{"id":31892,"date":"2021-06-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/magazines\/un-special-rapporteurs-voices-for-the-vulnerable-5321\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:21:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T20:21:38","slug":"un-special-rapporteurs-voices-for-the-vulnerable-5321","status":"publish","type":"magazines","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/magazines\/un-special-rapporteurs-voices-for-the-vulnerable-5321\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Special Rapporteurs: Voices for the vulnerable"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Partnering with the UN is essential for addressing issues of religious freedom and keeping them in the spotlight. One way we do this is through the UN Special Procedures \u2013 unpaid experts, special rapporteurs and working groups appointed by the Human Rights Council to report on either a country or a theme.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the 44 thematic positions are experts on education, racism and human rights defenders, but we work most closely with Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the UN\u2019s Special Rapporteur who focuses on freedom of religion or belief. By presenting expert research, including from CSW\u2019s advocates, to the people who hold the power, he helps turn our work into real change.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the role of a Special Rapporteur?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout their appointment, Special Rapporteurs champion human rights around the world in two main ways: by conducting impartial research and by raising individual cases to UN Member States. It\u2019s therefore Dr Shaheed\u2019s job to investigate violations of freedom of religion or belief and keep pushing his concerns to the forefront of policymakers\u2019 minds. Without his consistent reporting it would be easy for issues of faith to get lost in the sea of urgent matters, but Dr Shaheed ensures that every individual\u2019s right to freedom of religion or belief remains on the agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does CSW work with Special Rapporteurs?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside their own fact-finding missions, Special Rapporteurs like Dr Shaheed rely on trustworthy accounts from our advocates, who gather information directly from people experiencing injustice. CSW\u2019s UN Officer, Claire Denman, emphasises that it is a partnership: \u2018Through verified, credible reporting, the Special Rapporteurs call out truth to power\u2026 They can\u2019t do their work without NGOs like CSW who are reliably providing evidence of human rights violations.\u2019 Likewise, we need them to keep bringing these stories to the world\u2019s attention. Special Rapporteurs are crucial for amplifying our work at the UN, being a voice for the vulnerable with the aim of holding perpetrators to account and securing justice for victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the results?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The benefits of working with UN experts can be immediate; prisoners could receive better treatment or even be released following urgent communication from Special Rapporteurs. More often, however, results take time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, CSW provided Special Rapporteurs with evidence that enabled them to confidently call on the Chinese government to free Pastor Wang Yi, who was detained as part of a large-scale crackdown on unregistered churches. Although this has not yet led to his release, we celebrate the smaller victory that China\u2019s human rights violations were exposed for the world to see. We take heart that the more cases are published and publicly condemned in this way, the more pressure is put on countries like China to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire therefore highlights that Dr Shaheed\u2019s consistent reporting is what makes his partnership with CSW so valuable: \u2018He raises the profile of the right to freedom of religion or belief at the UN and beyond, ensuring that the voices of religious minorities are heard.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through your continued support, we can keep enabling UN experts like Dr Shaheed to champion freedom of religion or belief for everyone and shine a light into the dark corners of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pray that God will uphold the Special Rapporteurs as they shine a light into dark corners of the world.<\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Partnering with the UN is essential for addressing issues of religious freedom and keeping them in the spotlight. But what is the role of a UN Special Rapporteur?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21442,"template":"","regions":[159,164],"class_list":["post-31892","magazines","type-magazines","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-international-arenas","regions-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazines\/31892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazines"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazines"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazines\/31892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41665,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazines\/31892\/revisions\/41665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=31892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}