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From 15 to 22 October, 16 defenders from across Africa took part in ISHR's capacity-strengthening programme on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) for the body’s 85th session.
On 22 October 2025, the Women Human Rights Defenders Network of Uganda and ISHR delivered a joint oral statement during the 85th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
ISHR drew attention to the dire human rights situation in the Sahel, Guinea, Madagascar, and Palestine, in particular in relation to the situation of human rights defenders.
The African Union’s first dedicated legal instrument aimed at ending all forms of violence against women and girls was adopted in February 2025 and comes at a time of renewed urgency in the push to advance gender justice.
At a panel on the protection framework for human rights defenders, prominent figures from Senegalese civil society and Rémy Ngoy Lumbu of the, Special Rapporteur for the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights, discussed best practices, challenges and the need to strengthen safeguards for defenders.
Concerned about the increasing numbers of unresolved cases, the NGO Forum held ahead of the 85th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights looked at ways to address impunity for human rights violations in Africa.
Earlier this month, Belgium, on behalf of the BENELUX States, raised a number of cases of reprisals during an interactive dialogue at the Third Committee before the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ilze Brands Kehris.
As part of the NGO Forum ahead of the 85th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies convened a panel on the issue of 'AI and Human Rights in Africa: Navigating the Future of Governance and Development'.
Ahead of the 85th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the NGO Forum convened a panel on the issue of 'Environmental Justice and Indigenous Peoples' Rights'.
On 17 October 2025, ahead of the 85th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, civil society organisations expressed their concerns about the continual shrinking of civic space.
Sharing the documentation of the situation of human rights on the continent, the NGO Forum of the African Commission gave the opportunity to sub-regional focal points to provide a brief description of the situation of human rights defenders in Africa.
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.
