40 actions to celebrate ISHR’s 40th anniversary
We are celebrating longstanding and collective efforts in supporting human rights defenders. Join us and find out more!
ISHR and over 140 partners around the world have published a checklist for the selection and appointment of a UN expert on human rights defenders. Candidates have until 17 October 2019 to apply for the position.
ISHR and 142 other organisations have set out the criteria that should be at the heart of the selection of the next UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. As Michel Forst’s term as mandate holder comes to an end, candidates have until 17 October 2019 to submit their applications for the position. Defenders from marginalised groups or from under-represented communities and identities are strongly encouraged to apply.
ISHR’s Programme Manager Helen Nolan explains that the Special Rapporteur plays a key role in the recognition and protection of those who promote and defend human rights.
‘Human rights defenders often face serious challenges and risks as a result of their human rights work, and so the mandate seeks to promote a safe and enabling environment for them around the world,’ says Nolan. As the document highlights, the mandate does this work in many ways.
‘With the power to report and advise countries on how to make the right to defend rights a reality, mandate holders have helped bring about real change on the ground,’ says Nolan. For example, Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders have:
‘143 organisations working nationally, regionally and internationally have come together to set out the skills and expertise that should be taken into account in the appointment of the next expert in March 2020,’ explains Nolan. These fit under 4 priorities:
The document also provides information on the application process, and underlines the importance of independence and impartiality, as well as experience or knowledge of the realities faced by human rights defenders.
‘Human rights defenders who are most at risk around the world are often persons with discriminated identities or from communities that are marginalised, so the Special Rapporteur should be able to consider the particular contexts and challenges faced by these individuals and groups with the benefit of insights from the mandate holder’s personal experience,’ emphasises Nolan.
‘We all strongly encourage nominations of such human rights defenders, including women and gender diverse persons,’ adds Nolan.
The checklist is available here.
Photo credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten
We are celebrating longstanding and collective efforts in supporting human rights defenders. Join us and find out more!
German activist and researcher Johannes Rohr filed an individual complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee after being unlawfully expelled from Russia only weeks after he publicly criticised Russian authorities’ treatment of their Indigenous communities.
On 9 September the Secretary-General released his annual report on reprisals, in which he included three of four cases ISHR has been actively campaigning on, namely the cases of Khurram Parvez and Irfan Mehraj (India) and Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja (Bahrain).