One year ago we launched "A seat at the table", a guide to crafting effective narratives at the UN about human rights & people who defend them. ishr.ch/defenders-tool…
Together with @magdacastria, we developed visuals to illustrate the most important points.
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Do you work at or engage with the #UN system to protect and promote #HumanRights?
Then our key recommendations to craft an effective human rights narrative are for you:
(1/10) ICYMI: we marked yesterday, 2 yrs since Chinese lawyer #YuWensheng's disappearance in 2018, with a round-up of how the int'l community took steps to call for for accountability. But wait - there was more in 2019!
(2/10) #YuWensheng received the Franco-German human rights prize - accepted by @xuyan709 - in January, and many govts called for China to release detained HRDs and lawyers at #HRC40 in March. This kind of visibility and pressure is key - and the more countries join, the better.
@xuyan709 (3/10) And remember the letter UN detention experts sent in 2018? Well, unsatisfied with the response, in 2019 they considered Yu Wensheng’s case and ruled it to be an ***arbitrary detention under international law***.
They asked again for his release, and the repeal of #RSDL.
(1/10) Wondering what we mean when we say "the UN human rights system"? Not sure what it can do to support #YuWensheng@xuyan709 and other lawyers/HRDs in China?
(2/10) The Working Group on #EnforcedDisappearances is a group of experts the UN has appointed to examine trends and individual cases, as part of the @UN_SPExperts. In Feb 2018, they wrote directly to the Chinese government to ask about Yu’s whereabouts.
(3/10) Other UN experts – on arbitrary detention, HRDs @ForstMichel and #freedex@davidakaye – also wrote to the Chinese govt to raise concerns. They highlighted RSDL, detention without access to family or a lawyer, at risk of torture.
📢 Today, we call on #China to #FreeYuWensheng.
2 years after the disappearance of human rights lawyer #YuWensheng, we're proud to support him and his family in the fight for justice (image kudos: @badiucao)
@badiucao@hrw@hrichina@ICJ_org@LRWCanada During years of work to advance human rights and democracy in China, Lawyer Yu had experienced various harassment, including the revocation of his legal license in early January 2018. #FreeYuWensheng