On Tuesday 14 March 2023, a side event will take place on the margins of the 52th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva discussing my new report “Success through perseverance and solidarity: 25 years of achievements by human rights defenders“.
- Location: Restaurant Vieux Bois, Av. de la Paix 12, 1202 Genève
- Date: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
- Time: 14:30-15:30 (CET)
- Registration: Please RSVP at https://forms.gle/A2Pjub5VewvhHeMQ6
- The event will be live streamed on the ISHR YouTube channel
To mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on human rights defenders in 1998, I will focus on successes achieved by human rights defenders (HRDs) in my upcoming thematic report to the Human Rights Council. The objective of the report and the side event is to re-emphasise that the work of HRDs is legitimate, effective and for the common good. The examples in the report show why HRDs deserve high-level political support and protection, instead of the threats and attacks which they all too often face.
Moderator: Imogen Faulkes, BBC correspondent in Geneva
Opening Remarks: Ambassador of Norway, H.E Tine Mørch Smith
Panelists:
- Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- H.E. Gustavo Gallon, Ambassador of Colombia
- Tara Houska, US-based citizen of Couchiching First Nation, Environmental & Indigenous rights defender
- Daniel Goinic, Human Rights Program Director at Legal Resources Centre in Moldova
Closing Remarks: Ambassador of Ireland, H.E Noel White
Organizers/co-sponsors: The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Governments of Norway, Ireland, Mongolia, Colombia, Uruguay, Malawi, South Africa, Czechia, Lithuania, Mexico and the Marshall Islands, and civil society organisations Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), CIVICUS, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), West African Human Rights Defenders Network, Southern Africa Human Rights Defender Network, The Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders Initiative (IM-Defensoras), Amnesty International, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Front Line Defenders, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund.
