© UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
The 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council (16 June to 9 July 2025) will consider issues including civil society space, climate change, sexual orientation and gender identity, violence and discrimination against women and girls, poverty, peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression, among others. It will also present an opportunity to address grave human rights situations including in Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Eritrea, Israel and oPt, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, among many 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:
NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC and NHRIs with “A” status can deliver their statements in person or via pre-recorded video statements. As has been the case for the past years, the Council will not hold General Debates during its June session.
Due to ongoing renovations under the Strategic Heritage Plan, space for NGO side events will remain limited. Each NGO is allowed only one side event, and each event can last up to one hour. A calendar of NGO side events will be available on the HRC extranet.
The Information note for NGO engagement during the 59th session of the Human Rights Council will be published shortly and will be available here.
ISHR will organise a side event on 16 June at 13:00 in Room XXV, entitled “Defenders’ voices on reforming the UN human rights system”. The UN human rights pillar is in crisis. As essential stakeholders, human rights defenders’ views are invaluable to ensure an effective, efficient, responsive UN human rights system that supports their activism, especially in the current context. This event provides space for human rights defenders from national contexts to articulate the ways in which the UN system needs to evolve, adapt and reform itself to deal with the crisis of finance, credibility and legitimacy it is currently facing.
Here are some highlights of the session’s thematic discussions:
At this 59th session, the Council will discuss a range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights through dedicated debates with the mandate holders and the High Commissioner, including with:
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. 5 panel discussions are scheduled for this upcoming session.
Ensuring a safe and enabling environment for civil society participation is one of ISHR’s main priorities. At HRC59, a key resolution on civil society space will be presented for consideration of States.
The resolution must recognise the diversity of civil society actors and the need to take steps to include historically marginalised and underrepresented groups. It must also call attention to the funding crisis facing independent civil society, particularly civil society organisations working in the field of human rights.
The resolution should encourage States and other stakeholders to increase their sustainable investment in and funding for independent civil society, recognising that this will contribute substantially to peace, security and sustainable development at the national, regional and international levels. We call for the accreditation of independent NGOs to be pursuant to a process that is fair, transparent, non-discriminatory and expeditious.
Additionally, it is important that States address the use of restrictive laws that hinder civil society work in a comprehensive manner. The resolution must express concern about repressive activities conducted by States, or actors under its effective control, inside and outside their own jurisdiction to harm, silence, punish and intimidate civil society actors abroad. We urge States to condemn such acts of intimidation, reprisal and transnational repression against civil society actors.
The mandate of the Independent Expert on violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is up for renewal for the third time at this session. We will be following this closely and call on all States to support the mandate and contribute to the Council’s efforts to combat violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
In the context of the African Union’s Year of Reparations, the Working Group of Experts of People of African Descent and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) are calling for inputs on the topic of reparations for Africans and people of African descent. We urge States to be proactively victim-centered and pay particular attention to the holistic and community-based meaning of reparations for Africans and Afrodescendants affected by systemic racism, especially in relation to one of the most widespread and normalized forms in which it manifests itself: violence in the context of law enforcement. The OHCHR’s four-point agenda for transformative justice provides an important guide for States, and also seeks information from States on the status of its implementation.
The lack of restorative justice is one of the root causes of migration. In light of the worrying increase in violations of the rights of Haitian migrants, particularly with regard to access to healthcare, due process, and arbitrary detention, we urge States to make Haiti an example of restorative justice and restitution.
Finally, we also urge States to renew their commitments to diversity, equity, belonging, inclusion, and accessibility, especially in the current times of widespread human rights setbacks.
We urge the Human Rights Council to continue addressing climate and environmental justice with a human rights perspective while safeguarding the planet, the environment and biodiversity. As has been repeatedly stated by the UN Secretary General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and several Special Rapporteurs, along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the window of opportunity is closing to keep global average temperatures increase below 1.5° C, which demands effective, human rights-based, science-aligned mitigation action.
The annual resolution on climate change will be presented this HRC59 focusing on climate finance. This is an opportunity for States to recognise explicitly the critical role that Environmental Human Rights Defenders play in advancing climate justice. States must use this opportunity to commit to phasing out fossil fuels – following the joint statement that a group of States made during the HRC58 – and on corporate accountability, including the responsibility of financial institutions.
