Tuesday, 10 March, from 15h00 to 16h30

Palais des Nations, Geneva, Room XI

Together with Article 19, FIDH, ICJ and OMCT, ISHR is organising a major Human Rights Council side-event on the relationship between human rights defenders and national security.

The panel discussion will feature:

• Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
• Tanele Maseko, campaigner for the release of her detained husband, Swaziland lawyer Thulani Maseko
• Jimena Reyes, Director of Americas Desk, FIDH
• Hina Jilani, Pakistani human rights lawyer and former UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders
• Roselyn Hanzi, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
• Gerald Staberock, Director, World Organisation against Torture

The panel will be moderated by ISHR Director, Phil Lynch.

A UN badge is required to access the premises.

More about the event:

The work of human rights defenders and other civil society actors is crucial to address inequality and to promote good governance, accountability and inclusive development, all of which contribute to national security (see, eg, HRC Resolution 27/31).

In the words of UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Assembly, Maina Kiai, it is therefore ‘not a coincidence that shrinking space for peaceful civil society has been accompanied by a rise in extremism and violence across the world’.

Yet, despite the positive relationship between an enabling environment for civil society and the interests of national security, counter-terrorism measures – from the United Kingdom to China, and from Ethiopia to Chile – are increasingly being developed and used to target, restrict and criminalise the work of human rights defenders. As High Commissioner Zeid said in a recent speech in Washington DC, ‘the space for dissent in many countries is collapsing under the weight of either poorly-thought out, or indeed exploitative, counter-terrorism strategies … [placing] human rights defenders under enormous pressure in many parts of the world today … [where] they risk imprisonment or worse in the peaceful defence of basic rights’.

Such regressive developments come despite the Council’s calls in Resolutions 22/6 and 25/18 for States to ensure that ‘measures to combat terrorism and preserve national security … do not hinder the work and safety of individuals, groups and organs of society engaged in promoting and defending human rights’.

To paraphrase Maina Kiai, the event will seek to counter the ‘rhetoric of fear’ and to firmly establish that ‘the rights to peaceful assembly and of association do not encourage extremism, chaos, or violence but are, in fact, the best antidotes we have against all of these ills’.

This event will be webcast live at www.ishr.ch/webcast.

Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Gulf Center for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and International Service for Human Rights are pleased to invite you to

A PANEL DISCUSSION AND SCREENING OF

Tuesday 3 February from 15h00 to 17h30 
Palais des Nations, room XI
1211 Geneva

We Are The Giant is a gripping documentary film that explores the vital work of human rights defenders in Syria, Bahrain and Libya and the risks and threats they face in their struggle for justice.

We are privileged to host this exclusive diplomatic screening in Geneva with the presence of one of the film's protagonists, Maryam Al-Khawaja, a prominent Bahraini human rights defender who has faced threats, intimidation and imprisonment because of her work. 

A panel discussion with Ms Al-Khawaja, together with Nedal Al-Salman of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, will immediately follow the film screening.

Please note this event is by invitation only, however you may contact us to request additional invitations. Entrance to the United Nations requires a valid UN grounds pass.

The International Service for Human Rights, in partnership with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the Permanent Mission of Norway, invite you to an event on
 

Business and human rights defenders: Challenges and good practices

Wednesday, 3 December 2014, 14h30 to 16h00
Room XXI, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Add this event to your calendar

Panelists:

• Alejandra Ancheita, Executive Director of ProDESC and winner of the 2014 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
• Keith Harper, US Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council and member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
• Vanessa Harvard-Williams, Partner with Linklaters
• Sheila Keetharuth, Expert member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations

Moderator:

• Hina Jilani, Board member of ISHR and former UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders

This event will consider the role and responsibility of States, business and the UN to support and protect human rights defenders who work on issues of corporate accountability, together with the constructive role that human rights defenders can play in promoting corporate responsibility.

Please note that this event is being convened as part of the 2014 Forum on Business and Human Rights and that registration for that Forum is essential to gain entry to this event.

20 November 2014, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Over the last 30 years, ISHR has worked to support human rights defenders and to build and strengthen human rights laws and systems for their protection. We're delighted to invite you to two exciting events in honour of our important anniversary.

Please note: Accreditation is required for entry to the UN premises. If you do not already hold a valid badge, we may be able to assist with this. Please indicate these requirements in your RSVP form (using the link above). We must receive this by 10 November to make an accreditation request.

