HRCnet was established in 2006 to enhance NGO engagement with the Human Rights Council and to strengthen the Council’s impact and influence on the ground. Since then, HRCnet members working in coordination and solidarity, or as a network as a whole, have contributed significantly to some of the most important initiatives and outputs of the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms.

HRCnet’s membership comprises 17 NGOs and organisations working at the international level and across almost all regions:

Africa

• African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (The Gambia)
• DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) (Uganda)
• Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network (Zimbabwe)
• West African Human Rights Defenders Network (Togo)

Asia-Pacific

• Asian Legal Resource Centre (Hong Kong, China)
• Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM ASIA) (Thailand)
• Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (India)
• Human Rights Law Centre (Australia)

Latin America

• Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) (Argentina)
• Conectas Direitos Humanos (Brazil)

Middle East and North Africa

• Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (Egypt)
• Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (Egypt)

International

• CIVICUS (South Africa)
• Human Rights House Foundation (Norway)
• Human Rights Watch (USA)
• International Service for Human Rights (Switzerland)
• Open Society Foundations (USA)

HRCnet members have substantially shaped debates and made influential policy proposals on country situations, as well as thematic and institutional issues. HRCnet works to:

• Safeguard civil society space locally and at the international level: by securing strategic action by key actors toward the protection of human rights defenders and safeguarding civil society participation at the UN.

• Enhance access to international human rights mechanism: by providing information and assisting rights holders from the Global South in engaging with the international human rights system and strengthening capacity to influence States, and harness civil society from all regions.

• Amplify impact: by facilitating coordination and collaboration between international and regional NGOs.

• Promote accountability: by seeking the establishment of international human right mechanisms to investigate and promote accountability for gross human rights violations.

• Enhance scrutiny: by bringing human rights violations to the attention of the international community and pushing for the establishment of expert mandates to monitor and document such violations.

• Strengthen protection: by bringing rights holders to the centre of international decision-making processes and demanding timely and effective responses from the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms.

For more information, please contact Fabiana Leibl, HRCnet Coordinator, [email protected].