Five human rights defenders, who were due to attend an international conference in Dublin, have been prevented from travelling by their governments.
The Dublin Platform was opened this morning by Tánaiste Simon Coveney and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
However, activists from Azerbaijan, Russia, Algeria, Cuba, and a fifth country have been blocked from travelling.
Front Line Defenders say the identity of the fifth person is being withheld for security reasons.
It’s Executive Director, Andrew Anderson, said: “Human rights defenders are guaranteed the right to do their work without harassment or intimidation. In these five cases, governments are afraid of the words these HRDs (human rights defenders) will deliver to their peers - that is the message of this cowardly effort to silence them.”
