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 12 May, the Republic of Zambia presented its State report to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (‘the African Commission’). Commissioners raised various questions related to the rights of human rights defenders, including the right to freedom of expression, access to information and freedom of assembly and association.
In the Seychelles, defenders face restrictions and violations of their rights. However, too often they are not aware of the protection afforded to them especially through regional and international mechanisms. A recent civil society workshop provided a first step to change this.
Mauritius is one of the island States of Africa. The local civil society can find it challenging to connect to civil society on the continent, and to raise the restrictions they face to international and regional human rights mechanisms.
