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Reforming the UN human rights system: defenders’ voices matter!

Never have we needed a robust international human rights system so badly. But the UN human rights system is in crisis and must be reformed. We need institutions that are principled, consistent, and accountable. Follow our campaign to find out how!

As the United Nations approaches its 80th anniversary, the world stands at a crossroads. From escalating conflicts and rising authoritarianism to climate breakdown and deepening inequality, today’s crises are not just political or economic—they are profoundly human. At this pivotal moment, the UN must recommit to its founding promise: to uphold the dignity and rights of all. A reformed and revitalised human rights pillar that is principled, consistent and accountable is not a luxury—it is a necessity. 

On 12 March 2025, the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the UN80 Initiative that aims to update the UN’s structures, priorities, and operations for the 21st century so the system ‘remains effective, cost-efficient and responsive to the people it serves’. 

Meanwhile, the UN is in crisis:

  • Crisis in credibility – as a result of the lack of accountability for atrocity crimes and its connection with double standards and selectivity, lack of enforceability and implementation of human rights obligations, and representation at the multilateral level of autocratic regimes.
  • Crisis in finance – as a result of the politicisation of UN contributions and decline in common commitment for a global world order that holds human rights as one of its pillars. In addition to the fact that for years not all member States have paid their contributions in full and on time, this year several States have reduced significantly or withdrawn entirely their financial support across a number of key bodies and agencies. 

The UN80 Initiative has been presented as an opportunity to strengthen the UN system and be able to better deliver for those most marginalised and vulnerable. However the process has: 

  • lacked transparency
  • provided very limited opportunities for civil society engagement
  • focused on efficiency, rationalisation and trimming spending

UN80 must be more than a symbolic milestone; it must be a turning point that strengthens the UN’s capacity to respond effectively to injustice, elevate the voices of the marginalised, and ensure that human rights are not sidelined, but centered, in global governance. This is the time for bold leadership, courageous reform, and unwavering commitment to the people the UN was created to serve. 

 

What do we want? 

We recognise the urgent need for substantive, long-term reform of the UN system in order for it to adequately respond to a world facing multiple acute crises. Decisions should improve the effectiveness, reach, and responsiveness of UN human rights mechanisms, and should not focus solely on efficiency and cost-cutting. As real as the financial crisis facing us all might be, UN80 deliberations must ensure that decisions for reform are in line with the expectations, needs and demands of human rights defenders, victims and survivors. 

First, we want the process to be based on certain principles: 

  • Inclusive and participatory engagement: Ensure safe and meaningful participation of affected populations, independent civil society and human rights defenders in all reform discussions and negotiations, especially from the Global South.
  • Transparency: All processes should be open, with clear communication about agendas, timelines, and decisions as well as proposals on the table for deliberation.
  • Human rights-centred approach: Reforms must prioritise the promotion, protection, and fulfilment of human rights.
  • Equity: The process should proactively address power imbalances and ensure that historically marginalised groups are not excluded or further disadvantaged.
  • Sustainability: Reforms should promote financial and environmental sustainability, and not be cosmetic or short-term fixes. 

Then, we want any decision made to be guided by the following criteria: 

Decisions should improve the effectiveness, relevance, responsiveness and impact of UN human rights mechanisms, and should not focus solely on efficiency and cost-cutting.

Both processes and outcomes should enable, value and reflect the expertise and lived experiences of affected populations. 

Reforms must protect key human rights bodies  and mechanisms from political interference or budgetary manipulation.

Reforms must be consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, core human rights treaties, customary international law and progressively evolving human rights standards. 

Reforms must ensure that all situations and issues are addressed on the basis of evidence and by applying human rights norms in a principled and consistent manner and without discrimination, avoiding politicisation, double standards, or selective scrutiny.

Reforms should incentivise meaningful state engagement with UN mechanisms while establishing clear consequences—diplomatic, reputational, or procedural—for obstruction or refusal to cooperate.

There must be pathways to justice for victims and consequences for violators.

Reforms must strengthen mechanisms to hold political, military, and corporate actors accountable for serious human rights violations, regardless of status or power, including through support for international investigative and judicial processes.

What can you do? 

We have an opportunity to put forward a vision of the UN human rights system that serves victims and survivors, as well as movements around the world. 

Are you a human rights defender? Make your voice heard!

Are you a human rights defender? Make your voice heard!

