The International Federation of Human Rights has once again expressed its support to human rights defenders, all over the world. To these men and women who, for their commitment and activity are repressed in many countries, sometimes assassinated, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues has expressed its valuable and essential moral support.
Symbolizing this devotion, the Russian journalist and human rights defender, Natalia Estemirova, assassinated on July 15, 2009, has received a posthumous tribute during the 37th FIDH Congress, meeting from April 8 to 10 in Erevan (Armenia). The Congress has discussed burning issues such as the struggle against impunity, access to justice for victims of human rights violations and prevention of the most serious crimes. The Congress, in which have participated many personalities, known for their commitment to human rights, has looked into the different resort possibilities for victims struggling for truth, justice and compensation at the national, regional and international levels.

Participants in this meeting have also expressed their support to human rights defenders threatened by death, subjected to judicial harassment, arrests and arbitrary detention, bad treatments, torture and persecution. The FIDH has particularly denounced assassinations of human rights defenders in Guatemala, Colombia, Russia and Honduras. In the latter country, the leader of the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguan (MUCA) Jose Leonel Avarez Guerra has been killed, April 7, 2010, by a paramilitary squadron. Pointing out the “serious difficulties” faced by associations, members and partners of the FIDH in many countries, the Congress has called the concerned States to remove obstacles and prohibitions facing these organizations.
The Congress has mainly mentioned the Human Rights Defenders Center in Iran, the Human Rights Center in Bahrain, the Khartoum Center for Human Rights and Environmental Development in Sudan. The FIDH Congress has also appointed the National Liberties Center in Tunisia, the SOS-missed Association in Algeria, the Viasna Center in Belarus, and the Human Rights Society in Uzbekistan.