Outcomes of the 56th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

During the 56^th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the United States worked closely with UN Member States to highlight and address pressing human rights concerns and to uphold the universal values, aspirations, and principles that have underpinned the UN system since its founding.  Our statements and positions underscored the U.S. commitment to promoting the universality of human rights, including by addressing discrimination, inequity, and inequality in multiple contexts.

This session, the United States advanced our priorities on a broad range of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including economic, social, and cultural rights, including:

Renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur (SR) on the situation of human rights in Eritrea

The United States worked with the EU and other partners to renew the mandate of the SR.  This mandate is particularly important given Eritrea’s ongoing human rights violations and abuses, including its arbitrary detention of individuals for exercising their freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, or religion or belief, and its repression of those who conscientiously object to Eritrea’s compulsory, indefinite national service.

Renewing the mandate of the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Equity and Justice in Law Enforcement (EMLER)

The United States strongly supports the renewal of the EMLER mandate and cosponsored the resolution that passed by consensus.  The mechanism is part of a global effort to advance the rights of members of marginalized racial, ethnic, and Indigenous communities.  The United States was proud to host an official country visit from EMLER in April 2023.

Advancing Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls

As part of our longstanding work to address the human rights of all women and girls, we reaffirmed support for eliminating discriminatory laws and practices.  We strongly advocated that the human rights, health, and welfare of all women and girls be protected in several key resolutions, including Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls, Technology facilitated gender-based violence, Menstrual hygiene management, and Accelerating progress towards preventing adolescent girls’ pregnancy.  Additionally, as an active member of the Group of Friends on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, the United States worked with our partners across the session to highlight the importance of protecting the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.

Other Priorities:

The United States joined consensus on the resolution to continue reporting on the human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, the resolution providing human rights technical assistance and capacity-building in Libya, and the text renewing the work of international expert Antonia Urrejola in identifying obstacles to carrying out the 2016 peace agreement in Colombia.

The United States also co-sponsored resolutions on thematic issues including the independence of the judiciary, jurors, and assessors and the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests.  We joined consensus on resolutions on freedom of expression, the human rights of seafarers, safety of the child in a digital environment, and the importance of free secondary education.

Joint Statements: 

Reflecting our core value of championing policies and practices that provide equal opportunities and protections for everyone, no matter their gender, the United States was proud to lead a joint statement cosponsored by states from all regions that condemns conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence.  We continued our efforts to shine a light on the use of transnational repression by leading a joint statement condemning the actions of countries to silence critics beyond their borders through intimidation, surveillance, or violence.  The United States also led a joint statement on athletes as human rights defenders.

We also joined statements on Georgia, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and the Olympic ideal.  To advance gender equality, we signed statements on Women’s Economic Empowerment; Women, Diplomacy, and Human Rights; Women’s and Girls’ Human Rights; and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

Side Events: 

A central highlight of this session was the side event the United States co-hosted with the EU on our joint U.S.-EU guidance for online platforms on protecting human rights defenders online.  Panelists discussed growing online threats faced by human rights defenders (HRDs), underscored the need for online platforms to allocate sufficient resources to address the threats faced by HRDs, and the critical need for cross-platform collaboration.

The United States co-sponsored several additional side events, including events on Arbitrary detention, Decriminalization of homelessness, LGBTQI+ issues, Belarus, and Building a roadmap towards a disability-inclusive post-2030 agenda, among others.