THE RAPPORT – 30 March to 12 April 2026

THE RAPPORT is the only newsletter devoted to briefing human rights practitioners on the communications of the UN Special Procedures. It is written by our Principal, Kate McInnes, and is published on Sundays on a biweekly basis. To subscribe and read the full newsletter, visit https://therapport.substack.com/

Africa

• Violations committed against a human rights defender in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, between 2022 and 2025 — including arbitrary arrest and detention, surveillance, threats, stigmatization based on his disability, and transnational repression in his new home in Kenya, by both Congolese authorities and members of M23 — “suggest a sustained and deliberate effort on the part of both state and non-state actors aimed at silencing his advocacy and deterring his participation in civic space,” say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, and freedom of assembly. (COD 1/2026)

• Apparent arbitrary judicial and administrative measures in Tunisia that have resulted in the suspension of activities of at least 38 national and international civil society organizations may “constitute disproportionate interferences with the rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression, as protected under international human rights law,” say the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of assembly, freedom of opinion, human rights defenders, and migrants. (TUN 2/2026)

• Ongoing attacks on the independence of the judiciary in Tunisia — including the summoning of magistrates by the public prosecutor’s office for having expressed their opinions on social media and the rollback on fair trial guarantees under the guise of “plots against State security” — may constitute violations of international human rights standards, in particular the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression, the principle of judicial independence, as well as the rights to liberty and security of person, say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, and independence of judges and lawyers. (TUN 1/2026)

Americas

• Allegations of arbitrary detention and physical and sexual assault perpetrated against Ms. Estela Hernández Jiménez, in connection to their work in defence of the Otomí Indigenous People of Mexico and their fundamental right to water, “reflect the situation of intersectional vulnerability faced by indigenous women defenders,” say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on Indigenous Peoples and human rights defenders. (MEX 14/2025)

• The extreme intimidation of Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia Aranda, who presided over the trial and handed down the conviction against the former President of Colombia, engages the state’s obligation to “ensure that judges are able to carry out their functions without any restriction and free from undue influence, inducements, pressures, threats, or interference, whether direct or indirect, from any quarter or for any reason,” say the Special Rapporteurs on the independence of judges and lawyers, freedom of opinion, and human rights defenders. (COL 1/2026)

• Continued threats against rural human rights defender Mr. Antônio Francisco de Sousa Araújo, who has been vocal in denouncing illegal land grabbing and land occupations by farmers and loggers in Maranhão, occur in a context of ongoing impunity for offences against land conflicts in Brazil, say the Working Group on peasants and the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders. (BRA 2/2026)

Asia

• Hostilities between Pakistan and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan during October 2025 contravene a range of state duties and international human rights standards, including the prohibition against the use of armed force as enshrined in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, Afghanistan, executions, internally displaced persons, and international order. (OTH 150/2025, PAK 13/2025)

• The alleged arbitrary detention of and denial of access to medical treatment for Ms. Yang Li, a land rights defender from Jiangsu Province, contributes to a “demonstrable pattern” of conduct regarding the ill-treatment of prisoners in China, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, health, and torture. (CHN 1/2026)

• Patterns of disproportionate use of force by police forces in India, which have allegedly resulted in nearly 3,000 extrajudicial killings between 1998 and 2018, may violate the right to life and the prohibition against torture — a concern which is particularly salient given the absence of a specific offence of torture in the country’s new criminal code, say the Special Rapporteurs on torture and executions. (IND 1/2026)

• “Technology-directed violence” directed at representatives of Collective Shout, a women’s rights advocacy organization in Australia, following their public advocacy in July 2025 related to video games depicting violence against women and girls, “suggest a sustained campaign of intimidation, harassment and sexualized abuse targeting women human rights defenders and may constitute forms of violence against women and girls within the meaning of international human rights law,” say the Working Group on business and human rights and the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls and freedom of opinion. (AUS 1/2026)

• The criminal prosecution on charges of “terrorist financing” against Mr. Carmilo Tabada, a human rights defender who has assisted farmers in the Philippines in asserting their rights to land and developing sustainable food production techniques, appears to be in direct retaliation with his “legitimate and important work as a human rights defender and the exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association,” say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, and terrorism. (PHL 1/2026)

