Today marks the end of the last week of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 48th regular session, which took place from the 13th of September to the 11th of October 2021.
Considered to be one of the most difficult and unpredictable sessions in it's history, the Human Rights Council considered various relevant issues, including intimidation and reprisals, arbitrary detention, racism, enforced disappearances, climate change and the right to a healthy environment, water and sanitation, and the rights of indigenous peoples and people of African descent, etc.
Furthermore, the Council provided a platform to address the grave human rights situations in States including Afghanistan, Burundi, China, Ethiopia, Libya, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Syria and Venezuela, etc. Within that framework, more than 80 reports were considered under the Council’s various agenda items.
In a landmark resolution the Human Rights Council recognised the crucial importance of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and urged the General Assembly to consider the matter. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Council rejected a resolution for the first time, particularly a resolution led by the Netherlands on the human rights situation in Yemen, on the 7th of October 2021.
Despite the geopolitical tensions, the Human Rights Council acted on over two dozen resolutions subsequently renewing and establishing work towards promoting and protecting human rights globally, as well as created three new Special Procedure mandates : Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi.
For more information on the details of the session, visit : https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/Sessions.aspx
To stay up to date : #HRC48 on Twitter