ISHR provides solidarity and support to defenders working to promote transparency, to combat corruption, and to safeguard and strengthen laws and institutions that protect defenders and promote democracy, accountability and the rule of law.
People and communities flourish in societies that respect human rights and the rule of law. This requires an environment characterised by a vibrant and independent civil society, laws that protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, institutions and processes that enable public participation, governments that are representative and accountable, and mechanisms that provide remedy and redress for injustice. Human rights defenders play a vital role in the establishment and maintenance of such an environment, and are often among those that are first silenced or attacked when authoritarian or illiberal governments or unscrupulous corporations move to dismantle democratic institutions and the rule of law.
Through this programme, ISHR provides solidarity and support to defenders working in deteriorating environments where there is a need to safeguard democratic institutions and accountability mechanisms, as well as those working in environments where there is an opportunity to strengthen human rights defenders protection laws and mechanisms.
Read our latest news on transparency and rule of law.
Civil society spoke of the ongoing human rights crisis in Venezuela this week at the Council making evident that, despite Venezuela’s best efforts to denounce the Fact-Finding Mission, the Mission’s work and that of OHCHR are absolutely essential to victims of violations.
On 22 February 2023, the Chair of the UNGA Third Committee convened an informal meeting with civil society a few months after the Committee’s 77th session to assess outcomes and meaningful civil society participation in the Committee’s work.
The ECOSOC Committee on NGOs has just completed its Regular 2023 session. Despite change in the Committee’s composition, long standing issues of politicisation and systemic inefficiency remain.
ISHR and partners called for government-wide reforms in a third-party intervention in a case where the country’s highest court will analyse the general situation of human rights defenders in Colombia.
For many rights holders, victims and human rights defenders, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) provides a vital lever increasing pressure for change at the national level, while for others it provides the last resort or only opportunity to expose violations, seek accountability, and garner support for their vital work towards a fair, equal and sustainable world. We need the HRC to be credible, effective and accessible to everyone. This is only possible if States demonstrate leadership, take action in line with objective human rights criteria, ensure that HRC members live up to their responsibilities, and fully cooperate with the HRC and its mechanisms.
Two days before the arrival of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to Venezuela, the National Assembly held a first reading of a draft law that, if passed, would criminalise the work of defenders, further shrinking the space they have to operate. States must speak up for human rights defenders and against this initiative!
