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HRC55, the first Human Rights Council session of 2024, was held from 26 February to 5 April, making it the longest session to date. Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, delivered a strong EU statement at the high-level section of the Council.
“Two years ago, Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine. Now we are witnessing a true humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East. The first casualty of war is always human rights. We We have seen it many times, and now we are witnessing it again in Ukraine and, most tragically, in Gaza following the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas and the large-scale response by the IDF. “There is,” he said. Said.
“This Council is an essential forum for addressing war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law wherever they occur. Unfortunately, many conflicts require our immediate response. But our collective aim must be to ensure equal dignity and rights for all human beings everywhere.” – Josep Borrell High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
The world continues to face other dire human rights situations, including in Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea, Iran, and Belarus. sudan. These are just a few of the many crises that cannot be overemphasized, and of course are occurring in parallel with long-term conflicts and instability such as in Syria and Yemen.
Together with the Member States, also known as ‘Team Europe’, the EU led a number of resolutions and joint statements at this Council meeting, covering a wide range of national situations and thematic human rights issues.
The European Union submitted five draft resolutions that were adopted by the Council:
- resolution regarding Belarus This is to address the situation on the ground, which is seriously deteriorating due to systematic, widespread and serious human rights violations, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity. The High Commissioner’s latest report on the situation in Belarus, presented at this meeting, speaks for itself. This paints a clear picture of “an organized, sustained, and systematic campaign of violence, repression, and punishment based on or in furtherance of a policy of attacking civilians.” The long list of gross human rights violations and the conclusion that “a crime against humanity of persecution may have been committed” is alarming. Given the seriousness and scale of reported human rights violations, and the complete lack of impunity in Belarus, continued strong investigations are needed to ensure accountability and bring justice and reparations to victims. . This resolution establishes a group of three independent experts and renews the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.
- resolution regarding North Korea/Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Draw attention to the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation in North Korea and express continued support for accountability efforts. This year marks the 10th anniversary of COI’s landmark report and findings. The EU is deeply concerned that, 10 years later, systematic, widespread and serious human rights violations continue in North Korea, some of which amount to crimes against humanity. The resolution renews the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and calls on OHCHR to assess the implementation of the COI’s recommendations in a comprehensive report and submit it to the Human Rights Council next September.
- EU-led resolution Myanmar to Address the deeply concerning and deteriorating human rights situation in the country. The Myanmar military continues to inflict intolerable levels of suffering and brutality on the people of Myanmar. Escalating conflict, cross-border crime and compulsory military conscription have pushed Myanmar further into a downward spiral, while horrifying and systematic human rights abuses continue. Myanmar’s military’s stranglehold on humanitarian aid is exacerbating the impact of the crisis. This resolution refocuses energies on preventing atrocities against all people in the country, including the Rohingya, by taking meaningful, effective and targeted action to end the military’s access to arms, among other things. This is the Council’s response to the High Commissioner’s call for the international community to Jet fuel and foreign currency needed to sustain repression operations against civilians.that Renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for one year and express continued support for accountability processes, including the independent inquiry mechanism on Myanmar, established by the Human Rights Council. The unanimous adoption of this resolution by the Council sends a strong signal of support for the aspirations of the Myanmar people for effective human rights protection, accountability, democracy and civilian government.
- The EU also resolution on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The purpose of this resolution is to emphasize the importance of promoting and protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief. The resolution also strongly condemns all forms of intolerance and discrimination against individuals based on religion or belief, and condemns the advocacy of religious hatred anywhere, both online and offline. The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief applies to all human beings, individually and in community with others, regardless of who they are, where they live, or what they do. or universal human rights exercised privately. However, all over the world, individuals continue to be discriminated against, and in some cases persecuted and even killed, on the basis of their religion, belief, or lack thereof. The European Union stands ready to activate existing processes, such as the Istanbul Process, and takes into account the Beirut Declaration and the Faith for Rights framework, key tools designed to support Rabat. Continue efforts based on the action plan. States are addressing religious intolerance in a human rights-compliant manner, and the international community must continue to promote and enforce this.
- The EU is pleased to once again partner with the Group on Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC) on biannual resolutions on the European Union (EU). children’s rights, This year we focused on comprehensive social protection. Despite clear evidence that social protection has a significant positive impact on children’s lives, social protection remains out of reach for more than 1.77 billion children worldwide today. It’s there where it doesn’t exist. The resolution emphasizes that every child has the right to social security and recognizes the obligation of States to ensure access to comprehensive social protection, ensuring that children’s wide-ranging rights are may be promoted. The resolution emphasizes the importance of mainstreaming children’s rights across the United Nations system, calls for child-friendly methods for children’s participation, and promotes children’s right to be heard.
moreover, EU leads joint statement on the death of Alexei Navalny and the situation of Russian opposition and human rights defenders.
of The EU also led a joint statement on the importance of transitional justice and accountability in Ethiopia.
The EU includes Ukraine, the occupied Palestinian territories, Iran, Sudan, Eritrea, Venezuela, Mali, South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan. We also worked to combat racism, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the rights of persons with disabilities, the protection of human rights defenders, violence against children and religious hatred.
in #TeamEurope approachEU member states, together with partner countries, announced the following (but not all) initiatives at HRC55:
- Joint statement on International Women’s Day (Finland, Mexico)
- Joint Statement on the 2024 World Elections (Romania)
- Joint Statement on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination No. 45 (Belgium, Albania, Ivory Coast, Dominican Republic, Kyrgyzstan)
- Joint Statement on ICJ Interim Measures for Syria (Netherlands, Canada)
- Resolutions on the rights of persons belonging to minorities (Austria, Slovenia, Mexico)
- Resolutions on the right to work (Greece, Romania, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico)
- Resolutions on adequate housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living and the related right to non-discrimination (Finland, Germany, Brazil, Namibia)
- Resolution on “Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (Denmark)
- Resolutions on combating violence, discrimination and harmful acts against intersex persons (Finland, Australia, Chile, South Africa)
- Renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur (SR) and the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on the situation of human rights in Iran (Germany, Iceland, United Kingdom, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova)
- Human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, UK, US, Qatar, Turkiye)
- Resolutions on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (Slovenia, Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Switzerland)
- Resolutions on the role of States in countering the negative impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realization of human rights (Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Japan, UK, USA).
- Update on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy (Austria, Brazil, Germany, Liechtenstein, Mexico)
- Rights of people belonging to minorities (Austria, Slovenia, Mexico)
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