Reprisals | New ISHR handbook on reprisals for human rights defenders
ISHR is pleased to launch its updated Reprisals Handbook in six languages, an essential resource for all stakeholders concerned about intimidation and reprisals against those cooperating with international or regional human rights systems.
Human rights defenders, rights holders, victims and witnesses must be free and safe to cooperate with and give evidence and testimony to human rights bodies. They must be protected against any form of intimidation or reprisal in association with this engagement.
ISHR's Reprisals Handbook is aimed first and foremost at human rights defenders who engage with regional and international human rights systems. The focus is in particular on the UN human rights system, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the ACHPR), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR), and the Council of Europe.
The Handbook highlights the risks that defenders can face from interacting with those systems, and suggests ways in which defenders can leverage the weight of the UN and regional human rights mechanisms to provide some degree of protection against those risks and promote accountability for perpetrators.
About ISHR's work on intimidation and reprisals
ISHR seeks to ensure that national, international and regional human rights systems have the mechanisms to prevent reprisals and ensure accountability where they occur. ISHR provides protective publicity to human rights defenders at risk and works to bring cases of alleged intimidation and reprisals to the attention of relevant officials in an effort to press for effective preventative measures and responses.
Watch our new video on reprisals: