TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction: Women human rights defenders at risk……….2

Human rights defenders around the world face serious dangers and difficulties on account of their work to promote and defend the human rights of others. This report, which highlights cases involving women human rights defenders, is one in a series of Amnesty International documents illustrating the different obstacles and forms of harassment faced by defenders worldwide.¹

Despite many hurdles, women human rights defenders are working actively for the protection of human rights – including but not limited to women’s rights. In so doing women human rights defenders enrich and advance protection of human rights in a totally unique way both in the field of economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights.

The appeal cases featured in this document highlight the special contribution of women human rights defenders to developing respect for human rights, enhancing women’s access to human rights and empowering women to be more visible and active in public affairs and public life. However, this small sample of cases also illustrates how women activists while experiencing the same forms of intimidation sometimes experienced by their male colleagues, can also face discrimination, sexual abuse, derogatory accusations or baiting related specifically to their status as women.

These appeal cases also highlight how arbitrary detention, sometimes followed by the misuse of the law to prosecute and imprison human rights defenders is becoming one of the most frequently reported violations instigated against defenders as a form of punishment to deter them from carrying out legitimate human rights work. This trend whereby the law or legal procedures become instruments to harass activists rather than to protect them was also recently highlighted by the UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, Ms. Hina Jilani, in her report of October 2004 to the UN General Assembly.²

Women defend human rights in the face of widespread social discrimination against them. The past decades have seen some breakthroughs in governments’ and general public understanding of women’s rights as human rights. Despite this, there remain many obstacles to women’s empowerment and the achievement of equal rights between men and women. In many societies, there has been little progress in ensuring women’s full participation in decision-making processes in government, in political organizations, in the workplace, in the home, in their access to education or to economic opportunities.

Nonetheless, women are playing a pivotal role in activism ranging from challenging weak or corrupt judicial systems, environmental degradation, campaigning against the death penalty and highlighting human rights violations in ongoing conflicts, to running programs on the rights to education, to land titles, and freedom from hunger and poverty. Women are forming organizations to raise awareness of gender-based rights abuses, including traditional practices such as female genital mutilation prevalent in many societies. Women are prominent as peace activists and counsellors of victims of sexual violence including rape and domestic violence. Many are advocates of the rights of vulnerable groups including women and girls living with HIV / AIDS and inspire campaigns against racism, slavery, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.

In conflict situations the work of human rights defenders, including human rights observers and monitors, is critical in exposing serious atrocities. Amidst escalating violence and difficulties regarding access to regions in conflict, abuses committed against women frequently go unnoticed and unreported. Rape and sexual violence against women and girls can become a weapon in and of itself to humiliate and demoralise parties to the conflict. Because of the stigma attached to survivors of sexual violence, and women’s disadvantaged position in society, women face sometimes insurmountable obstacles to obtain justice. Whether as civilians, combatants, refugees or displaced people, the impact of conflict weights particularly heavily on women. In such situations, the role of women’s human rights defenders is all the more crucial but may carry even greater risks.

During the course of its research on the difficulties faced by human rights defenders Amnesty International has found that both women and men defenders are frequently persecuted or victims of retaliation because they criticise government human rights policies or the conduct of powerful economic or religious groups in regard of human rights standards. These findings are consistent with those published by various UN experts as well as many other human rights organizations. In recognition of the need to support and protect the important work of human rights defenders, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in December 1998, commonly known as the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

In particular, Amnesty International has found that women activists face specific risks during the course of their human rights work because they sometimes defy cultural, religious or social norms about the role of women. In many countries, they are targetted because by speaking out they challenge traditional patterns of power and status. By far the greatest difficulty faced by many women activists is that their work and proposals are all too often discredited or dismissed in importance.

Difficulties faced by women activists are underreported by both states and non-governmental organizations. Women human rights defenders are often “silenced” by dangers posed on their security and those of their loved ones and people working closely with them. For fear of further attacks against them, their colleagues or their families, women human rights defenders can be reluctant to report threats and harassment they receive.

Women who dare to challenge social conventions can be subject to verbal abuse and derogatory or sinister public accusations aimed at discrediting their character. Amnesty International has received reports of women human rights defenders who have been threatened with rape or sexual abuse, called man haters, prostitutes, un-marriageable types, provocateurs or troublemakers all because they tried to defend universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Women defenders working on issues of sexuality, particularly sexual orientation and reproductive rights are especially vulnerable to marginalization, prejudice and violence. Governments and other social movements do not prioritize the rights they fight for and this impacts on their credibility and legitimacy, increasing their isolation and risk of public repudiation, stigmatisation and discrimination.

