Situación De Los Derechos Humanos De Las Personas Lgbti De El Salvador

2012
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
GLOBAL TRENDS IN 2011 FOR

ANNUAL REPORT

FRONT LINE DEFENDERS

Published by Front Line Defenders 2012 The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Second Floor, Grattan House, Temple Road, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland
Copyright © 2012 by Front Line Defenders This report has been produced for the benefit of human rightsdefenders and may be quoted from or copied so long as the source/authors are acknowledged. Copies of this report are available from info@frontlinedefenders.org To request a report please contact: Front Line Defenders Second Floor, Grattan House Temple Road Blackrock Co Dublin Ireland Tel: 00 353 1 212 37 50 Fax 00 353 1 212 10 01 info@frontlinedefenders.org

CONTENTS
GLOBAL TRENDS REGIONALHIGHLIGHTS AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 1 2 2 4 5 7 8

FRONT LINE DEFENDERS

This report highlights developments in the situation of human rights defenders in 2011. It illustrates some of the main global and regional trends as emerged from Front Line Defenders’ work. Over the course of 2011, Front Line Defenders issued 256 urgent appeals on 594 humanrights defenders at risk in 70 countries; it provided 189 security grants and trained more than 470 human rights defenders. Overall, more than 1380 HRDs benefited from Front Line Defenders’ protection support in 2011.

I. GLOBAL TRENDS
If each year could be associated with a right, 2011 was undoubtedly the year of freedom of assembly. The uprisings now collectively referred to as the Arab Spring,that began in North Africa in late 2010, spread throughout the region during the year. Well after the dramatic regime changes in Tunisia and Egypt, mass protests continued in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Syria, where a particularly brutal repression, still ongoing, attracted unanimous condemnation internationally as well as sanctions from the Arab League. Inspired by the ArabSpring and exasperated by decades of corrupt authoritarian government, civil society mobilised in many countries in other regions of the world, particularly in Africa. Protests, either linked to elections or to high commodity prices, erupted in Angola, Malawi, Swaziland, and Uganda – to name but a few. In Angola, demonstrations started in March to protest against the 32-year rule of President dosSantos. The demonstrations, which continued with varied intensity throughout the year, were met with unnecessary and disproportionate force by the police, which also violently prevented journalists from covering the events. Though protests did not develop as intensely in other regions, regimes in Asia were worried enough to restrict their laws and regulations. Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Malaysia werein the process of passing new restrictive legislation. In Malaysia, the House of Representatives passed the Peaceful Assembly Bill, which outlaws street protests and authorises police to impose conditions, including time, date, and venue. Organisers of unauthorised assemblies would face hefty fines. At the time of writing, the bill remained pending in the Senate. China responded to anonymousonline calls for protests by disappearing up to two dozen human rights defenders and questioning and threatening scores of others. Instances of violent dispersal of protests and refusal of permission to hold assemblies also occurred in many countries in Europe and Central Asia, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Serbia, and Uzbekistan. In the latter, faced witha de facto ban on protests, human rights defenders challenged the authorities and organised several small demonstrations: they were violently dispersed by the police, participants were arrested, questioned and sentenced to the payment of fines. Protests were also violently dispersed in Latin America. In Cuba, in particular, the authorities launched a crackdown reminiscent of the 2003 mass...