Illustration: Attic Media for ISHR
ISHR and its partners call for a transparent and merits-based selection of UN independent experts – one that considers diversity, lived experience, independence, and geographic balance.
In a letter sent to the Consultative Group and the President of the Human Rights Council, civil society organisations propose general criteria for the selection and appointment of new mandate holders at the upcoming 59th, 60th, and 61st sessions of the Human Rights Council.
The appointment of highly qualified and independent mandate holders is essential to ensuring a well-functioning system of Special Procedures, which, in turn, is of crucial importance to the functioning of the Human Rights Council. The selection and appointment of mandate holders through a transparent and merit-based process based on relevant expertise for the mandate in question and real and perceived independence, impartiality, personal integrity and objectivity are of crucial importance for the effective functioning of the mandates.
Organisations encourage the Consultative Group responsible for the selection process to apply both the letter and the spirit of these criteria when selecting and proposing candidates and to give due consideration to gender balance, equitable geographic representation, and an appropriate representation of experts of different legal systems and social backgrounds.
Read the letter and the complete checklist.
More information about the selection of Special Procedures can be found here.
Upcoming vacancies and calls for applications for Special Procedures mandates can be found here.
On 8 May 2025, during the 83rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, a critical panel discussed the “Lessons from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and Current Challenges: Human Rights in Conflict Situations and Transitional Justice.”
ISHR joins 22 human rights organisations in strongly condemning the Hong Kong government’s escalating repression of activists in exile and the targeting of relatives of prominent activist Anna Kwok.
On 5 and 6 May 2025, during its 83rd Ordinary Session, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) held the second joint forum of its special mechanisms. It serves as an opportunity to bring actors from various backgrounds to discuss the possibility of converging human rights and sustainable development for the benefit of Africans.
