The UN General Assembly adopts a much awaited resolution to streamline and improve how mandates are created, implemented and reviewed, aiming for a more focused and efficient UN. States should ensure that future mandate review discussions take into full consideration the specificities of human rights mandates, and fully consult civil society.
More than 50 organisations call on governments to reaffirm the importance of the Human Rights Council and resist changes that could weaken its mandate or limit civil society participation.
The 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council (23 February – 31 March) will discuss the protection of human rights defenders, freedom of religion, human rights while countering terrorism, and the rights to food and housing. It will also address grave human rights issues in contexts including Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Venezuela, China, Syria, South Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory/Israel, amongst others. Here’s an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.
From 15 to 22 October, 16 defenders from across Africa took part in ISHR's capacity-strengthening programme on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) for the body’s 85th session.
At a panel on the protection framework for human rights defenders, prominent figures from Senegalese civil society and Rémy Ngoy Lumbu of the, Special Rapporteur for the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights, discussed best practices, challenges and the need to strengthen safeguards for defenders.
In light of the UN’s liquidity crisis since 2024, ISHR compares when UN Member States are paying their assessed contributions to the UN’s regular budget over the period 2019-2025.
ISHR analysed how UN Member States voted at the General Assembly Fifth Committee over the past seven years (2018-2024) on initiatives that seek to defund Human Rights Council (HRC) resolutions establishing investigative mechanisms on specific countries. None of these initiatives have so far been successful.
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.
12 NGOs that closely follow and engage with the General Assembly Third Committee have published a joint statement on outcomes of this 79th session.
On 6 November, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) concluded its 81st session. Highlights included the periodic review of Angola and Burkina Faso, and the launch of Declaration+25 and a tracker for civic space in Africa.
