24 June 2021, 13:30-15:00
Event
SSNC ACTION10
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
In the past 10 years, a worrisome trend towards authoritarianism has grown in certain democracies, while well-established authoritarian regimes have been emboldened to clamp down further on their societies. ‘Strong man’ governments typically employ the rule of law and its trappings – courts, police, and security apparatus – to exert control. Rather than be seen as valuable pillars of the rule of law, hundreds of lawyers inside these regimes are routinely harassed, intimidated, jailed or even killed for their defense of human rights cases and causes. Authoritarian regimes are also increasingly hard to influence from the outside, they may be impassive to international outcry and indifferent to diplomatic pressure.
In a context of growing authoritarianism, this online event – co-organized by the Geneva Human Rights Platform, the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute, the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders and the Ordre des Avocats Genève – will discuss:
This event, co-organized by the Geneva Human Rights Platform, the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute, the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders and the Ordre des Avocats Genève, discussed the strategies and tactics to effectively defend and support #humanrights lawyers who defend human rights cases and causes in their countries.
EQINET
Via its DHRTTDs Directory, the Geneva Human Rights Platform provides a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. But how to navigate them? Which tool should be used for what, and by whom? This interview helps us understand better the specificities of the current highlight of the directory: Equality Bodies Comparison Dashboard
News
The 2025 Latsis Symposium on Science for Global Development and Humanitarian Action, organized by ETH for Development, gave prominent space to human rights issues.
Project
Victoria Pickering
This project aims at providing support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Voulé by addressing emerging issues affecting civic space and eveloping tools and materials allowing various stakeholders to promote and defend civic space.
Project
Olivier Chamard / Geneva Academy
The Treaty Body Members’ Platform connects experts in UN treaty bodies with each other as well as with Geneva-based practitioners, academics and diplomats to share expertise, exchange views on topical questions and develop synergies.
Publication