'UN human rights experts are ideally placed to demand full cooperation by states', said Michael Ineichen, ISHR’s Director of Human Rights Council Advocacy. 

'States themselves expect respectful conduct from UN experts in the context of visits, and these high expectations should be mirrored on the state-side', Mr Ineichen said. 'At the very least, this means responding promptly and in good faith to communications by UN mandated human rights experts.'

The joint NGO submission also called on UN human rights experts to continue to speak out forcefully about any acts of intimidation or reprisals against human rights defenders who communicate with them. Experts should also request the Human Rights Council to take concrete action at its upcoming September session to ensure states prevent reprisals, protect human rights defenders, and provide remedies and accountability.

'Thematic and country based human rights experts are a crucial element of the international human rights protection framework,' Mr Ineichen said. 'They provide an accessible and effective avenue for human rights defenders to have their voice heard in international fora. However, these experts need to work more effectively together as a group to vigorously defend their own independence, and increase the impact of their work on the ground.'

The annual meeting of special procedures brings together the UN’s human rights experts on thematic issues and country situations, including those on human rights defenders, violence and discrimination against women, and the situations in Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea and Belarus.

The joint submission is available here.

Contact: Michael Ineichen, Programme Manager, International Service for Human Rights, on   [email protected] or +41 78 827 77 86.