Read on to remain up to date with the latest international human rights news, views and developments!
Two days before the arrival of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to Venezuela, the National Assembly held a first reading of a draft law that, if passed, would criminalise the work of defenders, further shrinking the space they have to operate. States must speak up for human rights defenders and against this initiative!
As protests continue across Peru and at least 50 lie dead, States have called on Peru to stop the use of excessive force to quell unrest and to respect the rights of those exercising fundamental freedoms.
During Guatemala’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) this week, States repeatedly called on Guatemala to take steps to deal with three ongoing crises: attacks against human rights defenders, endemic corruption and a lack of judicial independence.
During a Human Rights Council debate with High Commissioner Volker Türk on the human rights impact of recent municipal elections in Nicaragua, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and 33 organisations, including from the Colectivo 46/2 coalition, launched a global call for the two-years renewal of the Council’s resolution on Nicaragua.
UN experts are calling on Mexico to rethink the ‘Tren Maya’ trainline project to ensure that rigorous environmental checks and meaningful consultations are carried out and human rights defenders protected.
As the world celebrates the international anti-corruption day and the 24th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders on this day, 9 December 2022, ISHR and 81 other organisations and individuals co-signed this public statement.
Mexican environmental journalist Raquel Zapien Osuna, Director of 'Son Playas' on the vital work done by local journalists to defend rights and the grave risks they face.
The two independent UN anti-torture expert bodies, the Committee Against Torture and its Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture, publicly 'deplored Nicaragua's refusal to cooperate', and publish confidential report in an unprecedented move. Over the past year, Nicaragua has refused to undergo reviews by six UN committees on torture, women's rights, racial discrimination, civil and political, and economic, social and cultural rights.
The Escazú Agreement is the first legally binding instrument in the world to include provisions on environmental human rights defenders. Environmental defenders of Latin America and the Caribbean have just concluded the first official meeting to define how to move from the promise to the practical application of the Agreement.
ISHR accompanied defenders during the negotiations at the UN on the elaboration of an international legally binding treaty that seeks to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations.
We did it! On 7 October 2022, the Human Rights Council renewed the vital mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Venezuela and the reporting mandate of OHCHR for another two years, with 19 votes in favour, 5 votes against and 23 abstentions.
States at the UN Human Rights Council have voted to renew the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela (FFM) for another two years, ensuring the continuation of a mechanism that has become central to the work of human rights defenders. It has also extended the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to report to the Council.
