You can engage with Special Procedures in all areas of their work – communications, statements and press releases, country visits, and thematic reports - and by following up on Special Procedures’ actions.
This and the next section focus on:
Special Procedures regularly make public statements on specific human rights issues – for example, to mark a date, or to share observations from a country visit.
For human rights defenders, sometimes a press release or statement is crucial for work by the Special Procedures to have the greatest impact and for you to be able to get the most media attention.
Below you'll find questions to help you consider why statements and press releases might be useful to your advocacy, followed by examples of how other human rights defenders have done so.
For more information on what they are, see ISHR Academy: Statements and Press Releases – What can Special Procedures do?
A statement or press release offers the opportunity to:
Remember:
In 2023 during an election period, Guatemala saw many demonstrations against corruption. Claudia González, a Guatemalan lawyer and human rights defender, was arrested and charged with abuse of authority in August. The charges allegedly related to her work with the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and its role in exposing a magistrate who attempted to pressure a judge to favour a family member involved in a corruption case.
After her arrest, national and international civil society organisations raised an alarm. On 18 September 2025, Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers published a press release asserting that ‘Claudia González has worked tirelessly for human rights in Guatemala’, urging the Guatemalan authorities to ensure lawyers do not suffer reprisals, and calling for the release of those targeted. González had been detained at the Mariscal Zavala military barracks where she spent 82 days. Followed by national and international pressure, the First Court of Appeals granted the substitute measure of unsupervised house arrest and released her from prison.
This story shows how press releases of the Special Rapporteurs can support and contribute to a larger civil society campaign to build pressure at national level, by drawing attention to González's case, leading to her release from detention and return to her home. There is still work to be done, as her case continues to be marked by irregularities, including postponed and closed-door hearings.
Press release:
Media on the case of Claudia Gonzalez:
In 2019, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and its consequences, Tomoya Obokata, led a joint communication on allegations of forced labour and servitude at the company Furukawa Plantaciones C.A. in Ecuador. Mandate holders alleged that Furukawa Plantaciones C. A., a Japanese company operating in Ecuador, subjected workers who lived on its estates to forced labour, servitude and other serious human rights abuses in the context of abaca production for over 60 years. On 26 April 2024, Special Procedures followed up on this with another joint press release calling on Ecuador to hold Furukawa Plantaciones C.A. accountable and to ensure that victims have access to justice and an effective remedy.
Ecuador’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling on 21 November 2024, declaring that the Furukawa company was responsible for subjecting farmworkers to contemporary forms of slavery for more than 60 years. In its sentence, Ecuador's highest court ordered the company to pay total compensation of more than 41 million dollars, after having determined that the prohibition of slavery contemplated in the Ecuadorian Constitution was not respected. In the Court’s decision, there are multiple references to the allegations raised by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and other mandate holders - an example of how the work of Special Procedures contributed to the Court’s decision, leading to accountability and survivors’ access to justice and a remedy. The advocacy conducted by other national and international stakeholders, including NGOs, trade unions, and the NHRI was also instrumental.
Go to the next section for tips on how to get Special Procedures to issue press releases or make public statements.
