Joint NGO Letters on the 2021 UN Human Rights Council Elections

In International Advocacy Program by CIHRS

25th May 2021

To: Member States of the African Union
Re: Africa Group candidates for UN Human Rights Council elections, 2021 

Excellencies, 

We are writing to commend the African Union on its presentation of a competitive slate  in the 2021 Human Rights Council (the Council) elections.

In February 2020, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) wrote to express  concern over the lack of competition in several regional groups, including the Africa Group  slate, for the Council elections, and the late manner in which the candidates from the Africa  Group had been announced for the 2019 elections. We urged member states to present  competitive slates and to follow the practice of announcing their candidacies by the High-Level  Segment of every year’s February-March session of the Council, at the latest. Going forward,  we encourage member states of the Africa Group to maintain this practice, to ensure  that more candidates than available seats run in every year’s Council elections, and to  continue to announce a competitive slate of candidates by the High-Level Segment of  every year’s March session of the Human Rights Council, to allow for meaningful  campaigning and engagement.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 60/251 establishes that members elected to the  Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,  and shall fully cooperate with the Council. Closed slates deny member states of the UNGA  the opportunity to pursue that objective in their choice of Council members. In practice, the  lack of competition has resulted in the election for all the candidates in a closed slate,  irrespective of their human rights performance or commitments. This turns the election into a  de facto appointment process that violates the spirit of the Council’s membership rules and  may have the result of undermining the responsiveness and effectiveness of the Council.  Thus, we urge you, as we urge other regional groups of States, to ensure competitive  slates of candidates and to further deepen the level of competition. While an electoral  slate with one more candidate than available seats offers a level of competition, it is a bare  minimum. We therefore urge you to encourage more states from your group and from  all other regional groups to run for the Human Rights Council to increase the level of  competition.

Furthermore, UNGA Resolution 60/251 decided 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. We  urge all candidates running for election to prepare and publish their pledges in a timely  manner. The elaboration of voluntary pledges and commitments should be based on broad,  inclusive, and meaningful consultations with a range of actors, including civil society,  parliamentarians, national human rights institutions, ministries, and the broader public. In  publishing timely pledges, candidate States encourage engagement and ownership by other  actors to follow up on, and contribute to, their implementation, with the ultimate goal of  improving the human rights situation on the ground.

Each year, civil society organizes pledging events which take place for candidate States in  early September. The pledging events provide a critical opportunity for member states and  civil society to directly and constructively engage with candidate States for the Council, with  the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability in Council elections and improve  adherence to Council membership standards. We urge all candidate States running for  election to participate in the event.

We also urge member states to bear in mind the membership standards contained in  General Assembly resolution 60/251 when electing members to the Council, which refer  to taking into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection  of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto. This  includes pledging to refrain from voting for any State credibly accused of committing gross  and systematic violations of human rights, or flagrantly refusing to cooperate with the Council  and its mechanisms, as well as, for committing reprisals.

Building on the close and constructive relationship civil society organisations have established  with the delegations of a large number of Africa Group member states, we look forward to  engaging with you further on this issue. 

Sincerely, 

  1. ADISI-Cameroun 
  2. Amnesty International 
  3. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) 
  4. Association des Femmes Cheffes de Famille (AFCF) 
  5. Association for Progressive Communications – APC 
  6. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies 
  7. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation 
  8. Coalition Togolaise des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CTDDH) 
  9. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) 
  10. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect 
  11. Global Justice Center 
  12. Human Rights Defenders Network-SL 
  13. Human Rights House Foundation 
  14. Human Rights in China (HRIC) 
  15. Human Rights Watch 
  16. Institut des Médias pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l’Homme (IM2DH) International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) 
  17. MENA Rights Group 
  18. Namibia Diverse Women’s Association (NDWA) 
  19. OutRight Action International 
  20. Partnership for Justice 
  21. Réseau des Defenseurs des Droits Humains en Afrique Centrale (REDHAC) Réseau Ivoirien pour la Défense des Droits de l’Enfant et de la Femme (RIDDEF) The Network of the independent Commission for Human rights in North Africa – CIDH Urgent

25th May 2021

To: Member States of the Asia Pacific Group
Re: Asia Pacific Group candidates for UN Human Rights Council elections, 2021

Excellencies,

We are writing to call on the Asia Pacific Group to present a competitive slate in the  2021 Human Rights Council (the Council) elections, as it did in 2020.

