Michel Forst: appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in June 2014
Background: Mr. Forst has extensive experience on human rights issues, including human rights defenders, the rights of children with disabilities, extreme poverty, and the elderly. He has held a number of leading positions within the field of human rights, including the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, the Cimade (Comité inter-mouvements auprès des évacués), UNESCO, the first World Summit on Human Rights Defenders (Paris), and Amnesty International (France).
The duties of his mandate include:
- seek, receive, examine and respond to information on the situation of human rights defenders;
- establish cooperation and conduct dialogue with governments and other interested actors on the promotion and effective implementation of the Declaration;
- recommend effective strategies better to protect human rights defenders and follow up on these recommendations;
- integrate a gender perspective throughout his work.
Download his most recent report [1]
Submission Instructions:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Complaints.aspx [2]