Wednesday, 10 September from 16h30 to 18h00
Palais des Nations, Geneva, Room XXIV

ISHR, together with ARC International, Article 19 and Association for Progressive Communications, welcomes you to a side event which will explore the State duty to protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms regardless of their political and cultural systems. Its objective is to ensure that the universality of human rights is not undermined at the national level and through initiatives at the UN Human Rights Council. This is especially relevant in the context of Chile, Uruguay and Colombia announcing that they will pursue an important resolution at the current session of the Council affirming that universality extends to non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Panelists

• Nadine Moawad - Association for Progressive Communications
• Fulata Moyo - World Council of Churches
• Sunita Kujur - Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action (CREA)

Moderator

• Andrew Smith - Article 19

For more information: Pooja Patel, [email protected]

Tuesday, 9 September 2014 from 12.00 to 13.30

Palais des Nations, Geneva, Room XXI

Please join us for this high-level Human Rights Council side-event organised jointly by Amnesty International, CIVICUS, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, ISHR and the International Bar Association, to discuss the need for an international response to repression and impunity in Egypt. 

Speakers

• Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
• Souhayr Belhassen, Honourary President, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
• Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Program, Amnesty International
• Phillip Tahmindjis, Director, International Bar Association Human Rights Institute

Moderator

• Yves Magat, Journalist, Télévision Suisse Romande

This event comes following the call by a global coalition of non-governmental organisations for Member States of the UN Human Rights Council to urgently address the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation and promote accountability for past human rights violations in Egypt, 

Friday, 19 September 2014 from 9.15 to 10.45am

Palais des Nations, Geneva, Room XXIV

Please join us for this important Human Rights Council side-event with international experts and national human rights defenders to discuss recent developments and next steps in the protection of civil society space and the prevention of reprisals.

Opening remarks

• Olivier de Frouville, member of the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and member-elect of the UN Human Rights Committee

Panelists

• Reine Alapini-Gansou, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
• Stephania Kulaeva, Director, Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial, Russia
• Patricia O'Brien, Ambassador of Ireland to the UN
• Eleanor Openshaw, Reprisals Advocacy Manager, International Service for Human Rights

Moderator

• Michael Ineichen, Human Rights Council Advocacy Director, ISHR

For those unable to attend, the event will be webcast at www.ishr.ch/webcast. You can also follow the event on Twitter @ISHRGlobal, using the hashtag #ProtectCSS.

If you would like to attend but do not have UN accreditation, please email [email protected] before 12 noon on 16 September.

'From threats to opportunities'

Business and human rights defenders

Human Rights Council Side Event
Friday 13 June 2014, 12.15 - 13.45
Room IX, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Human rights defenders working on issues of corporate responsibility and accountability are under increasing threat around the world. The challenge for the Human Rights Council is to provide the right mix of incentives and pressure to ensure that States and businesses protect human rights defenders and their work, recognising that their participation represents an opportunity rather than a threat.
 
This panel will highlight the role of human rights defenders in promoting corporate responsibility and in exposing and remedying the adverse human rights impacts of business. The discussion will also spotlight the threats and attacks that human rights defenders face from both State and non-State actors because of this work. The event aims to inform the Human Rights Council’s response to these issues through a resolution on business and human rights due be adopted during the 26th session.

Panelists

• Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
• Maria Belen Paez, President, Fundación Pachamama, Ecuador
• Tess Peacock, Constitutional Litigation Unit, Legal Resources Centre, South Africa
• Alice Harrison, Communications Adviser, Global Witness
• Michael O'Flaherty, Professor of Human Rights and former member of UN Human Rights Committee

  Moderator

• Phil Lynch, Director, International Service for Human Rights

For those unable to attend, a live webcast will be available at www.ishr.ch/webcast. You can also follow the event on Twitter @ISHRGlobal, using the hashtag #HRDs.
 
If you would like to attend but do not have UN accreditation, please email [email protected] before 12 noon on Tuesday 10 June.

The panel discussion will take place in English. Spanish translation will be provided.

Wednesday, 19 March, 2014, 1000

Palais des Nations, Room XXIV

The International Service for Human Rights, ILGA, the Sexual Rights Initiative, and the Coalition of SOGI Malaysia are delighted to co-host this event on combating impunity for human rights violations against persons on the basis of sexual identity and gender identity. The event will be addressed by human rights defenders and activists from Nigeria, India, Malaysia and Switzerland. 

The side event, "Intersectionality and Impunity: Locating Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Human Rights Discourse" will be held on Wednesday 19 March.  

Those who need a pass to enter the Palais des Nations are asked to RSVP to Ulises Quero at [email protected] by 11am on Tuesday 18th March. View event flyer here.