Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN)

Cases

Relevant SG report

From Country

Country Geolocation

Latitude: 38.963745

Longitude: 35.243322

From Region

Individual's/organization's activity: HIC-HLRN had been monitoring the expropriations, evictions and demolitions taking place in Diyarbakır, in the Kurdish region of southeast Turkey.

Type of rights defended

Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?: No

Reported trigger of reprisal: The Network believe that the cyber-attacks were a reprisal following the publicity of their report at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which took place in Quito, Ecuador, October 2016.

The report was also distributed to numerous United Nations special procedures and to OHCHR.

Engagement with UN body

Type of attempted engagement

Dates of mentioned reprisals: October 2016; August 2017; 25 September 2017; 16 April 2018;

Reprisal information: In October 2016, when HIC-HLRN presented a report “Turkey: Forced Eviction and Urban Transformation as a Tool of War” at Habitat III, it is alleged that the Turkish delegation scolded HIC-HLRN officers.;

reported in august 2017 series of alleged cyber-attacks over two weeks, which were repeated on 25 September 2017 for two days and on 16 April 2018. attacks disabled its websites www.hic-mena.org and www.hlrn.org for two weeks, and obliged the organization to deploy exceptional human and financial resources for two months in order to ensure the web pages’ security and data protection.

Types of reprisals suffered

Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?: No

Further case development: The origins of the attacks are unknown. The first attack to the HIC-HLRN web page was reportedly perpetrated by a hacking group self-identified as Yarma Security Team and the second attack to their Middle East/North Africa website was perpetrated by an unknown hacker. The second cyber-attack displayed a political message in the hacked frontal page reading “Hayali Kürdistan Olanın Mekanı Kabristan Olur” (The Imaginary Place Kurdistan becomes a Cemetery). HIC-HLRN had been monitoring the expropriations, evictions and demolitions taking place in Diyarbakır, in the Kurdish region of southeast Turkey.

Government response content: the Government noted that the “perpetrators and/or sponsors of the attacks in question could be any source, based anywhere in the world” and that Turkish authorities are not in the possession of any previous record or information about the “Yarma Security Team.” The Government further noted that it has committed to international efforts to identify cyber threats and build a more secure network, and will continue to work with United Nations agencies to this effect.

Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?: No

Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?: No

Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?: No