In February 2020, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) wrote to express  concern over the lack of competition in several regional groups for the Council elections. We  urged member states to present competitive slates and to follow the practice of announcing  their candidacies by the High-Level Segment of every year’s February- March session of the  Council, at the latest. Going forward, we encourage member states of the Asia Pacific  Group to maintain this practice, to ensure that more candidates than available seats  run in every year’s Council elections, and to continue to announce a competitive slate  of candidates by the High-Level Segment of every year’s March session of the Human  Rights Council, to allow for meaningful campaigning and engagement.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 60/251 establishes that members elected to the  Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,  and shall fully cooperate with the Council. Closed slates deny member states of the UNGA  the opportunity to pursue that objective in their choice of Council members. In practice, the  lack of competition has resulted in the election for all the candidates in a closed slate,  irrespective of their human rights performance or commitments. This turns the election into a  de facto appointment process that violates the spirit of the Council’s membership rules and  may have the result of undermining the responsiveness and effectiveness of the Council.  Thus, we urge you, as we urge other regional groups of States, to ensure competitive  slates of candidates and to further deepen the level of competition. While an electoral  slate with one more candidate than available seats offers a level of competition, it is a bare  minimum. We therefore urge you to encourage more states from your group and from  all other regional groups to run for the Human Rights Council to increase the level of  competition.

Furthermore, UNGA Resolution 60/251 decided 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. We  urge all candidates running for election to prepare and publish their pledges in a timely  manner.

The elaboration of voluntary pledges and commitments should be based on broad, inclusive,  and meaningful consultations with a range of actors, including civil society, parliamentarians,  national human rights institutions, ministries, and the broader public. In publishing timely  pledges, candidate States encourage engagement and ownership by other actors to follow up  on, and contribute to, their implementation, with the ultimate goal of improving the human  rights situation on the ground.

Each year, civil society organizes pledging events which take place for candidate States in  early September. The pledging events provide a critical opportunity for member states and

civil society to directly and constructively engage with candidate States for the Council, with  the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability in Council elections and improve  adherence to Council membership standards. We urge all candidate States running for  election to participate in the event.

We also urge member states to bear in mind the membership standards contained in  General Assembly resolution 60/251 when electing members to the Council, which refer  to taking into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection  of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto. This  includes pledging to refrain from voting for any State credibly accused of committing gross  and systematic violations of human rights, or flagrantly refusing to cooperate with the Council  and its mechanisms, as well as, for committing reprisals.

Building on the close and constructive relationship civil society organisations have established  with the delegations of a large number of member states of the Asia Pacific Group, we look  forward to engaging with you further on this issue.

Sincerely,

  1. Amnesty International
  2. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  3. Asian Legal Resource Centre
  4. Association for Progressive Communications – APC
  5. BALAOD Mindanaw
  6. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
  7. CIDH AFRICA
  8. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  9. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
  10. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
  11. Global Justice Center
  12. Human Rights Defenders Network-SL
  13. Human Rights House Foundation
  14. Human Rights in China (HRIC)
  15. Human Rights Watch
  16. International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
  17. MENA Rights Group
  18. OutRight Action International
  19. Réseau Ivoirien pour la Défense des Droits de l’Enfant et de la Femme (RIDDEF) Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights

25th May 2021

To: Member States of the Eastern European Group
Re: Eastern European Group candidates for UN Human Rights Council elections, 2021

Excellencies,

We are writing to call on the Eastern European Group to present a competitive slate in  the 2021 Human Rights Council (the Council) elections.

