What to expect at HRC 44
Here’s What to Expect at HRC44
After being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resuming of HRC43 from 15 to 23 June, and after several rounds of consultations on dates and modalities, the 44th session of the UN Human Rights Council will take place from Tuesday 30 June to Monday 20 July (tentative end date).
Find below information about restrictions to civil society participation this session, anticipated sexual rights-related resolutions, panels and reports, UPR outcomes, and our online event taking place during the 44th session. Please note that all dates are provisional and subject to change. The latest information throughout the session will be available on the HRC44 page.
Click here to access the full programme of work for HRC44
Featured news
#emptychairs campaign: nothing about us without us!
The Human Rights Council’s 44th session started today. Despite the travel restrictions and other necessary health measures which effectively bar the participation of most CSOs not based in Geneva, the bureau of the HRC decided to proceed with the session.
We are very concerned that the proposed modalities of the session will even further restrict civil society participation and engagement, with a disproportionate impact on those in the Global South and where the COVID-19 pandemic is at its peak. The confusion on the modalities, the time frame and even the days and venues of meetings will have a disproportionate impact on CSO’s not in Geneva, giving them limited time to prepare and engage meaningfully. We will be monitoring and calling attention to these barriers and this exclusion throughout our participation in this session.
We cannot proceed with business as usual. We must defend civil society participation and engagement in the Human Rights Council sessions and work more generally as fundamental to ensuring that states respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all and fundamental freedoms for all. We reiterate the rallying call: Nothing about us without us!
Expected Resolutions Relevant to Sexual Rights
- Elimination of discrimination against women and girls (Mexico)
- Elimination of female genital mutilation (Burkina Faso on behalf of the African Group)
- The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests (Costa Rica, Switzerland)
- Enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights (Azerbaijan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement)
- Business and human rights (Argentina, Ghana, Norway, Russian Federation)
- Freedom of opinion and expression (Brazil, Canada, Fiji, Namibia, the Netherlands, Sweden)
- Human rights and climate change (Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam)
- Independence and impartiality of the judiciary, jurors and assessors, and the independence of lawyers (Australia, Botswana, Hungary, the Maldives, Mexico, Thailand)
- Several mandate renewal resolutions, including for the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (Sweden), the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities (Mexico, New Zealand), the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (Argentina, Ghana, Norway, Russian Federation), the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers (Australia, Botswana, Hungary, the Maldives, Mexico, Thailand), the Special Rapporteur on the right to education (Portugal)
Sexual Rights-Related Panels
Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women
Panel 1: Accountability for women and girls in humanitarian settings (Monday 13 July 2020, 10 a.m. -12 p.m.)
Click here to download the concept note »
Panel 2: COVID-19 and women's rights (Tuesday 14 July 2020, 10 a.m. -12 p.m.)
Click here to download the concept note »
Panel discussion on promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change (Wednesday 8 July 2020, 1 - 3 p.m.)
Click here to download the concept note »
Panel discussion on the impacts, opportunities and challenges of new and emerging digital technologies with regard to the promotion and protection of human rights (Wednesday 8 July 2020, 9 - 11 a.m.)
Click here to download the concept note »
Annual full-day meeting on the rights of the child (Wednesday 1 July 2020, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 3 - 5 p.m.)
Theme: Realizing the rights of the child through a healthy environment
Click here to download the concept note »
Annual thematic panel discussion on technical cooperation and capacity-building (Wednesday 15 July, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Theme: Upholding the human rights of prisoners, including women prisoners and offenders: enhancing technical cooperation and capacity-building in the implementation of the Nelson Mandela Rules and the Bangkok Rules
Click here to download the concept note »
Click here for a list of all panels and concept notes
Sexual Rights-Related Reports
A/HRC/44/26
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Intersection of race and gender discrimination in sport
Click here to read the report » and click here to read the SRI submission to this report »
A/HRC/44/57
Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Racial equality in the context of information technology
Click here to read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/44/58
Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/51
Report of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
Women’s human rights in the changing world of work
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/52
Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
Combating violence against women journalists
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/29
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Impact of the diversion of arms and unregulated or illicit arms transfers on the human rights of women and girls
Click here to read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/44/33
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Expert group meeting on the elimination of female genital mutilation
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/36
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/48
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Elements needed for a rights-based global agenda for advancing the right to mental health
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/25
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Civil society space: engagement with international and regional organizations
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/50
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
Ten years protecting civic space worldwide
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/35
Summary report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Intersessional interactive dialogue on ways to enhance the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of the Human Rights Council on issues affecting them
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/30
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Analytical study on the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change
Click here to read the report » and click here for the easy-to-read version (in English) »
A/HRC/44/41
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
Persons with disabilities in the context of internal displacement
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/32
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Improving accountability and access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuse through non-State based grievance mechanisms
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/43
Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises
Connecting the Business and human rights and anti-corruption agendas
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/39
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education
Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the right to education; concerns, challenges and opportunities
Click here to read the report »
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Disease pandemics and the freedom of opinion and expression
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/40
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
Click here to read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/44/42
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
Right to freedom of association of migrants and their defenders
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/53
Report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
Practices of so-called “conversion therapy”
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/44/44
Report of the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity
International solidarity and climate change
Click here to read the report »
A/HRC/43/30
Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Realizing the rights of the child through a healthy environment
Click here to read the report »
Click here for a list of all reports
UPR OUTCOMES
Only two of the outcomes from the 35th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will be adopted during this session of the HRC: Spain and Kuwait.
The adoption of the rest of the outcomes (Armenia, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Sweden and Turkey) has been postponed to the 45th session of the HRC due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 35th session of the UPR was held in January 2020.
Among the two outcomes adopted during this session, SRI collaborated with the Federación de Planificación Familiar Estatal for the UPR review of Spain.
SPAIN
Federación de Planificación Familiar Estatal, SRI
Topics: comprehensive sexuality education, contraception.
Click here to read the submission »
Click here to read the other stakeholder reports submitted during the 35th session of the UPR.
All Reports from the Working Groups, containing all recommendations received by States Under Review can be accessed here.
Sexual Rights Initiative Side Event
Online Side Event: Systemic Racism in the United Nations
Tuesday 14 July 2020, 16h00 to 17h30 CET (to be confirmed)
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations. However, often the UNHRC pursues it’s a laudable ambition by resolutely maintaining two significant fictions; firstly, that colonisation was an accident of the past and secondly, that human rights are fundamentally apolitical. Both of these fictions are products of white supremacy and patriarchy. A clear, visible and unambiguous manifestation of this was the urgent debate held during the resumed 43rd session of the HRC on “the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests” initiated by the Africa Group. The Global North “made clear that they are in it to push their own interests, which are paternalistic and white supremacist in nature.”
In this context, the Sexual Rights Initiative is organizing a side event to examine and explore the nature of gendered racism and racialized sexism, its myriad manifestations in multilateral spaces. The side event will analyse the hypothesis that white supremacy and patriarchy adapts and recalibrates, and uses the ostensible ‘apolitical’ human rights norms to maintain its power and influence and discuss ways to begin dismantling these systems. The side event will also address the ways in which race is obscured from discussions around gender, including when appropriating concepts that originated in the fight for racial and gender justice by Black feminists.
Stay tuned for more details and to register for this side event.