
HRC59: ISHR calls for adoption of human rights defenders protection law in Madagascar
On 2 July 2025, the Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted Madagascar’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report, as part of its 59th session.
Illustration: AtticMedia for ISHR (with the use of MidJourney)
Developed for human rights defenders, the Road map provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities when engaging with the State reporting procedure of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
ISHR is proud to launch an updated Road map for civil society engagement at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Africa’s principal regional human rights body, focusing on its State reporting procedure, ACHPR’s primary human rights accountability mechanism.
This Road map explores the various phases of the State reporting procedure and offers practical tips to maximise defenders’ chances of success in their advocacy efforts. Beyond learning about the procedure’s phases, defenders will find advice, real-world case studies with insights from country examples like Namibia, Niger, and more.
Target readership for the Road map includes human rights defenders, activists, journalists, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, and anyone working on or interested in human rights promotion and protection in Africa, in particular citizens of African States seeking to prepare for the scheduled review of their country at the ACHPR.
The Road map is free and available online in English and French here.
It is being launched alongside the ISHR Academy’s new module on the ACHPR, the first-of-its-kind comprehensive e-learning tool exploring the procedures and mechanisms of the ACHPR.
On 2 July 2025, the Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted Madagascar’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report, as part of its 59th session.
On 1 July 2025, during the 59th session of the Human Rights Council, the Universal Periodic Review of Angola was adopted. The statement delivered by ISHR, in partnership with Kutakesa, highlighted the recent adoption of legislation jeopardising the freedom of assembly and association and imposing risks on the work of human rights defenders in Angola.
Human rights defenders in exile face growing acts of transnational repression on a global scale. ISHR interviewed Basma Mostafa, a Berlin-based Egyptian journalist and woman human rights defender, who recounted threats and attacks she faced in exile for documenting enforced disappearances in Egypt and the MENA region.