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The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts, appointed to monitor and report on human rights violations and to advise and assist in promoting and protecting rights.
ISHR works closely with a wide range of Special Procedures experts whose mandates are directly related to the creation of an enabling environment for the defence of rights – such as those focused on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of assembly and association – as well as with mandate holders whose work is seen by our human rights defender partners as critical at key moments in their own context.
ISHR also works to safeguard the independent and effective functioning of the Special Procedures mechanism as a whole, including by advocating for the appointment of highly qualified, independent experts; closely monitoring efforts to hamper these experts’ independence or limit their methods of work; and by working with human rights defenders and civil society groups to encourage States to implement the recommendations of Special Procedures.
Stolen Presidential elections, the use of deeply repressive tactics by State agents against real and perceived opponents, and the recent return of OHCHR to Caracas informed today’s dialogue on Venezuela between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council.
ISHR and partners have published a revised Q&A document that provides details of a Human Rights Council-mandated comprehensive accountability mechanism on Afghanistan.
The international community must fulfill its obligation to protect civilians facing war crimes.
Two years after the publication of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' landmark assessment on the situation in the Uyghur region (Xinjiang), global scrutiny of China's human rights violations remains strong.
Rute Fiuza demands justice for her son Davi, 16 years old, who was forcibly disappeared by 23 military police officers Brazil in October 2014.
During the General Debate on Item 9, Cristiano Silva denounced the ongoing human rights violations against Brazil's Black population, particularly in the prison system, and called the Brazilian authorities to change this.
Explore the purpose and mandates of the Special Procedures and how you can work with them to strengthen your advocacy
Visit the ISHR Academy to find out more!
This briefing paper summarises the position of UN experts that RSDL constitutes enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and could amount to torture, and includes a repository of all UN documents referring to RSDL since August 2018.
On April 15 2024, ISHR submitted its annual submission to the UN Secretary General on intimidation and reprisals against defenders engaging or seeking to engage with the UN and its human rights mechanisms.
This page compiles all recommendations issued by UN human rights bodies - including the UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups, the UN Treaty Bodies, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - on the human rights situation in Macao since 2018. Recommendations are sorted by topic and community affected.
This page compiles all recommendations issued by UN human rights bodies - including the UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups, the UN Treaty Bodies, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - on the human rights situation in Hong Kong since 2018. Recommendations are sorted by topic and community affected.
This page compiles all recommendations issued by UN human rights bodies - including the UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups, the UN Treaty Bodies, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - on the human rights situation in China since 2018. Recommendations are sorted by topic and community affected.
Following an earlier version of this submission of the same title in May 2022, this new ISHR report continues to document trends of reprisals in China in 2022-2023 with an analysis of extant cases, and further summarises the way in which it has portrayed civil society’s cooperation with the UN as a ‘criminal act’.
