By NHRI mandate
By topic
Enabling environment for HRDs & CSOs
Environmental HRDs
Freedom of assembly and association
Freedom of expression
Freedom of the media
Funding of CSOs
Non-government controlled territories
Prohibition of discrimination
Protection of HRDs
Right to a fair trial
Right to an effective remedy
Right to privacy
Right to respect for private and family life
Sustainable Development Goals
Whistleblowers
Women HRDs
By country
In 2022-2023, the Federal Institute for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (FIRM-IFDH) conducted a research report on the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs) in Belgium. Most of the consulted human rights organisations had recently faced pressure and intimidation. Many indicated that the situation as a whole had deteriorated over the two-year reporting period, with a strong gendered component. The report’s conclusions highlighted that stronger protection of civic space and HRDs is required.
A number of concrete proposals were included in the report, grounded in various regional and international guidelines on the protection of HRDs. The main findings of this report were presented to and discussed with most major political actors in several meetings throughout 2024. They were subsequently included in the main priorities of political parties ahead of the June 2024 elections. The final report was published in 2024.
In 2023, the Institute also carried out a public awareness campaign to draw attention to the importance of the work of HRDs in Belgium. For nearly a month, several thousand support posters were displayed across five major cities in Belgium. On 5 December 2023, FIRM-IFDH organised a support action in central Brussels, together with human rights defenders, aimed both at raising public awareness and at presenting the first results of its research. The action generated significant interest in the written press and on the radio. The campaign was conducted in French and Dutch.
The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) awards the Danish Human Rights Prize (Menneskerettighedsprisen) yearly. In February 2024, the prize was awarded to Ms. Naja Lyberth and the so-called Spiral Case Working Group.
They received the prize for shedding light on the abuse of thousands of Greenlandic women and girls who have had their human rights violated by the Danish state by having a spiral (IUD) inserted without their consent. In the podcast The Spiral Campaign, made by the Danish news media DR, it was reported that from 1966 to the 1970s, 4,500 spirals were placed on almost half of the 9,000 fertile girls and women in Greenland. The Spiral Campaign was carried out as part of the Danish authorities’ strategy to reduce population growth in Greenland.
In December 2024, the prize was awarded to the organisation Repatriate the Children for rescuing Danish children and their mothers from prison camps in Syria after the Danish government had refused to evacuate them. Behind Repatriate the Children are journalist Natascha Rée Mikkelsen and lawyer Knud Foldschack, who founded the organisation in September 2020 after visiting the Syrian prison camps, al-Hol and Roj. On 29 August, the Danish Supreme Court ruled that the Danish government was obligated to offer assistance to evacuate the last Danish child with her mother from Roj camp in Syria.
Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia
The Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia has drawn attention to the challenges and threats faced by human rights defenders and civil society in both Europe and Georgia. The Public Defender dedicated a chapter to this topic in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 annual reports it submitted to parliament. The reports underlined an increasing trend of verbal abuse, physical assaults, intimidation, and defamation, including by high-ranking political officials. Specifically, the reports pointed to challenges faced by women and LGBTI+ defenders and voiced concerns about cyber threats against and the bullying of human rights defenders. The reports analysed the rights of peaceful assembly, association and expression, as well as media freedom. The NHRI called on law enforcement agencies to undertake effective, timely investigations into any cases of human rights defenders at risk. It also provided recommendations to the government on the promotion and protection of human rights defenders.
Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo*
On October 2021, the Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo*, together with UN Women office in Kosovo*, launched the Informal Advocacy Task Force on Gender-Sensitive Standards for Occupational Safety, Health and Decent Work.
This task force aims to foster cooperation between stakeholders, the Ombudsperson Institution, the Women’s Caucus, UN entities, trade unions, private companies, gender equality activists and CSOs to promote gender-sensitive standards for Occupational Safety, Health and Decent Work.
The Task Force consists of the Ombudsperson (chair), while the co-chair will be the representative of the Women’s Caucus, several CSOs, and the Labor Inspectorate, Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, and the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo.
This task force shall promote occupational safety and health for all and will meet every three months. It will also establish a platform for the regular exchange of information, awareness raising, and advocacy for functional formal mechanisms and social dialogue at the national level.