Regional mechanisms

At the regional level, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders collaborates with several regional mechanisms and makes use of instruments adopted or established to increase the protection of human rights defenders. The cooperation with these mechanisms and structures includes sharing of experiences and information, comparing and mutually reinforce working methods, and identifying common objectives.

These regional mechanisms include:

• The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
• The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights
• The Council of Europe and its Commissioner for Human Rights whose mandate on human rights defenders was enhanced by the declaration on human rights defenders adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in February 2008
• The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR)

Also, States and other entities have produced guidelines for supporting human rights defenders.

• European Union guidelines on protecting human rights defenders were adopted in 2004, updated in 2008, and are currently being updated again. According to this guidelines, European Union missions should address the situation of human rights defenders in their reporting, noting in particular the occurrence of any threats or attacks against them.
• State guidelines for supporting human rights include those adopted by Norway (2005), Netherlands (2014), Finland (2014), Switzerland (2015), United Sates (2017), Canada (2019), United Kingdom (2019).