Implementation Guidelines for Regional Action Plan on Human Rights Defenders Case Studies: In June 2020 the Philippines Human Rights Commission released a public statement regarding the proposed anti-terror law.19 The statement clearly outlined that its provisions were a cause for concern for the Commission when viewed through a human rights lens. When restrictive reforms to the national Law on NGOs were announced, the Guatemalan NHRI submitted a legal action before the country’s constitutional court, requesting the law to be declared unconstitutional for its deleterious effects on civic society space.20 E. Laws for the protection of human rights defenders States have the primary responsibility to ensure HRDs are able to conduct their work freely and in a safe and enabling environment. In recent years, a wide range of UN experts and mechanisms – including Special Procedures, Treaty Bodies, the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – together with regional human rights bodies and experts, have called on States to implement laws that explicitly guarantee the rights reaffirmed in the UN Declaration on HRDs. Defender protection mechanisms were first established in Colombia and Brazil in the 90’s. More recently, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali in West Africa, as well as Honduras, Mexico and Peru and Mongolia, have adopted laws for the protection of HRDs, and draft laws are before both houses of Parliament in the Philippines. In 2016 ISHR facilitated the development of ‘A Model Law on the Recognition and Protection for HRDs’.21 The Model Law is endorsed by 28 high-level experts and was developed over a three- year period informed by over 500 HRDs from more than 110 States from all regions, sub-regions and legal traditions. The Model Law serves three primary objectives: • to assist and provide technical guidance to States to develop laws, policies and institutions at the national level to support the work of defenders and protect them from reprisals and attacks; • to provide a tool for defenders advocating for stronger legal recognition and protection of their important work; and • to provide both States and defenders with a tool against which to measure and assess the coverage and effectiveness of existing laws and policies. The Model Law provides a critical resource for NHRIs working with HRDs and civil society towards the development of a HRD protection law. The Model Law is intended to be as comprehensive as possible, while recognising that it will require adaptation to national contexts, and national legal and constitutional frameworks. Substantive provisions in the Model Law are intended, at a minimum, to provide a baseline and to give full force and effect to relevant provisions of the UN Declaration. A range of provisions have also been incorporated or informed by good practice that may go beyond obligations or standards included under the UN Declaration or other international instruments. The Model Law could be adopted in a range of ways, depending on the national legal context and tradition, including through a combination of legislation and regulations, or legislation and presidential or executive decree, or legislation and policy. 14 19 https://chr.gov.ph/statement-of-the-commission-on-human-rights-on-the-proposed-anti-terrorism-act-of-2020/ 20 https://twitter.com/PDHgt/status/1407028163104886800 21 https://ishr.ch/defenders-toolbox/resources/model-law/