Cedric Gelissen Photography
ISHR provides solidarity and support to defenders working in highly restrictive or repressive environments, and undertakes lobbying, advocacy and litigation to promote both State and non-State accountability for widespread and systematic threats, attacks, restrictions and reprisals against defenders.
For many human rights defenders, international and regional human rights laws and mechanisms have the potential to protect and amplify their work and impact on the ground. Indeed, for many defenders working in restrictive or repressive national contexts – such as China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela – regional and international mechanisms may be among the only platforms available to demand justice, push for accountability, and contribute to positive change.
Civil society and diplomatic allies can also use such mechanisms to increase international pressure for change, such as the release of arbitrarily detained defenders, the repeal of restrictive laws and policies, or accountability for acts of intimidation and reprisals against defenders.
Through this programme, ISHR provides solidarity and support to defenders working in highly restrictive or repressive environments, and undertakes lobbying, advocacy and litigation to ensure that defenders are safe and free and to promote both State and non-State accountability for widespread and systematic threats, attacks, restrictions and reprisals against defenders.
Read our latest news on international accountability.
In line with its mandate to advocate for the protection of human rights defenders before international and regional mechanisms, ISHR presented the situation of protection of HRDs on the continent.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in civil war. In view of the unheeded calls for a ceasefire and the alarming violations of human rights, the African Commission conducted a virtual joint fact-finding mission on the situation in the country.
Insecurity and violent extremism, particularly in Africa's Sahel region, are prompting States to adopt counter-terrorism measures. However, in many cases, these measures are also used to restrict rights and criminalise the the work of defenders.
The NGO Forum, ahead of the 85th ACHPR’s session in Banjul, held several panel discussions on the AU 2025 theme 'Reparations: Justice for Africans and People of African Descent' with different focuses, including the regional and UN standards on reparations, economic justice, as well as discrimination in Africa based on work and descent.
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.
The General Assembly elected 14 States to seat at the United Nations Human Rights Council in a process closer to a nomination than a constructive and competitive election.
