Team Europe at the 51st session of the Human Rights Council – Advocating for ALL human rights for ALL

Team Europe at the 51st session of the Human Rights Council - Advocating for ALL human rights for ALL

The 51^st regular session of the Human Rights Council took place in Geneva from 12 September to 7 October 2022. As Team Europe, we were a strong voice at the Human Rights Council advocating for ALL human rights for ALL across the globe. 19 out of 39 resolutions that were adopted at the 51^st session of the Council were led or co-led by the EU or its Member States.

Human rights ought to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere, without discrimination of any type. The respect, protection, and fulfillment of all rights for all people are crucial preconditions for building fair, free, and sustainable societies. However, across the world, still too many people experience human rights violations up to today.

The EU and its Member States, known as #TeamEurope, led or co-led a number of resolutions at this 51^st session of the Human Rights Council, addressing both country-specific situations as well as thematic human rights issues.

The EU led a resolution on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. Since August 2021, the overall situation in Afghanistan has seriously deteriorated with human rights being especially affected. Afghans are enduring a dire humanitarian situation and a human rights crisis. The human rights of women and girls are suffering a severe rollback. The resolution therefore condemns the continued human rights violations and abuses, including against children, and violations of international humanitarian law in Afghanistan, including the grave, institutionalised, widespread, and systematic oppression of all women and girls. Itextends and strengthens the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, in particular with regards to children's rights and gathering of documentation; and itstrengthens the reporting role of the OHCHR.

Furthermore, the EU led a resolution on the situation of human rights in Burundi, as we remain concerned about the fragile human rights situation in the country. The resolution recognizes a number of encouraging statements and gestures the new government has made, but given that there is still much room for improvement, the resolutionrenews the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, who only started in June,in order to give the mandate holder more time to fulfill his role.

The EU also led a resolution on the situation of human rights in Ethiopia, appalled by the gravity and scale of human rights violations and abuses, perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, since its beginning. According to the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia there are reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed and continue to be committed. The resolution therefore renews the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia.

This Human Rights Council session convened at a time when the international community is witnessing Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, which is also an attack on fundamental values and principles of international law. Throughout the session, we condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. We urged Russian authorities to uphold their domestic and international obligations and commitments to respect and uphold human rights and equality before the law.

The EU also engaged in negotiations of resolutions and participated actively in all interactive dialogues and thematic panels of the Council, highlighting a variety of human rights situations, includingSri Lanka,Syria, Venezuela, Xingjiang (China), Myanmar and Belarus. We also engaged in important thematic discussions, such as on gender, climate change and indigenous peoples.

EU Member States have furthermore put the spotlight on specific country situations or thematic human rights issues by leading or co-leading resolutions on a variety of topics:

• The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
• Youth and human rights
• Safety of journalists
• Human rights education
• The rights of Older Persons
• The situation of human rights in Russia
• Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka
• Arbitrary detention
• Cyber-bullying
• The situation of human rights in Syria
• The role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights
• The impact of neurotechnologies on human rights
• The conscientious objection to military service
• The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights
• Local government and human rights
• The human rights implications of new and emerging digital technologies developed in the military domain

All interventions by the EU can be found on our website. We have also shared insights on the EU's efforts towards realizing the enjoyment of human rights for everyone, everywhere on our social media channels, including weekly highlights summarizing the most important topics, debates and side-events. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to keep up-to-date about the EU's actions at the Human Rights Council and beyond.