SRI engages with the UN Special Procedures to influence the content of their thematic work and reports. As independent experts, Special Procedures have a particular role to play in echoing feminist analysis and demands and are sometimes able to do so more freely than other human rights mechanisms. We work in this context to bring an intersectional approach that includes sexual rights and foregrounds a Global South perspective to thematic mandates in their contributions to the development of norms and standards. 

We engage with Special Procedures by making submissions to their thematic reports. We also contribute to the debates, discussions and panels with independent experts at the Human Rights Council. We participate in their consultations and connect them with activists at the national level when they undertake country visits. Finally, we support organisations and activists who want to make a complaint through the communication procedure.

 

Submissions

Recent content
SRI submission to the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls on Deprivation of Liberty of Women and Girls

Deprivation of liberty of women and girls by the State, institutions and families is often the result of the need to control women and girls, accompanied by the fear of sexuality, its expression and assertion.

Intersectionality, Economic Justice and the Right to Development
This publication is a summary of a submission, sent to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development in June 2023 in response to a call to inform his vision-setting report. In this submission, SRI called for the Special Rapporteur to address inequalities and the right to development from an intersectional perspective, and to provide a thematic report dedicated to gender and the right to development.
Submission to the Special Rapporteur on cultural rights: the right to participate in sports

Prepared in response to the call for inputs issued by the Special Rapporteur on cultural rights to inform her report on the right to participate in sports, this submission advocates for an intersectional approach that examines the colonial, racist, patriarchal and capitalist underpinnings and root causes for violations of the right to participate in sports.

Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities Sexual Rights Initiative

This submission reviews bioethics and how it has related to the rights of persons with disabilities. It first highlights how bioethics constitutes its own authority and experts to have a say in the lives of persons with disabilities. Secondly it provides a brief overview of a global feminist approach to bioethics and its contributions to a critique of the field. After highlighting the contributions of women with disabilities to the so-called “bioethical discussions,” the submission recommends to move away from bioethics and adopt a human rights-based analysis.

 

Statements

Recent content
HRC 60: Joint Statement to Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Right to Development (2)

The false divide between development and gender equality has been weaponized to undermine hard-won progress in gender equality and human rights, threatening the foundations of inclusive, rights-based development, with disproportionate impact on women, girls, and persons with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).

HRC 60: Joint Statement to Item 3
We welcome and deeply appreciate in this regard the recent statement by 47 UN Special Procedures mandate holders which highlighted that legal and policy frameworks that fail to incorporate a gender perspective risk reinforcing, rather than dismantling, structural inequality, and that regressive approaches ignore the lived realities of women and girls, as well as gender-diverse persons, and obscure the root causes of discrimination and violence.
Here’s What to Expect at HRC 60
The 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council will take place from 8 September to 8 October 2025. Despite unprecedented hardship, the HRC’s 60th session will also tackle issues like preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, including the update to the technical guidance on the application of a human rights-based approach to the elimination of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, prepared by OHCHR and with a resolution expected to be adopted. This presents a crucial opportunity to reaffirm global commitments to reproductive health and rights, especially as crises heighten risks for pregnant persons.
Did you miss it? Here’s what happened at HRC 59!
HRC 59 comes at a moment of deep crisis for the global human rights ecosystem. The system meant to protect human rights is not just under attack — it is on the brink of losing its legitimacy and credibility. The lack of accountability for the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the regression of human rights norms, coupled with the liquidity crisis in the UN, have reduced spaces for activists and civil society. We join others who have expressed grave concern about the UN’s financial situation throughout the session, and we deplore that this crisis is due in part by the failure of some states to pay their contribution to the system in full and on time.

 

Thematic work on special procedures

While we cover a range of topics related to sexual rights, our current focus through the Special Procedures currently covers the following themes:

Icon Racism, Colonialism and Neo-colonialism

Racism, Colonialism and Neo-colonialism

Icon Right to Health & Sexual and Reproductive Health

 

Right to Health & Sexual and Reproductive Health

Link to Economic justice section. Image of woman with baby and handbag

Economic justice / Poverty and economic inequality

 

Latest news on Special Procedures  

Opportunities for feminist engagement in the UN human rights system

You'll find in this post the most recent opportunities for feminist engagement in the UN human rights system from February to April 2024.

Published on February 08, 2024

2023 In Review

Last year, our work continued to highlight how sexual rights are profoundly impacted by the interrelated global crises brought on by capitalism through rampant neoliberalism, unchecked extractivism and climate degradation, violent populism and nationalism, soaring inequality within and between states, and entrenched patriarchal, racist, classist and ableist systems of oppression. Read below for our highlights of 2023.

Published on February 12, 2024

 

What are Special Procedures?

UN Special Procedures are human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate, analyse and report on thematic or country-specific human rights concerns.

UN Special Procedures can take the form of Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, or Working Groups. The Special Procedures submit annual reports to the Human Rights Council, respond to communications of urgent human rights violations, undertake country visits, and contribute to developing international human rights norms and standards.

To learn more about the Special Procedures, please visit their website or watch this video produced by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.