FURTHER READING Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (2020): Defending Defenders: Challenging Malicious Lawsuits in Southeast Asia OHCHR (2011): Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework VIOLATIONS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN THE ASIA PACIFIC Recent years have witnessed a sharp decline in the civic and democratic space in many national contexts across the Asia Pacific. In 2019, Front Line Defenders’ Global Analysis documented 69 killings of HRDs in the region. APF member NHRIs have first-hand experience of individual violations, either as victims themselves or documenting the stories of HRDs. HRDs in Iraq continue to face threats to their safety and liberty as protests against the Government have continued in 2020. Peaceful protests across the country, led by prominent defenders, activists and journalists, have been met with violent resistance from security forces, including the use of live ammunition, sound bombs and rubber bullets. Frontline staff from the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) continue to conduct essential monitoring of government reprisals against the protests, identifying hundreds of incidents of killing, kidnapping and serious assaults of protestors. The IHCHR has reported 560 deaths and over 27,000 injuries as a result of the crackdown on protests, as well as 2,700 arrests and 328 individuals remaining in detention. The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has reported the disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan in 2014 and murder of Yameen Rasheed in 2017, both journalists and HRDs. Rilwan and Rasheed were targeted for speaking out against violent extremism and religious fundamentalism in the country. Rilwan was abducted and, subsequently, brutally murdered. Yameen was attacked in his home after leading an advocacy campaign for justice after Rilwan’s disappearance. Law enforcement agencies failed to respond to these attacks, with a special presidential commission confirming the deaths after a nine-month investigation in 2019. Part 1: Background | 13