The Declaration +25 is an authoritative, civil society-led document that supplements the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Together, these two texts form a comprehensive set of standards that are grounded in international law and are a baseline to protect defenders and the right to defend human rights. It sets the standards for the protection of the right to defend human rights and HRDs. This document is the result of more than a year of work, consultations with 700+ defenders, as well as research and input from experts and human rights defenders.
The declaration is a landmark document to mark the 25 years since the adoption of the UN Declaration on HRDs. While the Declaration itself is not a legally binding instrument, it records, reinforces and elaborates upon the obligations of States under international law as they pertain to the protection of human rights defenders.
The document s divided in three parts:
- Definition and reaffirmation of the right to promote, defend and protect human rights;
- Rights of and protections for human rights defenders;
- Effectiveness of the rights and protections accorded to human rights defenders.
As part of the consortium of 18 organisations that helped facilitate the development of this important document, Protection International conducted two consultation sessions with HRDs, the first in Bilbao in September 2023 and the second in Nairobi in October 2023. The aim of these consultations was to collect information on changes in national, regional and global contexts, and evolutions of human rights movements since the UN Declaration on HRDs was adopted in 1998, but also to capture defenders’ needs. PI was also significantly involved with the actions to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Declaration. We also significantly contributed to the text of the Declaration+25. Our input mostly focused on PI’s key areas of expertise, namely the collective nature of human rights work and the importance of preventive protection of HRDs.