We invite human rights defenders and civil society actors working in national and regional contexts to take this survey so your voices can be channeled in the decision-making spaces. 

Take the survey
Are you a concerned citizen? Send a letter to UN decision makers!

Are you a concerned citizen? Send a letter to UN decision makers!

We invite everyone to send an email to Guy Ryder (UN Under-Secretary-General for Policy in charge of developing concrete reform proposals under the UN80 initiative) and to Volker Türk (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), calling on them to base any reform process on the above principles and criteria put forward by ISHR and civil society partners.

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All you need to know about the UN80 initiative and the reform of the UN

In March 2025 the UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the UN80 Initiative that also coincides with the organisation’s 80th anniversary. 

The primary aim of the Initiative stated by the Secretary-General is to be ‘more efficient, to simplify procedures, eliminate overlaps and enhance transparency and accountability.’  The UN80 reform initiative has been also linked to the Pact of the Future adopted in September 2024 and the UN 2.0 that requires for the UN to meet the current needs and requirements of multilateralism and ‘exactly about updating the UN for the 21st century.’

However, the initiative is also linked to the United Nations’ ongoing liquidity crisis, driven by Member States’ continued failure to meet their financial obligations in full and on time over the past seven years.

‘The liquidity crisis we now face is not new.  But, today’s financial and political situation adds even greater urgency to our efforts.  We face real threats to the very fabric, values, principles and sustainability of multilateralism.’ – stated António Guterres.

On 9 May 2025 Assistant Secretary-General Chandramouli Ramanathan briefed Fifth Committee members of the UN General Assembly about the current situation of the liquidity crisis. In his statement ASG mentioned that as of 9 May 2025 only 59 Member States have paid all assessment due and payable in full. In his statement, he emphasized that predictable and timely contributions are essential for managing the Organisation’s finances and avoiding payment defaults. Member States were urged to pay earlier and share their payment plans to support effective programme delivery.

As of April 30 2025, the total amount of unpaid dues was $2.4 billion. The United States accounted for around $1.5 billion of that amount. Other States to the unpaid balance included China with $597 million, Russia with $72 million, Saudi Arabia with $42 million, and both Mexico and Venezuela owing $38 million each. An additional $137 million in outstanding payments is owed by other Member States.

In March 2025, Guterres formally announced the UN80 Initiative, outlining key reform goals in a speech at UN headquarters.

The Secretary General appointed Guy Ryder, the Under-Secretary-General for Policy, to lead an internal task force responsible for developing concrete proposals in three areas:

  • Identify efficiencies and improvements in work of the UN
  • Review the implementation of all mandates .   
  • Strategic review of structural changes and programme realignment in the UN System.

The launch came with a clear message: the UN must ‘do more with less’ and realign itself to meet today’s global challenges. 

After the launch of the UN80 Reform Initiative, a policy memo labeled ‘Strictly Confidential’ was circulated among UN agencies but became widely disseminated due to an online leak.

The policy memo is divided into different sections that identify general challenges and propose systemic solutions. These solutions are further broken down into thematic categories: Peace and Security, Humanitarian Affairs, Sustainable Development, Human Rights, the Resident Coordinator System, and also elaborate on cross-cutting proposals.

 The memo identifies following systemic challenges:

  • System inefficiencies due to expanding mandates, structural fragmentation, and outdated practices. Over time, the number of agencies, funds, and programmes has steadily increased, often with overlapping responsibilities and no clear exit strategies leading to duplication, wasted resources, and inconsistent delivery of services.
  • Outdated working methods. Many intergovernmental meetings still rely on traditional formats and have not adopted modern technologies that could streamline discussions and decision-making.
  • Considerable overlap in mandates and agendas across different UN bodies, resulting in repetitive work and confusion over responsibilities.
  • The fragmentation undermines the UN’s ability to act cohesively and respond effectively to global challenges. Meanwhile, shifts in global power dynamics and declining foreign aid budgets are putting further pressure on the UN’s credibility and operational capacity.
  • The senior leadership structure continues to grow, with an inflation of Under-Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General positions and D level positions. 

While aiming to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, and financial sustainability, the memo proposes focusing on three key principles: integration, consolidation, and coordination. These include aligning mandates, reducing duplication, and strengthening coordination.

In case of the human rights pillar the memo proposes to merge multiple entities into a single human rights entity. 