The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1998 is, as yet, a little known Declaration which affirms the right to defend human rights and requests of states protection of human rights work and those who carry it out. Amnesty International is calling on all governments to produce, publish and implement a policy to implement the principles contained in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Such plans need to pay special attention to ensuring recognition and protection of women human rights defenders and ensuring women are equally entitled to exercise the right to defend human rights and all the other rights afforded them in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

China

Defenders of the right to redress: the Tiananmen Mothers

Tiananmen Mothers. Ding Zilin is the second from the left in the front line. © HRIC

The Tiananmen Mothers, founded by Ding Zilin, a retired university professor, is a group of 130 human rights defenders – mainly women – whose children and other close relatives were killed in and around Tiananmen Square on the night of 3-4 June 1989. The Tiananmen Mothers have been at the forefront of the campaign for accountability, redress and the defence of the rights of the relatives of people who were killed and people who were injured by the military over 15 years ago.

Heavily armed troops and armoured military vehicles stormed into Tiananmen Square on the night of 3-4 June 1989 to clear peaceful, unarmed demonstrators who were calling for an end to corruption and for political reforms in China. Hundreds of civilians were killed, and tens of thousands of demonstrators were arrested in the aftermath.

The Tiananmen Mothers have compiled a list of names of over 182 people who were killed and over 70 who were injured by the Chinese army. They have distributed humanitarian aid to victims’ families and helped to set up a fund for the education of children and orphans of those killed or injured in Tiananmen Square.

The group regularly submits appeals and petitions calling on the authorities to allow victims’ families the right to mourn in public, to allow them to accept humanitarian aid from organizations and individuals, to end the persecution of victims and their families, to release all those still imprisoned since 1989, and to implement a full and open public inquiry into the events surrounding 4 June 1989.

Ding Zilin, was reportedly placed under a form of house arrest in Beijing on 27 January 2005 after she had requested to pay her respects to the former party leader and Premier Zhao Ziyang, who died on 17 January 2005. Hundreds of petitioners gathered to mourn the death of Zhao Ziyang. Hundreds more had petitioned the authorities to attend his funeral but in an apparent effort to prevent high-profile activists from attending, mourning restrictions were placed on several human rights defenders including Ding Zilin.

Ding Zilin’s house arrest may also have been prompted by a public letter that she and her husband wrote to the Chinese President and Premier appealing for the release of two well-known activists, Liu Xiaobo and Yu Jie, who were detained on 13 December 2004. The two were released the next day, but reportedly continue to remain under tight police surveillance in their homes.

This is not the first time that Ding Zilin has been detained. In March 2004, Ding Zilin, Zhang Xianling and Huang Jinping were arbitrarily detained in an apparent attempt to stop them from participating in the Qingming festival, when people tend the graves of their relatives. The Chinese authorities stated their detentions were the result of recording their testimonies to camera, and sending the footage to supporters abroad. In addition, ‘T’-shirts bearing the words “Tiananmen Mothers” were confiscated by the authorities.

Each year around the anniversary of 4 June 1989, several of the Tiananmen Mothers are detained, harassed or physically restricted in some way. Their treatment is indicative of the government’s continuing refusal to respect calls for redress.

Through their mutual support, the Tiananmen Mothers have brought comfort to numerous bereaved families empowering others, particularly women, to take part in public life, and the group’s public profile has been a source of hope and inspiration for similar groups outside China.

Take action on behalf of the Tiananmen Mothers:

• Calling on the authorities to stop the arbitrary detention, intimidation and harassment of Ding Zilin and the other “Tiananmen Mothers”;

• Urging the authorities to ensure that the Tiananmen Mothers can carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals;

• Remind the authorities of their obligations to fulfil the principles contained in the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility Of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote And Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1998, commonly known as the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders;

• Calling on the authorities to develop a national plan of action to implement the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders as an important first step to ensure that human rights defenders are able to safely carry out their legitimate work. The Plan of Action should include specific measures to address the particular obstacles faced by women HRDs.

