Intervention tracker
The intervention tracker is part of our Lawyers at Risk programme to support lawyers and human rights defenders who are being prevented from carrying out their professional duties.
The map indicates the countries where we took action during the period January to December 2023. This does not necessarily reflect all incidents against lawyers and human rights defenders in 2023 worldwide.
We regularly send letters to state authorities, highlighting not only individual cases, but also the context in which these lawyers operate.
The programme also aims to address the structural causes that give rise to risk through our policy, research and advocacy work.
We target:
- relevant British all-party parliamentary groups
- the Commonwealth secretariat
- parliamentary select committees
- the Foreign and Commonwealth & Development Office
- the Council of Europe
- United Nations (UN) and regional human rights bodies
We make submissions to the UN Human Rights Council as part of the universal periodic review (UPR) process, as well as to UN special rapporteurs and relevant international bodies.
We also draft and present amicus curiae briefs to domestic high courts and international tribunals. Whenever possible and appropriate, we also carry out trial observations.
See all our intervention letters
2023 key findings
We took 40 actions relating to 17 countries.
The highest number of actions involved countries in:
- Northeast Asia and the Pacific (37%)
- Africa and the Middle East (18%)
- members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (18%)
Most of our actions were initiated by concerns relating to arbitrary arrest or detention (58%) followed by harassment, threats, and violence (27%), though individuals at risk often face a range of interrelated human rights violations.
Previous findings
- Africa and the Middle East (30%)
- North Asia and Pacific (30%)
- South Asia (15%)
- Americas (15%)
- arrest or detention (50%)
- harassment or threats (20%)
- threats to judicial independence (20%)
- assassination (5%)
- enforced disappearance (5%)
The most frequent type of human rights violation committed against lawyers and human rights defenders across the world has consistently been arbitrary arrest and detention, since the launch of our tracker in 2017.
In 2022, harassment and threats again followed arrest and detention as most frequent incidents (as in the three previous years).
Similarly to 2021, there was a noticeable increase in arrest and detention compared to 2020, but there was a slight decline in enforced disappearance and assassination.
In 2021, we added other activities to the intervention tracker to give a comprehensive overview of all actions taken and in line with the increase in substantial submissions. This work includes:
- joint oral statements at the UN Human Rights Council
- UPR reports
- UPR pre-session statements
We took 31 actions relating to 17 countries, 15 of which were letters.
Most actions regarded countries in:
- Africa and the Middle East (32%)
- North Asia (16%)
- other regions (each 13%)
The highest percentage of incidents concerned:
- arrest or detention (48%)
- harassment or threats (22%)
- threats to judicial independence (10%)
- assassination (10%)
- enforced disappearance (10%)
The most frequent type of human rights violation committed against lawyers and human rights defenders across the world has consistently been arbitrary arrest and detention, which has been the most frequent violation in our tracker every year since our launch in 2017.
In 2021, harassment and threats again followed arrest and detention as most frequent incidents (as in 2020 and 2019).
There was a noticeable increase in arrest and detention compared to 2020, as well as an increase in assassination and enforced disappearance (mostly relating to the Philippines and Myanmar).
We again included threats against judicial independence as a category, primarily noted regarding Venezuela and Turkey.
The most letters we sent in 2020 were addressed to countries in:
- Europe (54%)
- the Middle East and North Africa (21%)
- South Asia and ASEAN (13%)
The most common types of human rights violations addressed in the letters were:
- arrest or detention (38%)
- harassment or threats (29%)
- threats to the rule of law and judicial independence (21%)
The most frequent type of human rights violation committed against lawyers and human rights defenders across the world has consistently been arbitrary arrest and detention.
In 2020, we introduced the category of threats to the rule of law and judicial independence to reflect an increase in structural threats to the rule of law worldwide.
Compared to previous years, there was a significant increase in letters concerning the Europe region (especially Turkey and Poland).
The highest number of letters we sent in 2019 was addressed to countries in:
- North Asia (23%)
- the Middle East and North Africa (18%)
- Commonwealth of Independent States (18%)
- Europe (18%)
- Latin America (17%)
The most common types of human rights violations addressed in the letters were:
- arrest or detention (47%)
- harassment or threats (41%)
- enforced disappearance (6%)
- assassination (6%)
The most frequent type of human rights violation committed against lawyers and human rights defenders worldwide has consistently been arbitrary arrest and detention.
The percentage of letters that addressed harassment and threats doubled in 2019 compared to 2018 and 2017.
Most letters were sent to countries in:
- the Middle East and North Africa (26.7%)
- Latin America (26.7%)
- South Asia (20%)
The human rights violations most often committed against lawyers and human rights defenders in 2018 were:
- arrest or detention (53.3%)
- assassination (20%)
- harassment or threats (20%)
Arrest and detention continue to be the most frequent violations and the number of assassinations increased in 2018. Killings were most frequent in Latin America, followed by South Asia.
The highest number of letters sent in 2017 were addressed to countries in:
- Sub-Saharan Africa (31.5%)
- Europe (21%)
- the Americas (15%)
The most common human rights violations addressed in the letters were:
- arrest or detention (42%)
- harassment or threats (21%)
The highest number of intervention letters were sent to:
- the Middle East and North Africa (29%)
- Turkey (14%)
- Sub-Saharan Africa (14%)
- the Americas (14%)
The most common types of human rights violations committed against lawyers and human rights defenders were:
- arbitrary detention (40%)
- assassination (20%)