  • It proposes to establish a unified “Office for the Protection of Vulnerable Populations” by consolidating offices dealing with protection issues affecting vulnerable populations (Children and Armed Conflict – CAAC, Sexual Violence in Conflict – SVC, Violence Against Children – VAC and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse- SEA) within OHCHR. 
  • Consolidate the specialised protection mandates and offices in OHCHR, with each area headed at Director level, reporting to the Assistant Secretary General and OHCHR.
  • Establish a UN Human Rights Department led by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, coordinating human rights protection across the UN system, including servicing the UN human rights mechanisms and integrating human rights into sustainable development, peace & security and humanitarian engagement. 
  • Merge protection mandates (CAAC, SVC, VAC, Genocide Prevention & Responsibility to Protect)  into the Department. 
    • Reduce senior posts by replacing existing 4 Under Secretary Generals + 1 Assistant Secretary General with 1 Assistant Secretary General + 1 Director (D2) + 2 Head of Division (D1)
    • Establish a consolidated Protection Support Hub to increase impact of UN-wide human rights protection work 
    • Decentralise of core functions and capacities envisaged, including through shifting support to mechanisms/mandates away from headquarters (e.g. UPR), leading to reduced staffing & operational costs.

The strategic review of structural changes and the identification of inefficiencies will also lead to a reduction in human capacity. Under the UN80 Reform, a 20% budget cut is expected by eliminating duplicates. 

On 12 May 2025 the Secretary General briefed the Member States laying out the system wide reforms reiterating the work towards three work streams that are the basis of the UN80 reform:

  • Identify efficiencies and improvements under current arrangements. 
  • Review the implementation of all mandates 
  • Undertake consideration of the need for structural changes and programme realignment across the UN system.

Three work streams have their dedicated working groups: 

  1. Under the first work-stream on efficiencies and improvements, Under-Secretary-General Catherine Pollard is leading a Secretariat Working Group to develop a new management strategy and business model for the UN. The group is focused on reducing costs and improving efficiency by streamlining administrative functions, consolidating structures, relocating services from high-cost locations, centralising IT, and expanding automation. All Secretariat entities, particularly in New York and Geneva, are reviewing functions to identify tasks that could be moved to lower-cost locations or phased out. At the broader UN system level, the High-Level Committee on Management is developing system-wide efficiency proposals in areas like HR, supply chain, and ICT, aiming to deliver services faster and more cost-effectively.
  2. The second work-stream focuses on mandate implementation review on how the UN system carries them out. The goal is to simplify and improve implementation. As Secretary General states a similar review was done in 2006, which highlighted issues like overlapping mandates, excessive reporting, and disconnects between mandates and resources. These problems have since grown. The current review takes a system-wide approach, starting with the Secretariat. Over 3,600 unique mandates have already been identified in the programme budget. These are now being analysed and grouped to spot redundancies, overlaps, and areas for better coordination. Based on the information the relevant departments will be engaged to suggest improvements, and Member States may also consider reviewing the mandates themselves. Ultimately, success will be measured not by reports and meetings, but by meaningful impact on the ground.
  3. The third work-stream covers structural changes. While many proposals will stem from the mandate implementation review, the process is already underway. Nearly 50 senior UN leaders have submitted initial ideas, reflecting strong ambition and creative thinking on how to realign structures and programmes for greater impact.

To advance the three UN80 workstreams, seven clusters have been established under the UN80 Task Force, in coordination with the Secretariat Working Group. Each cluster brings together organisations with related mandates to drive efficiencies, review mandate implementation, and explore structural reforms.

Changes resulting from initiatives under the UN80 Reform Initiative will be:

  • Reflected in the revised estimates for the 2026 Programme Budget, which will be presented in September 2025, in time for the regular budget approval process before year-end.
  • Additional or more substantive changes requiring further analysis will be incorporated into the Proposed Programme Budget for 2027.

