Relevant to the Security Council
Below are selected provisions of the latest Human Rights Council resolutions that are especially relevant to the Security Council's agenda, in particular references to the Security Council or aspects related to peace and security. Listed resolutions (organized alphabetically) include Belarus, the DPRK, Georgia, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria, Nicaragua, Occupied Arab territories, Ukraine and the right to a healthy environment.
For each resolution below, toggle to show details (as in example of L.14 Belarus).
All draft resolutions and detailed voting results can be found here.
L.14 Belarus (led by the EU)
Adopted by a vote of 21-5 with 21 abstentions.
The previous resolution in March 2022 (similarly focusing on the situation in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath) was adopted by a vote of 22-6 with 19 abstentions.
Extends OHCHR's mandate for one year, with the assistance of the three appointed independent experts and special procedure mandate holders [OP15].
Recalls the report of the Rapporteur of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) [PP3].
L.9 DPRK (led by the EU)
Adopted without a vote (as with all previous resolutions on topic since 2016).
Extends Special Rapporteur's mandate by one year [OP17].
Continues to strengthen OHCHR capacity, including its field-based structure in Seoul, for two years [OP15].
Stresses its grave concern at the finding of the Commission of Inquiry regarding reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed; and stresses that the authorities continue to fail to hold accountable those responsible [OP7-OP8].
Welcomes General Assembly resolution 77/226, which encouraged the Security Council to continue its consideration of the relevant conclusions and recommendations of the commission of inquiry and to take appropriate action to ensure accountability, including through consideration of referral of the situation to the ICC and consideration of the further development of sanctions in order to target effectively those who appear to be most responsible for human rights violations, which the commission has indicated may constitute crimes against humanity [OP9].
Encourages the consideration of the grave human rights situation, including through the Security Council [OP32].
Stresses the importance of following up on recommendations in the COI report (A/HRC/25/63), which was transmitted to the Security Council [PP5].
Condemns the increasing diversion of national resources into pursuing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles over the welfare of the DPRK's people and their access to food, as referred to in Security Council resolutions 2321 (2016), 2371 (2017), 2375 (2017) and 2397 (2017) [PP11].
L.28 Georgia (led by Georgia)
Adopted by a vote of 22-4 with 21 abstentions.
The previous resolution in March 2022 was adopted by a vote of 19-6 with 20 abstentions.
Requests the High Commissioner to continue to provide technical assistance and report to the Human Rights Council [OP1 and OP3].
Demands OHCHR's access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia [OP2].
Acknowledges the conclusion of the ICC's investigation in 2022, which resulted in the issuance of arrest warrants for war crimes committed against civilians perceived to be ethnically Georgian from 1 July to 10 October 2008, including during the war between the Russian Federation and Georgia in August 2008 [PP6].
L.17 Haiti (led by Haiti)
Adopted without a vote.
This was the first time the Council addressed Haiti since its adoption of Presidential Statements up to 2017.
Requests the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to appoint, without delay, for a renewable period of one year, a human rights expert tasked with monitoring, and in collaboration with the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), the development of the human rights situation in Haiti [OP8].
Requests OHCHR to cooperate with the Government by providing technical assistance and support for capacity-building for the Haitian judiciary, security forces and prison administration, to enable it to pursue its strategy for combating the action of the armed gangs and restoring the rule of law and to promote the implementation of the recommendations made and accepted during the last universal periodic review cycle [OP7].
L.3 Iran (led by Iceland, North Macedonia, Moldova and the UK)
Adopted by a vote of 23-8 with 16 abstentions.
The previous resolution in March 2022 was adopted by a vote of 19-12 with 16 abstentions.
Extends Special Rapporteur's mandate by one year [OP4].
Encourages the Special Rapporteur to cooperate with the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran [OP6].
L.33 Libya (led by the African Group, joined by Iceland, Italy, Malta, Türkiye and Yemen)
Adopted without a vote, as with the previous resolution in June 2022.
Human rights NGOs strongly criticized the Human Rights Council for not renewing the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission at a time when crimes against humanity are being perpetrated, with no sign of abating. The adoption of a capacity-building resolution, with no ongoing monitoring and investigative component, was shameful, they said.
The Council requests OHCHR to report to the Human Rights Council and provide technical assistance, including to strengthen the national transitional justice institutions and the judiciary's capacity to investigate and prosecute human rights violations and improve accountability [OP1(b) and OP2].
