Effectively realising human rights for everyone, everywhere is the pathway to free, fair and just communities and a more peaceful and sustainable world. This must remain our north star as we face the multiple and worsening crises and conflicts around the world.
ISHR is thrilled to invite you to discover our latest annual report, outlining our key impacts during the last year and our vision for 2024 and the years ahead.
What did we achieve in 2023?
Here are just a few examples of our collective impact:
We provided support and solidarity to almost 1,100 human rights defenders from more than 60 countries, strengthening their work for gender justice, environmental justice, racial justice and accountability for gross violations.
Together with national civil society partners and based on objective criteria, we successfully campaigned to defeat Russia’s bid for election to the Human Rights Council.
Together with Black-led organisations and the families and representatives of African and Afro-descendant people killed by police, we coordinated civil society and affected community engagement withmissions by UN experts on racial justice to the United States and Brazil.
Together with defenders from Sudan and Nicaragua, we advocated successfully to establish and strengthen international mechanisms to investigate and promote accountability for gross human rights violations in those countries.
See more achievements by clicking on the video below:
We would like to thank all our donors for their crucial support and invite everyone who believes in our work and mission to help us support human rights defenders to achieve their goals. Your contributions are vital to our collective human rights impact, success and hope.
ISHR is set to mark its 40th anniversary in 2024 and as this occasion coincides with the tail end of our latest five-year strategic cycle, we want to hear from you! Please share your thoughts on our work and the challenges you would like us to see tackle by filling outthis short survey.
Local authorities in Geneva have announced their intention to place a permanent public monument paying tribute to persecuted human rights defenders, including the late Chinese human rights defender Cao Shunli. The move follows a civil society petition to have a bust made in honour of Cao placed in a prominent location in the city.
A newly-released confidential letter by a UN Special Rapporteur documents the disbarment of human rights lawyers in China and the tightening ideological control over lawyers and law firms. The UN expert denounces disappearances, closed-door trials, harassment of relatives, travel bans, and other abuses targeting human rights lawyers.
On Tuesday 16 April 2024, ISHR delivered to both Geneva’s Administrative Council and its legislative counterpart, the Municipal Council, physical copies of the more than 1000 signatures collected in support of a memorial honouring Chinese human rights defender Cao Shunli.