PATFox at Annual AHRI Conference on Human Rights Defenders Under Seige

Last week our coordinator partner FIBGAR presented the project during the panel “Possible strategies to address limitations of civic space” in the framework of the Annual Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI) Network Conference, which took place between 7 and 9 September 2023, at the University premises in Bilbao (Spain).

The Association of Human Rights Institutes – AHRI, consists of 75 member institutions – and growing – that carry out research and education in the field of human rights across every continent. The objective of AHRI is to promote research, education and discussion in the field of human rights. Every year, member institutions gather to coordinate and plan their research through working group seminars and to discuss current issues in defined research areas.

The AHRI Conference aims to become a meeting place for academics, institutional decision-makers and, above all, people who work tirelessly to defend human rights. The aim is to encourage debate, sharing of experiences and identification of good practices that contribute to strengthening the protection and promotion of all human rights in an increasingly uncertain global context.

This year the central theme of the conference "Human rights defenders under siege" sought to highlight the key role of human rights defenders in today's society, as well as the challenges and dangers they face in certain contexts. The choice of this theme is particularly relevant as the year 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1998.

The conference featured the participation of leading human rights experts, including Michel Forst, Joel Hernández, Wangui Kimari, Lourdes Castro, Dolores Morondo, Antoine Buyse, José Aylwin, Alice Nah, Manfred Nowak and Mario Hurtado, among others.

Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention, who delivered the final conclusions of the conference, recognized the increasing risk of SLAPPs as a tool used to harass and intimidate human rights defenders and the need of taking actions against these abusive proceedings.