UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS

Looking Ahead to #HRC60

On 8 September 2025, High Commissioner Volker Türk will open the 60th regular session of the Human Rights Council (#HRC60) by providing a comprehensive outlook on the situation of human rights in the world. This will take the form of an oral update, followed by country-specific situations under agenda item 2. These will offer the Council the opportunity to hold interactive dialogues on Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Council will then turn its attention to a vibrant array of thematic issues touching upon:

• Civil and political rights: contemporary forms of slavery, the right to privacy, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention.

• Economic, social and cultural rights: safe drinking water and sanitation.

• Collective rights: the right to development (SR and Expert Mechanism), the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.

• Human rights of specific groups and individuals: the rights of older persons (SR), the use of mercenaries (WG), Indigenous peoples (SR and expert mechanism, combined items 3 and 5).

• Interlinkages between human rights and related thematic issues: unilateral coercive measures (UCMs); hazardous substances and wastes; truth, justice and reparation (SR); and human rights in the context of climate change (SR).

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 as well as the Groups of Experts on Belarus and Nicaragua. On the latter, the Council will further hold an interactive dialogue on the report presented by the High Commissioner. Other interactive dialogues will be dedicated to the reports presented by the Special Rapporteurs on Burundi and Russia, the Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, the Commission of Inquiry to Ukraine, as well as an enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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

• Unilateral coercive measures, exploring the impact of such measures and overcompliance on the right to food and food security.

• Combating discrimination, violence and harmful practices against intersex person, with the aim of understanding the impact of discriminatory laws, policies and acts of violence and harmful practices they face, and their root causes across different regions.

• Youth and human rights, focussing on the role of youth in fostering peaceful societies and creating an enabling environment for the enjoyment of human rights by all.

• Indigenous peoples, with a focus on their rights in the context of a just transition to sustainable energy systems, including in relation to critical minerals.

• The integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms will offer a space for reflection on progress achieved and the enduring challenges in ensuring that transitional justice processes comprehensively address gender-based violations and abuses and uphold women’s rights, including their equal participation.

Agenda items 9 will be dedicated to the interactive dialogues with the expert mechanism to advance racial justice and equality in law enforcement and the Working Group  on people of African descent, alongside the presentation of the report of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

Oral updates and reports on technical assistance and capacity-building (item 10) presented to the Council will focus on Haiti, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Libya, and Ukraine.

As per usual practice, the Council will devote the last three days of this session to decisions and conclusions.

Preserving the Institutional Memory of the UN 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.