Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on situation of human rights defenders

58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council; Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on situation of human rights defenders, Statement by Finland on behalf of the Nordic Baltic states, Delivered by H.E. Ambassador Heidi Schroderus-Fox, Permanent Representative of Finland, 5 March 2025

President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic states.

We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s valuable work.

Human rights defenders everywhere are working in increasingly challenging circumstances. Those promoting human rights in remote or isolated locations face additional challenges, such as limited access to legal, technological, and other forms of support.  Indigenous or environmental defenders are rarely able to give their free, prior and informed consent to potentially harmful business projects. Women and LGBTQI+ human right defenders in rural contexts are confronted by “traditional values” and attacks against their identity and activism.

Human rights standards should be the same to everyone. We should make efforts that our protection programmes reach human rights defenders also outside urban and well-connected areas. We should pay special attention to defenders that have been deliberately imprisoned in far-away regions.

Special Rapporteur,

Your report states that international protection mechanisms are insufficient for defenders working in conflict situations. What can Members States and the UN do to better identify and reach human rights defenders in crisis settings?