Human rights defenders are under attack all over the world. There were 312 human rights defenders in 27 countries killed in 2017, according to Front Line Defenders, an organisation committed in protecting and supporting activists whose lives are at risk because of their activities.

Not enough protection by police

The "Annual Report on Human Rights Defenders at Risk in 2017" finds that 67% of human rights defenders murdered last year were engaged in the defence of land, environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights, nearly always in the context of mega projects, extractive industry and big business.

In 84% of the killings for which Front Line Defenders has the necessary information, the defender had previously received a threat, highlighting the inefficiency of police prevention work, which, if properly carried out, could drastically reduce attacks against human rights activists.

Impunity for acts of violence against human rights defenders continues to enable an environment of frequent killings: only 12% of murder cases resulted in the arrest of suspects.

A full 80% of the killings took place in just four countries – Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines.

The situation in Europe

Defenders of migrants’ and refugees’ rights were targeted in many European countries, particularly those with commonly used migration routes. A narrative linking human trafficking with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was propagated to target human rights defenders assisting refugees.

In Italy, this caused NGOs to fall under attack from some politicians and media outlets for their rescue work in the Mediterranean. In France, Cedric Herrou, a farmer and immigration activist, was convicted in August of aiding illegal immigration and handed a four-month suspended sentence.

Legislation restricting access to foreign funding for NGOs or penalising recipients of such assistance have continued to spread in eastern Europe.

The Hungarian government adopted a law targeting NGOs receiving more than 7.2 million forints (€24,000) annually in foreign donations and which fail to both register with the authorities within 15 days as a "foreign-funded organisation" and advertise this fact on their websites and all their publications. In Ukraine, a similar draft law imposing reporting requirements upon organisations in receipt of foreign aid, services and international technical assistance is still pending.

In Russia, the first case of criminal persecution of a head of an NGO under the Foreign Agent Law was closed in July with the acquittal of Valentina Cherevatenko, chair of the Coordination Council of the Women of the Don Union. Nevertheless, to date, 88 civil society organisations are designated as performing the functions of "foreign agents", with all the main Russian human rights organisations among them.

Probably the most dramatic situation in the european area is represented by Turkey, where repression against civil society, intensified after the 2016 failed coup d'état, continues.

Through the wide-ranging use of state of emergency laws, the authorities significantly limited rights to freedom of expression, media, assembly, and association, and targeted those engaged in human rights work. More than 300 NGOs were closed and many defenders were imprisoned, lost their jobs or faced investigation.

A significant case

A particularly notable case is that of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who died of liver cancer in the eighth year of an 11-year prison sentence in China. He was the first Nobel laureate to die in custody since 1935, when a German pacifist and dissident, Carl von Ossietzky, died under Nazi guard in hospital.

If you want to read the full report you can download it here.