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The 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council (24 February to 4 April 2025) will discuss the protection of human rights defenders, freedom of religion, human rights while countering terrorism, and rights to food and housing. It will also address grave human rights issues in countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela, China, Syria, South Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Eritrea, and the occupied Palestinian territory/Israel, amongst others. Here’s an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.
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Click on the links below to browse through this full overview of the upcoming Council session:
On 10 February 2025, the Council decided that ‘NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC and NHRIs with “A” status would have the possibility to deliver their statements in person or via pre-recorded video statements’. The Bureau of the Council ‘agreed that, in order to balance the importance of inclusivity and what is feasible in terms of time and resources, the list of speakers for NGOs for each of the General Debates would be set in line with the average number of NGOs that participated in each of the General Debates in the previous three March sessions.
The Secretariat announced that ‘space for NGO side events will continue being allocated at a reduced level. In the context of the renovations under the Strategic Heritage Plan, rooms will be allocated according to availability, and it may not be possible to accommodate all requests […] a maximum of one side event per NGO may be requested. Each side event will last a maximum of one hour.’
Read the information note by the Secretariat which is updated according to the latest information.
ISHR will be organising a side event on human rights defenders and new and emerging technologies on 7 March 2025 at 13:00 in room XXV.
Here are some highlights of the session’s thematic discussions:
At this 58th session, the Council will discuss a range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and issues through dedicated debates:
The Council will also consider various other reports, see the full list here.
During each Council session, panel discussions provide member States and NGOs with opportunities to hear from subject-matter experts and raise questions. Nine panel discussions are scheduled for this upcoming session:
Civil society organisations remain concerned with the implementation of the decision that informal negotiations and informal meetings taking place on the sidelines of the session would only be available on a cost recovery basis. This means that States are still required to pay for the use of WebEx for hybrid informal negotiations on draft resolutions. We regret further that, throughout 2024, only very few informal consultations were made available for remote participation.
An inclusive approach to participation requires that the United Nations addresses the limited space for civil society engagement. In this regard, we urge States to ensure that all informal negotiations during HRC58 are made available on WebEx, as done in previous sessions, to allow for broad, meaningful and diverse participation from civil society organisations and human rights defenders, particularly those at the national and regional levels, who cannot attend the session in person.
We reiterate civil society calls for States to address the liquidity crisis and its dire consequences on the work of the Human Rights Council and related mechanisms and to prevent the instrumentalisation of the cash flow crisis to create further restrictions on civil society participation and engagement with the HRC.
The suspension of US government funding, together with announced and anticipated reductions in support from some other governments and institutional philanthropy, will greatly reduce the capacity for organisations to support human rights defenders globally, particularly to those working in restrictive environments as well as conflict contexts. The move will also greatly undermine efforts to ensure that multilateral arrangements based on human rights promotion and protection are effective and responsive.
Governments, foundations, corporations and individuals must come together to create the resources needed for the global human rights architecture to be sustainable, innovative and impactful. We particularly need medium and small States to step up investment, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because their interests are not served where might is right.
This investment needs to be made in civil society at the national, regional and international levels, as well as in the international human rights system to which frontline defenders increasingly turn when justice and accountability are denied at the national level. The realisation of human rights will provide an unmatched return on investment.
At this session, Norway will present a draft resolution on human rights defenders and new and emerging technologies. This session’s resolution provides a useful and timely focus and a means to give effect to a range of obligations, including those contained in the Declaration and Declaration +25. Alongside 195 organisations, ISHR urges States to actively support the adoption of a resolution that recognises updated frameworks to protect human rights defenders in the digital era, addresses the growing risks of cybercrimes, online harassment, surveillance, and the suppression of free expression through censorship and disinformation. We also call on States to resist efforts that undermine and weaken the resolution.
ISHR continues to see that States are not meaningfully addressing the triple planetary crisis. This has been evidenced with less ambitious targets when it comes to climate change negotiations and lack of concrete measures to transition from fossil fuels. While many States took a consistent position in promoting and advancing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment during the hearings on the Advisory Opinion on Climate Change at the International Court of Justice hearings, too many others chose to reject and deny the existence of this right. ISHR is also concerned that environmental human right defenders (EHRDs), indigenous peoples, peasants movements, local communities and civil society from around continue to be outnumbered and excluded from climate and environmental decision-making processes. This is also in a context in which EHRDs continue to be subject of harassment, intimidation and even murder.
