Witnesses, victims and organizations

Cases
Location of case in SG report
2020-155-001
Relevant SG report
Year of the report
2020
Country Geolocation

Latitude: 15.552727

Longitude: 48.516388

Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
Yemen
From Region
UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
  • UN Human Rights Council: UN Independent Investigation
Dates of prior UN action
August 2019
Type of record
Unnamed individual/group/organization
Was the victim a foreign national?
No
Was the victim a minor?
No
Type of rights defended
  • Unclear in SG Report
Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
No
Reported trigger of reprisal

The GEE denounced the environment of fear created by some of the parties to the conflict that caused witnesses, victims and organizations to reconsider their cooperation with it and noted the lack of safe spaces for victims and witnesses to speak privately with investigators had a detrimental impact on its work (para. 7).

Engagement with UN body
  • UN Human Rights Council: UN Independent Investigation
Type of attempted engagement
  • Submission of information to UN
Dates of mentioned reprisals
Unclear
Reprisal information

In its report, the GEE highlighted that it had received numerous reports of human rights defenders being banned by the de facto authorities from travelling outside the country, or being interrogated when returning from activities abroad. The GEE investigated violations in 2018 and 2019 against human rights defenders, including women rights defenders, but victims requested that information related to their cases remain confidential for fear of reprisals. The GEE also referred to a fear of reprisals by victims and local witnesses as one important factor frustrating its investigations of reported incidents throughout the country (A/HRC/42/CPR.1, paras. 395, 494, 577, and 609).

Types of reprisals suffered
  • Access denied to UN expert/representative
  • Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
  • Travel restriction
Alleged/likely perpetrators
Non-state actor(s)
Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
No
Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
No
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
How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
0