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The 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, from 27 February – 4 April 2023, will consider issues including the protection of human rights defenders, freedom of religion or belief, protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism, the right to food and adequate housing, among others. It will also present an opportunity to address grave human rights situations in States including Nicaragua, Venezuela, China, Syria, South Sudan, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Eritrea, among many others. Here’s an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.

ISHR joins dozens of organisations calling on Egypt to immediately release HRDs Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed el-Baqer and Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim Radwan and all those arrested and detained solely for exercising their rights

ISHR joined a global coalition of civil society organisations and individuals to call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately drop all charges, close all cases involving them, and promptly release Mohamed el-Baqer and Alaa Abdel Fattah, Mohamed Oxygen and all others arbitrarily detained.

The 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council, from 13 June to 8 July 2022, will consider issues including 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, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, among many others. Here’s an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.

As a pillar of interaction between the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and NGOs, the NGO Forum took place online on 19-20 April 2022 before the 71st session of the Commission.

Draft is simple and comprehensive, containing most of human rights defenders’ rights and state obligations enshrined in the Model Law. Protection Mechanism is broadly established with clear purposes.

In Africa, more and more defenders are working in an environment marked by the shrinking of civic and democratic space and severe restrictions of fundamental freedoms, especially during pre- and post-electoral crisis and more recently the fallout of the health crisis linked to Covid-19.

The passage of a human rights defender resolution by the Third Committee of the GA by consensus, with 85 co-sponsors, is another important step in ongoing work to strengthen the promotion and protection of those who defend rights.

Jointly with the national defenders’ coalitions in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Niger, ISHR has published a collection of good practices aiming to protect human rights defenders and support their work in times of crisis.

HRC48: Women defenders engaged in the defense of the right to land, territory and indigenous rights demand that the UN and the international community recognise their key role in protecting humanity and the environment.