GENEVA (14 March 2012) – A group of international experts on the situation of human rights defenders urged today world governments to halt reprisals against individuals and groups seeking to cooperate with the United Nations and regional human rights systems.* They also called on States to ease, rather than hinder, civil society’s access to the UN and regional human rights institutions.

“Reprisals have to cease immediately and credible investigations into pending cases of reprisals have to be carried out,” said the Rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders from the United Nations (UN), Margaret Sekaggya; the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Reine Alapini-Gansou; and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), José de Jesús Orozco.

Read on