Information and registration
The event will be conducted in English only. No interpretation will be available.
For in-person attendance, participants are kindly requested to register for the event via this link.
For online participation, please join through this Webex link.
Kindly address any questions or concerns regarding this event to hrc-sr-ct@un.org
Background and Objective
In 2025, we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the creation of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. This milestone is a chance to reflect on the mandate’s importance and achievements over two decades, and the ongoing challenges and opportunities for protecting human rights while countering terrorism.
This event will bring together past and present Special Rapporteurs, including Ben Saul, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin and Martin Scheinin, Mexico as the originator and penholder of the mandate’s resolution, heads of United Nations bodies, civil society and academia.
Since 2005, the mandate has been at the centre of global debates about the proper responses to continuous waves of violence, from the aftermath of the 9/11terrorist attacks, to the rise and fall of the Islamic State in the Levant after 2012, to complex current conflicts in West Africa and the Middle East. The mandate has advanced thinking and practice on human rights through its thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly, constructive country visit reports, around 900 communications on individual cases and legislation, and diplomacy and public advocacy. More information about the mandate’s work can be found here, including a new index of the issues it has addressed.
The mandate’s work remains as vital as ever in today’s geopolitical era marked by increasing polarization and challenges to the basic international norms and institutions that promote human rights. Join us to hear what the mandate has accomplished and where it is heading, in an uncertain world of proliferating irregular violence.
This event is co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of Mexico and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
Opening Remarks:
- Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN in Geneva, H.E. Mrs. Francisca E. Méndez Escobar
- Under-Secretary-General, United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Mr. Vladimir Voronkov [online]
Special Rapporteurs
- Martin Scheinin (2005-2011)
- Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin (2017–2023)
- Ben Saul (2023–)
Panellists
- Gloria Gaggioli, Professor, University of Geneva and Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
- Tanya Mehra, Senior Research Fellow and Programme Lead, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague
- Franziska Praxl-Tabuchi, Global Center on Cooperative Security
- Beth Alexion, Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism
- Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, Executive Director, Spaces for Change [online]
Closing Remarks
- Ilze Brands Kehris · Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and Head of OHCHR in New York