L.35 Mali (led by the African Group)
Adopted without a vote, as with the previous resolution in March 2022.
Extends the mandate of the Independent Expert [OP27].
Requests all parties to allow humanitarian access and to ensure the safety and protection of the civilians receiving it and of the humanitarian and health personnel [OP9].
Encourages continued support to ensure greater participation of women in the national reconciliation process and in all decision-making bodies of the peace process, and their political empowerment at all levels [OP11]
Calls upon all signatories of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali to implement all its provisions, including those relating to the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former fighters, the redeployment of Malian armed forces throughout the territory, decentralization, the fight against impunity and the functioning of the interim administrations in the north and the participation of women [OP12].
Encourages the Malian transitional authorities to end the recruitment and use of children and implement sustainable reintegration and rehabilitation programmes [OP13].
Encourages the Malian transitional authorities to put in place appropriate measures to comply with the Optional Protocol to the CRC on CAAC and further implement the Protocol on the Release and Handover of Children Associated with Armed Forces and Groups signed by the UN and the Government of Mali in 2013, and to strengthen the training programmes of the Malian Defence and Security Forces in this regard, and calls on partners to support the Malian transitional authorities in order to ensure better access to justice and to social, medical and psychosocial services for all survivors of sexual and gender-based violence [OP14].
Notes that the Prosecutor of the ICC, in January 2013, initiated an investigation into crimes committed on the territory of Mali since January 2012 [OP15].
Recalls the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Mali, a body established by the Secretary-General, and urges the Malian transitional authorities to establish a national mechanism to follow-up on the Commission's recommendations [OP19].
Encourages the Malian transitional authorities to accelerate the establishment of the bodies that will succeed the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, in particular the body responsible for compensating victims and the body responsible for preserving the memory of the crises, and the implementation of Act No. 2022–041 setting out the general rules on reparation for harm caused by serious human rights violations [OP20].
L.19 Myanmar (led by the EU)
Adopted without a vote, as with the previous resolution in June 2022.
Human rights NGOs regretted that despite calls by the Special Rapporteur and civil society, the Human Rights Council failed to call for a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar to prevent the ongoing violations, especially indiscriminate airstrikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Extends the mandate of the Special Rapporteur by one year [OP41].
Recommends that the General Assembly submit the reports of the High Commissioner and the Special Rapporteur to the relevant UN bodies, including the Security Council [OP47].
Reiterates the need to establish a country office of OHCHR [OP48].
Calls upon the High Commissioner and the Special Rapporteur to continue to inform the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, the Human Rights Council and other other UN bodies, including on heightened risks of a human rights emergency [OP50].
Requests the Secretary-General to call the continued attention of the Security Council to the situation in Myanmar [OP52].
Recalls the authority of the Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC [PP21]
Recognizes that the ICC has authorized an investigation into alleged crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction related to the situation in Bangladesh and Myanmar [PP22].
Recalls the order of the International Court of Justice of 23 January 2020 in the case lodged by the Gambia against Myanmar on the application of the Genocide Convention, concluding that it had jurisdiction to deal with the case and that the Rohingya appeared to constitute a “protected group” within the meaning of article 2 of the Convention and that it indicated provisional measures [PP23].
Alarmed by the findings of the Fact-Finding Mission of evidence of gross, widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses which undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law [PP25].
Welcomes Security Council resolution 2669 (2022), in which the Council demanded an immediate end to all forms of violence, the protection of civilians and the respect for human rights [OP2].
Calls upon all parties to the conflict in Myanmar, in particular the Myanmar armed and security forces, to cease all attacks on schools, universities, students, teachers and education administrators [OP14].
Calls upon the Myanmar armed forces to cease the arbitrary and unlawful arrest and detention of children [OP15].
Urges action to address and document conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence in Myanmar, with the full participation of civil society, particularly women’s rights organizations and women from conflict-affected communities [OP37].
L.38 Nicaragua (led by Costa Rica, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru)
Adopted by a vote of 21-5 with 21 abstentions.
The previous resolution in March 2022 was adopted by a vote of 20-7 with 20 abstentions.
Human rights NGOs welcomed the new emphasis on violence against Indigenous Peoples and Afrodescendants, those forcibly displaced and striped of nationality, and reprisals, including against Anexa Cuningham, member of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Extends the mandate of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua for two years [OP15].