Send your appeals to:

Minister of Justice of the People's Republic of China
ZHANG FusenBuzhang
Sifabu
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie,
Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020
People’s Republic of China

Fax: +86 10 6472 9863

Email: minister@legalinfo.gov.cn
Email: pfmaster@legalinfo.gov.cn
Salutation: Your Excellency

Mayor of Beijing Municipal People's Government

WANG Qishan Shizhang

Beijingshi Renmin Zhengfu

2 Zhengyilu

Dongchengqu, Beijing 100744

People's Republic of China

Salutation: Dear Mayor

Copies to:

Secretary of Beijing Municipal Party Committee

LIU Qi Shuji

Zhonggong Beijingshi Weiyuanhui

3 Taijichang Dajie

Dongchengqu,

Beijing 100743, People's Republic of China

Salutation: Dear Secretary

Iran

In search of justice - the case of Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh

Introduction

Following the election of President Mohammad Khatami in 1997, numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were formed, complementing the smaller number of NGOs formed in earlier years. The awarding, in 2003, of the Nobel Peace Prize to an Iranian human rights defender (HRD), Shirin Ebadi, marked the culmination of efforts made over years by many HRDs in Iran.

Yet from September 2004 tens of journalists and human rights defenders have faced arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, humiliating interrogations and threats to their security. These waves of politically motivated arrests constitute an attack on independent civil society and HRDs.

Flaws in the judiciary and attacks on civil society

Legal restrictions on freedom of expression and association; political influence on the judiciary and the uneven impact of the re-introduction of the role of prosecutor in 2002 constitute important structural impediments in Iran's justice system. Simultaneously, the judiciary maintains its grip over the independence of Iran’s Bar Associations through discriminatory “gozinesh”³” or selection provisions while the core functions of the Bar Associations have, in many cases, been usurped by the judiciary. Taken together these create fundamental flaws in the administration of justice in Iran.

The arbitrary arrest of Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh: “A small price to pay”

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, is the director of the Iranian NGO Training Center, or NGOTC⁴, an organisation formed to support the work of the growing NGO community in Iran. She is also the editor-in-chief of Farzaneh, which is “a journal of women’s studies and research in Iran and Muslim societies”⁵. Both endeavours support the recognition of women’s rights and the promotion of international human rights standards.

She was arrested on 1 November 2004. Her personal effects were reportedly summarily siezed and the authorities sealed her office. Tehran’s Chief Prosecutor, Said Mortazavi reportedly authorised the arrest but appears to have failed to give any reason for it. A month later she was released, on bail totalling around €30 000.

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh has said that she went through a very difficult period of interrogation while detained⁶ and placed under extreme mental and emotional pressure throughout the time she was being interrogated.

In the last week of her detention, she was in a public or open block of Evin Prison, but otherwise Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh was held in solitary confinement for 23 days in a room measuring two by one and a quarter metres, in an unknown location in Tehran. It was constantly lit and totally silent. In the secret detention centre, all speaking was forbidden and it appears that listening devices in the cells themselves may have been used to ensure complete silence. She was taken to the toilet three times a day and deprived of any reading material save for a copy of the Qoran and a prayer book. She was permitted to call her family twice but otherwise forbidden to meet with them and denied access to a telephone.

Denying Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh access to her family, the immediate availability of legal counsel and the outside world is in contravention to provisions of the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment⁷.

The interrogation was apparently designed to ‘break her’. She was questioned about her presentations at international meetings, including at the European Social Forum⁸, her address to the Asia-Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing+10 in July 2004 and her conections with international women’s rights activists. While blindfolded, discriminatory, intrusive and potentially incriminating statements relating to her private life – such as “tell us who you have slept with” - were repeatedly put to her, in an effort to humiliate and demean her. She was reportedly asked why she was working against the regime yet replied that what she was doing is for the benefit of the people of Iran. Judicial interrogators told her threateningly that her daughter would be brought in [to the prison] if she did not cooperate.⁹.

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh reportedly faces vaguely worded charges of ‘spreading lies’ and [spreading] ‘propaganda against the regime’ in connection with a speech given in Bangkok, to fellow NGO activists and other accusations relating to having ‘illicit relations’, and ‘relations with foreigners’; being improperly dressed – being without a headscarf - and possessing alcohol. The ‘file’ on Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh remains open and no date has reportedly been set for her trial. If imprisoned, amnesty International would consider her a prisoner of conscience.

