Defenders' stories

ISHR has decided to publish a series of profiles of representatives of non-governmental organisations fighting to obtain ECOSOC consultative status to the UN through the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs.  Consultative status is required to attend and participate in many UN meetings, including those of the Human Rights Council. We hope these profiles will help expose the Committee's dysfunction, share the struggles of human rights defenders that are repeatedly blocked from bringing their experiences and insights on critical issues to policy-making at the UN, and ultimately help secure consultative status to the UN for these credible NGOs carrying out important and valuable human rights work.

ISHR has decided to publish a series of profiles of representatives of non-governmental organisations fighting to obtain ECOSOC consultative status to the UN through the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs. Consultative status is required to attend and participate in many UN meetings, including those of the Human Rights Council. We hope these profiles will help expose the Committee's dysfunction, share the struggles of human rights defenders that are repeatedly blocked from bringing their experiences and insights on critical issues to policy-making at the UN, and ultimately help secure consultative status to the UN for these credible NGOs carrying out important and valuable human rights work.

Rolando Jiménez Perez is a Chilean human rights defender and President of Movilh (Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation), which he co-founded as soon as Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile ended.  

Mr Suleiman Hussein is an Eritrean human rights defender, and chairman of Citizens for Democratic Rights in Eritrea (CDRiE). CDRiE was founded five years ago when Suleiman and other like-minded individuals joined together to discuss the deteriorating conditions in the country and to explore more effective ways to contribute to the ongoing struggle for democratic change. 

Huy Luong works for iSEE based in Ha Noi City, Vietnam. He is a gay rights activist and undertakes public awareness and education campaigns in Vietnam on LGBT issues. He is also engaging around Vietnam’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review, which will take place in January 2014.

Jianli Yang is the founder and president of Initiatives for China, also known as Citizen Power for China. He has been politically active for a better China since witnessing the horrors of Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was imprisoned from 2002-2007.

Cristina Hardaga Fernandez is a human rights defender working to promote and protect women's rights in Mexico and Central America.