As part of the 85th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Working Group on Extractive Industries, the Environment, and Human Rights convened a panel on the right to the environment in Africa.
The NGO Forum, ahead of the 85th ACHPR’s session in Banjul, held several panel discussions on the AU 2025 theme 'Reparations: Justice for Africans and People of African Descent' with different focuses, including the regional and UN standards on reparations, economic justice, as well as discrimination in Africa based on work and descent.
At the 11th Session of the Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations, ISHR urged all States to include and protect language that explicitly safeguards human rights defenders, impacted communities and the environment.
As the world faces a convergence of interlinked crises, this event will highlight the critical role of human rights defenders in seeking solutions and explore practices of safe and meaningful engagement while also identifying the challenges faced in different business contexts.
'I would like to see mining projects, small scale mining for example and hydro power projects or water works that are led by the community and are not proposed by big companies and foreign entities that enter our ancestral lands,' says Casselle Ton in an interview with ISHR.
Ahead of the 85th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the NGO Forum convened a panel on the issue of 'Environmental Justice and Indigenous Peoples' Rights'.
Relatives of the Chilean Indigenous environmental defender Julia Chuñil must be granted immediate protections by the Chilean State, the Committee to Support Implementation and Compliance of the Escazú Agreement ruled, in response to a request supported by ISHR. This marks the first time the regional treaty urges a signatory State to take protective action.
Last Thursday, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor presented her final annual thematic report during an interactive dialogue at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) recently published its General Comment on the environmental dimension of sustainable development. In addition to recognising human rights defenders, the Comment clarifies State obligations towards marginalised communities and notes the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuels. It also outlines States’ extraterritorial obligations.
Indigenous women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and women safeguarding land and community rights from across the globe gathered in Geneva from 22 to 26 September to take part in the Women Human Rights Advocacy Week (WHRD-AW) 2025.