Following her release on bail, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh stated that she had “once again found the energy to return to my work”, and that since “civil society is still in its developing stages in Iran, this is a small price to pay.” She closed saying “I hope that my experience will be put to positive use [towards] promoting the women’s movement in Iran.” Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh has sought private psychological treatment for the ordeal she underwent during her incarceration.

WHRDs and others in search of justice

On 25 December 2004, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh along with at least four other journalists appeared before a presidential committee charged with listening to citizens’ complaints about failures to guarantee rights set out in Iran’s constitution. Although article 38 of Iran’s constitution forbids torture ‘for the purpose of extracting confession or acquiring information’, the group believed they faced precisely this treatment.

A few days after delivering their testimony, a member of the committee wrote on his website¹⁰ that members openly wept on hearing the former detainees’ testimony of how they were kept in solitary confinement in a secret location, repeatedly subjected to beating and other physical and psychological torture and forced to write confessions admitting to their ‘crimes’¹¹. In response, on 3 January 2005, Tehran’s Chief Prosecutor, Said Mortazavi held a press conference expressly to deny allegations of mistreatment and he once again threatened to prosecute those who made statements that they were abused to extract ‘confessions’ and ‘apologies’.

On or around 16 February 2005, however, the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi met with Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and other former detainees. He ordered the case to be brought under the control of his office and promised to bring those responsible to justice. This search for justice continues to this day.

Creating a climate of fear and intimidation

The actions against Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh fly in the face of Iran’s international commitments as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Amnesty International fears that accusations against Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh are a pretext to silence other WHRDs. Her ill treatment and subsequent harassment is intended to create a climate of fear, to intimidate others who might be willing to discuss social problems including limits on the rights enjoyed by women, or who seek to expose human rights violations. The delay in setting the date for her trial acts as a Sword of Damocles over her future: a means used by the judiciary to force those accused to ‘cooperate’.

How you can act to support WHRDs in Iran

Articles 1 and 5 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders envision a world in which individuals and associations which “promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights”, and provides and for the right “to complain about the policies and actions of individual officials and governmental bodies with regard to violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms...” It sets out measures that ensure activists can peacefully and legitimately campaign for the protection of their communities’ rights; are not threatened, harassed; imprisoned or subject to malicious prosecution, but rather are recognised and supported in their struggle. Yet the judicial authorities in Iran have ignored international human rights standards and the provisions made for human rights defenders in moves set out to silence independent human rights defenders.

Take action! Please send appeals to the Iranian government and judiciary:

• Expressing concern that flaws in the administration of justice in Iran have resulted in human rights violations against women human rights defenders such as Maghboubeh Abbasgholizadeh that have gone uninvestigated and apparently unpunished.

• Expressing concern that failure to hold a prompt and open trial contravenes Iran’s obligations under the International Covenant n Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

• Urging the government to train the police and security forces on how to implement law in order to ensure that the freedom of association of human rights defenders is respected and protected.

• Remind the authorities of their obligations to fulfil the principles contained in the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility Of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote And Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1998, commonly known as the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders;

• Calling on the authorities to develop a national plan of action to implement the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders as an important first step to ensure that human rights defenders are able to safely carry out their legitimate work. The Plan of Action should include specific measures to address the particular obstacles faced by women HRDs.

Please send appeals to:

President of Iran

His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami

The Presidency

Palestine Avenue

Azerbaijan Intersection

Tehran

Islamic Republic of Iran

E-mail: khatami@president.ir (please resend your message if it does not get through the first time)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary, Iran

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Head of the Judiciary

Ministry of Justice

Park-e Shahr

Tehran

Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: irjpr@iranjudiciary.org (mark 'Please forward to HE Ayatollah Shahroudi')

Salutation: Your Excellency

Mexico

Threats to indigenous rights activist

Amnesty International believes indigenous rights activist and human rights defender, Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, may be in danger and is being harassed and threatened in order to prevent her from carrying out important human rights work. She has received anonymous death threats, and her house has been watched.

As a leading member of the indigenous organization Organización del Pueblo Indigena Tlapaneco, AC (OPIT), Obtilia has documented reports of human rights violations against members of the indigenous communities in the southern state of Guerrero. Among these reports were the cases of two women from the Tlapaneca indigenous group, Valentina Rosendo Cantú and Inés Fernández Ortega, who were reportedly raped by soldiers in 2002. At a conference on indigenous rights in Guerrero from 3-4 December 2004, Obtilia made a presentation in which she publicly condemned the authorities' failure to fully and independently investigate the rapes in which members of the military have been implicated.

