Second "Inter-Mechanisms" Meeting on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Washington, October 21-22, 2009

The Unit for Human Rights Defenders was a co-organizer, along with the FIDH and OMCT, of the Second "Inter-Mechanisms" Meeting on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which took place October 21-22, 2009, at OAS headquarters. IACHR participants included Commissioner Paolo Carozza, Executive Secretary Santiago Canton, and attorney Angelita Baeyens, the specialist who provides the Unit with staff support. Also present were the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya; the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders for the African system, Reine Alapini-Gansou; and representatives of various organizations that focus on the protection of human rights defenders from different regions of the world.

More information at the Human Rights Defenders Mechanisms website

First "Inter-Mechanisms" Meeting on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Brussels, October 6, 2008

At the invitation of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the Unit participated in an "inter-mechanisms" meeting, which took place in Brussels, Belgium. The purpose of the meeting was to gather together the six existing international protection mechanisms for human rights defenders around the world, and to consider how these mechanisms complement one another in terms of treatment, follow-up, and response to individual cases having to do with human rights defenders, the organization of possible joint visits, and the promotion of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

More information at the Human Rights Defenders Mechanisms website

Meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders
October 27, 2008

During the 133rd regular session of the IACHR, the Unit organized a meeting with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, along with human rights defenders from around the Americas, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. The Unit also organized a meeting at that time between the Special Rapporteur and the OAS Member States.

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Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
December 10, 2004

On December 10, 2004, on the occasion of Human Rights Day and during the 6th European Union Human Rights Discussion Forum organized by the Dutch Presidency of the EU in The Hague, Hina Jilani, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Jainaba Johm, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and Santiago Canton, Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, met under the auspices of the International Service for Human Rights and issued a statement commending the European Union for adopting its Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders as an “important protection tool for activists who are promoting human rights at great personal risk.” The statement also recognized that the main challenges to be resolved concerning the protection of defenders around the world include the killing of human rights defenders, the existence of hostile environments that forces defenders into exile, and the labeling and slandering of defenders by authorities to undermine their credibility, putting them at serious risk. In addition, the statement expressed alarm that in many countries, counter-terrorist measures and legislation are being used to limit the activities of human rights defenders, noted with specific concern the risks and stigmatization suffered by women human rights defenders, and strongly supported the International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders.
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