ISHR warmly welcomes the appointment of Michel Forst to the position of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. The Special Rapporteur has a crucial role to play in supporting defenders and protecting them from attacks.

(Geneva) - The UN Human Rights Council has unanimously endorsed the appointment of Michel Forst as the new UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders.

'The International Service for Human Rights warmly welcomes the appointment of Michel Forst as the United Nations' independent expert on the situation of human rights defenders,' said ISHR Director Phil Lynch.

'Michel is one of the world's leading human rights lawyers and has extensive experience working with human rights defenders, non-governmental organisations and national human rights institutions,' Mr Lynch said.

Forst is currently the Secretary General of the French national human rights commission and previously worked as the head of Amnesty International in France. He has also held a prior appointment as the UN's independent expert on human rights in Haiti. He currently serves on the Board of FrontLine Defenders and was previously a Board member with ISHR.

'Around the world human rights defenders are facing risks, restrictions and attacks for their work to challenge repression, expose human rights violations, and secure justice for victims. The position of Special Rapporteur plays a crucial role in supporting and protecting defenders and in engaging constructively with States to ensure a safe and enabling environment for their work,' Mr Lynch said.

'We look forward to working closely with Michel, as we did with his predecessors in Hina Jilani and Margaret Sekaggya, in pushing for States to enact specific laws and policies to support human rights defenders, and in pushing for the UN itself to be open and accessible to civil society activists. It is imperative that both States and the UN uphold their responsibilities to protect human rights defenders from intimidation, reprisals and attacks,' said Mr Lynch.

ISHR will also work to ensure a continued focus on those defenders who are most at risk because of who they are and the work they undertake, including women human rights defenders, those who work on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, and those who work on issues of corporate accountability for human rights violations.

'We warmly congratulate Michel on his appointment to this crucial position and look forward to working with him towards making the international Declaration on Human Rights Defenders a national-level reality,' Mr Lynch said.

Contact: Phil Lynch, Director of ISHR, on [email protected] or +41 76 708 4738.

Photo: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré