Human Rights Defenders

SLAPPs are destructive to civil society and public interest. Training and awareness-raising activities appear to be the best strategy at our disposal to effectively tackle abusive lawsuits and respond to the shrinking space for civil society in Europe.

Whistleblowing, particularly on issues that relate to human rights, is an important means of keeping governments accountable. Some whistleblowers could also be viewed as carrying out the function of a human rights defender. This designation can help improve their protection under the ECHR.

Summoning activists to courtrooms, combined with the decline of the rule of law and attacks on the independent judiciary, is a serious weapon against human rights and democracy. It is worth highlighting selected cases from Poland (2015-2023) and their implications.

Welcome to our fifth Curated series, which addresses human rights defenders in relation to selected issues about their recognition, support and protection, by drawing on the discussions developed in the context of the 2023 AHRI International Conference.

After 12 years of social and democratic erosion under previous regimes, Xiomara Castro´s government has the chance to make structural transformations in Honduras. It is worth exploring three main axes to analyse what the new government has done and what needs to be done.

Russia has a long history of media censorship but since invading Ukraine, state propaganda has reached enormous levels. Most independent journalists have fled the country so they can report factually on current events. Others are protesting from within.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most insecure region for land and environmental defenders. States must be prepared to protect human rights defenders and implement public policies tackling the root causes of violence, including rethinking the extractive matrix.

Two well-known human rights NGOs from the Russian Federation were banned by the decisions of its judiciary in December 2021. It is a case study that reveals the link between a corrupt judiciary and an authoritarian state for which human rights are the greatest threat.

This poem by laureate Nnimmo Bassey reminds our global community that human rights preparedness also means fostering resilience through poetry, art and other means of expression. Art eases suffering, empowers, and advocates in times of emergency.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the deadliest recent health emergencies, yet the international community failed to act quickly and with equity. This contribution proposes the development of a new convention and a UN agency to face disasters more effectively in the future.