61st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council,
the Adoption of Draft Resolutions and Admenments.
The Human Rights Council on 31 March 2026 concluded its sixty-first regular session after adopting 38 resolutions, in which, among other things, the Council voted to extend 19 country-specific and thematic mandates. A key focus of the Council’s work throughout the session was the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
On 27 March, the Council held, at the request of Iran, China and Cuba, an urgent debate on “the aerial attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ School in Minab, Iran, as a grave breach of international humanitarian law and international human rights.”
A new initiative this session was a resolution adopted without a vote, on the human rights of persons in street situations, which called on States to take all measures necessary to eliminate legislation that criminalised homelessness and to implement and strengthen nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all.
Finally, the Council appointed 17 mandate holders:
- the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Thomas Andrews (United States of America);
- the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, member from Asia-Pacific States, John Phillip Binondo (Philippines);
- the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Kelley Anne Eckels-Currie (United States of America);
- the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, member from African States, Serges Alain Djoyou Kamga (South Africa);
- the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, member from Asia-Pacific States, Xiaohui Liang (China);
- the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, member from Eastern European States, Ramona Biholar (Romania);
- the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, member from Western European and other States, Brian Keane (United States of America);
- the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, member from Asia, Gam Awungshi Shimray (India);
- the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, member from the Arctic, Dalee Sambo Dorough (United States of America);
- the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Zvezdan Pirtošek (Slovenia);
- the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Koldo Andoni Casla Salazar (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland);
- the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons, Katarina Schwarz (New Zealand);
- the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Elena Carolina Diaz Galan (Spain);
- the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Zeina Jallad (State of Palestine);
- the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Sofia Monsalve Suarez (Colombia);
- the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, Ai Kihara-Hunt (Japan);
- the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Andrea Bolaños Vargas (Colombia).