A new ISHR report maps China’s presence and influence in the UN economic and social affairs system, highlighting potential risks for civil society participation and the promotion and protection of human rights.
To date, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ (the African Commission) recommendations to the Kenyan Government on reparations for the eviction of Endorois indigenous people from their ancestral lands in the 1970s remain largely unimplemented. On 13 April 2021, the NGO Forum met to discuss the status of the implementation of the African Commission’s 2010 decision 276/2003 on the rights of the Endorois people.
The ECOSOC Committee on NGOs has just completed its first 2021 session after two postponed sessions due to Covid-19 restrictions. Failing to move with the times, the Committee did not allow for virtual participation of NGOs in Q&As, something States called out and which must be addressed at the next session in August.
The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) publishes yearly Chinese Human Rights Monitors (CHRM), aiming to support Chinese human rights defenders and civil society working on human rights in China in acceding to the UN human rights mechanisms.
In April 2022 elections will be held for membership of the UN’s Committee on NGOs. A group of national, regional and international NGOs have come together to call on States – as candidates and electors – to use these elections as a means to make real the UN’s commitment to partnership with civil society. #OpenDoorsToNGOs
After reviewing reports from the Hong Kong government and wide range of Hong Kong and international civil society groups last month, UN experts tasked with monitoring human rights implementation compiled a list of hard questions. These pinpoint the need for clear answers on how Hong Kong and Beijing will act to protect and respect fundamental freedoms in the territory.
Human rights defenders and NGOs have until 1 May to submit cases of reprisals and intimidation that occurred between 1 June 2019 - 30 April 2020 to the Secretary-General’s annual report.
The NGO Committee's 2019 sessions, just concluded, saw human rights organisations continuing to face unreasonable questioning and the deferral of their applications. Amongst them the International Dalit Solidarity Network, deferred in May for the 24th time. Such deferrals have been called a form of reprisal against NGOs. Members of the NGO Committee can stop this practice by refusing to allow further questions to be asked in their name.
Over twenty years behind time, the Committee on NGOs finally met to listen to civil society. From Geneva, Mexico City and New York, NGOs provided the Committee with an analysis of the relationship between the UN and NGOs. They outlined what must change both to maximise the potential of civil society participation and ensure the protection of those who engage.
At the most recent ECOSOC NGO Committee session, unfounded accusations of terrorism made against a human rights defender were challenged by some States but ultimately left unretracted. A trend of such accusations is emerging within the NGO Committee and ECOSOC - bodies responsible for overseeing the relationship between the UN and NGOs.