This resolution, and any other initiative on environment and climate justice, should be guided by the following standards: a) coherence with other HRC resolutions while following the principle of progressiveness, b) maximize the capacities and resources to make the implementation process more effective, c) policy coherence with a human rights perspective, d) put Environmental Human Rights Defenders, communities and Indigenous Peoples at the centre, recognizing their vital role and the challenges they face, e) continue advancing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (R2HE) while focusing on its implementation at national level and including corporate accountability at the core of the discussions.
This session, the Special Rapporteur on climate change is presenting a report on fossil fuel-based economy and human rights. This report identified good practices, strategies and policies that would contribute to the promotion and protection of all human rights and poverty alleviation in the context of a just transition away from the fossil fuel-based economy
The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty is presenting a report on poverty and climate change. He proposed in his report to move from an ad hoc humanitarian approach to protecting people in poverty from climate disasters, towards establishing, strengthening and financing rights-based social protection.
ISHR urges stronger action to end reprisals against civil society actors who engage or seek to engage with UN bodies and mechanisms. We call on all States, the HRC presidency and the OHCHR to do more to address the situation.
HRC59 is 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. States raising cases is an important aspect of seeking accountability and 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.
This month ISHR launched a new campaign regarding specific cases. ISHR urges States to raise these cases in their statements:
Loujain Al-Hathloul (Saudi Arabia): Loujain is an iconic figure in Saudi Arabia’s women’s rights movement. She has actively campaigned for women’s rights in the country and against the driving ban imposed on women. In February 2018, Loujain came to Geneva to brief members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Three months later she was arrested and arbitrarily detained. In December 2020, Loujain was sentenced under national security related charges. After more than 1000 days in detention, she was released following the end of her sentence but continues to face three years of probation and a five-year travel ban. Her latest attempt to have the travel ban lifted was rejected on appeal, meaning Loujain currently has no legal remedy against this illegal travel ban anymore. Additionally, after Loujain’s trip to the UN in 2018, her family was also put on a travel ban. Some members of the family residing outside the country found themselves trapped in Saudi Arabia as they were unaware of the ban imposed on them.
Mohamed El-Baqer (Egypt): Mohamed El-Baqer is a human rights lawyer from Egypt. He is the director of the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms, founded in 2014. Mohamed was arrested from the prosecution’s premises while carrying out his professional activities in 2019. He was arbitrarily detained on terrorism and national security charges. He spent four years in prison in Egypt before being released in July 2023 after being granted a presidential pardon.
Nonetheless, his name was listed on a terrorism list in November 2020 for 5 years. This means that despite being released in 2023, Mohamed remains on a travel ban and his assets have been frozen. He is also banned from doing any civil work until next November. While Mohamed’s name should be removed from the list next November, he remains at risk of the court’s decision to list him again for another 5 years.
Anexa Alfred Cunningham (Nicaragua): Anexa Alfred Cunningham is a Miskitu Indigenous leader, woman human rights defender, lawyer and expert on Indigenous Peoples’ rights from Nicaragua. In July 2022, after participating for the first time in a session of a group of United Nations experts on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, where she sits as one of the experts, the authorities of Nicaragua denied her entry into her home country. The airline, under the orders of the Nicaraguan government, prevented Anexa from boarding her return flight and reaching her ancestral land. She remains in a situation of unlawful, forced exile from her own community since.
Kadar Abdil Ibrahim (Djibouti): Kadar is a human rights defender and journalist from Djibouti. He has drawn inspiration from historic figures in the human rights movement in the hopes of building a solid and lasting democracy in his country. In April 2018, just days after returning from Geneva, where Kadar carried out advocacy activities ahead of Djibouti’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council, intelligence service agents of the Service de documentation et de sécurité (SDS) raided his house and confiscated his passport. Despite his case being identified as a clear case of reprisals by the UN Secretary-General, who reported on it to the Human Rights Council in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, his passport remains with the SDS. He has been unable to leave his own country for the past seven years. The prolongation of the travel ban obstructs Kadar from undertaking his human rights work and prevents him from directly engaging with partners and actors outside the country, including the UN.
