A/HRC/55/50 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 17 January 2024 Original: English Human Rights Council Fifty-fifth session 26 February–5 April 2024 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development “We are not just the future”: challenges faced by child and youth human rights defenders Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor Summary In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, analyses the situation of child and youth human rights defenders, with a particular focus on structural and societal barriers to their activism, legal restrictions on their participation in civic space and the human rights violations that they face as a result of their peaceful activities in promoting and protecting human rights. GE.23-26068 (E) 150123 160123