The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The headquarters of the Council are at the United Nations Office at Geneva in Switzerland.
The Council investigates allegations of breaches of human rights in United Nations member states and addresses thematic human rights issues like freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of belief and religion, women's rights, LGBT rights, and and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities.
The Council was established by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 March 2006 to replace the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR, herein CHR). The Council works closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and engages the United Nations special procedures. The Council has been strongly criticized for including member countries that engage in human rights abuses.
Structure The members of the General Assembly elect the members who occupy 47 seats of the Human Rights Council. The term of each seat is three years, and no member may occupy a seat for more than two consecutive terms. The previous CHR had a membership of 53 countries elected by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) through a majority of those present and voting.
Sessions The UNHRC holds regular sessions three times a year, in March, June, and September. The UNHRC can decide at any time to hold a special session to address human rights violations and emergencies, at the request of one-third of the member states. , there had been 36 special sessions.
Members
The Council consists of 47 members, elected yearly by the General Assembly for staggered three-year terms. Members are selected via the basis of equitable geographic rotation using the United Nations regional grouping system. Members are eligible for re-election for one additional term, after which they must relinquish their seat. United Nations member states outside the Council serve as observer states.
The seats are distributed along the following lines: 13 for the African Group 13 for the Asia-Pacific Group 6 for the Eastern European Group 8 for the Latin American and Caribbean Group 7 for the Western European and Others Group
Current members Term African States (13) Asia-Pacific States (13) Eastern European States (6) Latin American & Caribbean States (8) Western European & Other States (7)2026–2028 2025–2027 2024–2026
Past members (2006–2025) Term African States Asia-Pacific States Eastern European States Latin American & Caribbean States Western European & Other States2023–2025 2022–2024 2021–2023 (from 10 May 2022) 2020–2022 2019–2021 2018–2020 2017–2019 (left in June 2018) (from 13 July 2018) 2016–2018 2015–2017 2014–2016 2013–2015 2012–2014 2011–2013 2010–2012 2009–2011 2008–2010 2006–2009 2006–2008 2006–2007
Presidents
Name Country Time 20Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro1 January 2026 – Incumbent 19Jürg Lauber1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025 18Omar Zniber10 January 2024 – 31 December 2024 171 January 2023 – 31 December 2023 16Federico Villegas1 January 2022 – 31 December 2022 15Nazhat Shameem Khan1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021 14Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger1 January 2020 – 31 December 2020 13 Coly Seck 1 January 2019 – 31 December 2019 12 Vojislav Šuc 1 January 2018 – 31 December 2018 11 Joaquín Alexander Maza Martelli 1 January 2017 – 31 December 2017 10 Choi Kyong-lim 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016The Human Rights Council elects Ambassador Ambassador Choi Kyong-lim of the Republic of Korea as its new President. Retrieved 4 January 2016. 9 Joachim Rücker 1 January 2015 – 31 December 2015 8 Baudelaire Ndong Ella 1 January 2014 – 31 December 2014 7 Remigiusz Henczel 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2013 6 Laura Dupuy Lasserre 19 June 2011 – 31 December 2012 5 Sihasak Phuangketkeow 19 June 2010 – 18 June 2011 4 Alex Van Meeuwen 19 June 2009 – 18 June 2010 3 Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi 19 June 2008 – 18 June 2009 2 Doru Romulus Costea 19 June 2007 – 18 June 2008 1 Luis Alfonso de Alba 19 June 2006 – 18 June 2007
Suspensions The General Assembly can suspend the rights and privileges of any Council member that it decides has persistently committed gross and systematic violations of human rights during its term of membership. The suspension process requires a two-thirds majority vote by the General Assembly. The resolution establishing the UNHRC states that "when electing members of the Council, Member States shall take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto", and that "members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights".
Under those provisions, and in response to a recommendation made by the Council's members, on 1 March 2011 the General Assembly voted to suspend Libya's membership in the light of the situation in the country in the wake of Muammar Gaddafi's "violent crackdown on anti-government protestors"; Libya was reinstated as a Council member on 18 November 2011.
On 7 April 2022, just days after photographic and video material of the Bucha massacre emerged, the eleventh emergency special session of the General Assembly suspended Russia from the council due to the gross and systematic violations of human rights committed during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Deputy Permanent Representative Gennady Kuzmin said that Russia had withdrawn from the council earlier in the day in expectation of the vote. Russia was only the second Human Rights Council member to be suspended from the UN body, after Libya in 2011, and it was the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to be suspended from any United Nations body.
