Resources 2 • The Asian HRD Portal is an online platform managed by FORUM-ASIA, featuring a database that gathers all the violations against HRDs in different countries documented by FORUM-ASIA. • FORUM-ASIA also publishes Defending in Numbers (DiN), a biennial report on HRD rights in the region. Who can be targeted? HRDs, their family members, friends and colleagues can be targeted with acts of harassment, intimidation and violence in response to the work of HRDs. Reprisals can target individuals, organisations and communities. In addition to being used punitively, attacks can be meant as a deterrent: each act of aggression sends a message of intimidation to others defending rights that it is not safe to do so. 3 NHRIs as HRDs NHRIs and their staff are also human rights defenders and may face reprisals for the work they do. As institutions, NHRIs may face attacks on their formal independence or mandate, political pressure and funding cuts. NHRI representatives may be removed from their posts, arbitrarily arrested or otherwise intimidated or attacked. In many places in the Asia Pacific, NHRI staff face enormous risks themselves for their work defending human rights and some have lost their lives in the course of their work. Example: reprisals against HRCM In 2015, two members of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), Ahmed Tholal and Jeehan Mahmood, were prosecuted by the Supreme Court of the Maldives for sharing information with the UN in the Universal Periodic Review process. In the first case of its kind, the UN Human Committee ruled that the Supreme Court violated the two HRCM members’ freedom of expression in carrying out reprisals against them for engaging with the UN. Source: APF Resource • 4 European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) Guidelines on ENNHRI support to NHRIs under threat (2020) - these state the principles that drive ENNHRI’s support for NHRIs under threat; provide an overview of the options for support available; and clarify the procedures that are followed in such cases. HRDs facing heightened risks In each context, certain groups of human rights defenders can face heightened risks or require specific targeted support for their rights. Across the Asia Pacific region, women human rights defenders frequently face increased risks of violence and reprisals due to gender discrimination and societal stereotypes, which lead to marginalization and limited access to justice. Trans and non-binary HRDs Relocation and Respite Toolkit 7