Report on the 44th session of the Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council (HRC) is the United Nations’ body responsible for the promotion, protection and support of human rights around the globe. It serves as an avenue where civil society and states can raise issues that require worldwide attention. At the end of every session, the HRC adopts resolutions on numerous subjects which acts as guidelines for human rights implementation around the world. As an organisation in consultative status to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC), Right Livelihood has been attending HRC sessions since 2018, inviting Laureates to sit at the heart of decision-making processes and ensuring that their fights receive global attention.
The 44th session of the HRC began on June 30 after long negotiations on its modalities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The session was concluded on July 17 with the adoption of 23 resolutions. The report seeks to summarise relevant debates around topics directly related to the work of numerous Right Livelihood Laureates which occurred during the session. It seeks to highlight debates around topics directly related to the work of the Laureates. Due to the pandemic, side events could not be organised, hence, the report consists only of two sections: First, plenary meetings composed mainly of Interactive Dialogues, a form of debate which allows states and civil society to exchange views with the UN Special procedures on a specific topic decided by the mandate holder. Second, relevant Resolutions that were adopted during the Council can be of interest to one or more Laureates. Due to limited capacities, the Foundation did not take part in the negotiations around these resolutions, hence, our reflections are only based on the final content of the resolution and potential amendments made in the plenary.
The report is not exhaustive in nature, as it does not report every debate that took place throughout the session, but only those attended by the Foundation or relevant to the work of the Laureates. Nevertheless, it provides a good overview of debates around issues closely related to Laureates’ work. It highlights the recurring topics from each debate and when possible, which countries mentioned the specific issue. As civil society space is facing severe limitations across the world, this report can be seen as a useful summary to check which issues are being taken into consideration by states.