We urge the Council to continue addressing climate and environmental justice with a human rights perspective while safeguarding the planet, the environment and biodiversity. In particular, the resolution on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (R2HE) should address corporate accountability and recognize the positive, important and legitimate role played by EHRDs, including indigenous peoples. We also call on the States to ensure the meaningful participation of EHRDs in all climate and environment multilateral fora.
There will be also relevant reports that Special Rapporteurs will present this session. The Special Rapporteur on the R2HE will present a report on the relationship between the ocean and human rights. The report also develops on the responsibilities of companies and the impacts to specific groups, like fisherfolks. The Special Rapporteur on foreign debt is presenting a report on climate finance and the role of human rights on this topic, elaborating on the use of taxation to advance climate justice.
ISHR remains deeply concerned about migration policies and practices in all regions that continue to lead to deaths, torture and other grave human rights violations at sea and at international borders. Such policies and practices include pushbacks, excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, discriminatory treatment, unlawful deportation, and the criminalisation of solidarity and support, including rescues at sea, for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Over the last decade, more than 70,000 migrants have died while in transit across international borders. These violations are rarely investigated and are overwhelmingly perpetrated both by State authorities and criminal networks with impunity. Together with over 220 civil society partners, ISHR continues to call on Member States at the HRC to adopt a resolution mandating an investigative mechanism on grave violations of human rights of people in transit across international borders.
ISHR is also deeply concerned about reprisals against civil society actors who engage or seek to engage with UN bodies and mechanisms. We call on all States and the Council to do more to address this situation. Council debates are a key opportunity for States to raise concerns about specific cases of reprisals and demand that governments provide an update on any investigation or action taken toward accountability. An increasing number of States have raised concerns in recent sessions about individual cases of reprisals, including at HRC39, HRC41, HRC42, HRC43, HRC45, HRC51, HRC52, HRC53, HRC54, and HRC57.
States raising cases is an important aspect of ending impunity for acts of reprisal and intimidation against defenders engaging with the UN. It can also send a powerful message of solidarity to defenders, supporting and sustaining their work in repressive environments.
ISHR urges States to continue to raise cases on which ISHR has campaigned in the last three years in their statements. In addition, we urge States to raise and follow up on cases of reprisals in the country-specific debates taking place at HRC debates.
Systemic racism continues to put Black people all over the world in a collective situation of socio-economic and political disadvantage causing, amongst other things, physical, emotional and psychological harm, and even death at the hands of law enforcement.
As mentioned in the latest thematic report of the UN investigative mechanism on police violence against Africans and Afrodescendants, States need to establish a systemic approach in order to dismantle this systemic problem. To do so, States must examine the root causes of this intersectional violence and the laws, policies, practices and institutional cultures that stem from it.
In the context of the African Union’s year of reparations, as well as the calls for inputs from the Working Group of Experts of People of African Descent and the OHCHR four-point agenda, we call on States to put a special focus on the holistic and community-based meanings of reparations for Africans and Afrodescendants impacted by violence in the context of law enforcement; and to act in a proactive, victim-centered and locally focused manner to ensure accountability and redress.
The High Commissioner will provide an oral update to the Council on 3 March 2025. The Council will consider updates, reports and is expected to consider resolutions addressing a range of country situations, in some instances involving the renewal of the relevant expert mandates. These include:
ISHR calls on States to adopt a resolution at this 58th session of the Human Rights Council to establish an independent accountability mechanism on Afghanistan. Afghan and international civil society organisations have emphasised the urgent need for a mechanism with the mandate to investigate and collect, preserve and analyse evidence of grave violations and abuses in Afghanistan, with a view to advancing accountability. Such a mechanism could be a key tool in addressing the entrenched impunity at the heart of the current crisis, advancing accountability, and supporting access to justice, truth and reparation for victims. It would be distinct and complementary to the vital mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, and would also complement and support ongoing or future efforts at the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and at the national level, including through the use of universal (or other form of extraterritorial) jurisdiction in the courts of third countries.
The situation for human rights defenders in Guatemala remains grave. During their visit to Guatemala in July 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) highlighted the effect of ongoing impunity and corruption, and the instrumentalisation of the justice system. The NGO and watchdog UDEFEGUA has noted a sharp increase in attacks against human rights defenders from 2022 to 2023 (3,574 to 9,496), as well as in killings of defenders. In this context, Guatemala has indicated plans to develop and implement a series of human rights policies, plans and guidance over the next couple of years, for example a public policy for the protection of human rights defenders.
