Submissions on civil society space– Afghanistan, Chile, Eritrea, Macedonia, Vietnam & Yemen The #UN is conducting human rights reviews for #Afghanistan, #Chile, #Eritrea, #Macedonia, #Vietnam & #Yemen.

38th Session of the Human Rights Council End of Session Joint Civil Society Statement Our organisations welcome the adoption of the resolutions on civil society space, peaceful protest, on violence against women and girls and on discrimination against women and girls and the Council’s rejection of attempts to impede progress on protecting civil society space, peaceful protest and the rights to sexual and reproductive health.

38th Session Human Rights Council Joint Statement* We want to highlight key features for the next High Commissioner – one of the world’s premier human rights defender – whose mandate includes providing technical assistance and capacity building to States, as well as standing up for universal human rights and those who defend them.

38th Session of UN Human Rights Council Adoption of the UPR report of Burundi  Mr.

38th Session of UN Human Rights Council Adoption of the UPR report of the Republic of Serbia   The Human Rights House Belgrade (Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights, Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Civic Initiatives, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and Policy Center), the Human Rights House Foundation and CIVICUS welcome the Government of Serbia's engagement with the UPR process.

38th Session of UN Human Rights Council Adoption of the UPR report of Israel Mr.

38th Session of UN Human Rights Council Adoption of the UPR report of the United Arab Emirates  The Gulf Centre for Human Rights, the International Service for Human Rights and CIVICUS welcome the chance to engage in the process of the UAE’s UPR.

In our Universal Periodic Review submission, we documented that since its last review, France only partially implemented one of the two recommendations it received relating to civic space.

38th Session of UN Human Rights Council Dialogue with UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea On behalf of CIVICUS, Reporters without Borders, the Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights, the Eritrean Law society, Eritrea Focus, Network of Eritrean Women, Amnesty International, and the Horn of Africa Civil Society Forum, I would first like to express our deepfelt gratitude and appreciation to the Special Rapporteur for her unwavering support to Eritrean victims of human rights violations.

38th Session of the Human Rights Council   General Debate – civic space in Egypt, Tanzania and Vietnam CIVICUS is concerned about the situation in Egypt where authorities have arrested, interrogated and detained several activists, bloggers and journalists over the last few weeks, indicating a significant escalation in the crackdown on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly in the country.

38th Session of the Human Rights Council   Update of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights  CIVICUS welcomes the High Commissioner’s final update and thanks him for his continued support for human rights defenders and for speaking the truth to power in this August room for the last four years.

38th Session of the Human Rights Council   Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the  Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity CIVICUS welcomes this occasion to dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council, from 18 June to 6 July 2018, will consider core civic space issues of freedom of association, assembly and expression.

Special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem Oral Statement CIVICUS, the Palestinian NGO Network and the Arab NGO Network for Development condemn the atrocities committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces against peaceful Palestinian protesters in Gaza.

CIVICUS welcomes this celebratory discussion of a true icon of our times.

Johannesburg, 17 April 2018 - DefendDefenders, CIVICUS and the Observatory condemn acts of reprisals against human rights defender Mr.

CIVICUS and its partners have submitted joint and stand-alone UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submissions on eight countries to the UN Human Rights Council in advance of the 31st UPR session (November 2018).

In a letter to the UN Secretary-General, a coalition of more than 70 civil society organisations has put forward proposals to revitalise and enhance the process to select the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Civic Space Initiative welcomes Mr.

37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council Statement during the High Commissioner's country briefings CIVICUS is extremely concerned about the spate of attacks against HRDs journalists and peaceful protestors that has taken place across Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras.

Our organisations welcome the adoption of the resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly in reaffirming that all approaches to development must comply with the State’s international human rights obligations.

To Missions of UN Member States (delivered by email on 22 March) We are writing to you with regards to the human rights situation in Cambodia.

37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council Statement on the adoption of South Korea´s Universal Periodic Review CIVICUS applauds the government of the Republic of Korea for its continued support and engagement in the Universal Periodic Revew (UPR) on human rights process.

37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council Joint Statement on the adoption of Zambia's Universal Periodic Review The Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD) and CIVICUS welcome the government of Zambia's engagement with the Universal Periodic Review on human rights process.

Interactive Dialogue with the UN Commission of Inquiry on on Burundi Oral Statement We remain extremely concerned by the grave human rights violations taking place in Burundi, which show no sign of abating.

