ISHR releases new tools in Chinese, Tibetan and Uyghur to prevent and respond to reprisals for cooperation with the UN
To strengthen accessibility of its resources, ISHR is pleased to launch a series of new tools in English, Chinese, Tibetan and Uyghur to equip human rights defenders to better mitigate and address intimidation and reprisals for cooperation with the UN, an essential resource for all stakeholders concerned about intimidation and reprisals.
The UN is often the last space where Chinese, Uyghur, Tibetan and Hong Kong human rights defenders, rights holders, victims and witnesses can denounce violations and abuses and mobilise international responses promoting justice and accountability. To do so, they must be able to freely cooperate with the UN, its bodies and mechanisms, provide evidence and testimony without fear of intimidation or reprisals for doing so. Over the years, the UN has developed a range of bodies and processes to receive and respond to cases of reprisals, including through the annual report on reprisals of the UN Secretary-General.
Watch this video, with subtitles available in Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan, for an introduction to the UN’s mechanisms to address cases of intimidation and reprisals:
According to ISHR research, China is the fourth largest perpetrator of reprisals for cooperation with the UN. To better equip Chinese, Uyghur, Tibetan and Hong Kong human rights defenders with tools to map, prevent, mitigate and address risks of reprisals by the Chinese government, ISHR launched two tools in English, Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan:
A Reprisal Toolkit, that provides concrete tools to assess and reduce the likelihood and impact of intimidation and reprisals, and devise contingency plans if acts of reprisals occur;
An update to ISHR’s Reprisals Handbook, that provides more detailed information on each mechanism to report and respond to cases of reprisals across UN and other international human rights bodies.
We hope that the translations into Uyghur and Tibetan will make our content more accessible to relevant communities.
Reprisals for cooperating with the UN are often underestimated within our own community; individuals frequently don't know where to turn to or how to report them. This Uyghur-language handbook is an essential resource, making reporting more accessible and straightforward for the Uyghur community.
Zumretay Arkin, Vice-President of the World Uyghur Congress
Tibetans seeking justice at the UN understand that they are exposing themselves and their families to significant risks of reprisals at the hands of the Chinese government. While the risks are clear and immediate, the remedies are often opaque and require navigation. Resources like this Reprisals Handbook can help Tibetan human rights defenders better anticipate forms of intimidation and more readily access avenues of recourse.
Topjor Tsultrim, Communications Director at Students for a Free Tibet
The Reprisal Toolkit provides tools and tactics for human rights defenders and any individual seeking to engage with the UN to better assess and mitigate these risks. If you are a human rights defender seeking to engage with the UN, read this carefully and share it with your peers!
About ISHR’s work on intimidation and reprisals
The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) seeks to ensure that national, international and regional human rights systems have the policies, mechanisms and protocols in place to prevent reprisals and ensure accountability where they occur. ISHR also brings cases of alleged intimidation and reprisals to the attention of relevant officials to press for effective preventative measures and responses, including through our #EndReprisals campaigns. ISHR also maintains the #EndReprisals database, which documents cases of reprisals reported by the UN Secretary-General.
Watch our video on reprisals:
For more information on how to use the UN bodies and mechanisms referred to throughout this handbook, visit the ISHR Academy, which provides free courses in English, Spanish and French.
Author
Raphaël Viana David
Raphaël is ISHR's China and Latin America Programme Manager in our Geneva office. He joined ISHR in 2018.
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