Report on the 28th Session of the Human Rights Council

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

Quick Summary The 28th regular session of the Human Rights Council was held from 2nd to 27th March 2015. Opening the session , the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein drew attention to the the disconnect between the obligations and commitments of states under international law and the alarming regularity with which human rights are disregarded and violated. The high level segment was attended by, …

HRC28 and the Special Procedures: celebrating three steps forward, and avoiding one step back

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group and the URG team Blog, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, International human rights institutions, mechanisms and processes, Special Procedures

The 28th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC28) saw a number of developments with highly significant implications for the future of the Special Procedures mechanism, the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the UN’s human rights protection system. Some of these developments were undoubtedly positive and in line with the recommendations put forward in the recent  Universal Rights Group-Brookings Institution policy report on Special Procedures . Others, with potential implications …

The JIU report: what’s all the fuss about?

by Subhas Gujadhur and Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group Blog, HRC, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, International human rights institutions, mechanisms and processes

Casual observers of the Human Rights Council may have been forgiven, in the run up to the body’s 28th session (2nd to 27th March), for a degree of bafflement at repeated and sometimes quite excitable references to a three letter acronym: JIU. The reason for all the excitement was the publication of a  report by the JIU  (Joint Inspection Unit – the UN system’s independent external oversight …

The Council’s full-day panel debate on climate change should be a springboard for further and deeper action in the run-up to COP21 in Paris

by Professor John H. Knox, former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment Blog, Climate change, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, EHRD, HRC, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Thematic human rights issues

The 28th session of the Human Rights Council marks the end of the initial three-year term of the mandate of the  Independent Expert on human rights and the environment . Over the past year, in my capacity as the Independent Expert, I have focused on identifying, promoting and exchanging views on good practices relating to the use of human rights obligations to inform, support and strengthen environmental policymaking. …