37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council  Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea Oral Intervention by CIVICUS and DefendDefenders The government of Eritrea was requested to strengthen its cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to communicate pertinent information regarding detained journalists and opposition members, and to consider establishing an office in Eritrea.

The opening week of the 37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council will commence with the high level segment which will include approximately 99 high level speakers including top political leaders from UN member states as well as UN Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres, and the President of the General Assembly amongst others.

37th Session of the Human Rights Council Oral statement at Interactive Dialogue with UN High Commissioner on Human Rights CIVICUS commends the High Commissioner for his report, and for his commitment to standing alongside victims of the world's most egregious human rights violations by continuously bringing attention of their plight to this Council.

37th Session of the Human Rights Council Oral statement Across the globe, CIVICUS has observed a pattern of judicial persecution, smear campaigns, threats, intimidation, physical assaults and killings targeting human rights defenders.

37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council Oral Statement Restrictions of civic space and threats to human rights defenders is fast spreading in the Global North as well as the South.

37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council Oral Statement – Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism 1 March 2018 CIVICUS, on behalf of the Civic Space Initiative, welcomes the Special Rapporteur’s report on the human rights challenge of states of emergency in the context of countering terrorism.

To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva RE: Renewing and strengthening the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan to ensure accountability for gross violations of human rights and related crimes in South Sudan Excellencies, We, the undersigned national, regional and international non-governmental organisations, write to call on your delegation to renew and strengthen the mandate of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (the Commission), during the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in March.

CIVICUS and its partners have submitted joint and stand-alone UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submissions on 9 countries in advance of the 28th UPR session (November 2017).

CIVICUS and its partners have submitted joint and stand-alone UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submissions on 9 countries in advance of the 30th UPR session (May 2018).

Joint letter to President of the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of International Service for Human Rights, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Asian Forum on Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia), Human Rights House Foundation, CIVICUS We welcome the adoption of the resolution intended to end acts of intimidation or reprisals.

Human Rights Organizations Urge UN Human Rights Council Member States to Reject Amendments to the Draft Resolution Renewing the Mandate of The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances In the context of the renewal of the mandate of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), during the 36th regular session of the Human Rights Council, through draft resolution A/HRC/36/L.

UN Human Rights Council: 36th Session  Letter to Member States of the UN Human Rights Council Re: Support resolution on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights The undersigned 48 civil society organisations, coming from all regions, urge your delegation to support the adoption of the resolution on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights as tabled.

36th Session of the UN Human Rights Council ISHR and CIVICUS welcome the Philippine Government’s engagement in the UPR process.

36th Session of the UN Human Rights Council CIVICUS welcomes Poland’s commitment to engage with the UPR process and its acceptance of recommendations related to the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association, in its recent response to the Report of the Working Group.

UN Human Rights Council: 36th Session  Interactive dialogue on human rights in Vietnam CIVICUS presents this statement together with VOICE We are gravely concerned by the crackdown on human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists in Vietnam.

UN Human Rights Council: 36th Session  Panel discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples Disponible en Espanol I read this statement on behalf of 39 human rights defenders and civil society organisations working on indigenous, land and environmental rights from 29 countries who met in Johannesburg, South Africa from 7-9 August 2017 to discuss strategies to advance the protection of indigenous, land and environmental rights activists.

UN Human Rights Council: 36th Session Oral Intervention at Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi Thank you, Mr.

Human Rights Council: 36th Session Oral Intervention at Interactive Dialogue with the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project and CIVICUS, on behalf of 20 African civil society organisations, thank the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan for their worrying update.

To: Member and Observer states of the UN Human Rights Council Subject: Urgent action needed on Myanmar Dear Excellencies We write to you regarding the deeply concerning situation in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State.

CIVICUS deeply appreciates High Commissioner’s update, regretfully on an ever darker and more dangerous world.

Civil society calls on the UN Human Rights Council to address Cambodia’s human rights crisis The undersigned civil society organizations, representing groups working within and outside Cambodia to advance human rights, rule of law, and democracy, are writing to alert your government to an unfolding human rights crisis in Cambodia.

UN Human Rights Council 36th session 12 September 2017 Statement at the UN Human Rights Council during interactive diialogue with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention CIVICUS welcomes the annual and mission reports of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

We, the undersigned Bahraini, regional and international human rights organizations, remain alarmed at the ongoing human rights crisis in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

CIVICUS and its partners have submitted joint and stand-alone UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submissions on 5 countries in advance of the 29th UPR session in January 2018.

35th session of the  Human Rights Council   Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on the right to education CIVICUS welcomes the reports of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on the right to education.