• The alleged arbitrary arrest and criminalisation of Mr. Khariq Anhar, Mr. Delpedro Marhaen, Mr. Muzaffar Salim and Mr. Syahdan Husein, in connection to their legitimate human rights work during the peaceful demonstrations in Indonesia in August 2025, appear to contravene the rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression as provided in the ICCPR and under international human rights norms, say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, and human rights defenders. (IDN 2/2026)

• India’s Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958) is at odds with obligations under international human rights law, owing in particular to its ambiguous threshold of application, overbroad authorization of force, and broad immunity clauses, say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, executions, freedom of assembly, and human rights defenders. (IND 3/2026)

• Amendments to North Korea’s Criminal Law — which permit the imposition for the death penalty for, inter alia, disobeying decrees or ordinances, speaking or writing in a language other than Pyongyang Cultural Language, introducing or distributing “reactionary thought and culture”, and introducing or distributing “enemy objects” — clearly violate the right to life by allowing the imposition of the death penalty for crimes other than intentional killing, say the Special Rapporteurs on North Korea and executions. (PRK 1/2026)

Europe

• The unlawful and covert surveillance by the UK of Mr. Darragh Mackin and Mr. Peter Corrigan, lawyers involved in litigation challenging a Police of Northern Ireland decision not to investigate allegations of torture, “appear to infringe upon the internationally recognized right to confidential communications between lawyers and their clients,” in violation of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, say the Special Rapporteurs on the independence of judges and lawyers and privacy. (GBR 3/2026)

• The break-in and ransacking of the home of Ms. Ljiljana Nešić, a human rights defender working to expose femicide in Serbia, coupled with irregularities in the police investigation, “raise serious concerns about the investigation process and may point towards a culture of impunity concerning threats and attacks against women human rights defenders,” say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, and freedom of association. (SRB 2/2026)

• The gender-based violence allegedly suffered by Ms. Aurélie Bard during her prolonged pre-trial detention for alleged financial offences “engage France’s obligations with respect to ensuring and guaranteeing the dignity, physical and psychological integrity, and non-discrimination of persons deprived of their liberty, in particular women in detention,” say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. (FRA 3/2026)

• The alleged misuse of counter-terrorism powers by the UK against Mr. Fahad Ansari, in apparent retaliation for carrying out his functions as a lawyer representing Hamas in an application for de-proscription under section 4 of the Terrorism Act 2000, “indicate interference with the independent exercise of the legal profession, including intimidation and harassment linked to a lawyer’s representation of a pro-bono client, contrary to international human rights standards,” say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, freedom of association, independence of judges and lawyers, and privacy. (GBR 5/2026)

• The insufficient investigation into the disappearance and death of 21-year-old university student Ms. Rojin Kabaiş, coupled with the enactment of legislation allowing for early release and sentence reduction of perpetrators of violence against women and girls, undermines Türkiye’s obligations to protect the right to life of women, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the European Convention on Human Rights, say the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls and executions. (TUR 2/2026)

• France’s proposed “Yadan Law”, aimed at combating antisemitism that is expressed “within discourses presenting themselves as political but justifying a ‘detestation’ of the State of Israel,” appears to be at odds with the right to freedom of expression, which protects the expression of opinions that are “inaccurate, unpopular, or shocking, unless those expressions are intended to incite violence and are objectively likely to do so,” say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, education, freedom of opinion, human rights defenders, and racism. (FRA 5/2026)

Middle East

• Israel’s draft Bill for the State-National Commission of Inquiry for Examining the Failures Surrounding the Shemini Atzeret (7 October 2023) Massacre and Related Events, while a “welcome” step towards a comprehensive inquiry into any failings by Israeli authorities to protect the right to life in relation to the 7 October 2023 attack, is inappropriately politicised, as evidenced by the government’s complete discretion to “define the subject of the investigation” and the deliberate rejection, without sufficient reasons, of a conventional State Commission of Inquiry under existing law, say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, executions, and Palestine. (ISR 4/2026)