2. Advocating at the international level - UN human rights mechanisms

Welcome to Chapter 2 of the course Advocacy for Environmental Human Rights Defenders. This section aims to provide you with a practical guide to navigating UN human rights mechanisms in the context of environmental protection and the protection of environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs).

This chapter will be useful to you if you ask yourself:

• ‘As an EHRD, what avenues are useful for advancing my advocacy at the United Nations (UN)?
• ‘Which spaces are relevant or more strategic for me to engage in?’
• ‘How much time do I have to invest in engaging with those mechanisms?’

This chapter will refer to relevant ISHR Academy modules that deepen specific aspects of UN engagement and advocacy planning, specifically for EHRDs. If you are not familiar with UN mechanisms, consider taking our courses on each mechanism, including the Human Rights Council, Special Procedures and more.

You do not need to read this chapter in order. Subsections are designed to be used independently, depending on your needs, context, and priorities. Feel free to refer to Chapter 1 to better understand the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, the specific risks faced by EHRDs, and the relevant frameworks to guide your advocacy efforts. Chapter 3 will focus on regional specific mechanisms.

Estimated time to complete Chapter 2: ~3h30

Learning outcomes

By the end of this chapter, we expect you to:

• Understand the scope, mandates, and functions of the main UN human rights mechanisms that can be relevant to advance environmental justice and the protection of EHRDs.
• Set the foundations to strategically determine when, how, and why to engage specific UN mechanisms, considering the nature of the violation, the actors involved, affected groups and identities, available resources, the risk of reprisals, and anticipated outcomes.
• Design a context-specific international advocacy strategy that leverages the complementarity of UN mechanisms — across the Human Rights Council, Special Procedures, the Treaty Bodies and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) — as a coordinated toolbox tailored for advocacy on environmental protection and the protection of EHRDs.

Let’s first unpack the opportunities offered beyond the national level in the next section!