At the upcoming Council session, the High Commissioner will present his Item 2 report on Guatemala on 3 March. States should call on Guatemala to prevent attacks against defenders, including by addressing underlying causes including impunity and the lack of judicial independence. States should also encourage Guatemala to complete and implement its public policy to protect human rights defenders, ensuring the policy is in line with international standards and its implementation adequately resourced.
Join us for a side event covering these issues: ‘Human Rights in Guatemala: the defence of the rule of law from exile’, on 4 March (time and room tbc).
ISHR calls on States to ensure adequate attention is given at the international stage to the crisis in Haiti. We demand that States support civil society’s call for reparations from nations complicit in Haiti’s political and economic destabilisation and protect Haiti’s right to govern independently, ensuring constitutional reforms are Haitian-led rather than solely relying on foreign interventions. In addition, we call for an investigation into international missions including clear benchmarks, full transparency and expiration dates if no measurable progress is achieved.
In regard to migration, we call on States to uphold the principle of non-refoulement, halt deportations, while protecting and integrating Haitian migrants until stability in Haiti is achieved. In addition, States need to address the externalisation of Global North borders and its impact on neighboring States and consequently on all people in transit.
The human rights situation in Nicaragua continues to deteriorate. According to the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights’ latest HRC update in December 2024, ‘a severe, repressive climate reigns’ with new ‘[constitutional] reforms aimed at concentrating more power in the Presidency and criminalizing dissenting voices.’ The constitutional reform ‘strengthens the Government’s powers to strip individuals of citizenship and confiscate assets – already a widely used tool of arbitrary repression against government critics and dissidents.’ According to OHCHR, over 500 Nicaraguans have been stripped of their nationality, many of whom are currently stateless, including 135 individuals expelled to Guatemala in September 2024.
The Government of Nicaragua continues to oppose any form of constructive engagement with the HRC-mandated Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), the OHCHR or other UN human rights bodies, after it decided to disengage or oppose all treaty body reviews since 2021.
Jointly with members of the Colectivo 46/2 coalition, ISHR calls on the Human Rights Council to adopt a robust resolution on Nicaragua, renewing the mandates of the OHCHR and the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) for a period of two years, strengthening their thematic reporting at the HRC in Geneva and the UN General Assembly Third Committee in New York.
States should echo OHCHR’s calls for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained, including human rights defenders, an end to enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, and the prevention and investigation of violence by settlers against Indigenous communities, including sexual violence.
States should further address the economic and financial pillars underpinning the Government’s repression, including the responsibility of International Financial Institutions and multilateral funds (including the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund) as well as of mining companies in relation to human rights abuses, in particular against Indigenous Peoples.
ISHR calls on States to address the root causes as identified by UN experts and the ICJ, including settler-colonialism and apartheid, and to adopt effective measures, including an arms embargo on Israel, economic sanctions and suspension of trade relations, taking measures against businesses contributing to genocide, and implement urgent accountability measures, in addition to supporting the ongoing investigation by the ICC and the proceedings by the ICJ, and to put an end to decades of Israeli impunity for atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people.
The international community must uphold their commitments towards, and responsibility to protect, civilians by taking urgent measures to ensure access for necessary and life-saving humanitarian aid. The situation in South Kordofan region is deteriorating further on a daily basis, which will lead to another catastrophic crisis in the Southern parts of Sudan and expand the war to new areas. ISHR calls on States to urge fighting parties to cease hostilities, protect civilians, end all forms of attacks that target specific ethnic groups in Aljazeera, Darfur, Khartoum and other conflict areas, protect humanitarian workers and implement international humanitarian law, and ensure telecommunications are restored along with and open safe channels for humanitarian aid to reach civilians. ISHR also calls on States to support the work of the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan and its recommendations including expansion of ICC jurisdiction to all conflict regions in Sudan following the war of April 2023, emphasising the need for justice and accountability for the millions of Sudanese awaiting justice.
Almost three years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces continue to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. At the March session of the Council, States should renew the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry, the work of which is essential to pursue accountability for atrocity crimes. In recent months Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including energy plants, health care facilities and schools. These attacks cause widespread harm and suffering to millions of civilians. In January 2025, the UN Human Rights Office reported on widespread summary executions of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war, as well as torture, ill-treatment and systematic sexual violence. The Office also documented reports of the torture and ill-treatment of Russian prisoners of war. Meanwhile, in Russia itself, UN experts have condemned the criminalisation, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of human rights defenders, peace activists, independent journalists and political dissidents. It is vital that the Council continue to mandate mechanisms to investigate violations, promote accountability, support victims, and address root causes, with clear evidence of an association between repression at home and aggression abroad.