In February 2020, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) wrote to express  concern over the lack of competition in several regional groups for the Council elections. We  urged member states to present competitive slates and to follow the practice of announcing  their candidacies by the High-Level Segment of every year’s February- March session of the  Council, at the latest. Going forward, we encourage member states of the Eastern  European Group to maintain this practice, to ensure that more candidates than  available seats run in every year’s Council elections, and to continue to announce a  competitive slate of candidates by the High-Level Segment of every year’s March  session of the Human Rights Council, to allow for meaningful campaigning and  engagement.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 60/251 establishes that members elected to the  Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,  and shall fully cooperate with the Council. Closed slates deny member states of the UNGA  the opportunity to pursue that objective in their choice of Council members. In practice, the  lack of competition has resulted in the election for all the candidates in a closed slate,  irrespective of their human rights performance or commitments. This turns the election into a  de facto appointment process that violates the spirit of the Council’s membership rules and  may have the result of undermining the responsiveness and effectiveness of the Council.  Thus, we urge you, as we urge other regional groups of States, to ensure competitive  slates of candidates and to further deepen the level of competition. While an electoral  slate with one more candidate than available seats offers a level of competition, it is a bare  minimum. We therefore urge you to encourage more states from your group and from  all other regional groups to run for the Human Rights Council to increase the level of  competition.

Furthermore, UNGA Resolution 60/251 decided 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. We  urge all candidates running for election to prepare and publish their pledges in a timely  manner.

The elaboration of voluntary pledges and commitments should be based on broad, inclusive,  and meaningful consultations with a range of actors, including civil society, parliamentarians,  national human rights institutions, ministries, and the broader public. In publishing timely  pledges, candidate States encourage engagement and ownership by other actors to follow up  on, and contribute to, their implementation, with the ultimate goal of improving the human  rights situation on the ground.

Each year, civil society organizes pledging events which take place for candidate States in  early September. The pledging events provide a critical opportunity for member states and  civil society to directly and constructively engage with candidate States for the Council, with  the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability in Council elections and improve  adherence to Council membership standards. We urge all candidate States running for  election to participate in the event.

We also urge member states to bear in mind the membership standards contained in  General Assembly resolution 60/251 when electing members to the Council, which refer  to taking into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection  of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto. This  includes pledging to refrain from voting for any State credibly accused of committing gross  and systematic violations of human rights, or flagrantly refusing to cooperate with the Council  and its mechanisms, as well as, for committing reprisals.

Building on the close and constructive relationship civil society organisations have established  with the delegations of a large number of member states of the Eastern European Group, we  look forward to engaging with you further on this issue.

Sincerely,

  1. Amnesty International
  2. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  3. Association for Progressive Communications – APC
  4. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
  5. CIDH AFRICA
  6. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  7. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
  8. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
  9. Global Justice Center
  10. Human Rights Defenders Network-SL
  11. Human Rights House Foundation
  12. Human Rights in China (HRIC)
  13. Human Rights Watch
  14. International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
  15. MENA Rights Group
  16. OutRight Action International
  17. Réseau Ivoirien pour la Défense des Droits de l’Enfant et de la Femme (RIDDEF) Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights

25th May 2021

To: Member States of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC)
Re: GRULAC candidates for UN Human Rights Council elections, 2021

Excellencies,

We are writing to commend GRULAC on its presentation of a competitive slate in the  2021 Human Rights Council (the Council) elections.

