23rd session of theHuman Rights CouncilItem 3 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expressionInteractive Dialogue Statement delivered by Enrica Barago Thank you Mr.

23nd session of theHuman Rights CouncilItem4     Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention: Belarus By Yuri Dzlibladze Thank you Mr.

On 29 May 2013, the UN Human Rights Council squeezed in an urgent debate on Syria into its already crowded schedule.

During the second week of the council, on the 6th of March, we organised a joint side event with the HRHF on the “Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders in the Russian Federation “.

6th March 2013Summary On Wednesday 6 March, the Human Rights House Foundation together with CIVICUS, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Youth Human Rights Movement, the International Federation for Human Rights and the Civil Society and Freedom of Speech Initiative Center for the Caucasus hosted a side event titled "Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders in the Russian Federation" at the United Nations in Geneva.

22nd Session of theUN Human Rights CouncilItem 3 General DebatePromotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.

22nd session of theHuman Rights Council Item 2Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human RightsID 28 February 2013Delivered by Renate Bloem Thank you Mr.

22nd session of theHuman Rights CouncilItem4     Human rights situations that require the Council’s attentionDelivered by Renate Bloem Thank you Mr.

22nd Session of the Human Rights CouncilItem7 General DebateReport of the Independent Fact Finding Mission on Human Rights situation in the Palestinian other Arab occupied territories Thank you Mr.

22nd  session of the Human Rights CouncilItem 6 Delivered by Dr Nada Dhaif Thank you Mr.

CIVICUS made two oral interventions with regard to the Universal Periodic Reviews of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Korea.

CIVICUS’ submission to the UPR working group outlines concerns related to the environment in which civil society organisation and human rights defenders operate in Bangladesh, and discusses threats they face in the exercise of freedoms of expression, association and assembly.

CIVICUS' latest interventions in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process of the UN Human Rights Council, which reviews countries' human rights progress, address the status of civil society freedoms in the countries of Burkina Faso, Colombia, The Republic of Turkmenistan and The Republic of Uzbekistan.

CIVICUS was active at the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council, which came to an end in Geneva on 28 September.

21st session of theHuman Right CouncilItem6 UPR BahrainDelivered by Nada Dhaif Thank you Madam President My name is Nada Dhaif, Chairperson of Bravo (Bahraini Rehabilitation & Anti-Violence Organization) Let me tell you about the situation in many villages and neighborhoods.

21h session of the Human Rights CouncilItem4    Delivered by Renate Bloem Thank you Madam President,CIVICUS has repeatedly urged the Ethiopian Government to realign its policy to international   human rights law.

20th session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 5 Reprisals, protection, prevention Delivered by Renate Bloem, CIVICUS UN Geneva Representative, 26 June 2012 Thank you Mme President CIVICUS wishes to raise the issue of reprisals against persons cooperating with the UN.

20th session of the UN Human Rights Council The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association Interactive Dialogue 20 June 2012 Statement delivered by Renate Bloem, CIVICUS UN Geneva Representative Thank you Mme President, CVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation strongly welcomes both reports but will speak to the inaugural report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly of association.

20 March 2012 The UN Human Rights Council, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland from 27 February to 23 March 2012, sees a number of countries come under the spotlight as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, in which States report on their human rights records.

Three more contributions to the UN Human Rights Council by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and one of its partners from the Philippines, Karaptan, are available to view here.

8 March 2012 Presentations by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and one of its partners from the Philippines, Karaptan, are available to view here.

Today the 12th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) comes to an end and with it the first cycle.

28 September 2011, Delivered by Renate Bloem   Thank you, Mme President, This is a joint statement by our partner the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, which represents over 130 members as well as the more than 400 endorsees of the Joint Statement on the Law on Association and NGOs.

18th session of the Human Rights Council Item 4 Delivered by Renate Bloem Thank you Mme President, During the recent 10th World Assembly of CIVICUS (10-12 September) our members and partners from the ground asked to bring to the Council following strong concerns: 1.

16th session of the Human Rights Council 23 September 2011 Delivered by Mme Heimat KUKU   Thank you Mme.

18th session of the Human Rights Council Item 4 Interactive Dialogue 20 September 2011 Delivered by Anna Dobrovolskaya   Thank you Mme President, I speak on behalf of the Youth Human Rights Movement, a member/partner of CIVICUS.

  CIVICUS and the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) declared their full support for the peaceful protests and the legitimate demands of the Syrian people during the Special Session on Syria at the UN Human Rights Council today.

17th session of the Human Rights CouncilItem 4 Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention15 June 2011 Delivered by Renate Bloem Thank you Mr.

To the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council  RE: Bahrain: Call for individual delegations to demonstrate commitment to ensuring that the situation in Bahrain is brought before the Human Rights Council within Item 4 statements Geneva, 10th June 2011 Your Excellency, As civil society organizations from around the world, we urge your delegation to make a strong statement and condemn the grave and deteriorating human rights situation in Bahrain at the UN Human Rights Council (Council/HRC) under Agenda Item 4 (“Human Rights Situations that Require the Council’s Attention”) that will take place at the HRC next week, the 15th of June.

Interactive Dialogue 9 June 2011  Delivered by Renate Bloem   Thank you Mr.

To Permanent Representatives of all member states of the UN Human Rights Council RE: Addressing the situation of human rights in Belarus at the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, May 30, 2011 Your Excellency, The undersigned NGOs are writing to urge your Government to support the adoption of a resolution on the human rights situation in Belarus at the 17th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).

30 May 2011.

Uganda: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review at the 12th Session of the UPR Working Group -  click to download (PDF)

Human Rights Council 16th SPECIAL SESSION on the Situation of Human Rights in the Syrian Arab Republic   29 April 2011 Mr.

Human Rights Council 15th SPECIAL SESSION ON the Situation of Human Rights in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 25 February 2011 Mr.

On 23 March 2011, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, President of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), gabled the appointment of Maina Kiai to become the new Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association (SR on FoAA).

The 2nd Meeting of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on theReview of the Work and Functioning of the Human Rights Council23 February 2011 Mr.

To: Permanent Representatives of all member states of the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, 21 February 2011 RE: NGO call for a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the situation of human rights in Belarus Your Excellency,We are writing to urge you to support the adoption of a resolution on Belarus at the 16th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Human Rights CouncilFollow up to the15th SPECIAL SESSION ON the Situation of Human Rights in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 14 March 2011 M.

16th session of the  Human Rights Council Item 3: Interactive Dialogue on SR HR defenders10 March 2011 Delivered by Slava Mamedov Thank you Mr.

World Press Freedom DayUnited Nations Geneva 3 May 2011 "Twenty years on from the Windhoek Declaration:Freedom of the press in a changed world" Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

16th session of the Human Rights Council Item 2: Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Interactive Dialogue, 3 March 2011Delivered by Renate Bloem Thank you Mr.

Geneva, 2 March 2011 Letter from Civil Society Organizations to State Representatives: “Defamation of Religions” at the 16th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council Excellency, We are writing to you to strongly urge your government to actively engage in the negotiations in the resolution on “combating defamation of religions” at the 16th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (“the Council”) that is currently taking place.

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April 6, 2011 To: All Member States of the UN Human Rights Council Call for United Nations Human Rights Council Special Session on the Human Rights Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic Excellency,As Human Rights non‐governmental organizations from all regions of the world, we express our serious concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in Syria since the country’s security forces started using live ammunition against protesters on 18 March 2011.