A/HRC/43/51/Add.3 MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION 605. During the present reporting period, the Special Rapporteur sent 38 communications to 12 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Special Rapporteur welcomes another year’s increase in the response rate for the region, which stands at 53%. The Special Rapporteur urges the continued cooperation of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region with his mandate and hopes to receive responses to the remaining communications in due course. 606. Similar to previous reporting periods, the Special Rapporteur is concerned at the alarming use of national security legislation to criminalise the work of human rights in the region. In a number of states human rights defenders were conflated with terrorists in connection to their legitimate work promoting and protecting human rights and participating in peaceful assemblies, as illustrated in communications sent to Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Terrorism and national security legislation offences often carry very heavy penalties, which permits states to keep human rights defenders in pre-trial detention without sufficient judicial oversight. The Special Rapporteur reminds states that broad and unspecific definitions of terrorism and counter-terrorism breach international human rights law and urges them to adopt measures to ensure human rights are awarded sufficient protections to carry out their legitimate activities. 607. The Special Rapporteur received many reports of alleged ill-treatment and torture of human rights defenders in the region, including at the time of arrests, as well as inadequate detention conditions, during this year’s reporting period. The Special Rapporteur referred to these concerns in communications sent to Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, with those subjected to enforced disappearance in particular at increased risk of cruel and inhuman treatment or/and torture. The Special Rapporteur is profoundly concerned that the increasing severity of the punishment that human rights defenders are subjected to, may be in direct retaliation for their work, and is aimed at silencing speech that is deemed dissenting or critical of Governments’ actions. 608. Shrinking space for civil society to carry out its activities has drastically affected human rights defenders’ ability to freely denounce violations observed in their countries. The Special Rapporteur has received serious allegations on excessive use of force in the context of public demonstrations, as illustrated in letters sent to Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon. This has also been particularly true in online spaces, where the use of the internet as an effective tool for the exercise of the right to free speech has been heavily restricted. The Special Rapporteur notes alleged internet shutdowns, blocking of social media applications and the criminalisation of bloggers and social media activists has occurred in Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Mauritania and Egypt respectively. The Special Rapporteur reaffirms that everyone has the right to spread information relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms by the media of their choice, and urges states to ensure that reactionary legislation enacted to counter legitimate online threats cannot be misused to criminalise human rights defenders. 609. Women human rights defenders faced numerous threats to their work during this year’s reporting period, with the Special Rapporteur raising the case of 14 women human rights defenders form across the region. Gender based violence, harassment and smear campaigns were some of the unique threats to women human rights defenders, who, the Special Rapporteur has previously reported, face a double stigmatisation, due in one part to their human rights work, and in another to their gender. 610. The Special Rapporteur is concerned at the use of travel restrictions, reflected in the communications sent to Bahrain and Israel. These restrictions hinder human rights defenders’ abilities to carry out their work and prevent them from raising international awareness of human rights violations. The Rapporteur reminds states that the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders guarantees the right to unhindered access to and communication with international bodies. 611. The Special Rapporteur regrets to note an increase over last year in the number of human rights defenders who were subjected to reprisals for their cooperation with international human rights mechanisms. During the reporting period, he received nine reports on cases of reprisals and intimidation against organizations and defenders for cooperation on 84