Read on to remain up to date with the latest international human rights news, views and developments!
Last week the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association presented his report to the Third Committee of the General Assembly urging states and private sector to respect the exercise of human rights of those mobilising peacefully to address the climate crisis.
Are you a French-speaking human rights defender seeking to further develop your advocacy strategies by engaging with the United Nations? Find out more through our online learning platform, the ISHR Academy, now available in French!
Yesterday, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders presented her report at the General Assembly's Third Committee on the long-term detention of human rights defenders.
Today, UN member States elected members to the UN's top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, for the 2022-2024 term. 18 candidates ran for 18 seats, and all were elected, leaving civil society disappointed in a process that can hardly be called an election.
On 14 October 2021, the UK delivered a cross-regional statement on behalf of 80 countries, condemning intimidation and reprisals, and calling on States to prioritise and support the meaningful participation of civil society at the UN.
Futures thinking encourages us to identify small ‘signals of change’ which might help to identify and influence the futures that come to pass. At ISHR we’ve identified and, together with advocates and activists from around the world, helped contribute to a number of small but significant signals of positive human rights change in recent weeks.
ISHR together with 36 NGOs from around the world have called on member States of the UN General Assembly to sign on to a cross-regional joint statement on reprisals at the 76th session of the UNGA Third Committee.
ISHR joined 34 organisations to condemn and express their profound disappointment at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (the Council) decision to discontinue the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen (GEE), the only international and impartial body investigating serious violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law perpetrated by all parties to the armed conflict in the country.
14 organisations share reflections on the key outcomes of the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, as well as the missed opportunities to address key issues and situations. A shortened version was delivered at the Council. Full written version below.
During the 48th session of the Human Rights Council, civil society expressed concern and condemnation about an anti LGBTI bill in Ghana, while the second joint government statement on the rights of intersex persons was delivered on behalf of 52 States.
At the Third Committee of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly, 61 States condemned the exclusion of civil society and suggested concrete measures to address the situation in a welcome joint statement led by Costa Rica and Denmark.
Marcia Rigg, Sean Rigg’s sister, delivered a joint statement on behalf of ISHR, INQUEST and United Families and Friends Campaign, highlighting how bereaved families in the UK and beyond have had to fight for accountability and struggle to have their voices heard and their experiences counted, and calling on the UN to put the voices of victims and their families at the heart of the transformative racial justice agenda to dismantle systemic racism.
