Here’s What to Expect at HRC 56
The 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council will take place from 18 June to 12 July 2024.
The session will not be hybrid because of the absence of the mandate from the General Assembly to retain remote participation. This will not affect pre-recorded statements at all debates, panels and discussions. Due to the ongoing renovations started in 2020 and since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, side events taking place in the Palais will be limited to one per organisation and one hour in duration. This unprecedented liquidity crisis for the human rights system continues to impact civil society disproportionately and states must pay their dues without delay.
Below you can find information about:
- Anticipated sexual rights-related resolutions, panels and reports
- UPR outcomes
- SRI’s side event taking place during the 56th session
Please note that all dates are provisional and subject to change.
The latest information about the session will be available on OHCHR’s HRC56 page.
Access the full programme of work for HRC56
Access the HRC56 scheduled meeting calendar
Featured News
Several issues related to gender equality and sexual rights will be in focus during the 56th session of the Human Rights Council. A key issue to follow at this session is decriminalisation of sex work, which has received attention from UN Special Procedures including in the Guidance document of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls on Eliminating discrimination against sex workers and securing their human rights, and the guide on the human rights of sex workers by the Special Rapporteur on the right to health. SRI and the Global Network on Sex Work Projects (NSWP) will host a side event on the urgent necessity of decriminalising sex work.
This session, like most June sessions, will also feature other important discussions and resolutions centered on gender, including those related to poverty, inequalities and the panel discussion on human rights economy. The theme of this year’s resolution on discrimination against women and girls also focuses on those issues, building upon the report about the gendered inequalities of poverty released by the Working Group on discrimination at the 53rd HRC session. Such discussions are especially critical at this time of increasing economic inequality and injustice in the world.
As the various discussions planned for this session occur, it is important to ensure that human rights are truly universal; just as economic injustice prevents the realisation of human rights other factors including geopolitical domination render some people outside the purview of human rights as is evident in the case of the Palestinian people.
Notwithstanding the attention to gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights at this session, it is essential to remember that these very same rights are denied to the people of Palestine, and some states use pinkwashing to justify the refusal to hold Israel accountable. We reiterate the call of feminist and queer movements, that all oppressions are linked and that none of us are free until Palestinian people are free.
SRI and NSWP side event at the HRC 56:
Decriminalising Sex Work: A Human Rights Imperative
24 June 2024 - 15h00 - 16h00 CET
In person: Room XXV, Palais des Nations
Multiple human rights mechanisms have reaffirmed and recommended to states that decriminalising sex work is a necessary pre-condition to the full realisation of human rights including but not limited to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Amongst the many principles that underpin the need to decriminalise sex work is the framework of the right to bodily autonomy, which highlights that consent and autonomy of all people are fundamental while making laws and policies. The side event will showcase evidence from sex worker movements on the human rights imperative to decriminalise sex work if states want to respect, protect and fulfil all human rights of everyone.
Register now to stay updated with the event details.
