A/HRC/4/25 page 7 A. Circumstances affecting the independence of judges, prosecutors, lawyers or court officials 14. From the Special Rapporteur’s activities since 1994 it is clear that, throughout the world, those who work in the judicial system face situations that result in violations of their human rights. This includes threats, harassment, intimidation, vilification and various forms of interference. The threats may be direct, anonymous or under cover of a false identity, and may be delivered by telephone, post or e-mail. There may be interference with mail, press campaigns, house raids, or travel bans which can even prevent travel to attend events or training on human rights or public international law. Regrettably there are also instances of physical attacks, threats of abduction or actual abduction, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, and even assassinations and summary executions. In such cases, complaints to the Special Rapporteur often allege inadequate or no effort by the authorities to respond and provide protection, even when reports have been submitted to the police or the judicial authorities. 15. Experience shows that those who work in the judicial system are particularly at risk of such attacks if they are prominent defenders of human rights. This includes lawyers for victims of enforced disappearance or extrajudicial executions, or those who specialize in sensitive fields, for example, terrorism; organized crime such as people trafficking; land ownership; protection of the environment and natural resources; advocacy for vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples, or ethnic, linguistic, religious or cultural minorities who are critical of the status quo and assert their rights; women who are victims of violence or discrimination; and those who oppose war or campaign for their region’s independence. Many judges are also subjected to pressure, intimidation, death threats or actual assassination attempts because of their role in investigating the involvement of politicians or other well-connected figures in assassinations or other serious human rights violations. Confronted with such risks arising from their beliefs or activities, those who work in the judicial system are quite often forced to resign, move to another town, or go underground or into exile, and the threats may extend to family members. The authorities do not always provide sufficient protection or a clear condemnation of these criminal activities, which often go unpunished. 16. These circumstances most commonly affect judges and lawyers, particularly when they become identified with the cases they take on. Governments often regard judges and lawyers’ efforts to defend human rights and fundamental freedoms as political interference. Lawyers are regularly hunted down and arrested because they are identified with their clients, and continue to be harassed by the authorities following their release. This in turn means that individuals accused of sensitive crimes may have difficulty finding a lawyer who will take their case. 17. Cases recorded in 2006 show how regularly such circumstances arise. About 55 per cent of communications, relating to some 148 cases in 54 countries, concerned violations of the human rights of judges, lawyers, prosecutors and court officials. Threats, intimidation and acts of aggression directed against lawyers accounted for 17 per cent of communications issued by the Special Rapporteur, and the corresponding figure for judges and prosecutors was 4 per cent. Arbitrary detention and judicial harassment accounted for 26 per cent of communications concerning lawyers and 4 per cent of those concerning judges and prosecutors. Assassinations of lawyers, judges and prosecutors accounted for 4 per cent of the total number of communications.