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On 9 May, ISHR delivered a statement on the situation of the village Similimi in Côte d’Ivoire affected by the operations of a manganese extracting company. This statement also highlighted the lack of an African legal instrument protecting the environment, human rights and environmental defenders.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (‘the African Commission’) examined the periodic report of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire covering the period 2016-2019, during its public session held from 20 to 30 October 2022 in Banjul, The Gambia. The report presents the progress made by Côte d'Ivoire regarding the state of human rights since its last review by the Commission.
ISHR delivered a statement on the situation of human rights defenders in Africa during the 71st session of the African Commission. It highlights significant progress made on the continent on the protection of defenders but equally that violations of their rights remain deplorable in some countries.
In Africa, more and more defenders are working in an environment marked by the shrinking of civic and democratic space and severe restrictions of fundamental freedoms, especially during pre- and post-electoral crisis and more recently the fallout of the health crisis linked to Covid-19.
Strengthening the collaboration between human rights defenders and international human rights protection mechanisms is important to ensure effective protection of human rights and the rights of human rights defenders.
On 14 April, ISHR delivered a statement on the situation of human rights in Africa, with a particular focus on the criminalisation and arrest of defenders in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, the Republic of Congo or Burundi.
ISHR is pleased to launch its latest research exploring the extent to which national human rights institutions could act as national protection mechanisms as part of the implementation of national human rights defender protection laws in selected West African countries.
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During the 67th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR or the Commission), ISHR delivered statements during the interactive dialogue regarding activity reports of the Commissioners of the Commission under item 6. The statements reminded the importance of protecting women's rights, raised concerns about the situation of human rights defenders facing intimidation, reprisals, and restriction, and noted that abuses against environmental, land, and indigenous people’s defenders continue to increase across Africa.
On 24 November, ISHR delivered a statement on the situation of human rights in Africa, with a particular focus on the restrictions to freedom of assembly in Africa and the recent arrests of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ (EIPR) staff in Egypt.
Since the adoption of the law on the promotion and protection of human rights defenders in 2014 and its implementation decree in 2017, the use of the law by defenders remains shy. In a context where measures adopted by States to stop the spread of COVID-19 have seriously restricted civic space, this workshop was an opportunity to address the effective use of the law by defenders through experience sharing as well as the importance to own its content.
Following the adoption of the law in 2014 and its implementing decree in 2017, the Ivorian civil society, in collaboration with the National Human Rights Council, engages in the process of setting up the protection mechanism for human rights defenders. Establishing this mechanism is a crucial step to keep reinforcing the protection of human rights defenders in Cote d'Ivoire.
The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) held its seventy-third session from 1 to 19 July 2019 in Geneva. CEDAW considered the fourth periodic report of Côte d'Ivoire on the elimination of discrimination against women. During this session, serious concerns about the protection of women human rights defenders were expressed.
