The Human Rights Council, created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe, addressing situations of human rights violations, and making recommendations on them.
The Council is made up of 47 Member States which are elected by members of the General Assembly of the United Nations through direct and secret ballot. Members of the Council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
The Council’s rotating membership is based on equitable geographical distribution of the following seats: African States: 13 seats; Asia-Pacific States: 13 seats; Latin American and Caribbean States: 8 seats; Western European and other States: 7 seats; Eastern European States: 6 seats.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) organized an online side event in connection with the 47th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. The event was titled The Use of Torture: Suppression of Dissidents -- The Need for Accountability to End Torture in The Middle East.
In March 2021, GCHR and partner...
The 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC47) takes place in Geneva from June 21 - July 15. HRC47 will consider issues including systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protesters, sexual orientation and gender identity, violence and discrimination against women and girls, poverty, peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression. In June 2020, the Council convened...
Last June, the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, and Philando Castile, together with over 650 civil society organizations, called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to convene a special session to respond to the situation of escalating human rights abuses in the United States. They sought the creation of an...
United Nations member countries recently voted by secret ballot to elect 15 countries to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). Human rights observers have raised concerns about the election of China, Cuba and Russia to the body. Saudi Arabia was a candidate, but was not elected. The US withdrew from the HRC in 2018; many observers regretted the US decision...
As reported in the June UN Liaison Bulletin, following an urgent debate on racially-inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violent responses to peaceful protests, the Council mandated the High Commissioner to develop a report on “systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents...
In Geneva on February 25, 2020, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet made the following statement (excerpted):
"The adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was a comprehensive expression of States’ commitments to the human rights of women and girls. One hundred and eighty nine countries pledged to achieve gender equality, in practice and in law, so that...