Statement on the sidelines of the regional workshop organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in cooperation with the United Nations Information Centre in Cairo on 26 and 27 January 2015, entitled “Towards an Enabling and Safe Climate for Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa Region,” in which the Gulf Centre for Human Rights participated.

We, human rights defenders gathered here in Tunisia, appeal to Arab governments to pay special attention to the rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in particular Article 6, paragraph (c), which states that:

“Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others:

To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters.”

Paragraph 2 of Article 12 states:

“The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”

We also call on Arab governments to immediately release all detained human rights defenders, both men and women, and all prisoners of conscience who are imprisoned solely for their legitimate and peaceful work to promote human rights in the region.

There can be no creativity or bright future without preserving public freedoms and supporting and protecting human rights defenders, both men and women. Here, we call on the United Nations and all international institutions to take the initiative to utilize various human rights mechanisms and to do everything in their power to support and protect human rights defenders in the region.

Human rights defenders meeting in Tunisia

January 2015