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The 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council took place from 8 September to 8 October 2025. The ongoing liquidity crisis affecting the United Nations, which significantly impacts the Council’s functioning, has once again put civil society organisations under an additional and significant burden.

La 60° sesión del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU se desarrolló del 8 de septiembre al 8 de octubre de 2025. La crisis de liquidez que afecta a las Naciones Unidas, y que tiene un impacto decisivo sobre el funcionamiento del Consejo, nuevamente constituyó una carga adicional y significativa para las organizaciones de sociedad civil.

La 60e session du Conseil des droits de l'homme des Nations Unies s’est tenue du 8 septembre au 8 octobre 2025. La crise de liquidité prolongée qui frappe les Nations Unies, et qui freine gravement le fonctionnement du Conseil, fait une fois encore peser un poids démesuré sur les organisations de la société civile.

Find the full statement and list of signatories here: https://www.abortionstatement.org/

On 2 October 2025, several members of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) were kidnapped by Israel following an illegal interception of the flotilla boats in international waters. The Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) joins the calls from activists around the world to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza and the immediate release of all Global Sumud Flotilla abductees

Today, a few hundred ordinary people from 44 countries are sailing toward Gaza to break the siege and open a humanitarian corridor. Our action is rooted in the failure of states to stop the humanitarian catastrophe created by Israel and to end the genocide. Under international humanitarian law, our governments must protect us from any attack on the flotilla. The Human Rights Council must act with clarity and urgency and condemn Israel’s genocide, and call on all states to fulfil their legal obligations. This requires a full arms, trade, and cultural embargo on Israel, and concrete steps to end impunity for these crimes.

The UPR is a useful check point for states to reflect on their human rights programming - their best practices, gaps and challenges. It is a continuous reminder that the realisation of human rights should be a regular facet of states’ work, and that we shouldn’t have to wait for crises, emergencies, and conflicts to centre human rights, or to make a voluntary commitment to do better.

If the Council is truly serious in its objectives to meaningfully integrate a gender perspective into transitional justice processes, States must start their processes with gendered analyses at the centre, not as an add-in later. As 47 Independent UN Experts recently stated, gendered analyses are “essential for exposing power disparities, structural inequalities and discriminatory practices embedded in laws, institutions and social norms. ”

We are deeply concerned by the Sweden’s approach to sex work, which indirectly criminalizes the bodies of sex workers, conflates sex work with trafficking, and exposes sex workers to violence, stigma, and exclusion from democratic participation. The criminalization of sex work forces sex workers to the margins of society. Red Umbrella Sweden members often live in precarious conditions, at constant risk of eviction, homelessness, and social isolation, and often face barriers to accessing health care.

Armenia must address uneven access to reproductive services, including abortion, which is legally permitted in the country. Rural women, women with disabilities, LBT women and women living with HIV face systemic barriers due to stigma, lack of trained providers, and gaps in service delivery. The government must take proactive steps to ensure abortion is accessible, affordable, and safe for all women, regardless of their social status, genetic or personal characteristics, or geographic location.