Happy Year of the Rooster! This selection of Chinese-language articles from our HRC@10 Monitor introduces the promise and potential of the Human Rights Council to a new audience.
As part of ISHR’s efforts to reach a greater number of defenders and ordinary citizens globally, we’ve curated a selection of articles reflecting on the Human Rights Council and translated them into simplified Chinese. They are all linked here, making information about the UN human rights system more accessible than ever, for anyone.
‘Chinese citizens and Chinese speakers are increasingly interested in learning about international issues, including human rights and the work of the UN,’ says Sarah M Brooks, ISHR programme manager for Asia. ‘This article selection helps explain both the critiques and the hopes that leading human rights defenders have for the Human Rights Council’.
China was re-elected to the Human Rights Council in October 2016 for a second, three-year term.
Ms Brooks adds, ‘With China taking a more prominent role in multilateral affairs, it is only fitting that the global conversations about the UN system should be translated and thus inclusive of voices of Chinese defenders’.
Articles included in this selection are:
The first decade
By Ruki Fernando, human rights activist and advisor at INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre
By Feliciano Reyna, Venezuelan human rights defender
By Linda Wang, UN Coordinator, and Alex Beck, Senior Program and Development Coordinator of Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders
A mandate for more
By Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
By Miloon Kothari, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing
A Human Rights Council for the future
By R. Iniyan Ilango, UN Advocacy Programme Manager at the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
By Camila Asano of Conectas Human Rights, Gabriela Kletzel of the Center for Legal and Social Studies, Daniela Quintanilla of Corporación Humanas and Paulo de Tarso Lugon Arantes of CELS, Conectas and Corporación Humanas
At a time of financial strife and ongoing reform for the organisation, States have adopted a 2026 budget cutting 117 jobs at the UN’s Human Rights Office. The final budget endorses proposed cuts that disproportionately target human rights, imperilling the UN’s ability to investigate grave abuses, and advance human rights globally.
ISHR and 37 human rights organisations in Latin America issued a joint statement condemning the United States military attack against Venezuela and expressing concern about the serious human rights situation in the country. Any solution to the crisis facing the country must be democratic, peaceful and negotiated, centred on respect for human rights, and prioritising the participation and decision-making power of Venezuelan society over its future.
In a landmark ruling against Burundi, the UN Committee against Torture has set a precedent on the protection of lawyers and human rights defenders engaging with UN mechanisms, affirming that reprisals for cooperating with the UN violate the Convention Against Torture.
