ISHR provides solidarity and support to defenders working on issues of environmental justice, corporate responsibility and accountability, and sustainable and inclusive development.
The knowledge and work of indigenous peoples and communities, as well as activists working on issues of environmental protection, the climate crisis and corporate accountability, are vital for humanity to live more responsibly and sustainably. Despite this, such people and communities are being killed and displaced by both irresponsible governments and unscrupulous corporations for their work to prevent exploitation, to protect precious forests and oceans, and to ensure that development is sustainable and inclusive.
Through this programme, ISHR provides solidarity and support to defenders working on issues of environmental justice, corporate responsibility and accountability, and sustainable and inclusive development. We also seek to ensure that businesses and other non-State actors are effectively regulated with respect to human rights and HRDs, consult with and become positive advocates for HRDs, take action to respect and contribute to the protection of HRDs, refrain from actions that restrict or violate their rights, and are held accountable when they fail to do so.
Read our latest news on environmental justice and sustainability.
Civil society organisations called on the United Arab Emirates to release all those unjustly imprisoned in the country before the start of COP28, which will be held at Expo City Dubai between 30 November and 12 December 2023.
Today, the Global Coalition of Civil Society, Indigenous Peoples, Social Movements, and Local Communities for the Universal Recognition of the Human Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment is one of the recipients of the prestigious 2023 United Nations Human Rights Prize. The coalition is awarded for its essential role in advocating for the recognition of the right to a healthy environment by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in July 2022.
On 10 May 2023, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) held a panel aiming to discuss ways to realise States’ obligations regarding the production of ESCR data and its use in policy-making, as well as how the Commission could work with States in realising them.
On 9 May, ISHR delivered a statement on the situation of the village Similimi in Côte d’Ivoire affected by the operations of a manganese extracting company. This statement also highlighted the lack of an African legal instrument protecting the environment, human rights and environmental defenders.
Six years after the adoption of the Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa (the FoAA Guidelines), civic space remains restricted, with a direct impact on the restriction of the right to freedom of association and assembly. Civil society organisations urge States to implement the Guidelines.
ISHR joins SANID petition calling on the UAE to open up civic space and release human rights defenders from arbitrary detention.
