HRC63: Civil society presents key takeaways from the session

Regarding the Council’s adopted decision on Nicaragua’s non-cooperation with the UPR, given that the 4th cycle of the UPR concludes in 2027, States should act to defend the mechanism’s universality and integrity following the persistent non-cooperation of Nicaragua and the United States. States should support a dedicated Council debate on persistent non-cooperation in the 4th cycle of the UPR and on the human rights situations in those countries.

Efficiency measures driven by the UN’s financial crisis have already cut reporting and resources from Special Procedures, currently affecting about one in four thematic mandates. Any further changes must be assessed on a case-by-case basis and preserve meaningful engagement with the General Assembly, ensuring that efficiency measures do not weaken the visibility, effectiveness or independence of mandate holders.

This year, the Council closed its confidential Complaint Procedure against Tajikistan, the first country to be considered in the plenary since 2014, without public disclosure of outcomes or decisions. The confidentiality of the procedure should be balanced with the need for transparency and accountability given the gross-violation nature of allegations. States should convene an outcome discussion with the participation of civil society, or agree on disclosure of a simplified version of the outcome document with a view to enhancing accountability while preserving the procedure’s integrity.

In the new resolution on Implications of artificial intelligence for the promotion and protection of human rights, we welcome the recognition of the impacts of AI systems in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. We also welcome that this resolution recognises that AI systems can have adverse impacts on the enjoyment of a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. As we look to the future, it is important that the core group delves more into the environmental harms of AI. The resolution also acknowledges that the adoption of AI has been uneven, both within and among countries and populations, and that development and the wealth it creates is highly concentrated. However, stronger language could have been included on how AI amplifies risks and harms for historically marginalised groups. We regret that impacts on the rights of freedom of assembly and association and the harms by AI-enabled surveillance are not sufficiently addressed in the text. The design and application of AI for surveillance and control purposes already threatens the work, for instance, of activists and human rights defenders. Finally, the text could have gone further in calling for clear prohibitions or moratoria on AI systems and uses that are impossible to operate in compliance with international human rights law or that pose unacceptable risks to human rights.

We welcome the adoption of the resolution ‘From rhetoric to reality: a global call for concrete action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance’, which highlights the importance of sustained efforts to end systemic racism and address the impacts of systemic and institutional racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related forms of intolerance. In this context, we urge States to build on the growing momentum around reparatory justice and to strengthen their commitment to equality and racial justice by taking concrete measures, while addressing the root causes of past and present human rights violations faced by Africans and people of African descent.

We welcome the adoption by consensus of the resolution on the human rights of migrants, which recommits to the rights of all migrants regardless of status, reminds States and international organisations that any externalisation of migration governance must fully align with human rights law and urges States to work towards ending detention of migrant children. We further welcome Mexico’s statements during the negotiations of that resolution that it is interested in exploring a monitoring mechanism to investigate and address violations of migrants’ rights. In line with the calls by almost 250 civil society organisations, the High Commissioner and Special Rapporteur on the rights of migrants, we urge the Council to strengthen independent human rights monitoring of human rights violations and abuses arising from migration governance at international borders and in transit.

The resolution on Strengthening international cooperation for promoting and protecting the rights of women and girls in the context of digital technologies, recognises that digital technologies, including AI, may reproduce or reinforce existing patterns of gender inequality. The text notes that gaps in the collection, availability, quality, representativeness and use of data may lead to the underrepresentation of women and girls in data sets. The resolution also emphasises the importance of inclusive, gender-responsive and human rights-based data governance standards throughout the data life cycle, and we welcome the calls for gender-responsive measures aimed at bridging the gender digital divide. While the text recognises the risks of biased data, future iterations could include stronger calls to address this, including enforceable standards for AI bias mitigation for the detection and correction of gender bias in AI datasets and models. Similarly, although the resolution calls upon States to take effective measures to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, looking ahead, the resolution could be strengthened by calling for gender-responsive risk and impact assessments at every stage of the AI lifecycle, especially for high-risk applications.

We welcome the renewal of the mandate of the Working Group on the rights of peasants and people working in rural areas. This is the only specialised entity within the UN system with the mandate to support the implementation  and monitoring of the situation of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) and other international human rights standards. We also welcome the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights.

In the context of the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) we welcome the renewal of the Working Group of Experts for People of African Descent (WGEPAD) for an additional three years, as one of the mandates specifically created for its comprehensive implementation and follow-up. Over more than 2 decades, the WGEPAD has offered important leadership and analyses globally in the fight to combat racism. Over its existence the WGEPAD has sent hundreds of communications concerning cases of alleged victims and have conducted over 27 country visits.

We welcome the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan. We particularly welcome that the resolution adopted by the Council maintains a dedicated space for debate on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan by mandating an enhanced interactive dialogue at the Council’s 65th session. As the Taliban entrenches the institutionalised system of discrimination and oppression against women, this dialogue remains an essential space that provides a platform for women from Afghanistan to share their experiences and perspectives directly with the Council and the international community and to center them in discussions about their rights. This debate is also an important safeguard against normalisation of this system that the Special Rapporteur and other experts have described as ‘gender apartheid.’ We also echo a number of civil society organisations from Afghanistan in their call for expeditious, full operationalisation of the independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan established by the Council in October 2025. We urge States to ensure that the mechanism has the necessary resources and capacity to undertake its crucial mandate.