In addition, we urge States to raise and follow up on cases from our 2022, 2023 and 2024 campaigns as well as individual cases of reprisals in the country specific debates taking place at this session.
The Council will hold an interactive dialogue with the High Commissioner on 17 June. The Council will consider updates, reports on 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:
The enhanced interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan will consider his report focused on access to justice and protection for women and girls in Afghanistan. This dedicated space for dialogue on ongoing gender persecution is essential as this oppression is taking place within an institutionalised system of gender-based exclusion, segregation and oppression that experts have called a regime of gender apartheid.
ISHR joins Afghan and regional and international human rights groups in calling urgently for the creation of a robust investigative and accountability mechanism that would have the mandate to investigate and establish facts and root causes of past and ongoing crimes under international law and serious violations and abuses, including any gendered dimensions of such violations and abuses; collect, analyse, consolidate and preserve evidence of such violations and abuses to support future prosecutions; identify suspected perpetrators of such violations and abuses; make specific recommendations on advancing accountability and enhancing access to justice for victims; and support relevant judicial and other proceedings.
The current situation for human rights defenders and humanitarian workers in Sudan is catastrophic as attacks against civil society continue to intensify as several states in the country have recently announced that NGOs working without registration will be prevented from carrying out their work. This has resulted in dozens of arrests of volunteers and human rights defenders.
In addition, in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)-controlled areas, there have been mass arrests of civilians with charges related to collaboration with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and they are facing violations of the right to fair trial and due process. The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war continues with no investigations, accountability nor protection mechanisms for survivors. For example, under RSF-controlled areas, MSF’s recent report found that “women and girls in Sudan’s Darfur region are at near-constant risk of sexual violence”.
The humanitarian situation remains catastrophic with the widespread cholera, particularly in Khartoum. There are reports of hundreds of deaths daily and yet the Sudanese government is yet to declare emergency responses under the political pretext of preventing access to humanitarian organisations.
We call on States to urge the fighting parties to cease hostilities, release all those arbitrarily detained and guarantee detainees’ access to lawyers and families and guarantee their right to fair trial, protect civilians, humanitarian workers and open safe channels for humanitarian aid to reach civilians.
We also call on the international community to ensure accountability including external actors involved in the war in light of Amnesty International’s findings that “recently manufactured or recently transferred weapons and ammunition from countries including China, Russia, Serbia, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen are being imported in large quantities into Sudan, and then in some cases diverted into Darfur.”
While the human rights system is failing to put an end to a televised genocide, at this HRC session, States should come together to take effective measures to put an end to the ongoing genocide, forced displacement and colonial-apartheid. As the Israeli genocide in Gaza enters its 20th month, deliberately using starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare, escalating the suppression campaign in the West Bank (particularly in refugee camps), Israel is also creating parallel mechanisms to weaponise aid delivery, including by establishing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and enforcing an all-out elimination campaign against UNRWA.
States should also echo the calls of experts, UN agencies, OHCHR, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), by taking long overdue political and economic measures, including sanctions against Israel, and imposing a two-way arms embargo to put an end to decades of crimes being committed against the Palestinian people. States should center a rights-based approach focusing on realising justice and reparations for the Palestinian people instead of using a two State solution political rhetoric. States should also take immediate measures to protect the UN and multilateral institutions, as well monitoring and accountability mechanisms (including the Special Rapporteur on the oPt, the Commission of Inquiry on Israel and Palestine, the ICJ and the International Criminal Court) under sustained and increasing attack by Israel and its supporters, including the United States.
Disappearances and arbitrary detentions of human rights defenders are continuing in Venezuela. In a recent public statement, OHCHR talks of the harassment and persecution by the Venezuelan State towards human rights defenders as an attempt by the Venezuelan government to silence the work of civil society in the aftermath of the elections of 28 July 2024.
Recently, Eduardo Torres, a human rights defender, lawyer, and member of the Venezuelan Education-Action Program on Human Rights (Provea) went missing on 9 May 2025. On 13 May 2025, after a press conference organised by Provea, where the NGO demanded information from the Venezuelan State about the whereabouts of the lawyer, and following international mobilisation, the Attorney General acknowledged on Instagram that Eduardo Torres was under the custody of the Venezuelan State. On 18 May 2025, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) confirmed that Eduardo Torres is being held in the prison El Helicoide. On 28 May, the Minister of Interior, Justice, and Peace made defamatory comments about Provea and three other NGOs in an attempt to discredit their work.
