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As the Human Rights Council marks its 20th anniversary and the General Assembly reviews its institutional status, HRC62 will be an important test of the Council’s credibility, accessibility and ability to respond to human rights crises. This briefing highlights key opportunities for States and civil society to strengthen civil society participation, address reprisals, uphold the integrity of the Universal Periodic Review, advance climate justice, and ensure principled scrutiny of serious country situations, including those that States should raise during relevant debates. It also provides a practical overview of entry points for civil society engagement during the session.

ISHR introduces a new on-line course on advocacy for environmental human rights defenders, a practical, self-paced resource for activists, community leaders, and allies to defend the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment using UN and regional mechanisms.

Organisations express concern over the censorship of civil society through the cancellation of a side event co-sponsored by ISHR, Front Line Defenders, Hegoa and the Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara, titled 'Ending the Silence on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara'.

UN experts officially warned Russian authorities they were looking at allegations of laws placing strict and discriminatory burdens on the work of Indigenous rights groups and activists.

On 20 and 21 April, in partnership with the Liberian Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, ISHR organised a strategic consultation on the protection of human rights defenders in Liberia.

Ahead of EU Parliament debate, UN experts have warned that China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress risks violating a wide range of human rights affecting Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongols and other peoples, and may create risks of transnational repression.

ISHR has filed an amicus curiae brief before Ecuador’s Constitutional Court, arguing that the Organic Law on Social Transparency imposes sweeping registration requirements, financial oversight and reporting obligations, and other burdens that unduly restrict civil society organisations and undermine the right to freedom of association.

ISHR responded to the UN Human Rights Committee’s call for input regarding a draft General Comment on Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on the right to freedom of association, focusing on the rights of human rights defenders and civil society’s engagement with multilateral fora.

Over 90 organisations call on the Syrian transitional government and Member States of the Human Rights Council to ensure that any decisions affecting the future of the Commission of Inquiry are firmly anchored in tangible improvements in the human rights situation in Syria.

ISHR has launched a dedicated e-learning module designed to demystify the path to ECOSOC consultative status, a critical accreditation that opens doors to UN fora, including the Human Rights Council.

The 87th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) will be held in Banjul, The Gambia, from 11 to 20 May. The public session will be preceded by the NGO Forum, also in Banjul, from 7 to 9 May.

On the third anniversary of the conflict in Sudan, NGOs urge the international community to act urgently to save lives in Sudan.