Member States of the Human Rights Council have a legal and institutional obligation to cooperate fully with the UN's human rights experts, including by responding to allegations of violations addressed against them promptly and substantively, ISHR said today.

(Geneva) - Human Rights Council member States should respond promptly and substantively to allegations of human rights violations, the International Service for Human Rights said today in a statement delivered to the Human Rights Council.

In a new report presented to the Human Rights Council’s 27th session, the United Nations human rights experts document a worsening trend of threats and attacks against civil society actors and human rights defenders.

In the most egregious examples, the report contains cases of defenders who were killed or died in connection with their work, including Chinese human rights defender Cao Shunli, who died allegedly in connection with her engagement with the Universal Periodic Review, and Gilbert Paborada, Elisa Tulid, Rolen Langala, Marcelo Monterona, Julieto Lauron and Sixto Bagasala, six defenders from the Philippines killed allegedly in connection with their work to promote corporate accountability and land and environment rights. The report also documents allegations of torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and other violations against human rights defenders and civil society actors.

In its statement, ISHR deeply deplored the documented violations, and called on the Human Rights Council to address them. To date, many of the allegations in the UN’s report have not received a response by the concerned governments, or have not received a substantive response.

‘We are particularly alarmed at the lack of response by several members of the Human Rights Council, despite their legal obligation to cooperate,’ said Michael Ineichen, Director of Human Rights Council Advocacy at ISHR.

‘We call on those 13 governments that have not yet responded to allegations of human rights violations - including Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, China, Cote d’Ivoire, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela - to respond promptly and in a substantive manner,’ Mr Ineichen said.

In its statement, ISHR also said that States in relation to which a communication has been addressed, but to which the State has not substantively responded, should be given the floor first during future interactive dialogues with relevant mandate holders with the expectation that a substantive response be provided directly to the Human Rights Council at that time.

‘The absence of a response, or lack of an appropriate responses, to special procedures is plainly incompatible with membership in the Council, and we invite members of the UN’s General Assembly to consider this when electing members to this Council,’ Mr Ineichen said.

ISHR’s statement is available here.

Contact: Michael Ineichen, Programme Manager, International Service for Human Rights, on [email protected]

Photo: UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré