At the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council, during the adoption of the UPR of Turkey, ISHR delivered a statement highlighting the heightened threats and attacks against human rights defenders and called on the Turkish government to ensure that defenders can carry out their legitimate activities without fear of attack, reprisal and judicial harassment.
The Human Rights Council should support investigations and accountability for widespread human rights violations - including systematic and targeted attacks and reprisals against human rights defenders - in China, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, ISHR said today. Meanwhile, it is imperative that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Secretary General speak out and develop policies to provide protection and solidarity to defenders, their families and their communities.
Over two intense weeks, 18 dedicated human rights defenders participating in ISHR’s 2019 Human Rights Defenders Advocacy Programme (HRDAP) exchanged experiences, strengthened their skills, put them into practice, and built a network of allies in Geneva and across the globe.
ISHR's flagship Human Rights Defenders Advocacy Programme begins on Monday 17 June, with 18 inspiring human rights defenders from around the globe travelling to Geneva to learn how to use the UN mechanisms for even greater impact on the ground.
A Sudanese refugee activist held in the Australian immigration detention and processing system for over five years, Abdul Aziz Muhamat, is the 2019 Martin Ennals Award Laureate. He was among three finalists, selected by a jury of ten of the world’s leading human rights organisations, together with Marino Cordoba Berrio (Colombia) and Eren Keskin (Turkey). The three of them were honoured today during a ceremony organised by the City of Geneva.
The 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council, from 11 to 29 September 2017, will consider issues including women's rights, reprisals, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance. It will also present an opportunity to address grave human rights situations in States including Burundi, China, Myanmar and Yemen. Here's an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.
In light of the failure of 42 countries to respond to letters sent by UN Special Procedures regarding alleged human rights violations, ISHR calls on States to cooperate with the independent experts and to combat reprisals.
In a positive development, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today passed a resolution to webcast open sessions of the NGO Committee, unopposed. This victory for civil society participation at the UN was offset however, by an ECOSOC decision to close the door on a handful of NGOs from Turkey, or until recently based there. ECOSOC’s failure to reject Committee recommendations in these cases - which flouted established procedures - may have been unlawful.
The 34th session of the Human Rights Council has restored consensus to the important resolution on human rights defenders and moved towards accountability on some situations, but failed to deliver on other urgent issues and countries of concern, NGOs say in presenting key takeaways from the session.
The NGO Committee – the gateway to the UN for many NGOs – has just adopted its report on its first session of the year, where the Committee’s worst practices were on display. When it considers the Committee’s recommendations, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) must reject all those based upon lack of due process and unfair practice, and take responsibility for the Committee’s serious ill functioning.
