In recent years the work of UNPO has become increasingly complex due to changing political realities around the globe. While there have been many positive developments in this time, the struggles of many of our members have been undermined, ignored and sometimes overtly repressed by sovereign states and the international community.

Over the past year a number of significant developments have affected our members and their ability to secure basic human rights. In Crimea, the annexation of the Peninsula has severely impacted on the rights of the Crimean Tatars who now face persecution and increased suppression. Several Crimean Tatars have been subject to arbitrary detention, deportation and abduction. This persecution has been systematically imposed by the Russian annexation forces to reduce the political will of the Crimean Tatars and to attack their ethnic, linguistic and religious minority. Members of the Crimean Tatar executive council, the Mejlis, have been individually targeted for political purposes and other minority rights activists in the region have also come under particular harassment.

This year has also seen UNPO Presidency member, Mr Biram Dah Abeid, participate in the national presidential elections in Mauritania, only to come under extreme scrutiny and pressure from the government. This harassment of Mr Abeid turned to outright persecution when he was subsequently arrested for his participation in peaceful anti-slavery protests. He currently remains in prison despite the efforts of UNPO in successfully lobbying the European Parliament for an urgent resolution on the case and our continued advocacy for international pressure.

In Iraq our members have come under widespread and immediate threat due to the expansion of operations by the so called Islamic State in the area. The Iraqi Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Assyrians and Yazidis have all suffered at the hands of these extremist aggressors, causing an international humanitarian catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee the indiscriminate onslaught of IS and many thousands have lost their lives. This has all occurred whilst selective media attention – particularly in the west – has provided only restricted coverage of the whole scale and complexity of the issue in the region, both before and during the IS invasion.

In light of these and many other worrisome developments UNPO recognises the changing needs of its members and remains strongly committed to giving them a voice in this new challenging global context, while at the same time adhering to the same values it was founded on at the Peace Palace twenty-four years ago. With the increasing strength and influence of the European Union on matters concerning human rights, democracy and the rule of law, UNPO’s primary remit has begun to shift closer to actors in Brussels and member states of the EU which now represent important partners on many issues.