Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Purpose Submissions received will inform the thematic report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of positive change achieved by or contributed to by human rights defenders in your country since the publication of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1998. The report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2023.
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Background
Human rights defenders are persons, who individually, or in association with others, work peacefully to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental
freedoms, in accordance with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
In 2023, we will mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which for the first time recognised the specific right to defend human rights. Since then however, human rights defenders have frequently been subjected to attack, criminalisation, threats, smear campaigns and discrimination because of their peaceful work on behalf of others. Despite these challenges, human rights defenders have achieved significant successes over the past 25 years in bringing about more equitable and just societies.
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Objectives
This report hopes to capture some of those successes and demonstrate why human rights defenders are essential actors in securing rights.
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Key questions and types of input/comments sought
The questionnaires can be downloaded below in English (original language), Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish (unofficial translations).
Questionnaire for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and human rights defenders
العربية | 中文 | English | Français | русский | Español
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Input/comments may be sent by e-mail. They must be received by 20 October 2022.
For any media inquiries, please contact hrc-sr-defenders@un.org
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