UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS

Daunting Perspectives Overshadowing #HRC59 and the Wider UN Human Rights System

Deeply saddening for all those who are suffering on the field and desperately need UN life-saving assistance and support, the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (# HRC59) will be overshadowed by a major liquidity crisis across the whole UN system which will have extremely severe repercussions on the organization and functioning of the entire UN human rights system, including its Secretariat. Amputations on the #HRC59 Draft Programme of Work are expected to be approved on 2 June 2025 at the organizational session. Keep an eye on our website for insider updates!

Looking Ahead at #HRC59

#HRC59 will be opened by the presentation of the much awaited High Commissioner’s annual report (item 1) which will paint a comprehensive picture of the current state of human rights across the globe.

This will be followed by item 2 of the agenda featuring the very first appearance before the Council of the newly established Fact-Finding Mission on eastern DRC (A/HRC/RES/S-37/1) as well as usual interactive dialogues with the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the Special Rapporteurs on Afghanistan and Eritrea. Under the same agenda item, the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan will present an oral update, which will not followed by an interactive dialogue (ID).

Item 3 of the Council’s agenda unfolds in a vibrant array of thematic issues touching upon:

• Civil and political rights: peaceful assembly and association, freedom of expression, independence of judges and lawyers, and summary executions.

• Economic, social and cultural rights: safe drinking water and sanitation, the highest attainable standard of health, education, and extreme poverty.

• Human rights of specific groups and individuals: discrimination against persons affected by leprosy, human rights of migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs), discrimination and violence against women and girls, violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and trafficking in persons.

• Interlinkages between human rights and related thematic issues: genocide prevention, international solidarity, climate change, and transnational corporations.

The Human Rights Council will further look into human rights situations that require its attention (item 4) by hearing oral updates from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria (presentation only) as well as from the Special Rapporteurs on Burundi and Myanmar. Under agenda item 4, the High Commissioner will present his reports on Myanmar (ID) and Venezuela (ID) as well as an oral update on Nicaragua (presentation only). The Special Rapporteur on Belarus will also address the Council in the framework of an ID.

Furthermore, the Council’s rostrum will host four substantive panels. Nested all along the session, these promising panes are dedicated to pressing human rights issues of utmost significance and urgency in the 21st century.

• Women’s rights articulated into two panels:
  o  Gender-based violence against women and girls in conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian settings.
  o  Commemoration of the International Day of Women in Diplomacy focusing on overcoming barriers to women’s leadership in peace processes.

• Safe drinking water and sanitation (more details on 2 June 2025).

• The adverse impacts of climate change on human rights, with a focus on the facilitation of just transitions in the context of addressing the impacts of climate change on the full realization of human rights for all people.

• Technical cooperation and capacity-building, centred on the role of technical cooperation and capacity-building in strengthening national structures which play a role in promoting and safeguarding human rights, particularly national human rights institutions and national mechanisms for implementation, reporting and follow-up (NMIRFs).

Agenda items 7 and 9 will be dedicated to the interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur (SR) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the SR on contemporary forms of racism respectively.

Oral presentations and reports on technical assistance and capacity-building (item 10) presented to the Council will focus on the Central African Republic, Colombia, and Ukraine, including the situation of human rights in Crimea. As per usual practice, the Council will devote the last few days of this session to decisions and conclusions.

Preserving the Institutional Memory of the Human Rights Council

The Geneva Centre’s UNHRC Reporting strategy aims at providing an extensive coverage of the wealth of expertise and views emerging from interactive dialogues among Special Procedures, UN high-ranking officials, eminent researchers and practitioners, State delegations, inter-governmental organizations and civil society playing an active role on the Council’s global stage.

Drawing directly from the long-standing experience and official style of UN summary records, the Geneva Centre’s UNHRC reports ensure an in-depth coverage of all views expressed by each delegation and organization in an objective and impartial manner, resting upon cardinal UN principles and core values such as equal treatment, sovereign equality, respect for diversity and openness to dialogue.

UNHRC Reporting is most and foremost a testimony of the immense research work carried out by leading experts in various thematic fields who bring to the table of the Council a wealth of knowledge, creativity and interdisciplinary background which ultimately serves to the furtherance of human rights and sustainable development.

As the institutional memory of the world’s most prominent multilateral body dedicated to human rights, UNHRC Reporting chiefly serves the historical legacy of emerging human rights concepts and burgeoning human rights standards which may become tomorrow’s hard law.

Looking forward to your valuable feedback, comments and questions, feel free to reach out any time at rfranceschet@gchragd.org, including for an in-person discussion.