The ninth annual yourHRC.org Guide to the Human Rights Council elections provides comprehensive at-a-glance information on the 2023 Council elections (which are scheduled to take place on 10 October at the General Assembly in New York), when States from all regions will compete to win seats for new three-year membership terms (2024-2026). In particular, the Guide aims to promote transparency …
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From reaction to prevention: report of transatlantic roundtable on prevention

This report summarises the transatlantic dialogue on prevention organised by International Crisis Group and the Universal Rights Group, in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 20th February 2023.
Building Bridges for At-Risk Indigenous, Land and Environmental Defenders

On 11-13 April 2023, ALLIED – the Alliance for Land, Indigenous, and Environmental Defenders – brought together ALLIED members; donors; indigenous, environmental and land defenders (ILEDs); and regional and international organisations working to support ILEDs in Bogotá, Colombia, with the overarching objective of identifying pathways and strategies for increased protection for these defenders and ways to accelerate change in the …
For people; for planet: The long and winding road to UN recognition of the universal right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment

On Friday 8 October 2021, member states of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (Council) moved to adopt two historic resolutions. With the first of these (Council resolution 48/13), presented by Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, and Switzerland (the core group on human rights and the environment), the Council recognised a new universal human right: the right to a …
Advancing Rights, Transforming Lives

This report reviews how the UN human rights system has taken up women’s rights, gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights and the degree to which these recommendations have been translated into action, with UNFPA’s support. Country examples demonstrate the impact of UNFPA’s strategic engagement with UN human rights mechanisms for advancing the rights and choices of women and girls.
Unpacking the Right to a Healthy Environment: How national and regional laws and jurisprudence clarify the scope and content of the universal right

This report examines this body of practice, namely the features and best practices associated with the global implementation of the right to a healthy environment.
‘A diamond in the rough’: How to strengthen the Human Rights Council’s delivery of technical assistance & capacity-building support (Item 10 reform)

The present policy brief provides thoughts on how the Council might strengthen the delivery of domestic capacity-building support in the future – how it might ‘reset and revitalize item 10.’
Bridging the Human Rights Implementation Gap: A Commonwealth Survey

In January 2022, the Commonwealth Secretariat launched a survey of national frameworks for the implementation of international human rights obligations in Commonwealth member states. The primary objectives of the survey were to: a. Contribute to the body of knowledge, such as studies conducted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other organisations, on …
Report of the 8th Istanbul Process Meeting

Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva organized the 8th Istanbul Process (IP) virtually, on 16 February 2022. The meeting’s agenda was set on the theme “10th anniversary of Human Rights Council (HRC) Resolution 16/18: Looking Back and Moving Forward”. This meeting included three segments; (I) High-Level Inaugural Session, (II) Panel I: Ten years of Istanbul Process: Looking …
The Human Rights Council in 2022

What were the main developments, achievements and flash-points at the Human Rights Council in 2022? What were the Council’s principle outputs and what kind of impact did the body and its mechanisms have on the on-the-ground enjoyment of human rights? Did members of the Council cooperate with the international human rights mechanisms, and with OHCHR, over the past twelve months? …