United Nations Human rights council 57th session

18/10/2024
Statement
@ Cécile Kazatchkine

On 11 October 2024, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council concluded its 57th session after adopting 37 resolutions and one Statement by the President. The Council, among others, extended the mandates of nine country and one thematic mandate holders.

Geneva, 18 October 2024. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) welcomes the adoption of the resolution on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, extending the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and calling upon the Russian authorities to establish full engagement with all UN human rights mechanisms and to end any form of intimidation and harassment against Russian civil society, LGBTIQ+ and Indigenous people.

We welcome the renewal of the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) in Sudan. As the only independent mechanism investigating violations across Sudan, it is vital that the FFM is now able to continue its work uninterrupted. The significant vote improvement compared to the creation of the mandate in September 2023 was marked by two "Yes" votes from South Africa and Ghana – an unprecedented show of support from African member states of the Council and an important shift in regional solidarity for the mechanism.

FIDH welcomes the renewal of the Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM) and the mandate for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for another two years. We look to the FFM as it continuous its investigation with view of ensuring justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators.

The consensus adoption of the resolution renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan was a further welcome step by the Council. FIDH nevertheless reiterates its call for the creation of a comprehensive independent investigative mechanism that would match the scale and severity of violations committed in Afghanistan; it is essential that the Council act on the strong accountability language in the resolution and take decisive steps to establish an investigative mechanism.

Concerns about a serious deterioration of the human rights situation in Burundi in the lead up to elections in both 2025 and 2027 were matched by a stronger vote in the adoption of the resolution renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Burundi, though regrettably without any regional support from African members of the Council. The monitoring and reporting of the UN Special Rapporteur is critical given the Government of Burundi’s continued refusal to cooperate with international or regional human rights mechanisms and its lack of independent national institutions.

FIDH is disappointed with the failure of the Human Rights Council to address issues related to crimes committed against the Palestinian people, to create an independent international accountability mechanism on Yemen and to hold a debate on the situation in Xinjiang, China.

FIDH joined partner organisations in a joint statementat the closing of the session, presenting a detailed overview of civil society’s key takeaways from the 57th session of the Human Rights Council.

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