Expected Resolutions Related to Sexual Rights
- Online Gender-based and sexual violence (Belgium, Kazakhstan)
- Human rights and climate change (Philippines, Bangladesh, Vietnam)
- Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls (Mexico, Chile)
- Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement (African Group)
- Menstrual hygiene management (African Group)
- The Social Forum (Cuba)
- International Solidarity (Cuba)
- Human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS (Brazil, Colombia, Mozambique, Portugal, Thailand)
- Right to free education (Luxembourg, Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone)
- The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests (Switzerland, Costa Rica)
- Independence and impartiality of the judiciary (Australia, Botswana, Hungary, Maldives, Mexico, Thailand)
- Implementation of resolution 26/9 on the legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (Ecuador)
- Freedom of opinion and expression (Netherlands)
Sexual Rights-Related Panels
Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women [accessible panel]
Theme morning panel: Economic violence against women and girls
Theme afternoon panel: Human rights economy and women’s rights
Time: Friday, 28 June 2024, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Quadrennial panel discussion on promoting human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal [accessible panel]
Theme: Promoting inclusiveness in and through sports
Time: Monday, 1 July 2024, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights [accessible panel]
Theme: Ensuring livelihood resilience in the context of the risk of loss and damage relating to the adverse effects of climate change
Time: Monday, 1 July 2024, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Annual thematic panel discussion on technical cooperation and capacity-building
Theme: Enhancing technical cooperation and capacity-building in the implementation of universal periodic review recommendations
Time: Tuesday, 9 July 2024, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
See the list of all panels and concept notes
Sexual Rights-Related Reports
A/HRC/56/51
Report of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
Escalating backlash against gender equality and urgency of reaffirming substantive equality and the human rights of women and girls
See also the Working Group’s recent Guidance document on Eliminating discrimination against sex workers and securing their human rights
A/HRC/56/52
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Drug use, harm reduction and the right to health
See also the Special Rapporteur’s recent Guide on the human rights of sex workers
A/HRC/56/28
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Analytical study on key challenges in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/29
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Cross-border and transnational female genital mutilation
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/31
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Countering cyberbullying against persons of disabilities
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/33
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Summary of Panel discussion on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, focusing on the impact of development projects on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular on Indigenous women
A/HRC/56/34
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Role of public service delivery in the promotion and protection of human rights and in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
A/HRC/56/37
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Expert meeting on the obstacles to the repatriation of funds of illicit origin to the countries of origin and their impact on the enjoyment of human rights
A/HRC/56/38
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Summary of the intersessional panel discussion on human rights challenges in addressing and countering all aspects of the world drug problem
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/41
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Civil society space
A/HRC/56/43
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women
A/HRC/56/44
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Compilation of best practices in the contribution of development to the promotion and protection of all human rights in the context of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic
A/HRC/56/45
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Mapping the work and recommendations of the HRC, OHCHR, the treaty bodies and the special procedures of the Human Rights Council in the field of human rights and new and emerging digital technologies, including artificial intelligence
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/46
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/47
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
Climate change
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/50
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/53
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Journalists in exile
A/HRC/56/54
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
Revisiting migrants’ contributions with a human rights-based approach: a discussion on facilitating and hindering factors
A/HRC/56/55
Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises
Investors, environmental, social and governance approaches and human rights
A/HRC/56/57
Report of the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity
Participation of civil society organizations seeking to express international solidarity through transnational, international and regional networks
A/HRC/56/58
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education
Academic freedom
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/61
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
Eradicating poverty beyond growth
A/HRC/56/62
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Safeguarding the independence of judicial systems in the face of contemporary challenges to democracy
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/67
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 fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Read the report when it becomes available »
A/HRC/56/68
Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Artificial intelligence and racial discrimination
Read the report when it becomes available »
UPR Outcomes
The 56th session will include the adoption of the outcomes of countries reviewed during the 45th working group session of the Universal Periodic Review, which took place from 22 January 2024 to 02 February 2024. The council will adopt all 14 outcomes from the reviews of the following countries: Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria, Mexico, Mauritius, Jordan, Malaysia, Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Congo, Malta.
Among the 14 outcomes to be adopted during this session, the SRI collaborated on reports with organisations and activists in preparing reports for the UPR reviews of Malaysia and Nigeria.
Malaysia
Collaborators: North South Initiative and Sexual Rights Initiative
Key words: Rights of refugees, rights of migrants, right to work, right to education, right to health, access to health, trafficking, right to peaceful assembly, right to an adequate standard of living, right to family life
Malaysia
Collaborators: Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI)
Key words: Gender equality, sexual and gender based violence (SGBV), sexual and reproductive health and rights, access to abortion, child marriage, access to contraception
Nigeria
Collaborators: The PACT and others, Sexual Rights Initiative
Key words: HIV, AIDS, young people living with HIV, right to health, universal health coverage, non-discrimination, stigma, criminalisation, LGBTQIA, Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act; Police Violence and Abuse
Sexual Rights Initiative Events
Decriminalising Sex Work: A Human Rights Imperative
Side-event during the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council
24 June 2024 - 15h00 - 16h00 CET
Room XXV, Palais des Nations