Directly responsible subsidiary bodies
Universal Periodic Review Working Group
An important component of the Council consists of a periodic review of all 193 UN member states, called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The mechanism is based on reports coming from different sources, one of them being contributions from non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Each country's situation will be examined during a three-and-a-half-hour debate.Main points: What is the UPR . Retrieved 31 January 2016More details on: Information note for NGOs regarding the Universal Periodic Review mechanism (as of second cycle) . Retrieved 31 January 2016
The first cycle of the UPR took place between 2008 and 2011,For complete calendar, see: Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review the second cycle between 2012 and 2016,For complete calendar, see: Human Rights Council 2nd Universal Periodic Review and the third cycle began in 2017 and is expected to be completed in 2021.For complete calendar, see: Human Rights Council 3rd Universal Periodic Review
The General Assembly resolution establishing the Council provided that "the Council shall review its work and functioning five years after its establishment".Paragraph 16 of General Assembly Resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 The main work of the review was undertaken in an Intergovernmental Working Group established by the Council in its Resolution 12/1 of 1 October 2009.See: Resolution 12/1 of 1 October 2009, included in UN document A/65/53, containing the Report of the Human Rights Council on its Twelfth Session (14 September – 2 October 2009) The review was finalized in March 2011, by the adoption of an "Outcome" at the Council's 16th session, annexed to Resolution 16/21.
First cycle: The following terms and procedures were set out in General Assembly Resolution 60/251: Reviews are to occur over a four-year period (48 countries per year). Accordingly, the 193 countries that are members of the United Nations shall normally all have such a Review between 2008 and 2011; The order of review should follow the principles of universality and equal treatment; All Member States of the Council will be reviewed while they sit at the Council and the initial members of the Council will be first; The selection of the countries to be reviewed must respect the principle of equitable geographical allocation; The first Member States and the first observatory States to be examined will be selected randomly in each regional group to guarantee full compliance with the equitable geographical allocation. Reviews shall then be conducted alphabetically.
Second cycle: HRC Resolution 16/21 brought the following changes: Reviews are to occur over a four-and-a-half-year period (42 countries per year). Accordingly, the 193 countries that are members of the United Nations shall normally all have such a Review between 2012 and 2016; The order of review will be similar to the 1st cycle; The length of each Review will be extended from three to three-and-a-half hours; The second and subsequent cycles of the review should focus on, inter alia, the implementation of the recommendations.
Similar mechanisms exist in other organizations: International Atomic Energy Agency, Council of Europe, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, and the World Trade Organization.Lars Müller, (ed.), The First 365 days of the United Nations Human Rights Council, p. 81 and ff.
Advisory Committee The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was the main subsidiary body of the CHR. The Sub-Commission was composed of 26 elected human rights experts whose mandate was to conduct studies on discriminatory practices and to make recommendations to ensure that racial, national, religious, and linguistic minorities are protected by law.
In 2006, the newly created UNHRC assumed responsibility for the Sub-Commission. The Sub-Commission's mandate was extended for one year (to June 2007), but it met for the final time in August 2006. At its final meeting, the Sub-Commission recommended the creation of a Human Rights Consultative Committee to provide advice to the UNHRC.
In September 2007, the UNHRC decided to create an Advisory Committee to provide expert advice with 18 members, distributed as follows: five from African states; five from Asian states; three from Latin American and Caribbean states; three from Western European and other states; and two members from Eastern European states.Human Rights Council Advisory Committee Concludes Third Session Human Rights Council Advisory Committee Roundup 7 August 2009.
Complaint procedure The UNHRC complaint procedure was established on 18 June 2007 (by UNHRC Resolution 5/1) for reporting of consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world and under any circumstances.
The UNHRC set up two working groups for its Complaint Procedure:
the Working Group on Communications (WGC) – consists of five experts designated by the Advisory Committee from among its members, one from each regional group. The experts serve for three years with the possibility of one renewal. The experts determine whether a complaint deserves investigation, in which case it is passed to the WGS. the Working Group on Situations (WGS) – has five members, appointed by the regional groups from among its members on the Council for one year, which is renewable once. The WGS meets twice a year for five working days to examine the communications transferred to it by the WGC, including the replies of states thereon, as well as the situations which are already before the UNHRC under the complaint procedure. The WGS, on the basis of the information and recommendations provided by the WGC, presents the UNHRC with a report on consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms and makes recommendations to the UNHRC on the course of actions to take.
Filing a complaint