“I May Be Killed Any Moment” 63 matters of human rights concerns.336 Additionally, states are required to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a human rights violation occurred on its territory.337 The investigation must be effective and thorough and conducted by an independent and impartial body.338 Under international law, the obligation of a state to ensure effective remedy extends to violations committed by a non-state actor operating independently of the state.339 As clarified by the Human Rights Committee: There may be circumstances in which a failure to ensure Convention rights as required by article 2 would give rise to violations by State Parties of those rights, as a result of the State Parties’ permitting or failing to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities.340 The Committee against Torture also further noted how states have due diligence obligations to address abuses committed by non-state actors, reasoning: Since the failure of the State to exercise due diligence to intervene to stop, sanction and provide remedies to victims of torture facilitates and enables non-State actors to commit acts impermissible under the Convention with impunity, the State’s indifference or inaction provides a form of encouragement and/or de facto permission.341 As such, if a state fails to take steps to protect individuals from human rights abuses by non-state actors, then that state may have failed to fulfill its human rights obligations because the victims would be left without a remedy.342 The Rights of Human Rights Defenders International human rights law has specifically articulated the legal obligation of states to protect human rights defenders. Recognizing this duty, Article 12 of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders states: The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.343 336 U.N. General Assembly, “Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,” A/RES/53/144, 1998, https://www.ohchr.org/en/ special-procedures/sr-human-rights-defenders/declaration-human-rights-defenders. 337 ICCPR, Art. 9. 338 European Court of Human Rights, Isayeva, Yusupova and Bazayeva v Russia, Judgment, fn 77, February 24, 2005, paras. 209–213. 339 Tatyana Eatwell, Geneva Academy, State Responsibility for Violations Committed by Armed Non-State Actors, December 2018, p. 24. 340 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31 [80], The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, fn 27, para. 8. 341 Committee Against Torture, General Comment No. 2: Implementation of Article 2 by States Parties, para. 18. 342 Geneva Academy, State Responsibility for Violations Committed by Armed Non-State Actors, p. 21. The state’s obligation to protect individuals from the harmful acts of non-state actors has also been recognized by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAmCHR), and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). See, Commission Nationale des Droits de l’Homme et Libertés v Chad, ACHPR No. 74/92, 1995, para. 20; Velasquez Rodrigues v Honduras, IAmCHR (Judgment), July 29, 1988, para. 172; and Odievre v France, ECtHR (Judgment, Appeal No. 42326/98, February 13, 2003, para. 40. 343 The Declaration is not binding but provides guiding principles and represents the general agreement among U.N. Member States on the interpretation and meaning of various human rights standards contained in other internationally binding instruments, such as the UDHR and the ICCPR. Declaration on the Right and Responsibility