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Human rights defenders promote and peacefully defend human rights in connection with territories, natural resources, livelihoods and climate in order for their communities to live sustainably.
Many human rights defenders face threats and attacks defending their community from adverse impact of business operations, often in the context of large development projects that affect access to land and livelihoods.
ISHR believes that businesses and human rights defenders operate in and benefit from a “shared civic space” defined by common, fundamental essential freedoms. These are essential to the realisation of all human rights, but also critical to enable stable, profitable and sustainable business environments in which companies thrive and economies, communities and people prosper.
Today, the human rights and business norms require global companies to behave responsibly and assess the human rights risks associated with their operations. Companies can no longer hide behind complex international supply chains or a network of subsidiaries owned by authoritarian leaders. Businesses have a responsibility to understand the complexities of the countries where they invest, to examine the suppliers they buy from, and to take into consideration the potential for impact associated with operating in countries where governance is weak and the rule of law is fragile.
ISHR works with human rights defenders who advocate for business and human rights issues. Particularly:
Check out all the latest updates to this topic.
On the sidelines of the NGO Forum and the 89th Ordinary Session of ACHPR, ISHR, DefendDefenders and Front Line Defenders held an event on the intersection of environmental and digital rights. Defenders from Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Nigeria and Western Sahara discussed their contexts and recommendations.
On this day, five years ago, the UN Human Rights Council’s recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. ISHR calls on States to protect the defenders who help advance this right.
At the Human Rights Council, ISHR and CONTIOCAP warned that environmental destruction threatens Indigenous Peoples’ lives including natural and cultural heritage. States must respect their right to self-determination and end the criminalisation of Indigenous defenders.
The public session of the 89th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) will be held in Dakar, Senegal, from 12 to 21 October. The public session will be preceded by a training session organised jointly by ISHR, Front Line Defenders and Defend Defenders on 6, 7 and 11 October, and the NGO Forum, organised by ACDHRS from 8 to 10 October.
At the 62nd Human Rights Council session, civil society organisations shared reflections on key outcomes and highlighted gaps in addressing crucial issues and situations.
Despite Nepal’s international commitments, human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples continue. The new government has an opportunity to align its laws with international standards, ensure consent for projects affecting Indigenous communities, and protect the right to peaceful protest and the right to defend rights.
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ISHR submitted a report to the Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment, informing her report to the upcoming 64th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
After extensive internal and external consultations, ISHR has just released its Strategy 2030, our new Strategic Framework.
This report summarises and assesses progress and challenges over the past decade in relation to business frameworks, guidance, initiatives and tools to protect human rights defenders that have emerged at local, national and regional levels.
ISHR's new indicators are designed to provide baseline guidance on what is required to monitor the implementation of the responsibility of business to respect the rights of human rights defenders.
ISHR has developed a simple list of ten concrete actions the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights says businesses should take to respect human rights defenders and adhere to the UN Guiding Principles.
This report submitted to the UN explores 14 business ventures in Latin America in which companies and banks under China's jurisdiction have not complied with international human rights, labour and environmental standards.
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