ISHR provides both analytical and practical information to human rights defenders to strengthen their access to and engagement with human rights bodies and mechanisms at the international, regional and national levels.
In August 2018, a group of 10 UN human rights experts wrote a long letter to the Chinese government inquiring about the legal provisions allowing RSDL. This infographics explains and summarises the findings of the UN experts.
ISHR is pleased to launch its new guide to the UN Special Procedures, an essential tool for human rights defenders seeking to engage more strategically with these experts, for greater impact on the ground.
The health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has led States to take measures to combat the spread of the virus. Despite the state of health emergency, some of these measures were considered inappropriate and have considerably limited the rights of defenders with a considerable impact on their work.
The work to hold the Chinese government accountable for its commitments is more important than ever before. To this end, ISHR has developed a hands-on, multilingual guide to UPR monitoring and follow-up for civil society groups, halfway between its last review, and it's upcoming in 2023.
Human rights defenders must be able to access and communicate with the UN freely and safely so that the UN can do its crucial work to monitor countries’ compliance with human rights obligations and protect victims from abuse. Some defenders are afraid of even attempting to engage with human rights mechanisms, yet the scale of this problem is unclear, and solutions to address it elusive. To respond to these challenges, ISHR launched a new study on the methodological challenges and opportunities inherent in measuring the impact of intimidation on engagement with the UN human rights system.
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) has published 'The Right to Dissent', a guide to international law obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the right of all persons to participate in public affairs by engaging in criticism, opposition and dissent. The Right to Dissent explains the international legal standards, principles, and jurisprudence protecting the rights to dissent and protest as essential human rights.
To share experiences and strategies with human rights defenders working to safeguard civil society space, ISHR has released a new report showcasing examples of successful human rights change from around the world.
States and corporations must take concrete steps to ensure that human rights defenders and other civil society actors working in the context of the extractive industries are able to exercise their rights to freedom of association, assembly and peaceful protest without restriction or attack, according to a new ISHR report.
All States should develop and implement specific laws on the protection of human rights defenders and conduct a comprehensive legislative audit to repeal laws which criminalise their work, according to a major new report released by ISHR today.
This issue of Kumulika - our analytical publication on the African Commission - covers key developments at the 55th session and the NGO Forum which preceded it.
