The release of pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest in November 2010 brought new hope to all those defending human rights in Burma. However, freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to be severely curtailed and HRDs faced long-term detention without trial or recourse to independent legal counsel in their struggle against harsh military enforced policies.

In Cambodia human rights defenders, particularly trade union leaders, land rights activists and journalists, continued to voice their criticism of state policies, and those who spoke out against injustice faced arrest, imprisonment and intimidation. The number of HRDs facing trumped-up criminal charges increased in 2010. Of particular concern is the draft Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations, tabled in December 2010 and still pending. If approved, it would introduce compulsory registration for all NGOs before they would be allowed to “operate any activity” and would impose burdensome registration requirements. The bill includes vague provisions which may provide for arbitrary closure or denial of registration, and would impose a duty upon international organisations to collaborate with the Government in the planning, implementation and evaluation of their projects.

2010 was another difficult year for HRDs in China, although the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo did provide a significant boost in morale to those engaged in the defence of human rights. The State continued to harass and intimidate human rights lawyers, bloggers, writers, journalists, religious activists and health campaigners. The case of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng demonstrates the lengths to which the Chinese Government will go to silence its critics. He resurfaced briefly in March 2010 following a year’s disappearance at the hands of the state security services and reported being brutally tortured. He vanished once again on 20 April 2010 and has not been heard from since. The crackdown in the wake of the Nobel Peace Prize announcement was unprecedented. Scores of HRDs all over China were disappeared, placed under house arrest, prevented from leaving the country or heavily monitored. At the time of writing Liu Xiaobo’s wife remained under strict house arrest and out of contact with the outside world.

In India the sheer size and diversity of the country means that HRDs faced different risks and challenges in different areas. Certain regions, such as Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East, brought additional complexities due to civil unrest. The case of Dr Binayak Sen of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties regional office in Chhattisgarh was one particularly high profile case. In December 2010, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition and conspiracy. The harshness of the sentence reflected the Government’s intention to show HRDs throughout the country that their challenges will not go unpunished.

HRDs remained at risk in Indonesia. The criminalisation of human rights defenders on baseless prosecutions, including the use of criminal defamation laws, continued to be employed by the State as a means of silencing critical voices. No real improvement in the implementation of mechanisms to protect those at risk were recorded in 2010. Perpetrators of attacks against HRDs, both state and non-state, continued to enjoy high levels of impunity. In Pakistan civil society organisations and human rights defenders operate in a very challenging environment. WHRDs, judges and lawyers, and those working on issues related to religion and blasphemy faced particularly high risks. In the Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province and in tribal areas, the Taliban continued to impose very harsh restrictions on the movement of women and girls and to target those working on women’s rights. Lawyers working on blasphemy cases faced constant threats and harassment, and worked in a climate of fear.

The number of extrajudicial killings of HRDs decreased in the past two to three years in the Philippines. However, the Government continued to target those speaking out and to smear them with accusations of affiliation with armed groups. Wellfounded fears remained about the existence of lists of military targets, many of whom are HRDs. As a result, many of them continued to base themselves in temporary safe-houses.

The existence of target lists of HRDs was reported in Sri Lanka. In March 2010 the media reported that the State Intelligence Services had devised a list of 35 people who they perceived to be supportive of the opposition and who were identified as targets. The list included J.C. Weliamuna of Transparency International Sri Lanka, Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, and several other human rights defenders and journalists. Several cases of attacks, threats and restrictions on the work of HRDs were reported in 2010, particularly in the North and East.

The security of human rights defenders in Vietnam continued to be severely affected by the Government’s use of the legal system to suppress any form of dissent. At least four HRDs were accused of spreading propaganda against the State and were labelled as terrorists for speaking out against abuses or criticising government policies.