Human rights defenders can make a crucial contribution to both promoting social and economic development and to mitigating adverse impacts of development initiatives. The recent reports of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and the Working Group on Business and Human Rights highlight the worrisome trend of violations, including threats, attacks and harassment, against human rights defenders who work on issues of development and corporate accountability. Defenders working on land rights, including women defenders and those working for the rights of indigenous communities are particularly vulnerable to such violations.
Opening and welcome
Panellists
Moderator
This side event will consider the role of human rights defenders in identifying, preventing, mitigating and remedying the adverse impacts of large-scale development projects. Furthermore, it will discuss the responsibility of States, corporations and multilateral development actors in ensuring that human rights defenders can undertake their work in a safe and enabling environment.
If you do not have a UN pass and would like to attend please RSVP to Madeleine Sinclair, [email protected], by 12:00 pm, Friday October 24.