We welcome the resolution on Burundi, which extends the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and renews scrutiny ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Ten years after the Council established a Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Burundi, the crisis is unresolved. Far from showing any openness, the ruling CNDD-FDD party is moving to completely close the civic and democratic space, dismantle the Arusha Peace Agreement, and eliminate remaining avenues for peaceful dissent. This resolution takes up some of civil society’s asks and maintains some degree of attention to Burundi. Since HRC63 started, the Burundian government declared its candidacy for a new membership term on the Council (2027-2029), seizing the opportunity of a vacant seat. Despite its appalling human rights record, it is likely to be elected, in the absence of competition. We urge the Council to turn this new term into a renewed spotlight on the country’s domestic situation.

We welcome the adoption of the resolution on cooperation with Georgia and continued attention to human rights violations in the occupied territories of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia. However, the Council’s response must also address the sharply deteriorating situation in government-controlled territory, including the dismantling of independent civil society and persecution of human rights defenders. We urge the High Commissioner to ensure that monitoring and reporting cover all of Georgia’s territory, and the Council to provide for an interactive dialogue on future reports, allowing meaningful engagement with their findings and recommendations.

We welcome the adoption of the resolution on the Russian Federation and renewal of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, which remains essential as the authorities intensify repression of human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and those opposing the war against Ukraine. The Special Rapporteur’s findings on transnational repression underline that these threats also extend beyond Russia’s borders. We urge States to ensure the mandate has the resources and political support needed to fulfil its work, protect those at risk, and safeguard independent civil society’s engagement with the UN.

We welcome the extension of the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for Sudan. With this resolution, the Council takes another step towards accountability. We particularly welcome the increased pressure on parties to the conflict and their external backers, and the fact that the Council leveraged the FFM’s latest report. The explicit recognition that impunity is a major obstacle to peace helps centre accountability in global efforts to address the crisis. The resolution is strong and strategic (including its reference to the May 2026 Banjul Joint Dec­la­ration), and it echoes civil society’s main asks. It falls short, however, of several civil society demands, including a two-year mandate extension, making recom­men­dations to other UN bodies, and explicitly naming external actors fueling atrocity crimes (including those identified in the FFM’s report as providing support to the RSF and external enablers of SAF).Going forward, we urge the Council to find ways of addressing not only direct perpetrators and chains of command, but also the wider networks of responsibility that sustain the conflict. The Council’s capacity, and that of the wider UN system, should be strengthened to ensure that findings contribute to effective accountability processes. This requires considering longer-term ways of supporting criminal investigations and prosecutions, including, possibly, by establishing an international mechanism for evidence collection.

We welcome the two-year renewal of the mandates of the OHCHR and the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Venezuela. Both mandates play distinctive yet complementary roles in documenting abuses in Venezuela and informing the international community, providing early warnings of renewed repression and maintaining pressure necessary to incentivise change, with a view to preventing further violations and putting an end to impunity. The resolution was adopted nine months after an unlawful military intervention by the United States that removed Nicolás Maduro from power, prompting civil society to outline ten urgent demands for a genuine democratic transition and meaningful human rights change. Yet, in its September report to the Council, the FFM found that the country’s ‘repressive apparatus remains intact’ despite ‘limited improvements’, with ‘institutions responsible for repression, gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity’ largely untouched. The FFM’s renewal proves essential for the Council to be well-informed and capable of distinguishing genuine reform addressing root causes behind rights violations, from cosmetic changes to please the international community.

We welcome the statement made by several States recognising the positive and legitimate role environmental human rights defenders play in favour of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The statement also recognises the challenges they face including strategic lawsuits against public participation and reprisals for engaging in international climate fora. This statement also calls for their safe participation in international environmental conferences on biodiversity, climate change, and pollution, in particular the upcoming COP31 on climate change in Türkiye, the 1st International Conference of the Global Framework on Chemicals in Switzerland, and COP17 on biodiversity in Armenia.

We deplore acts of intimidation and reprisals against persons cooperating with this Council and other UN human rights mechanisms. We commend those 10 States who spoke out to condemn particular cases of reprisals this session, and call on all States to take coordinated action to combat transnational repression.

We regret that the Council failed to adequately respond to the situation in Yemen and to reflect the High Commissioner report findings. Technical assistance cannot substitute for independent monitoring and public reporting. Confining the Council’s response to it falls short of the mandate conferred by GA resolution 60/251 to address situations of gross and systematic violations. Documentation and accountability, whether national or international, will remain incomplete without access to areas under Ansar Allah control. Victims and witnesses need credible protection to engage safely with the National Commission of Inquiry. International support must therefore go beyond training to address the risks of cooperation.

We urge the Council to stand ready to act and use its mandate to prevent atrocity crises. As this session closes, the situation in Ethiopia is of utmost concern as conflict has resumed between federal forces and multiple regional armed groups, with risks of a broader, regional conflict involving neighbouring countries. The Council should keep all options on the table, including convening a special session.

Signatories:

1. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
2. Instituto  Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos (IBDH)
3. Europe Brazil Office (EBO)
4. FIAN International  
5. FIDH | International Federation for Human Rights 
6. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
7. Humanists International
8. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
9. GIN SSOGIE NPC 
10. Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
11. CELS / Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales
12. Gulf Centre for Human Rights