ISHR
From 6-8 September 2022, ISHR welcomed civil society representatives from Asia and Africa to discuss the strategies and best practices to achieve better legislative protection for human rights defenders.
The cross-regional consultation brought together participants from seven Asian and African countries to share the current legal framework of protection for human rights defenders in their respective national contexts and to discuss learnings from their respective national processes focused on strengthening legislative protection for human rights defenders.
The objective of the consultation was threefold:
The participants, from countries where there have been campaigns to strengthen legal protection for human rights defenders, were able to share their respective successes and challenges and benefit from the experiences and learnings of one another. They highlighted the importance of sharing experiences across different regions in order to enhance actions to strengthen the development of protective environments for human rights defenders.
The consultation was rich in discussions and addressed several issues in depth, including the challenges related to the gender responsiveness of national legal frameworks and the issue of implementation of legislation for the protection of human rights defenders, as well as the development and implementation of defender protection mechanisms.
‘ISHR is committed to ongoing cross-regional sharing of experiences to enhance action towards safer environments for human rights defenders’, said Tess McEvoy.
On 5 and 6 May 2025, during its 83rd Ordinary Session, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) held the second joint forum of its special mechanisms. This serves as an opportunity to bring actors from various backgrounds to discuss the possibility of converging human rights and sustainable development for the benefit of Africans.
At the 83rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, held in Banjul (The Gambia) from 2 May to 22 May, ISHR delivered an oral statement calling for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the continuation of the process toward a human rights defenders protection law in Zambia, reparations for Africans and people of African descent, and a binding treaty on environmental rights in Africa.
On 3 May 2025, on the sidelines of the 83rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ISHR co-sponsored a side event on the situation of human rights defenders in the Sahel, organised by the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation against Torture.
