‘Enhancing recognition and protection of Human Rights Defenders in Africa’

The overall objective of this project is to guarantee the protection of human rights defenders in the context of Covid 19 and generally by ensuring that the legal achievements of African countries in that sense are not lost, and support African civil society in their efforts to ensure the implementation at the national level of the UN Declaration on HRDs. In recent years, countries in the Sahel region have been fighting terrorist attacks on civilian population and military personnel which has increased the already fragile security situation in the region especially given that the sub-region includes some of the countries with the lowest ranking Gross Domestic Product per habitant. NGOs in Sub-Saharan countries, including those daring to speak against governments, often work in difficult and restrictive environments, with numerous incidences of threats, physical and psychological harassment. For at least the last ten years, ISHR has been working in countries in the Sahel and in other regions in Africa to promote a conducive environment for human rights defenders, and civil society more generally, to support them to operate and contribute to the economic and social development of their countries.

a) Component 1 - protection of HRDs at the national level b) Component 2 - Protecting defenders during COVID 19