The European Union as a strong actor at the 57th session of the Human Rights Council

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The European Union as a strong actor at the 57th session of the Human Rights Council

The 57^th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC57) took place in Geneva from 9 September -11 October 2024. During this intense 5-week session, the EU and its Member States addressed a wide array of human rights issues and country situations.

© EU Geneva

A major priority for the European Union at this Council session was to ensure that the human rights crisis in Afghanistan remain highonthe HRC agenda. The EU-led resolution on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan was adopted by the Council by consensus, extending and strengthening the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur.

The Taliban's gender-based discrimination may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute, to which Afghanistan is a party.

"Instead of abiding by Afghanistan's international obligations, the Taliban opt to disengage on human rights, as was made clear through the recent ban of the Special Rapporteur from accessing the territory of Afghanistan. Their attack on human rights, be it civil and political or economic, social and cultural ones, continues, and the human rights situation in Afghanistan keeps spiraling downwards," says the EU in its statement at the Council. "We have submitted this resolution to address this human rights crisis, and to call upon the Taliban to reverse policies and practices that violate and abuse human rights of people in Afghanistan."

The EU also submitted a resolution addressing the human rights situation in Burundi, where violations and abuses continue to take place, in particular a growing number of enforced disappearances, abusive restrictions to fundamental freedoms, and arbitrary arrests. The country persists in refusing to cooperate with the UN Special Rapporteur, as well as the International Criminal Court, which remains competent for the period before Burundi withdrew from the Rome Statute. "In such circumstances, we are left with no choice but to call on this Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for another year. This will ensure continued monitoring of the human rights situation in Burundi, where legislative and local elections are scheduled to take place in 2025," said the EU in its statement introducing the resolution.

Together with a cross-regional core group, including the Marshall Islands, Bahamas, Fiji, Panama, Paraguay and Sudan, the EU furthermore introduced a resolution to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change.

This Council must send a strong message of unity on the global fight against climate change, which is an existential threat to humankind.

"The Special Rapporteur has been playing a vital role in increasing understanding and awareness of the human rights dimension of both climate change impacts and of mitigation and adaptation policies," said the EU in its statement.The EU together with its partners has also organised a side event on this topic in the presence of Ignacio Ybáñez, EU Special Envoy for SIDS.

Team Europe furthermore continued to speak out on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and support Ukraine in its efforts at this session to shed light on the human rights violations and war crimes Russia is committing. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine, including attacks against civilians and civilian objects, extrajudicial executions, executions of prisoners of war, arbitrary detention, widespread and systematic torture, rape, and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence," says the EU in its statement.

Many of these violations amount to war crimes, some may amount to crimes against humanity.

In the same statement, the EU also expressed its grave concern with the situation in Gaza as well as the escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory and about the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

To highlight the important role of civil society in international climate discussions, the EU initiated a Joint Statement, co-signed by 60 countries, with a special focus on COP29.

COP29 is an opportunity for the host country to reaffirm its commitment to its obligations under international human rights law and ensure the conditions for the work of a free and independent civil society.

"We hope that the constructive engagement of civil society with governments at the conference will encourage Azerbaijan to recognize civil society's role and to respect, protect and fulfil the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of expression, including media freedom in the future. Let's ensure that their voices can resound strong and free and contribute to all international climate discussions," reads the Joint Statement.

Furthermore, the EU also led a Joint Statement on the human rights situation in Ethiopia, on behalf of a group of 45 countries. "Ethiopia continues to face a challenging human rights situation. We are alarmed by the high number of human rights violations and abuses by both state and non-state actors. These include those involving arbitrary arrests and detentions, killings and injuries of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, sexual and gender-based violence and attacks on civilian property. The ongoing conflicts hamper further progress in Ethiopia, including on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. We are also concerned about the constraints on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and the silencing of journalists and civil society. We encourage the Government of Ethiopia to take advantage to the fullest extent of the technical assistance available in the Office of the High Commissioner and encourage the Office to continue to monitor the situation and keep this Council informed," says the Joint Statement.

In a Team Europe approach, EU Member States also presented initiatives on their own behalf or as part of a group of countries, which included:

• Situation of human rights in the Russian Federation
• Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic
• Responding to the human rights and humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing armed conflict in the Sudan
• Youth and human rights
• World Programme for Human Rights Education
• The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
• Countering cyber-bullying
• Local government and human rights
• Equal participation in political and public affairs
• The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet
• National human rights institutions
• The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights
• The social reintegration of people deprived of liberty
• Education as a tool to prevent racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
• Marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

The EU furthermore supported resolutions introduced by other countries, including on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and on technical assistance and capacity building in Georgia.

Protecting women's rights globallyremains a core objective of the EU, and Team Europe continued to stand up for the full enjoyment of all human rights by women and girls also during HRC57. We therefore supported a resolution, which calls upon all States to take decisive and effective action to prevent and eliminate domestic violence in all its forms. The EU co-organised an art and poetry exhibition by artist Finnish artist Minna Pietrarinen entitled "I was born a girl". The exhibition presents peer-supporting art and poetry about women's and girls' rights around the world.

The EU also co-organised several other side events, including on women's vital role in peace and security, on giving a voice to political prisoners in Belarus, as well as on combatting intolerance, hate crimes and anti-muslim hatred.

All EU statements at HRC57 can be found here.