Events

This public event is an opportunity to discover ISHR’s new report, 'Budget Battles at the UN: How States try to Defund Human Rights', that uncovers how a small group of States - led by China and Russia - have coordinated efforts to block and slash funding for the UN’s human rights work through political manoeuvring and influence.

In a context of increasing and sustained violence against women human rights defenders around the world, especially those defending land and territory, this event proposes a dialogue about documentation as a protection strategy from an intersectional perspective.

Listen to the stories of four human rights defenders who have been banned from travelling by their own governments simply for trying to cooperate with the United Nations. Join us on Place des Nations on 16 September. Will you guess which suitcase belongs to whom?

This side event will share findings and analysis of the use of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in China and its chilling effects on human rights advocacy, assess shortcomings in China’s actions, and propose recommendations for action by the international community.

In advance of the Human Rights Council elections that will take place this autumn for the membership term 2026-2028, Amnesty International and the International Service for Human Rights will hold an online pledging event for candidate States on 4 September 2025.

This event provides a space to be hearing directly from human rights defendes not only about why they need an effective, efficient, responsive UN human rights system to support their activism especially in the current context, but also about the ways in which the UN system needs to grow, evolve, adapt and reform itself to deal with the crisis of credibility and legitimacy it is currently facing