A/HCR/41/44 I. Introduction and activities of the Independent Expert 1. Since reporting to the Human Rights Council in June 2018, the Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity presented his second thematic report to the General Assembly, in which he discussed the enjoyment or lack thereof of human rightsbased international solidarity in the global migration context. The Independent Expert conducted two country visits in 2018, to Sweden from 23 to 27 April and to the Netherlands from 5 to 13 November (A/HRC/41/44/Add.1 and A/HRC/41/44/Add.2). In March 2019, the Independent Expert also participated in the second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation in Buenos Aires. The Independent Expert reminds States from which he was awaiting invitations at the time of writing about the need for positive replies to his requests to visit. 2. In the present report, the Independent Expert engages with the question of compliance under both general international law and international human rights law of the criminalization and suppression of human rights activists and other humanitarian actors who show solidarity to migrants and refugees by assisting them to access the enjoyment of their basic human rights. The domestic and regional laws and practices that criminalize or suppress the expressions of this kind of solidarity and the behaviour by a section of civil society that suppresses it, are discussed and analysed against the background of the relevant general international law and international and human rights law norms and rules. 3. Given the continued salience and importance of migration issues in our time; the highly consequential nature of the efforts that have been made by some States, regional organizations and sections of civil society to criminalize or suppress the expression of international solidarity to irregular migrants and refugees; and the serious human rights implications of those actions, the Independent Expert considered it important to focus on this specific issue. It is hoped that the analysis, conclusions and recommendations made here will be taken into consideration by all stakeholders. 4. The report is set out in seven sections. This first section introduces the report. Section II is devoted to a discussion of the domestic laws and practices that criminalize or suppress humanitarian assistance to irregular migrants and refugees. In section III, certain regional laws and practices that criminalize or suppress humanitarian assistance to irregular migrants and refugees are considered. Section IV focuses on the suppression of pro-migrant and refugee solidarity in some countries or locations by a section of civil society. In section V, an analysis of the legality or otherwise under general international law of the laws and practices that criminalize or suppress pro-migrant and refugee solidarity is set out. Section VI is devoted to an analysis of the legality or otherwise of such laws and practices under international human rights law. Drawing from the preceding discussions in the report, section VII offers concluding remarks and some recommendations for reform that is prohuman rights. II. Domestic laws and practices that criminalize or suppress humanitarian assistance to irregular migrants or refugees 5. The Independent wishes to highlight with examples evidence of the suppression and criminalization of expressions of human rights-based international solidarity (the so-called crimes of solidarity1) in many countries around the world. They can be organized around a number of discrete categories, as set out below. 1 2 See Liz Fekete, Frances Webber and Anya Edmond-Pettitt, “Humanitarianism: the unacceptable face of solidarity” (Institute of Race Relations, 2007), p. 3.