•••

56 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
 •••
In order to ensure that the European Commission take on its responsibilities correctly,
raising their cases and actively engaging with the South Korean authorities, a joint
letter was addressed to Trade Commissioner Malmstrom to this effect. Following
these activities, Ms Lee Young-joo was released on 14 June 2018 and Han Sang-
gyun was released on parole on 21 May 2018.

EU launches an investigation into human rights violations in Cambodia

Cambodia currently benefits from the most favourable trade regime available
under the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) through an “everything
but arms” (EBA) scheme, which gives duty-free access to the EU for exports of all
products from Cambodia, except arms and ammunition. This scheme foresees the
possibility to suspend trade preferences should grave and systematic human rights
violations be documented.

FIDH and its member organisations in Cambodia documented grave and systematic
human rights violations, notably repressive legislation limiting the space for civil
society, as well as grave violations in the context of land grabbing.
Advocacy was then deployed to the EU to call for an EU investigation into those
violations in the context of the trade preferences. As such, on the occasion of the
EU-Cambodia human rights dialogue of 13 March, FIDH released a briefing paper
calling for a specific EU investigation into EBA trade preferences until repressive
legislation and amendments are repealed and Rule of Law and democracy are restored
and guaranteed in line with international standards. These recommendations were
also shared with the European Parliament, the EU Member States, The European
External Action Service and the European Commission on several occasions.

This mobilisation resulted in an important decision of the European Commission to

launch an investigation into the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms
to ensure that the conditions under the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences
(GSP) Regulation 978/2012 are fulfilled. A dedicated GSP monitoring mission was
thus launched in 2018.

Expected outcome 2.3: Responsibilities shouldered by companies in relation to human rights violations

Corporate accountability through litigation

and reporting
Three criminal complaints for complicity in acts of torture and (in the case of Egypt) enforced
disappearances filed by FIDH’s Litigation Action Group (LAG) against French-headquartered
companies – accused of supplying surveillance equipment to the Libyan, Syrian and
Egyptian regimes – are currently under judicial investigation by the French war crimes
unit. In July 2018, FIDH published a report highlighting the role of French arms and other
businesses in human rights violations perpetrated by Al-Sissi’s regime. (See also Priority
on fighting impunity). Some of the findings of the research conducted in preparation of this
report were used by the LAG to file the Egypt complaint, which is the first extra-territorial
investigation in France concerning crimes committed in Egypt.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 57
 PROMOTING RESPECT FOR HUM AN
RIGHTS BY ECONOMIC PL AYERS

Complicity in crimes against

humanity and Chiquita in
Colombia
2018 saw a significant impact on the Chiquita case in
Colombia following actions undertaken in 2017. In May
2017, FIDH’s President went to Colombia for a fact-finding
mission on the progress of the peace process and to present
a communication to the ICC concerning the individual
responsibility of executives from the company Chiquita
Brands, for complicity in crimes against humanity committed
by paramilitaries. The report was issued with the International
Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, and member
organisation Corporación Colectivo de Abogados José
Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR). On this occasion, FIDH provided
the Attorney General of Colombia with thousands of internal
documents from Chiquita that constituted the evidence of
this communication. In September 2018, the Attorney General
of Colombia decided to indict 15 Chiquita employees and
board members using FIDH’s arguments and evidence on
the existence of a contribution to crimes against humanity.

58 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Residents celebrate a success after a 30-hour demonstration in front of the entry of a steel factory. © Marcelo Cruz

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 59
FINANCIAL report 2018

Total Expenses per Priority Amount 2017 % Amount 2018 %

Supporting human rights defenders 1 019 016 11.5% 724 041 8.6%
Fostering an environment conducive to democracy 1 057 133 12.0% 1 483 900 17.7%
and freedoms
Promoting women’s rights 208 494 2.4% 171 499 2.0%
Fighting discrimination and violence based on sexual - 13 112 0.2%
orientation and gender identity
Promoting the rights of migrants 99 912 1.1% 57 507 0.7%
Fighting impunity and protecting populations from 3 056 637 34.6% 2 523 002 30.1%
the most serious crimes
Promoting respect of human rights by economic 370 674 4.2% 167 939 2.0%
players
FIDH Network 1 050 928 11.9% 1 080 722 12.9%
External Network / Outreach 535 579 6.1% 573 688 6.8%
Logistics 313 277 3.5% 241 558 2.9%
Fundraising and Admin. Costs 1 121 152 12.7% 1 164 035 13.9%
Other Expenses - 188 003 2.2%

Total Expenses 8 832 803 100% 8 389 005 100%

INCOME 2017 % 2018 %

Membership fees and contributions 153 271 1.7% 123 380 1.4%
Earmarked grants and donations 5 641 159 63.5% 5 459 447 63.0%
Non-earmarked grants and donations 2 598 874 29.3% 2 439 647 28.2%

Other income 422 876 4.8% 456 563 5.3%

Financial and extraordinary income 64 436 0.7% 181 622 2.1%

Total income 8 880 616 100% 8 660 659 100%

60 — F I D H ANNUaL Re PORT 2 0 1 8
Acknowledgements

Foundations, associations and other institutions

Open Society Foundations; Oak Foundation; Sigrid

Rausing Trust; Ford Foundation; Bread for the World;
an anonymous foundation; MacArthur Foundation;
Our Supporters Fondation de France; Heinrich Böll Stiftung; Trust
Africa.
FIDH thanks all of its donors and supporters, as
well as the investors in its ethical fund, Libertés Corporate supporters
& Solidarité.
Carrefour; Hermès; La Banque Postale Asset
During 2018, FIDH was particularly grateful to the Management (LBPAM); We Are Social.
support of the following institutions, foundations
and corporations: FIDH would also like to thank:
• its interpretors, translators and other volunteers;
International and national institutions • a s well as all the individuals, national and
international non-governmental organisations and
The European Commission; Swedish International intergovernmental organisations who responded
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida); Agence to its requests for support.
Française de Développement (AFD); Ministry for
Foreign Affairs of Finland; Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Norway; Ministry for Europe and Foreign
Affairs of France; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands; Irish Aid; Mairie de
Paris; International Organisation of La Francophonie
(OIF); Belgium Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and
Development Cooperation; Ligue des Droits de
l’Homme; Embassy of Switzerland in Thailand.

FI DH A NNUa L ReP O RT 2 0 1 8 — 61
 FIDH is an international human rights NGO federating

184 organisations from 112 countries

FIDH
17, passage de la Main d’Or
75011 Paris - France
Phone: +33 (0)1 43 55 25 18
Facebook.com/FIDH.HumanRights/
Twitter: @fidh_en /@fidh_fr /@fidh_es
www.fidh.org