The Council session comes a few weeks after Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a new 6-year term as President, with the National Electoral Council having provided no evidence of his victory during the 28 July Presidential election. Repression has continued to increase following the vote. Human rights defenders are facing a storm of restrictions, threats and attacks, from forced disappearances and arbitrary detention to legal requirements that restrict NGO work and passport cancellations as well as severe threats to continuing work due to suspended and reduced funding. Repression contributes to the ongoing, severe humanitarian crisis in the country, with governmental accountability and transparency almost wholly lacking. With parliamentary elections scheduled for 27 April, concern is high that the governing party will consolidate its power in the legislature.
At this Council session there will be two moments where Venezuela is the focus of discussion: an interactive dialogue with the Fact-Finding Mission on 18 March and an oral update from the High Commissioner, followed by the Item 4 General Debate on 20 March. States must demand the end of repressive practices in Venezuela, including forced disappearances and arbitrary detentions. With upcoming elections, States must reiterate the importance of transparent elections fully in line with international human rights standards and keep demanding the publication of the 28 July election results.
There will be a side event held on the situation of human rights defenders in Venezuela on 21 March at the Palais des Nations (precise time and room to be confirmed).
Algeria continues to restrict and harass human rights defenders for their peaceful activities. At the 58th session, the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders will present her country visit report, which took place from 25 November to 5 December 2023. ISHR urges all States to demand that Algeria, a Council member, end its crackdown on human rights defenders and civil society organisations by implementing the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur. In particular, to release all defenders arbitrarily detained, ‘amend articles in the Penal Code which relate to terrorism and undermining national unity’ and ‘articles in the Penal Code which allow for criminal sanction for ‘insult or contempt’ of individuals, bodies or institutions’, ‘refrain from limiting human rights defenders’ freedom of movement’ and ‘abolish the use of ISTNs to limit the travel of human rights defenders abroad’.
Since 2018, UN bodies have documented widespread and systematic human rights violations committed by the Chinese government with hundreds of recommendations (compiled by ISHR here). This includes the OHCHR Xinjiang report, the CERD Urgent Action decision 1(108) on the Uyghur region (Xinjiang), concluding observations by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), and by the Human Rights Committee on Hong Kong. As we mark 30 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) documented the harassment of women activists in China, excessive restrictions on NGOs, coercive labour schemes and residential schools for Tibetan women and girls, and forced abortions and sterilisation of Uyghur women.
UN expert recommendations, echoed by Western and Global South governments during China’s 2024 UPR review, constitute a pathway for meaningful human rights reform and an impartial benchmark to assess China’s commitment to be a ‘constructive player’ at the UN.
States should urge the UN High Commissioner to strengthen follow-up action on his Office’s Xinjiang report, including through public calls for implementation by China and an assessment of implementation by the Office.
States should further echo these UN expert recommendations in national statements at the upcoming 58th HRC session, underscoring China’s abuse of national security, widespread use of enforced disappearances, policies of cultural and religious assimilation, and other systemic rights issues affecting Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese defenders. Finally, States should ask for the prompt release of human rights defenders, including feminist activist Huang Xueqin and labour rights activist Wang Jianbing, Martin Ennals Award laureate Yu Wensheng, lawyer Ding Jiaxi and legal scholar Xu Zhiyong, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas, Hong Kong lawyer Chow Hang-tung, and Tibetan climate activist A-nya Sengdra.
On 28 January 2025, Egypt’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) came after ‘a week of warnings from Egyptian civil society of a new wave of repression and an intensification of the security campaign against civil society and fundamental rights in the country’. On 19 January, the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) charged the executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Hossam Bahgat, with involvement with and financing a terrorist group and publishing false news. The latest retaliation against EIPR comes after Bahgat participated as a panelist in the UPR pre-session in Geneva, in November 2024.
During Egypt’s UPR, the Egyptian authorities yet again refused to demonstrate political will to acknowledge and address the mounting human rights crisis. Thousands of individuals remain arbitrarily detained in Egypt solely for exercising their human rights and following proceedings violating fair trial rights or without legal basis. For example, Alaa Abdel Fattah remains in detention despite finishing his sentence. His mother, Laila Soueif, has been on hunger strike since 29 September 2024, in protest of her son’s continued imprisonment. Despite her unjust sentence expiring, woman human rights defender (WHRD) Hoda Abdel Moneim remains in detention through the practice of ‘rotation’ and WHRD Aisha al-Shater, who was tried in the same case with Abdel Moneim, remains arbitrarily detained, while human rights defender Ibrahim Metwally remains arbitrarily detained without trial for over four years.
