Resources and Tools

A press release by the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing after her visit to the United States, which resulted in a report probing deplorable living conditions and assessing compliance with international human rights law. The press release includes her remarks on the situation faced by many homeless people, as well as the words of the individuals involved.

This report summarizes the Special Rapporteur's visit to Mexico, where he focused on evaluating the basic elements of a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders, including: a conducive legal and institutional framework; access to justice; an independent and strong national human rights institution; effective protection policies and mechanisms targeting groups at risk and applying a gender-sensitive approach; non-State actors who respect and support the work of human rights defenders; and a strong and dynamic community of human rights defenders.

End of mission statement by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, at the conclusion of his visit to Mexico from 16 to 24 January 2017.

In this press release, UN human rights experts call for a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the collapse of a tailing dam in Brazil, the second such incident involving the same company in the past three years. The experts also called on the mining company to act in accordance with its responsibility to identify, prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts and cooperate with the investigation.

In this joint statement, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity urge States to guarantee the full exercise of all human rights for trans and gender diverse people. They urge the immediate adoption of comprehensive laws and policies aimed at recognizing self-defined gender identity, and provision of legal and social guarantees promoting the observance of all human rights of this group.

Joint statement by several UN experts declaring that States must abide by their commitments to protect human rights defenders, who are increasingly under attack and inadequately protected. The statement also highlights the important role of women's human rights defenders in promoting and protecting human rights.

This communication highlights the adoption of a new law in Myanmar which may be used to illegally dispossess land users of their land without due process or adequate notice, undermine their human rights, and have a disproportionate impact on poor, rural and minority communities, ethnic nationalities and indigenous peoples.

In this allegation letter, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities focuses on the restriction of the legal capacity of Italian citizens with disabilities.

In this joint urgent appeal, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders highlight the alleged reprisals against two human defenders for their cooperation with the UN, specifically with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

This guide is a practical tool to support engagement with the United Nation’s system of independent human rights experts, the Special Procedures, for non-governmental organizations and advocates working on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.