Photo: Used with permission of the Martin Ennals Foundation
Formula 1 should stop sportswashing human rights abuses in host countries such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and instead use its considerable leverage to push for the release of arbitrarily detained human rights defenders and an end to the repression of civic freedoms, says ISHR and a coalition of over 20 NGOs.
In an open letter to Formula 1 chief Stefano Domenicali ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix on 3 March, ISHR has joined with over 20 leading civil society organisations to raise serious concerns over F1’s ongoing role in “sportswashing” amidst a deterioration in Bahrain’s human rights situation. Bahraini authorities are imprisoning its population at the highest rate of any country in the MENA region, while Bahraini political prisoners remain behind bars and some face imminent execution in violation of international law.
Together with partners, ISHR condemns Bahraini law that criminalises peaceful protest and severely curtails freedom of speech, eliminating any space for those who wish to exercise their fundamental rights to freedom of assembly, expression and opinion.
The open letter makes a number of concrete calls and recommendations, including that:
Civil society in the Americas has issued an urgent call to accelerate the implementation of the Plan of Action on Human Rights Defenders of the Escazú Agreement, which was adopted five months ago.
On 21st May 2024, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission) examined the combined periodic reports of the Republic of Mozambique during its public ordinary session held from 14 May to 3rd June in hybrid mode. The report presents the progress made by Mozambique to effectively implement the African Charter between 2015 and 2021.
In a series of groundbreaking rulings in early 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Colombia set new precedents that significantly enhance protections for human rights defenders across Latin America.
