Futures thinking encourages us to identify small ‘signals of change’ which might help to identify and influence the futures that come to pass. At ISHR we’ve identified and, together with advocates and activists from around the world, helped contribute to a number of small but significant signals of positive human rights change in recent weeks.
Tech tools can provide great opportunities and challenges to document human rights violations, notably in contexts of acute crisis.
ISHR and NGO partners warmly welcome the UN Committee against Torture’s decision to host their first review of a State party since the beginning of the global pandemic, and the consideration of individual complaints which had also been suspended. With this decision, all UN Treaty Bodies have now taken steps to ensure the continuity of their mandate, including periodic reviews, which are crucial to State accountability.
In an online discussion organised by the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Uyghur camp survivor Gülbahar Jalilova shared her story of long-term arbitrary detention. Her testimony echoes mounting evidence of human rights violations that call for systematic UN monitoring and public reporting.
The independent scrutiny of UN Treaty Bodies is particularly vital in contexts of acute crisis and in countries which fail to cooperate with the system, a group of 55 NGOs says to the Committees as they are holding their annual chairpersons meeting.
The UN human rights mechanisms – whether we are talking about the Human Rights Council, the Treaty Bodies, or the Special Procedures independent experts – count on civil society engagement to help them do their jobs better. We provide here opportunities for inputs and participation focused on human rights in China, from now through the second half of 2021!
Members of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights met in March 2021 to prepare two ‘Lists of Issues’ to guide their respective reviews of the People’s Republic of China.
In a landmark decision, the UN CEDAW committee found that Libya violated the rights of a woman human rights defender and issued recommendations to better respect, protect and support the work of women defenders.
It's difficult to encapsulate such a complex year in a word, but "interconnected" is one that comes to mind when reflecting on 2020. We are proud to have remained deeply interconnected with defenders and to have supported, protected and amplified their work at the national, regional and international levels. With them, the "essential workers" of our times, we strive for a 2021 full of freedom, equality, dignity and justice.
On the ocassion of the annual meeting of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights with non-governmental and civil society organisations, ISHR highlighted the fundamental role played by ESC rights defenders and the need for their protection.
