A/HRC/33/19
October 2015, Ms. Do submitted a complaint to the United Nations human rights
mechanisms. On 29 October 2015, she was summoned to the local police station where
police officers intimidated her and attempted to persuade her to withdraw her complaint to
the United Nations. It is reported that after she refused, police officers continued to threaten
her and her family. At the time of finalization of the present report, no response had been
received from the Government.
C.
Follow-up information on cases included in previous reports
1.
China
39.
The case of Cao Shunli was included in my previous two reports (see A/HRC/27/38,
paras. 17-19, and A/HRC/30/29, annex, para. 1). Ms. Cao had actively campaigned for
transparency and greater participation of civil society in the universal periodic review
process of China and was, reportedly as a result thereof, arrested, detained and denied
medical treatment, resulting in her death on 14 March 2014. In a right of reply exercised
during the thirtieth session of the Human Rights Council, the Chinese representative stated
that Ms. Cao was “by no means a human rights defender”, but had been placed under
investigation in September 2013 due to allegations of creating trouble. She had died of
organ failure caused by tuberculosis, even though she had received good medical care and
attempts had been made to save her. Furthermore, the case was not an issue of human rights
but rather of the rule of law and the judicial sovereignty and independence of China. The
organs of State would deal with any person engaged in criminal activities in accordance
with the law.8
2.
Cyprus
40.
In my previous report, reference was made to allegations of reprisals against Doros
Polykarpou, Executive Director of Action for Support, Equality and Antiracism, for having
submitted an alternative report on the situation of detained undocumented migrants to the
Committee on Torture prior to the consideration of the fourth period report of Cyprus (see
A/HRC/30/29, para. 18). On 22 September 2015, during the general debate on agenda
item 5 during the thirtieth session of the Human Rights Council, the representative of
Cyprus expressed the State’s commitment to preventing reprisals and, while referring to its
response of 5 August 2014, stressed that the case did not concern an act of reprisal against
an activist but “a lawful, proportionate consequence stipulated equally for any citizen who
has failed over a given period of time to comply with his or her statutory responsibilities
regarding outstanding fines, as imposed by a warrant issued by the Court”. The
representative expressed the hope that relevant mandate holders would agree that the work
of human rights defenders, with the greatest respect, “cannot be expected under any
circumstance to override the fundamental democratic axiom of equality before the law”.
3.
Eritrea
41.
My previous report made mention of the risk of reprisals against anyone cooperating
with the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea as one of the main challenges the
commission had faced in the execution of its mandate (see A/HRC/30/29, para. 19). In its
report on its second term, the commission stated that the protection of victims and
witnesses remained a central concern, adding that almost everyone the commissioners had
8
http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/regular-sessions/30th-session/watch/
clustered-id-wg-on-arbitrary-detention-sr-on-contemporary-forms-of-slavery-3rd-meeting-30thregular-session-of-human-rights-council/4484127097001.
13