Reflections on the 31st Session of the Human Rights Council
31 March 2017
DefendDefenders hit the ground running at the first session of
DefendDefenders hit the ground running at the first session of
Oral statements to the Council Open letters and press releases
DefendDefenders and CIVICUS voice their disappointment over South Sudan’s Universal Periodic Review process, with the government choosing to accept only four out of 33 recommendations made to improve the human rights situation.
Together with 14 South Sudanese civil society organisations, DefendDefenders urges the UN Human Rights Council to strengthen the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan include the conduct of independent investigations and collection and preservation of evidence to ensure accountability for human rights violations.
Although Burundians continue to face human rights violations committed with impunity, the Government has been unwilling to cooperate or engage with the UN Commission of Inquiry. In an Oral Intervention DefendDefenders calls on all members of the UN Human Rights Council to remind Burundi of its obligations and preserve the credibility of the Council.
As the Eritrean regime prepares to celebrate its 24th year in power, its citizens live in fear. In an Oral Intervention at the Human Rights Council, DefendDefenders calls attention to the grave human rights situation in Eritrea and the resulting exodus as people flee the country.
At the UN Human Rights Council, DefendDefenders highlights the risk faced by defenders working on particular issues, and the excesses taking place under Ethiopia’s state of emergency.
Thank you Mr President.
The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project welcomes this Special Session and the Commission’s work to provide much-needed scrutiny of the Government of South Sudan and armed actors’ intolerable human rights violations. By speaking out about a looming catastrophe, orchestrated ethnic cleansing, and the very real possibility of further mass atrocities they have sounded the alarm […]
An Open Letter to H.E. Mme. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, from South Sudanese and International Non-Governmental Organisations
Twelve civil society organisations, coming from all regions, call for urgent action towards suspending Burundi from the Human Rights Council given the combination of its flagrant refusal to cooperate with the Council and the gross and systematic violations of human rights occurring in the country.
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