Torres’ detention is arbitrary. He now joins a growing list of politically motivated arbitrary detentions of human rights defenders in Venezuela, which began with Javier Tarazona’s detention in July 2021, and continued with Rocio San Miguel in February 2024, Carlos Julio Rojas in April 2024, and Kennedy Tejeda in August 2024.
ISHR, in line with other partners, maintain its call to all UN member States to urge Venezuela to immediately and unconditionally release Eduardo Torres and all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained, and ensure that human rights defenders are able to carry out their work freely and safely, without fear of harassment, retaliation, or imprisonment.
The human rights situation is deteriorating for CSOs in El Salvador, despite numerous recommendations made during its recent UPR. Inspired by similar laws in Hungary, Russia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, the recent Foreign Agents Law passed in El Salvador is a direct attack on the work of civil society organisations- including investigative journalism – and goes against international standards that protect the rights of association and freedom of expression in the hemisphere. The law obliges any natural or legal person whose activities in El Salvador “respond to interests or are financed” by foreign actors to register with a new State entity (Registro de Agentes Extranjeros – RAEX) and pay a 30% tax on funds received. Under the law, “foreign agents” are prohibited from carrying out activities that have “political or other purposes, with the objective of altering public order, that put at risk or threaten national security or the social and political stability of the country.” With that language, any whistleblowing activity that reveals governmental corruption could be prohibited and sanctioned. The Foreign Agents Law was not intended to regulate NGOs or make their work more transparent, but rather to silence voices critical of the current Salvadoran government. CSOs in El Salvador urge the Government to repeal the laws and release all activists arbitrarily detained, echoing the appeal of the WGEID.
At this HRC session, States should address in their national capacity and jointly with others the escalation of the crackdown on Palestine advocacy, including during the interactive dialogues with the experts on freedoms of expression and assembly, education, independence of judges and lawyers, racism, and international solidarity. The UN Special Procedures have been raising alarm at the crackdown by States, especially in certain Western States, concluding that the attacks “on peaceful protests and civil society working to protect human rights and humanitarian law in the context of the Gaza war are contrary to States’ obligation under international law to prevent atrocity crimes, such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and apartheid”. Instead of implementing the recommendations of Special Procedures, States have escalated the crackdown on freedom of expression and association in relation to Palestine in an alarming manner especially in the United States and Western Europe. Civil society organisations in the United States have been increasingly responding to the attacks against academic freedom, the increasing suppression and crackdown on activism, including through the arrest and detention by immigration authorities of individuals for their activism related to Palestine. The Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed, will present her report following her visit to the United States. During her visit she addressed the “climate of fear and intimidation”, while “2,000 students and professors were detained following armed police raids on university”. Shaheed as well as other Special Procedures have stressed how antisemitism, through the use of the IHRA definition, and counterterrorism policies and legislation were misused “as a justification by some States to ban and criminalise peaceful assemblies and expressions in support of Palestinians’ rights”.
In Europe, ELSC published a database which exposes the “practices that silence and criminalise the Palestine Solidarity movement, and the various tools deployed in its pursuit”, stressing that “[a]s European governments continue to provide moral, financial and military support to Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza, they have simultaneously ramped up efforts to repress solidarity and silence dissent within their countries.” The ELSC report focused on Germany provides a case example of the measures used. These include censorship; surveillance; demonstration bans and arrests; disciplinary actions and workplace suspensions; financial repercussions and banking restrictions; repressive legislation like anti-BDS motions; harassment and intimidation, to threats to immigration status and citizenship.
During the interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteurs for freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and independence of judges and lawyers, and Independent Expert on international solidarity, we urge States to publicly call on Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release all those detained solely for exercising their human rights or for their political beliefs and cease persecuting activists and critics. Prominent HRDs and activists arbitrarily detained include Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, Hassan Mushaima, Sheikh Mohamed Habib Al-Muqdad and Sheikh Ali Salman. In a joint letter, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and 26 NGOs also urged States to call on Bahrain to release death row inmates Mohamed Ramadan and Hussain Moosa, commute all outstanding death sentences, and establish an official moratorium on executions.