ISHR reiterates the calls of more than 100 NGOs from around the world in urging the HRC to create a monitoring and reporting mechanism on the ever-deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt.
Under the increasingly self-confident leadership of its rulers, worrying rights trends persist in Saudi Arabia, including, but not limited to: escalating use of the death penalty, with a record number of at least 345 individuals executed in 2024, many for non-violent drug-related charges; the relentless suppression of free speech, with the courts continuing to hand down decades-long sentences on peaceful activists and others for exercising the right of free speech; and abuses in prison through negligence, enforced disappearance and denial of health care. Meanwhile, those who have eventually been released often continue to face strict conditions, including court-imposed or unofficial travel bans.
In October 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) expressed concern about continued discrimination against women in law and practice. And given the prevalence of labour rights violations, the prospect of the 2034 men’s football World Cup raises serious risks of large-scale labour exploitation, as well as other abuses such as forcible evictions. Amid a lack of transparency in the country, ALQST and ISHR reiterate calls on the Council to adopt a resolution mandating an independent international monitoring and investigative mechanism to address the human rights violations perpetrated in and by Saudi Arabia.
The situation in the occupied territory of Western Sahara has significantly deteriorated in 2024. The lack of independent UN monitoring mechanisms has enabled Morocco to intensify its repressive policies while systematically denying access to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Special Procedures since 2015. These violations include arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, racial and economic discrimination, suppression of fundamental freedoms, and the plundering of natural resources.
The detention of the Gdeim Izik group remains a striking example of systematic persecution, with these individuals facing prolonged imprisonment under inhumane conditions despite the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention classifying their imprisonment as unlawful. Political prisoners such as Mohamed Lamin Haddi and Abdel Jalil Laaroussi continue to face deliberate denial of medical care, placing their lives at risk. In various decisions, the Committee against torture has held Morocco accountable for its widespread use of torture and ill-treatment. Women human rights defenders have been particularly targeted, facing both physical violence and gender-based harassment.
In addition, the large-scale extraction of resources, particularly in the Dakhla region, has further displaced the Sahrawi people while disproportionately benefiting Moroccan settlers and multinational corporations. The depletion of fisheries and over-extraction of groundwater resources have had devastating environmental and economic consequences for the Saharawi people.
We urge States to call on Morocco to put an end to its crackdown on civil society, particularly Sahrawi human rights defenders in the occupied territory, ensure they are able to conduct their human rights work, and provide access to occupied Western Sahara to human rights bodies, including OHCHR, UN Special Procedures, and human rights organisations. We also call on the Moroccan authorities to unconditionally release of Saharawi political prisoners, including those arbitrarily detained for their activism and put an end to the illegal economic exploitation of Western Sahara’s resources, with penalties for corporations complicit in human rights abuses.
During the organisational meeting held on 10 February, the Council President presented the programme of work. It includes 9 panel discussions and States announced at least 29 proposed resolutions.
At the organisational meeting on 10 February, the following resolutions were announced (States leading the resolution in brackets):
Furthermore, according to the voluntary calendar for resolutions, it is possible that more resolutions could also be presented at this session. Read the calendar here.
During this session, the Council will adopt the UPR working group reports on Norway, Albania, DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal, Bhutan, Dominica, DPRK, Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Qatar, Nicaragua.
ISHR supports human rights defenders in their interaction with the UPR: we publish and submit briefing papers regarding the situation facing human rights defenders in some States under review and advocate for the UPR to be used as a mechanism to support and protect human rights defenders on the ground.
This session of the Council will provide an opportunity for Côte d’Ivoire to accept recommendations made in relation to the protection of human rights defenders, as proposed in ISHR’s briefing paper.
The President of the Human Rights Council will propose mandate holders to be appointed:
Read here the three-year programme of work of the Council with supplementary information.
Read here ISHR’s recommendations on the key issues that are or should be on the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council in 2025.
Contact: Salma El Hosseiny at [email protected]
ISHR is pleased to launch its updated Reprisals Handbook in four languages, an essential resource for all stakeholders concerned about intimidation and reprisals against those cooperating with international or regional human rights systems.
At the Human Rights Council, Belgium delivered a statement on behalf of over 60 States that 'pays tribute to the numerous achievements and meaningful progress made by women and girls human rights defenders, and emphasises the continued need for their voices to be heard and supported'.
At the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, during the Interactive Dialogue following on the UN High Commissioner's report on Venezuela, ISHR delivered a statement on the situation faced by human rights defenders and called for the immediate release of all defenders arbitrarily detained in Venezuela.
