"States have the obligation to respect defenders, to provide them with security, to heed their calls and to consider that we are people who support the most vulnerable sectors of society, and that this is a contribution to democratic life."
More than 30 organisations from around the globe unite to protect human rights defenders. The Esperanza Protocol is endorsed by a number of UN experts and former rapporteurs of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
In a rare and unwelcome move, Nicaragua has escaped scrutiny from two UN human rights Committees. By choosing to skip both scheduled reviews, and simultaneously ignoring decisions from a regional human rights court, Nicaragua sends a defying message to the international community, and a confirmation of its intentions to hide a problematic human rights record domestically.
The 'Colectivo 46/2', and ISHR, have launched a series of Evaluation Benchmarks on the implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 46/2 on the human rights situation in Nicaragua.
Today, UN member States elected members to the UN's top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, for the 2022-2024 term. 18 candidates ran for 18 seats, and all were elected, leaving civil society disappointed in a process that can hardly be called an election.
"We try to defend happiness from a principle of reality," says Donovan Ortega, working at the Fray Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Center in Mexico.
“What is needed from the international community in general, and from within the UN, is a concrete, coherent and unified voice in favour of the protection of human rights defenders, the safeguard of the fundamental liberties, the civic space and human dignity,” says Rosana Lezama Sanchez, a law student in Venezuela working with three national human rights organisations.
Prosecutors and judges in Venezuela are not only failing to investigate violations against real and perceived opponents of the Venezuelan State but are actively participating in violations against them. This is the conclusion of the UN fact-finding mission on Venezuela in its second report to the Human Rights Council.
On 7 September 2021, the International Service for Human Rights facilitated a multi-stakeholder dialogue with United Nations experts, the International Chamber of Commerce and the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights to discuss about Business, Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders.
This week in an online event, 10 candidate States publicly spoke to an audience of around 200 people on their pledges as incoming Human Rights Council members for 2022 – 2024. They also faced questions on pressing human rights issues from both States and civil society organisations.
