Source: The Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders network In the latest Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Legal Monitor (LM) Protest Edition, the spotlight was on renowned Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga and several other human rights defenders, who were arrested for engaging in protests and how from Bulawayo...

This statement was first published by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights The undersigned human rights organizations denounce and call for an immediate end to the Egyptian government’s relentless retaliatory campaign targeting opposition, political activists, human rights defenders, and journalists, manifested in the illegitimate practice of...

This article was first posted by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies CIHRS and the Libya Platform[1] Repressing fundamental freedoms will only serve to reinforce crisis of legitimacy on both sides The population in Libya has suffered greatly from the armed conflict under way since 2014. Essential public services...

In a civil society call made public ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 45th session (14 September-6 October 2020), AfricanDefenders, DefendDefenders and more than 40 partners urge States to support the renewal of the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Burundi. The signatories highlight that the CoI remains the only independent mechanism mandated to document human rights vio­la­tions and abuses, monitor, and publicly report on the situation in the country, and that chan­ging political realities do not amount to meaningful human rights progress. The civil society letter outlines the grave human rights violations committed in Burundi since 2015 in a context of near-com­plete im­pu­nity. Despite calls on the new Burundian President, Éva­riste Nda­yishimiye, to de­mon­strate his openness to reconciliation by releasing all detained human rights defenders (HRDs), Ger­main Ru­kuki, Nestor Nibitan­ga, and Iwacu reporters Egide Hare­rima­na, Christine Ka­mi­kazi, Te­rence Mpo­zenzi and Agnès Ndi­ru­busa, re­main in detention. As Burundi is in a period of potential transition, following the 20 May 2020 presidential, legislative and local elections and after the pass­ing of former President Nkurunziza, there are signs of promise as well as of significant concern, the signatories write. Tangible progress is yet to be registered regarding priority areas for action, including the fight against poverty, the fight against impunity, reform of the judicial system, the re-opening of the democratic space (including a safe and enabling environment for civil society), and cooperation with international and African human rights mechanisms. At this time, as uncertainty remains, the best chance to achieve meaningful change is through the renewal of the mandate of the CoI, as well as the Burundian authorities re­initiating dialogue with the international community, the letter concludes – and the best way to do this is by making measurable progress on key indicators. [button size='' style='' text='Read the Letter in English' icon='fa-book' icon_color='' link='https://defenddefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/HRC45-Civil-society-letter-regarding-BURUNDI-EN.pdf' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='center' margin='']