United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

Who is a Human Rights Defender? What can the Special Rapporteur do?

Official Statements

The flag of Turkey flying with an old building in background

Turkey: threats and attack of human rights lawyer Aytekin Aktaş and repression of the “Life Watch” movement (joint communication)

Official Letters and Statements
This is the summary of a communication sent to the Government of Turkey about the threats and attack of human rights lawyer Aytekin Aktaş and the repression of the “Life Watch” movement.
Read Statement • 28th Sep 2023
See more official statements

Latest Information Received

Screenshot of a video call featuring nine participants, including UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor and several human rights defenders from Tunisia.

Tunisia: restrictions against defenders, violence and reversal of gains

Latest Information
[English / العربية / Français] In a hearing with Tunisian human right defenders, I heard very worrying information about increasing restrictions on their work, danger to their physical safety, and the threat of reversals to significant gains made in fundamental rights in recent years.
• 22nd Sep 2023
Screenshot of a video call featuring a dozen participants, including UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor and several human rights defenders from the DRC.

Hearing with human rights defenders in the DRC

Latest Information
Earlier this month, I held a hearing with human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was an opportunity for me to learn more about their work and the challenges they face as they go about promoting and protecting human rights.
• 20th Sep 2023
A close up shot of the flag of Brazil, focusing on the words 'Ordem e progresso'

Concerns for the situation of Quilombola defenders in Brazil

Latest Information
Earlier this month, I participated in an event with human rights defenders from Quilombola communities in the Brazilian Amazon. The speakers talked about the tension under which Quilombola communities live, and the risks for those at forefront of efforts to defend their rights in the face of land-grabs and a predatory model of development.
• 15th Sep 2023
More “Information received” does not necessarily reflect the views of the Special Rapporteur or the United Nations.

Human Rights Defenders

Headshots of HRDs in a grid with different coloured backgrounds behind each
Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) are people who act peacefully to promote or protect human rights in accordance with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
“Human rights defenders are ordinary people who do extraordinary things. They work peacefully for the rights of others and help build civil and just societies based on the rule of law.”
Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of HRDs
Violations committed against HRDs Submit Information on HRDs at risk
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