Read on to remain up to date with the latest international human rights news, views and developments!
To end impunity and ensure accountability for acts of harassment, reprisals, and intimidation against defenders who engage with UN mechanisms, ISHR has continued to call for States to raise specific cases when given the opportunity. During HRC52, BENELUX answered ISHR’s call, raising 6 specific cases of reprisals against defenders from Belarus, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Egypt, and Venezuela.
Following the High Commissioner's reports on Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras, the new Colombian Ambassador urged other countries to embrace the international human rights mechanisms as part of a 'therapeutic treatment' designed to heal a country and not to sanction it.
Civil society spoke of the ongoing human rights crisis in Venezuela this week at the Council making evident that, despite Venezuela’s best efforts to denounce the Fact-Finding Mission, the Mission’s work and that of OHCHR are absolutely essential to victims of violations.
During the General Debate Item 5, ISHR and Association Stop Violences delivered a joint statement highlighting the case of reprisals against woman human rights defender Vanessa Mendoza Cortes in Andorra, following her participation in CEDAW in 2019.
On 22 and 23 March 2023, the Human Rights Council held a general debate on human rights situations requiring the Council’s attention. States and NGOs spoke, and the High Commissioner spoke on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. They drew the Council’s attention to a number of country situations of concern. ISHR delivered a statement, highlighting the human rights situation in four countries: Burkina Faso, Colombia, El Salvador, and Saudi Arabia.
Olnar Ortiz Bolívar and Alexandra Lezama, human rights defenders from Venezuela, are attending the Human Rights Council 52nd session, where the Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela will present an oral update on the human rights situation in the country.
Human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity have been carried out in Nicaragua, a group of UN independent experts have told the Human Rights Council. To investigate these crimes fully, the Colectivo 46/2 coalition calls for the two-years renewal of UN Human Rights Council resolution on Nicaragua.
The UN Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of Human Rights by Persons with Albinism presented the Human Rights Council with a report noting continued barriers for defenders working on albinism and calling for greater cooperation between civil society groups.
On 14 March 2023, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders launched a report celebrating their achievements. The report uses and pushes for a more effective and positive narrative on those who defend human rights.
On 3 March 2023, the High Commissioner for Human Rights delivered an oral update on the situation of human rights in Sudan to the Human Rights Council. During the interactive dialogue that followed, ISHR delivered a joint statement highlighting the grave situation faced by women and women human rights defenders in Sudan.
On 15 March 2023, together with ISHR, Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) delivered a joint statement on the situation of human rights defenders in Egypt. The statement was supported by over a dozen organisations from across the world.
ISHR stands in solidarity with Egyptian poet Galal El Behairy on the 5th anniversary of his arbitrary arrest and his announcement of a hunger strike.
