A/HRC/57/60
108. OHCHR also documented restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labour, the Supreme Council for Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
and International Cooperation and the National Authority for Southern Media, which had
affected engagement between United Nations and civil society organizations.
109. Annex II contains information on developments in the situations of the NGO Mwatana
Organization for Human Rights and its staff.
State of Palestine
110. Annex II contains information on developments in the situations of several Palestinian
and international women’s organizations and activists.
111. According to information received by OHCHR, the Palestinian General Intelligence
Service arrested and then released on bail Mr. Nader Mit’ib in relation to his engagement
with OHCHR.
VI. Conclusions and recommendations
112. The number of reported acts of intimidation and reprisal by State and non-State
actors against individuals or groups seeking to cooperate or having cooperated with the
United Nations remained high during the reporting period. While the number of
Member States included in the present report decreased compared with the reports of
previous years, the decrease does not necessarily indicate a positive development.
Regrettably, the number of victims has increased and some Member States with verified
allegations could not be included in the report due to the severe protection concerns of
the victims.
113. In annex I of the present report, new acts of intimidation and reprisal are
documented against at least 150 individuals, including 20 young people. The report also
includes relevant updates on the situation of 111 victims of past or ongoing reprisals,
including 57 women, one boy and one girl, as well as 18 NGOs. The severity of some of
the acts of intimidation and reprisal documented during the reporting period is of
serious concern.
114. Incidents were again reported across all regions. The cases and situations
reported this year, however, do not reflect the actual breadth and scope of the issue nor
the full caseload documented by OHCHR. As in previous reports, numerous cases had
to be excluded and others reported anonymously due to protection concerns.
115. As noted in previous reports, the absence of allegations of reprisals in the report,
or their decrease in certain contexts, does not necessarily imply an improvement. Fear
of further reprisals is a serious deterrent both to the reporting of incidents and to
engagement in further cooperation with the United Nations.
116. Shrinking civic space and restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms
globally, combined with the implementation of repressive legal frameworks and
increased surveillance, both online and offline, have continued to deter the reporting of
incidents or visible engagement with the United Nations. Against that background,
reporting on intimidation or reprisals and responding to such allegations have become
ever more challenging.
117. While United Nations entities continued to document global trends similar to
those identified in previous years, new and deepening concerns emerged during the
reporting period.
118. Many victims whose allegations of reprisals were documented by OHCHR
during the reporting period no longer considered themselves to be protected by having
their cases featured in the report anonymously. Instead, they declined any public
reporting on their cases altogether due the serious risk of further reprisals and their
severity. This was the case for at least 32 individuals, including 22 women and young
people concerning six Member States. Four of those Member States were not included
in the present report, as the victims feared that they could still be identifiable, even with
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