A/HRC/14/19
Affairs and the Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security, Kenya
Police officers entered the offices of WKHRW. They demanded from the remaining staff a
list of the victims and witnesses who had spoken to the Special Rapporteur.
34.
On 5 March 2009, two human rights defenders who had been in contact with the
Special Rapporteur in the course of his visit, Oscar Kamau Kingara, the founder and Chief
Executive Officer of the Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic, and John Paul Oulu, its
Communications and Advocacy Director, were killed in Nairobi.
35.
Already in his statement to the press at the conclusion of the mission, the Special
Rapporteur publicized the intimidation of human rights defenders that had cooperated with
him. A few hours after the killing of Mr. Kingara and Mr. Oulu the Special Rapporteur
issued a press release. He stated, inter alia, “that it was inevitable under the circumstances
for suspicion to fall upon the police in relation to these killings” and that it was “imperative,
if the Kenyan Police are to be exonerated, for an independent team to be called from
somewhere like Scotland Yard or the South African Police to investigate”. He noted that
“there is no existing independent unit capable of investigating possible police misconduct
in Kenya”. On 6 March 2009, in presenting before the Human Rights Council the report of
the Secretary-General on progress on reports and studies relevant to cooperation with
representatives of the United Nations human rights bodies, the Deputy High Commissioner
for Human Rights orally mentioned this case. The delegation of Kenya took the floor and
stated its commitment to human rights and to cooperation with special procedures, and
promised an investigation into the matter. No information about such an investigation is
available to date.
36.
A related urgent appeal was sent on 13 March 2009 by the Chair-Rapporteur of the
Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion
and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
9.
Mauritania
37.
On 22 February 2010, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom
of opinion and expression, and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery,
including its causes and its consequences, sent an allegation letter to the Government of
Mauritania on the situation of Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, adviser to the National
Commission of Human Rights, President of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the
Abolitionist Movement in Mauritania, and staff member of SOS Esclaves.
38.
Following the official visit of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of
slavery to Mauritania in October and November 2009, with whom Mr. Ould Dah Ould
Abeid shared information, the news website elbidaya.net reportedly published an
anonymous article defaming the latter. The article was relayed by several Mauritanian
websites. In addition, during the same period, an unidentified individual tried to break into
the house of Mr. Ould Dah Ould Abeid, then ran away.
10.
Myanmar
39.
On 21 July 2009, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention received allegations
that Tin Min Htut and U Nyi Pu had been sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment under
laws criminalizing the upsetting of public tranquillity and peace, following their mobilizing
of 92 other members of parliament to sign a letter to the Secretary-General and the Security
Council that criticized the Government of Myanmar and the United Nations itself and
which was published on the Internet (A/HRC/13/30, para. 31). The case has been
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