@ UN Photo / Manuel Elías - Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Earlier this month, Belgium, on behalf of the the BENELUX States, raised a number of cases of reprisals during an interactive dialogue at the Third Committee before the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights and head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Ilze Brands Kehris.
On 16 October 2025, the Assistant Secretary General Ilze Brands Kehris (hereinafter ‘the ASG’) introduced twenty reports under the agenda for the promotion and protection of human rights, including the Secretary General’s annual report on reprisals.
An interactive dialogue followed the ASG’s brief overview of the reports, wherein member states had an opportunity to address the expert. Belgium, in a joint statement with Luxembourg and the Netherlands, used their time to highlight a number of cases of reprisals. They cited the cases of Chow Hang Tung from Hong Kong, Pham Doan Trang from Vietnam, and members of the Human Rights Center Viasna from Belarus. Chao Hang Tung is a human rights lawyer and labour rights advocate currently imprisoned for “inciting subversion” under the National Security Law on 9 September 2021. Together with core members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, she was targeted for holding a peaceful commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest and massacre. Pham Doan Trang is a writer, journalist, and pro-democracy activist who is currently imprisoned in Vietnam for writing and publishing pieces in support of human rights. The Human Rights Center Viasna is a leading Belarusian human rights organisation that focuses on death penalty abolition, the end of torture, ill-treatment, and political persecution. Several of its members have been detained for the essential work they lead.
Through its annual campaign to #EndReprisals, ISHR had featured the case of Viasna in 2022, of The National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2023 and of Pham Doan Trang in 2024. ISHR has also called States to raise cases at the General Assembly, and welcomes this good practice, as publicly raising cases of reprisals contributes to defenders’ protection, shows solidarity with them and contributes to accountability for perpetrators.
Belgium concluded its statement by asking the ASG if she could expand on the methodology behind the selection of cases that make it into the report and the decision to exclude certain cases from the report. In response, the ASG briefly detailed the process of case collection, wherein the OHCHR gathers cases in the Spring from across the U.N. system and other sources with information on allegations. Following collection, the office begins a process of verification with field colleagues and their reprisals team. Some cases do not meet the threshold of what constitutes a reprisal; others are excluded for reasons of confidentiality and fear of further reprisals. The lack of follow-up on ongoing cases of reprisals, which ISHR has identified as a methodological flaw, was not addressed.
Additionally, during the session, the ASG, the European Union, and Ireland all noted the recent increase in transnational repression, a trend that “need(s) to be addressed immediately.” The ASG’s report documented 11 cases of intimidation and reprisals across borders, involving six member states. With reactionary attacks against defenders increasing internationally, it is as essential as always that member states respect the rights of human rights defenders and advocate for them when they are sidelined and detained.
Concerned about the increasing human rights violations cases that remain unresolved, the NGO Forum, held ahead of the 85th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, looked at ways to address impunity for human rights violations in Africa.
Sharing the documentation of the situation of human rights on the continent, the NGO Forum of the African Commission gave the opportunity to sub-regional focal points to provide a brief description of the situation of human rights defenders in Africa.
On 3 October 2025, Ireland and Uruguay delivered a cross-regional statement on reprisals on behalf of 70 States and the European Union during a General Debate at the Third Committee of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.