Requests OHCHR to strengthen monitoring and engagement [OP18].
Expresses profound alarm that the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua found reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in Nicaragua since 2018 [PP6].
Expresses serious concern at the continued disregard of Nicaragua for its international human rights obligations, including its failure to engage with and submit periodic reports to the relevant treaty bodies [PP9].
Condemns in the strongest terms the decision of Nicaragua to arbitrarily revoke the Nicaraguan nationality of more than 316 persons [PP18].
L.27 South Sudan (led by the UK, Albania, Norway and the US)
Adopted by a vote of 19-9 with 19 abstentions.
The previous resolution in March 2022 (led by the same States) was adopted by a vote of 19-11 with 17 abstentions.
Extends the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (CHRSS) by one year [OP12].
Highlights that, while the transitional justice mechanisms envisioned by Chapter V of the Revitalized Agreement, namely the commission for truth, reconciliation and healing, the compensation and reparation authority and the hybrid court for South Sudan, are yet to be established, there is a need for continued monitoring of and reporting on human rights violations and abuses, as well as for ongoing investigations and the collection and preservation of evidence to support the future work of these institutions [PP12].
Expresses alarm at the reports documented by the CHRSS of ongoing human rights violations and abuses by both State and non-State actors, including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, pervasive SGBV, including conflict-related sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, excessive restrictions on freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly in South Sudan, and in particular at reports of a continuing culture of impunity and lack of justice or accountability for alleged violations and abuses, even when supported by clear and verifiable evidence [PP15].
Welcomes the convening of the first International Conference on Women’s Transformational Leadership in Juba from 13 to 15 February 2023, while noting that the 35% quota for women in executive positions mandated by the Revitalized Agreement has not yet been met [PP17].
Notes with concern that attacks on humanitarian workers continue unabated in South Sudan [PP27].
Welcomes the Government's continued cooperation with OHCHR, the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council and the CHRSS [OP2].
L.36 South Sudan (led by the African Group)
Adopted without a vote, as with the previous resolution in March 2022 which was led by the African Group.
Requests OHCHR to provide technical assistance, for the establishment of the transitional justice institutions under chapter V of the Revitalized Agreement, and building the capacity of local courts to investigate and prosecute alleged violations of human rights, with a view to improving accountability and promoting reconciliation and healing in South Sudan [OP8(b)].
[Seemingly contradicting L.27, in particular its PP15 and PP27:] Welcomes the efforts made by the Government of South Sudan to maintain peace and for the cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians and for humanitarian access to the civilians [PP12].
L.16 Syria (led by the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands, Qatar, Türkiye and the US)
Adopted by a vote of 26-5 with 16 abstentions.
The previous resolution in September 2022 was adopted by a vote of 25-6 with 16 abstentions.
Human rights NGOs welcomed the resolution's support for the establishment of an international mechanism for the missing in Syria, and called to create such a mechanism at the General Assembly.
Extends the COI's mandate by one year [OP20].
Reaffirms its recommendation that the GA submit the COI's reports to the Security Council for appropriate action and recommends that it continue to brief members of the Council and Assembly [OP22].
Notes with great concern that the Security Council-authorized cross-border access was reduced in January and July 2020, at the request of the regime and its allies, to a sole remaining UN-authorized border crossing at Bab al-Hawa, and noting that since the devastating earthquakes of February 2023 all parties have acknowledged the need for additional border crossings, such as at Bab al-Salam and Ra‘i [PP8].
Reiterates its deep concern at the situation of the tens of thousands of individuals forcibly disappeared and those missing and detained in Syria, first and foremost by the Syrian regime, demanding that all parties immediately cease the practices of involuntary or enforced disappearance and kidnapping, in accordance with Security Council resolution 2474 (2019) [PP12].
Recalls Security Council resolution 2474 (2019), in which the Council called upon parties to armed conflict to take steps to prevent persons from going missing as a result of armed conflict [PP14].
Recalls the authority of the Security Council to refer the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic to the ICC [OP3].
Calls for sustainable, safe, rapid and unhindered cross-border humanitarian assistance, for which there is no alternative that can match its scope and scale, beyond the six months authorized by the Security Council in its resolution 2672 (2023) of 9 January 2023 [OP4].
