Photo: Flickr / Jackie McVickar
ISHR commends the Constitutional Court of Guatemala for issuing an injunction against legislative reforms that would have expanded the ability of the Executive to arbitrarily interfere in the operations of non-governmental organisations.
In a welcome move, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala issued an injunction on 2 March against the approval of reforms to the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Act on the grounds that they ‘carry the threat of a human rights violation.’
The suspended Decree 4-2020 sought to expand existing regulations and would create a legal system that allowed heightened centralised control over the registration and operation of national and foreign NGOs. The reforms authorised the Executive to cancel the legal status of NGOs under the pretense of ‘public order’ and would have resulted in the automatic cancellation and dissolution of an NGO if it failed to comply with its provisions.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling aligns with heavy criticism of the Decree from civil society and United Nations independent experts that it would shrink civic space and violate fundamental human rights.
In a joint communication, the UN Special Rapporteurs on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and on the situation of human rights defenders expressed concern that the Decree threatened opening the way ‘to discretionary and arbitrary limitations on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, as well as to the criminalisation of human rights defenders.’
Echoing the UN experts, the Constitutional Court explained that the Decree violated the right to freedom of assembly ‘recognised in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, and the American Convention on Human Rights.’
‘States have the primary responsibility to ensure defenders and NGOs are able to conduct their work freely and in a safe and enabling environment,’ said ISHR Programme Manager and Legal Counsel Tess McEvoy. ‘We welcome this decision by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court, especially in the current climate where many States are implementing legislation restricting the exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms essential for the work of human rights defenders. States need to be held to their international obligations not to restrict the right to freedom of expression and association of NGOs,’ McEvoy added.
Civil society spoke of the ongoing human rights crisis in Venezuela this week at the Council making evident that, despite Venezuela’s best efforts to denounce the Fact-Finding Mission, the Mission’s work and that of OHCHR are absolutely essential to victims of violations.
On 22 and 23 March 2023, the Human Rights Council held a general debate on human rights situations requiring the Council’s attention. States and NGOs spoke, and the High Commissioner spoke on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. They drew the Council’s attention to a number of country situations of concern. ISHR delivered a statement, highlighting the human rights situation in four countries: Burkina Faso, Colombia, El Salvador, and Saudi Arabia.
The UN Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of Human Rights by Persons with Albinism presented the Human Rights Council with a report noting continued barriers for defenders working on albinism and calling for greater cooperation between civil society groups.
