A relatively short session due to the UN’s liquidity crisis, the Human Rights Council’s (HRC) 59th session (HRC59) took place from 16 June to 8 July 2025. Three session days were cut, a number of debates could not be held, and a number of reports could not be delivered by the UN’s Human Rights Office (OHCHR). This is a regrettable situation.
The UN Human Rights Council’s adoption of a resolution on
“It is interesting that we are talking about 20 years of DefendDefenders. It actually feels like two years, because it feels like DefendDefenders keeps recreating itself. Its presence and the energy feels like it has just begun its work. The staff, the management, everyone at DefendDefenders, is very, very committed to defending human rights defenders and I can only wish them well and wish that we can grow as Defend Defenders, beyond 20 years, into the kind of future that they deserve.”
The African Union’s 2025 theme, “Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations,” set the tone for the 83rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), held from 2 to 22 May 2025 in Banjul, The Gambia.
Eritrea: Do Not Create a Precedent, Maintain HRC Scrutiny All
Oral statements delivered during the 59th session of the UN
Hello Friends,
In the just concluded 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council Session (HRC58), our advocacy efforts focused on the extension of the mandate of the existing investigative mechanism, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (CHRSS). During the session,the CHRSS presented its report. On the 2 April, a strong resolution in line with civil society expectations was passed at the initiative of core group (UK, Norway, Albania, Ireland. It enables the CHRSS to pursue its work for at least one year as South Sudan is facing a risk of relapse into chaos. Indeed, the country has been on the brink of relapse into large-scale civil war. Heavy fighting in several parts of the country and escalating tensions in Juba are threatening to nullify the 2018 revitalised peace agreement.
“I came to know DefendDefenders during the second half of 2009. In November that year, they supported my evacuation and temporary relocation abroad. It was a very difficult period for FORSC and for me. This organisation taught me, and many other HRDs in Burundi, the very concept of a human rights defender, and everything related to their physical and digital security.”
In a joint letter released ahead of the UN Human
Since August 2024, and under the leadership of Hassan Shire, Executive Director of DefendDefenders and Chairperson of AfricanDefenders, two missions have been deployed to Somalia to evaluate the current landscape for human rights defenders (HRDs), 10 years after the launch of the report titled Between the Rock and the Hard Place.
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