Strongly supports the efforts of the Special Envoy to make progress in the political process and to advance further aspects of Security Council resolution 2254 (2015) [OP10].
L.31-32 and L.42-43 Occupied Arab territories (led by the OIC except Albania)
The Council adopted 4 resolutions:
L.31 on the occupied Syrian Golan by 31-14 with 2 abstentions. The previous resolution on the topic in March 2022 was adopted by a vote of 29-15 with 3 abstentions.
L.32 on the Palestinian people's right to self-determination by 41-3 with 3 abstentions. The previous resolution on the topic in March 2022 was adopted by the same voting result.
L.42 on Israeli settlements by 38-4 with 5 abstentions. The previous resolution on the topic in March 2022 was adopted by the same voting result.
L.43 on the human rights situation in the OPT and accountability by 38-2 with 7 abstentions. The previous resolution on the topic in March 2022 was adopted by a vote of 37-7 with 3 abstentions.
The Council demands that Israel, the occupying Power, cease immediately its imposition of prolonged closures and economic and movement restrictions, including those amounting to a blockade on the Gaza Strip [L.43, OP14].
Condemns all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction [L.43, OP15].
Condemns the firing of rockets against Israeli civilian areas [L.43, OP16].
Calls upon Israel to revoke any unsubstantiated designations of Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations as terrorist or unlawful organizations [L.43, OP22].
Expresses grave concern at the calls made by Israeli officials for the annexation of Palestinian territory [L.42, PP13]
Gravely concerned about all acts of terror, violence, destruction, harassment, provocation and incitement by extremist Israeli settlers and groups of armed settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem [L.42, PP19].
Condemns the continuing settlement and related activities by Israel, including the transfer of its nationals into the occupied territory, the construction and expansion of settlements, the expropriation and de facto annexation of land, the demolition of homes and community infrastructure, disruptions to the livelihood of protected persons, the confiscation and destruction of property, including humanitarian relief consignments, the forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians or the threat thereof, including of entire communities, and the construction of bypass roads, which change the physical character and demographic composition of the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan [L.42, OP5].
L.41/Rev.1 Ukraine (led by Ukraine)
Adopted by a vote of 28-2 with 17 abstentions.
The previous resolution in March 2022 was adopted by a vote of 32-2 with 13 abstentions.
Extends the COI's mandate by one year, to work in close coordination with the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine and OHCHR [OP18].
Expresses grave concern at the conclusions of the COI (see report A/HRC/52/62) noting the commission of a wide range of violations of IHRL and violations of IHL, many of which amount to war crimes [PP15].
Notes with concern that the COI also found that Russia's attacks on Ukrainian energy-related infrastructure and the use of torture by Russian authorities may amount to crimes against humanity [PP16].
In relation to children in Ukraine:
Expresses grave concern at the COI's conclusions that Russian authorities have been responsible for the unlawful transfer and deportation of civilians and of other protected persons, in particular children, within Ukraine or to the Russian Federation, respectively, which are war crimes [PP19].
Welcomes the investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC into the situation in Ukraine, and notes the issuance by its Pre-Trial Chamber of arrest warrants for two individuals on 17 March 2023 for the alleged war crimes of “unlawful deportation of population (children)” and “unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation” [PP31].
Demands that all parties to the armed conflict treat all prisoners of war in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, of 12 August 1949, and the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), and calls for the complete exchange of prisoners of war, the release of all unlawfully detained persons and the return of all internees and of civilians forcibly transferred and deported, including children [OP5].
Urges the Russian Federation to cease the unlawful forced transfer and deportation of civilians and other protected persons within Ukraine or to the Russian Federation, respectively, in particular of children, including those from institutional care, unaccompanied children and separated children, and demands that the Russian Federation grant representatives and staff of established international human rights and humanitarian mechanisms unhindered, immediate, sustained and safe access, provide reliable and comprehensive information about the number and the whereabouts of these civilians, and ensure their dignified treatment and their safe return [OP7].
L.7 The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (led by Switzerland, Costa Rica, Maldives Morocco and Slovenia)
The resolution was adopted without a vote.
The previous resolution in September 2021 was adopted by a vote of 43-0 with 4 abstentions.
20 amendments were tabled, more than any other resolution, mostly by Russia. However, ultimately most of the were not considered or withdrawn.
Requests to convene, before the end of 2023, a seminar on the responsibility of business enterprises to respect the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment [OP9].