Today more than 240 civil society organisations sent a joint open letter to UN Human Rights Council Member States, asking them to support the Human Rights Council draft resolution on protecting civil society, developed through broad consultation with States and civil society.
ICNL and ECNL with our partners from the Civic Space Initiative - CIVICUS, Article 19, and the World Movement for Democracy -, as well as with our colleagues from the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and other organisations, are actively engaged with the co-sponsoring states (Chile, Ireland, Japan, Sierra Leone, Tunisia) to support the drafting of the resolution, by providing our expertise and global perspectives.
The number of signatories clearly shows how pertinent and timely a revised strong resolution on this topic is. The draft Resolution incorporates the key recommendations to safeguard civic space from the recently published report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The signatories to the letter urge the states to cosponsor the draft resolution, reject all amendments, and vote in favour of the resolution if a vote is called.