BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Human rights defenders see a better future for all and know how to make that future a reality said Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for the Pacific, Ms. Heike Alefsen.
Heike said when delivering her key remarks during the Pacific Human Rights Defenders Network (PHRDN) workshop on Tuesday this week at the Heritage Park Hotel.
The Pacific Human Rights Defenders Network (PHRDN) organized the workshop with funding from the Swiss Embassy based in Canberra.
The three-day event aims to initiate discussions on developing National Action Plans (NAP) for HRD protection. This workshop will build on the knowledge from the Vanuatu workshop in February 2024.
“It is my pleasure to start my remarks for this important gathering with a quote from our United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Tuerk.
“We all have the right – and the responsibility – to defend human rights. This was the simple yet powerful idea behind the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly 50 years after that same body adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),’’ said Heike.
She said that it is defenders who continue to make human rights a priority during these challenging times, with conflicts raging in various parts of the world and increasing inequalities in and between countries globally.
“But also, in situations closer to home in the Pacific where HRDs monitor and speak out about trends in backsliding on democratic freedoms and the rights of indigenous peoples, pressure on social protection funding, lack of equal distribution of resources to communities left most behind, distressing levels of violence against women and children, violations of human rights often despite limited resources or funds,’’ she said.
She said that Human Rights Defenders must be recognized for the value they bring to democracies and societies.
She said that while some Governments may be taking a selective approach to human rights, Pacific HRDs face a multitude of risks from being targeted through online and offline hate speech.
“Constraints on freedom of assembly and difficulty in obtaining legal recognition for their associations, as well as in some cases, arbitrary arrest and detention, harassment, torture and worse. Women human rights defenders in the Pacific are often seen as defying social or religious norms and threatening social and customary structures, and sometimes face attacks by both government and non-state actors, both offline and online,’’ she said.
