In response to the annual call for inputs from the UN Secretary-General, ISHR has submitted 120 cases of intimidation and reprisals against human rights defenders engaging with the UN from 29 countries.
The 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council (16 June to 9 July 2025) will consider issues including civil society space, climate change, sexual orientation and gender identity, violence and discrimination against women and girls, poverty, peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression, among others. It will also present an opportunity to address grave human rights situations including in Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Eritrea, Israel and oPt, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, among many others. Here’s an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.
Civil society urges States to ensure a resolution at the upcoming 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council addresses the protection of human rights defenders from emerging risks resulting from technological trends and shifting online spaces.
12 NGOs that closely follow and engage with the General Assembly Third Committee have published a joint statement on outcomes of this 79th session.
The 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council (9 September - 11 October) will consider issues including intimidation and reprisals for cooperating with the UN, arbitrary detention, systemic racism, enforced disappearances, climate change, water and sanitation, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples and people of African descent, among others.
During the annual Panel on the adverse effects of climate change on human rights, woman human rights defender Yannia Visuetti gave a strong statement about the situation in Latin America.
Between 9 and 11 July 2024, ISHR together with Colombian partners Asosciaciación Minga, the Colombian Commission of Jurists and the Somos Defensores Program organised a cross regional discussion on protection mechanisms for human rights defenders.
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its 56th regular session at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 18 June and 12 July 2024. Check out the key issues on the agenda.
On April 15 2024, ISHR submitted its annual submission to the UN Secretary General on intimidation and reprisals against defenders engaging or seeking to engage with the UN and its human rights mechanisms.
As she is ‘almost free’, former Senator de Lima along with ISHR calls on the Human Rights Council to release others who remain arbitrarily detained in the Philippines.