Key dates:

  • End of June: first proposal on efficiencies. 
  • End of July: publication of the report on Mandates
  • 2026: final report with proposals should be presented to the 2026 UN General Assembly session.
  • Transparency: it has proven difficult to understand the process. There is no clarity around the decision-makers, timelines, measures as well as the mechanisms for engagement with civil society organisations. 
  • Meaningful consultation and engagement with civil society: apart from a very technical survey circulated by OHCHR in June 2025 and some meetings held with some NGOs in New York and Geneva, there has been no formal engagement process with civil society organisations. 
  • The initiative has focused on cost-saving measures. By doing so, it has so far not addressed issues of responsiveness and effectiveness. There is also a parallel discussion on the longer-term reform of the United Nations. Both processes need to happen, but the urgency of the first process should not hastily dictate the outcomes of the second crucial process. 
  • UN 2.0 – a direction of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to look ahead to the next 25 years and to ensuring human rights as a solution to the existing world challenges. 
  • Treaty body strengthening aims to improve coordination, align working methods, and reduce reporting burdens for States and rights-holders.
  • Security Council Reform aims for greater representation and effectiveness. 
  • Pact for the Future commitments. 

What are human rights defenders saying? 

ISHR has opened a survey for national and regional level human rights actors. In the past weeks, we have received 85 responses. Preliminary results indicate some useful information to help guide discussions. 

1. When asked what the key challenges faced by the UN human rights system are, the top responses include

    • Lack of enforcement mechanisms
    • Lack of implementation of human rights obligations
    • Political divisions that obstruct the mechanisms from doing their job
    • Lack of accountability for atrocity crimes

2. When asked what should be the main role of the UN’s human rights pillar in the current reality: most of the answers centered on implementation and enforceability.

3. When asked how the UN human rights system could be more responsive to grassroots realities:

    • Ensure safe and meaningful access and participation of civil society and HRDs
    • Put people and communities affected by human rights violations at the centre of decisions
    • Reform the Security Council (e.g abolish the veto in situations of atrocity crimes and/or remove permanent seats) 

4. We asked whether the UN still has a relevant role to play in organising effective multilateral responses to crises and other global problems? Overwhelmingly, 80% of respondents say yes. Only 6% have said no. This means we have a clear mandate to do right by these communities. 

Some quotes from human rights defenders....

Elena Petrovska

LGBTI Equal Rights Association (ERA), Western Balkans/Turkey

Elena Petrovska

‘The UN human rights system—especially the Independent Expert on SOGI—is one of the few sources of legitimacy and visibility we have. It is a moral and political shield. Its renewal is not symbolic; it is essential. Without it, our lives and struggles risk being even more invisible and abandoned.

But the UN human rights system as a whole must do better.

First, it must become more accessible. Communities on the ground often don’t know how to engage or see any concrete results from engagement. Bureaucracy should not stand between a victim of hate crime and a system meant to protect them.

Second, it must protect us. Many defenders, especially trans and lesbian activists, are burnt out, under attack, and without recourse. The UN must put in place real-time mechanisms to respond to attacks on human rights defenders.

Third, it must center intersectionality—not just as a buzzword, but as a practice. The realities of being LGBTI and poor, rural, Roma, refugee, or a survivor of violence must be front and center.

We don’t want pity. We want rights. We want to live freely and safely, with dignity, like anyone else. The UN must rise to the challenge—not only to protect the LGBTI community, but to uphold the credibility of the entire human rights system.‘

Mariama Jumie Bah

Human Rights Defenders Network Sierra Leone

Mariama Jumie Bah

‘The UN might be a multilateral arrangement for States, but ultimately it needs to be responsive and accountable to “we, the peoples”, as stated in the UN Charter. 

We organise ourselves as civil society – paid or unpaid, formal or informal – and are key stakeholders in the design, development and implementation of all UN outcomes, especially those of the human rights bodies and mechanisms. It is time to take us more seriously, and to formalise our role and existence.

Back home, when I told the women human rights defenders in my network that I am coming here to Geneva, they all told me ‘don’t bother, you can’t do anything there’. They say this is an institution created by the wealthy and powerful States to serve only themselves. Will this be the legacy of the UN at 80, or can we address this perception meaningfully?’

Laura Restrepo

Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) & FDSS, Colombia

Laura Restrepo

‘We cannot afford to speak of human rights in purely technical terms. We cannot treat structural inequality as a background issue. If the UN is to live up to its principles, it must take a more honest and active stance toward this systemic injustice.

So what can the UN do to remain relevant and responsive — not just in Colombia, but across similar contexts — to better address these structural and historical systems?

The UN must look inward and acknowledge its own colonial legacies — in who speaks, who decides, and whose knowledge counts. It must shift power toward grassroots and frontline communities, especially those that have been historically silenced.

It must treat systematic matters as core drivers of violence and exclusion, and not simply as issues to be managed through side panels or technical cooperation.’

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