A set of committees, working groups, processes, and UN bodies contribute to safeguarding the promotion of respect for human rights.
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) is an intergovernmental body established by the General Assembly in March 2006 to address human rights concerns and to make recommendations to the General Assembly. The HRC is comprised of 47-member states that are elected by the UN General Assembly. Members of the Council are elected by the General Assembly to three year terms. The Human Rights Council uses several tools to perform its work. Its primary instruments are the Special Procedures, Universal Periodic Review, and the UN Treaty Bodies.
The Special Procedures are a set of mandates that are established and authorized by the Human Rights Council to monitor, investigate, and report on 37 human rights themes globally, and on the human rights situations in 8 countries. Mandates are established by majority vote of the HRC Member States and they appoint individuals,or groups of individuals (also known as working groups) to manage the mandates. These individuals are called Special Representatives or Rapporteurs. Special Procedures usually receive allegations of human rights violations from individuals and/or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are investigated and analyzed by appointees.
The UN Human Rights Council also monitors human rights in all Members of the United Nations through a process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a process that allows for the review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States . The UPR is a State-driven process, where States are required to submit a self-assessment of its human rights record to the Human Rights Council.
The implementation of human rights treaties is monitored through committees called the Treaty Bodies. Each treaty has its own committee that is assigned to ensure that parties to conventions protect and promote human rights guaranteed in the conventions every five years.
GENEVA (5 August 2016) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday deplored the execution of 20 people in Iran this week for purported terrorism-related offences. Reports suggest that most if not all of those executed were from a minority group – Sunnis from the ...
GENEVA (26 June 2014) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed concern Thursday about the large number of executions in Iran since the beginning of this year, calling on the authorities to halt, in particular, the imminent execution of a juvenile offender. “The imminent execution of Razieh ...
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani Location: Geneva We are deeply concerned about the reported spike in executions in Iran since the beginning of this year. In just over seven weeks, at least 80 people have been executed. Some reliable sources indicate the figure could ...
GENEVA (14 April 2016) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Thursday appealed to Iran to halt executions for drug offences until Parliament debates a new law that would remove the mandatory death penalty for drug crimes. Five men were hanged last weekend, three of ...
Archived video clips from the 25th Session of the UN Human Rights Council held in March 2014. Also watch the statement by the Special Rapporteur presenting his March 2014 report at the Council and Iran's ...
Full report PDF - 21 August 2013 - This report contains the findings of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo, and illustrates that there is a strong link between violence against women and women’s incarceration, whether prior to, during or after ...
GENEVA (5 August 2015) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein today expressed alarm at the imposition of the death penalty on Mohammad Ali Taheri, the founder of a spiritual movement, writer and practitioner of alternative medicine theories used in Iran and abroad. Taheri was sentenced ...
The United Nations Human Rights Council today renewed the mandate for the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran by a vote of 21 for, 9 against, with 16 abstentions. View the introduction of the resolution by Sweden, with country responses and announcement of the vote below. ...
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville Location: Geneva Date: 4 December 2012 Subjects: 1) Iran 2) Human Rights Day 1) Iran The High Commissioner for Human Rights is extremely concerned about Nasrin Sotoudeh, an internationally recognised lawyer and human rights activist, whose health is reportedly deteriorating. ...