Superpower rivalry ‘captures’ the Human Rights Council

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group Blog, Blog, HRC, Human Rights Council, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

As argued in the Universal Rights Group’s end of session report , the recently concluded 48th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC48) was one of the most acrimonious gatherings in the fifteen-year history of the Council, with heightened contemporary geopolitical tensions spilling over into, and in many ways ‘capturing,’ the critical wider work of the UN’s main human rights body. Much of the …

Growing Canada-China tension spills out into the Human Rights Council

by Martin Fiette, Universal Rights Group Blog, Blog, HRC, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

Diplomatic tensions between Canada and China have been on the rise for a number of years, particularly since the arrest in 2018 of Huawei CEO Meng Wanzhou by the Canadian authorities on behalf of the US. The Chinese response was swift and brutal – two Canadians were detained in China for ‘endangering national security.’ In late June, those tensions spilled …

Western States flex their ‘Magnitsky muscles’ to secure accountability for human rights abuses in China

by the URG team Accountability, Blog, Blog, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, HRC, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Magnitsky, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

With the return of the US to the UN stage, geopolitical tensions surrounding human rights, especially relating to alleged violations of human rights law by China, Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have resurfaced, dominating , for example, the recently concluded 46th session of the Human Rights Council . Central to the renewed tensions with China is deep US concern about the treatment of the country’s Muslim minority population …

US-China-Russia rivalry spills over into the Human Rights Council

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group Blog, Blog, Human Rights Council, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

Towards the end of last year, Bahrain’s ambassador in Geneva suddenly threw his hat into the ring for the presidency of the Human Rights Council – potentially blocking the previously unopposed candidacy of Fiji’s ambassador, Nazhat Shameem Khan. Then, earlier this month, Belarus and Cuba delivered two joint statements at the Council, attacking EU member States and the UK, and calling on …

China and the UN’s human protection agenda

by Rosemary Foot, Senior Research Fellow in International Relations at the University of Oxford Blog, Blog, By invitation, By invitation, Human Rights Council, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, International human rights institutions, mechanisms and processes

In 1999, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan famously drew attention to what he saw as a core feature of the late twentieth century – a reinterpretation of State sovereignty. As he put it: ‘When we read the Charter today, we are more than ever conscious that its aim is to protect individual human beings, not to protect those who abuse them.’ …

The UN Secretary-General’s human rights crisis can be solved

by Dr Bertrand G. Ramcharan Beyond the Council, Blog, By invitation, By invitation, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, UNSG, UPR

There is a crisis in the United Nations human-rights system. Secretary-General António Guterres can lead the way out of it. Indeed, the world continues to look to the UN secretary-general to stand up for the principles of the organisation. One of the highest responsibilities of the incumbent is to help steer a course toward realising UN goals in the areas …

China Rising

by the URG team Blog, Blog, HRC, Human Rights Council, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

A review of the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council The 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council (read URG’s report on the session here ), held from the end of February to late March, was, in many ways, like any other session of the Council. The failure of States to agree on modest but important efficiency proposals in …