On 9 December 2004, a few days following the conference, a letter was reportedly delivered to Obtilia’s house, in the municipality of Ayutla de los Libres. It warned her that “soon you will rest in peace”, and also threatened her family. It told her that "You keep on trying to attack us with your stupid lies about the rape of Valentina and Inés. We've had enough of the stupidities you accuse us of. We were already going to get you but now you are really in trouble”.

O

Obtilia Eugenio Manuel ©AI

n 26 December 2004, Obtilia’s sister saw two men circling Obtilia’s house on foot, taking notes and pointing towards the house. On 29 and 30 December 2004, unknown men were once again seen circling Obtilia’s house. On 4 and 5 January 2005, two men were seen taking photographs and watching the OPIT offices in Ayutla de los Libres, in Guerrero state.

Obtilia has suffered intimidation and death threats before, in relation to her work on the case of rape of the two indigenous women, but she did not report the incidents to the authorities for fear of reprisals against her or her family, including her two young daughters.

On 14 January 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States recommended that the Mexican authorities take “precautionary measures” to protect Obtilia. At the time of writing Amnesty International understands that while some of the measures have been denied or are being studied by the authorities, others are in the process of being implemented.

Human rights defenders and community activists in Guerrero state have frequently been the target of threats, harassment and smear campaigns in order to prevent them from carrying out their legitimate work on behalf of others.

Take Action! Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:

• expressing concern for the safety of human rights defender Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and her family following the death threats and the intimidation she suffered in December 2004 and January 2005 in the municipality of Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero state;

• Urge the Mexican authorities to adhere to their obligations to ensure the safety of Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and her family in line with the request for precautionary measures made by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission;

• Remind the authorities of their obligations to fulfil the principles contained in the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility Of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote And Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1998, commonly known as the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders;

• Calling on the authorities to develop a national plan of action to implement the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders as an important first step to ensure that human rights defenders are able to safely carry out their legitimate work. The Plan of Action should include specific measures to address the particular obstacles faced by women HRDs.

Please send your appeals to:

Governor of Guerrero

Lic. Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo ,

Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero

Palacio de Gobierno, segundo piso, Plaza Central, Primer Congreso de Anahuac,

Colonia Centro, Chilpancingo 39000, Guerrero, Mexico

Fax: + 52 747 47 23125

Salutation: Dear Governor/Señor Gobernador

Attorney General of Guerrero

Lic. Jesus Ramirez Guerrero, Procurador General de Justicia del Estado de Guerrero

Carretera Nacional México-Acapulco Km. 6+300, Tramo Chilpancingo- Petaquillos, Chilpancingo 39090, Guerrero, Mexico

Fax: + 52 747 47 22328

Salutation: Dear Attorney General/Señor Procurador

Minister of the Interior

Lic. Santiago Creel

Secretario de Gobernación, Secretaría de Gobernación

Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P.06600, México

Fax: +525 55 093 3414

Salutation: Señor Secretario / Dear Minister

Senior General Than Shwe

Chairman

State Peace and Development Council

Ministry of Defence

Dagon Post Office

Yangon, Union of Myanmar

Fax: + 95 1 652 624

Salutation: Dear General

Lieutenant General Soe Win

Prime Minister

State Peace and Development Council

Ministry of Defence, Signal Pagoda road

Dagon Post Office

Yangon, Union of Myanmar

Fax: + 95 1 652 624

Salutation: Dear Lieutenant General

President of Uzbekistan

Islam A. KARIMOV

Rezidentsia prezidenta;

ul. Uzbekistanskaia, 43;

Tashkent 700163

UZBEKISTAN

Fax: +998 71 139 55 25

Email: president_office@press-service.uz

Salutation: Dear President Karimov

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Eler Ganiev

Ministerstvo inostrannykh del;

pl. Mustakillik, 5;

Tashkent 700029

UZBEKISTAN

Fax: + 998 71 139 15 17

Salutation: Dear Minister Ganiev

Police Commissioner

Mr Augustine Chihuri

Police Headquarters

PO Box 8807, Causeway

Harare, Zimbabwe

Fax: +263 4 726 084/ 253 212/ 728 768

Salutation: Dear Commissioner Chihuri

The Officer Commanding

Provincial Headquarter

Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe Republic Police

P.O Box 701

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Fax: +263 9 65763

Salutation: Dear Sir