Report on the situation of human rights defenders, with a focus on women human rights defenders in selected Pacific Island countries 2019-2021

OHCHR’s Regional Office for the Pacific conducted scoping missions in seven Pacific Island countries to analyze the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs) with a special emphasis on WHRDs between 2019 and 2021. These countries are Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The main objective was to identify HRDs in the seven Pacific island countries, assess their country’s human rights situation relating to the protection of HRDs, and their personal situation as HRDs across selected themes: legal frameworks and institutions, institutional policies and mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights, enabling environments and support systems as well as violations and attacks against HRDs.