(Geneva) – Laos is scheduled to be reviewed at the 21st session of the Universal Periodic Review in January 2015.
At its first UPR of May 2010, Laos committed to allow civil society space to carry out human rights activities and advocacy. Since then, official restrictions on activism and freedom of expression have accompanied reports of disappearances and detentions of human rights defenders. Defenders working on land and environment rights are particularly threatened.
Key recommendations that should be made to Laos at the UPR in early 2015 include the development of specific policies for the recognition and protection of the work of human rights defenders and the removal of judicial restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, along with the decriminalisation of defamation and ‘misinformation’.
This Briefing Paper on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Laos is intended to assist States and other stakeholders to formulate questions and recommendations regarding the protection of human rights defenders during the UPR.
For further information about the Briefing Paper or for any assistance or advice in the formulation of recommendations, please contact ISHR’s Heather Collister, on h.collister@ishr.
Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Relatives of the Chilean Indigenous environmental defender Julia Chuñil must be granted immediate protections by the Chilean State, the Committee to Support Implementation and Compliance of the Escazú Agreement ruled, in response to a request supported by ISHR. This marks the first time the regional treaty urges a signatory State to take protective action.
Last Thursday, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor presented her final annual thematic report during an interactive dialogue at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) recently published its General Comment on the environmental dimension of sustainable development. In addition to recognising human rights defenders, the Comment clarifies State obligations towards marginalised communities and notes the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuels. It also outlines States’ extraterritorial obligations.
