CIVICUS and its partners have submitted joint United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on civil society space in Mozambique and Niger Republic.
Development Diaries understands that the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states.
The submissions examined the state of civil society in each country, including the promotion and protection of the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression, and the environment for human rights defenders.
‘We further provide an assessment of the States’ domestic implementation of civic space recommendations received during the second UPR cycle over 4-years ago and provide a number of targeted follow-up recommendations’,, CIVICUS said in a statement.
In Mozambique, CIVICUS raised concerns over the deteriorating environment in which journalists and civil society activists operate.
Physical attacks, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and threats have become increasingly common, especially for civil society activists and journalists working or reporting on sensitive issues.
In Niger Republic, CIVICUS, the West African Human Rights Defenders Network, and the Nigerien network of human rights defenders examined the level of implementation of the recommendations received by Niger during its previous review in 2016.
They noted that despite constitution allowing a peaceful assembly, expression, and association, the Nigerien government has targeted human rights defenders and subjected them to arbitrary arrests and judicial persecution.
Source: CIVICUS
Photo source: UN Geneva