Since 2018, UN bodies have documented widespread and systematic human rights violations by the Chinese government, and made hundreds of recommendations to address them (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 the Committee on Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and by the Human Rights Committee on Hong Kong.
At this HRC session, ISHR calls on governments to engage during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention. States should request information about concrete action taken regarding the situation in Xinjiang following the CERD’s Urgent Action decision referring that situation to the attention of the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibilty to Protect.
States should also urge the High Commissioner for Human Rights to clarify steps taken, and to be taken, to follow-up on his Office’s Xinjiang report, including clear, sustained and public calls for its implementation by China and a written assessment of the report’s implementation by the Office.
States should further mark the 10th anniversary of the July 2015 ‘709 Crackdown’ against over 300 lawyers and legal professionals by echoing UN concerns and recommendations on patterns of repression against human rights lawyers, including the abuse of national security and the widespread use of enforced disappearances.
Finally, States should demand the prompt release of human rights defenders, including feminist activist Huang Xueqin, Martin Ennals Award laureate Yu Wensheng, lawyer Ding Jiaxi and legal scholar Xu Zhiyong, lawyer Xie Yang, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas, Hong Kong lawyer Chow Hang-tung, Tibetan climate activist A-nya Sengdra and the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
Civil society organisations have welcomed a joint communication sent to Morocco by a group of eight United Nations Special Rapporteurs which denounced Morocco’s ongoing campaign of repression, racial discrimination, and violence against Sahrawi human rights defenders, journalists, and advocates for self-determination, covering 79 victims as reference cases. We urge States to call on Morocco to implement the recommendations of the experts to immediately cease these violations and uphold its international human rights obligations and to ensure that the people of Western Sahara can fully exercise their right to self-determination, in accordance with international law. We further continue to urge States to call on Morocco to put an end to its crackdown on civil society, unconditionally release Saharawi political prisoners, provide access to occupied Western Sahara to human rights bodies, including OHCHR, UN Special Procedures, and human rights organisations.
ISHR is co-sponsoring a side event on Western Sahara titled “Threads That Cut Stone: Sahrawi Women and the Art of Resistance” which will take place on 30 June 2025 at the Palais des Nations.
On a positive note, Saudi authorities have released dozens of prisoners of conscience in recent months, including several human rights defenders, bloggers, and social media influencers. However, these individuals—who endured years of arbitrary detention—continue to face severe restrictions, notably court-imposed or unofficial travel bans that prevent them from leaving the country and in many cases tear families apart. Furthermore, many prisoners of conscience remain arbitrarily imprisoned for exercising their basic rights, and often face repeated abuses in prison including prolonged solitary confinement, enforced disappearance and denial of health care. Meanwhile, other worrying rights trends persist in Saudi Arabia, including the escalating use of the death penalty, with over 140 individuals executed in 2025 so far, most for non-violent drug-related charges. Discrimination against women remains systematic in law and practice. And given the prevalence of labour rights violations, the prospect of the 2034 men’s 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.
During the organisational meeting held on 2 June 2025, the Council President presented the programme of work. It includes 5 panel discussions and States announced at least 22 proposed resolutions.
At the organisational meeting on 2 June, the following resolutions were announced (States leading the resolution in brackets):
During this session, the Council will adopt the UPR working group reports on Italy, El Salvador, the Gambia, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Fiji, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Angola, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Madagascar, Iraq, Slovenia, Egypt, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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 the governments of Angola, Egypt, Iraq and Madagascar to accept recommendations made in relation to the protection of human rights defenders, as proposed in ISHR and partner organisations’ briefing papers on the situation of human rights defenders and civic space in Angola, Egypt, Iraq and Madagascar.
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.
It's difficult to encapsulate such a complex year in a word, but "interconnected" is one that comes to mind when reflecting on 2020. We are proud to have remained deeply interconnected with defenders and to have supported, protected and amplified their work at the national, regional and international levels. With them, the "essential workers" of our times, we strive for a 2021 full of freedom, equality, dignity and justice.