In February 2020, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) wrote to express  concern over the lack of competition in several regional groups, including the GRULAC slate,  for the Council elections. We urged member states to present competitive slates and to follow  the practice of announcing their candidacies by the High-Level Segment of every year’s  February-March session of the Council, at the latest. Going forward, we encourage member  states of GRULAC to maintain this practice, to ensure that more candidates than  available seats run in every year’s Council elections, and to continue to announce a  competitive slate of candidates by the High-Level Segment of every year’s March  session of the Human Rights Council, to allow for meaningful campaigning and  engagement.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 60/251 establishes that members elected to the  Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,  and shall fully cooperate with the Council. Closed slates deny member states of the UNGA  the opportunity to pursue that objective in their choice of Council members. In practice, the  lack of competition has resulted in the election for all the candidates in a closed slate,  irrespective of their human rights performance or commitments. This turns the election into a  de facto appointment process that violates the spirit of the Council’s membership rules and  may have the result of undermining the responsiveness and effectiveness of the Council.  Thus, we urge you, as we urge other regional groups of States, to ensure competitive  slates of candidates and to further deepen the level of competition. While an electoral  slate with one more candidate than available seats offers a level of competition, it is a bare  minimum. We therefore urge you to encourage more states from your group and from  all other regional groups to run for the Human Rights Council to increase the level of  competition.

Furthermore, UNGA Resolution 60/251 decided 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. We  urge all candidates running for election to prepare and publish their pledges in a timely  manner. The elaboration of voluntary pledges and commitments should be based on broad,  inclusive, and meaningful consultations with a range of actors, including civil society,  parliamentarians, national human rights institutions, ministries, and the broader public. In  publishing timely pledges, candidate States encourage engagement and ownership by other  actors to follow up on, and contribute to, their implementation, with the ultimate goal of  improving the human rights situation on the ground.

Each year, civil society organizes pledging events which take place for candidate States in  early September. The pledging events provide a critical opportunity for member states and  civil society to directly and constructively engage with candidate States for the Council, with  the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability in Council elections and improve  adherence to Council membership standards. We urge all candidate States running for  election to participate in the event.

We also urge member states to bear in mind the membership standards contained in  General Assembly resolution 60/251 when electing members to the Council, which refer  to taking into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection  of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto. This  includes pledging to refrain from voting for any State credibly accused of committing gross  and systematic violations of human rights, or flagrantly refusing to cooperate with the Council  and its mechanisms, as well as, for committing reprisals.

Building on the close and constructive relationship civil society organisations have established  with the delegations of a large number of GRULAC member states, we look forward to  engaging with you further on this issue.

Sincerely,

  1. Amnesty International
  2. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  3. Association for Progressive Communications – APC
  4. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
  5. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  6. Coalition Togolaise des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CTDDH)
  7. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
  8. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
  9. Global Justice Center
  10. Human Rights Defenders Network-SL
  11. Human Rights House Foundation
  12. Human Rights in China (HRIC)
  13. Human Rights Watch
  14. Institut des Médias pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l’Homme (IM2DH) International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
  15. MENA Rights Group
  16. Namibia Diverse Women’s Association (NDWA)
  17. OutRight Action International
  18. Partnership for Justice
  19. Réseau Ivoirien pour la Défense des Droits de l’Enfant et de la Femme (RIDDEF) Serviço de Paz – SERPAZ
  20. The Network of the independent Commission for Human rights in North Africa – CIDH Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights

25th May 2021

To: Member States of the Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Re: WEOG candidates for UN Human Rights Council elections, 2021

Excellencies,

We are writing to call on the WEOG to present a competitive slate in the 2021 Human  Rights Council (the Council) elections.

In February 2020, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) wrote to express  concern over the lack of competition in several regional groups, including the WEOG slate, for  the Council elections. We urged member states to present competitive slates and to follow the  practice of announcing their candidacies by the High-Level Segment of every year’s February

March session of the Council, at the latest. Going forward, we encourage member states  of WEOG to maintain this practice, to ensure that more candidates than available seats  run in every year’s Council elections, and to continue to announce a competitive slate  of candidates by the High-Level Segment of every year’s March session of the Human  Rights Council, to allow for meaningful campaigning and engagement.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 60/251 establishes that members elected to the  Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,  and shall fully cooperate with the Council. Closed slates deny member states of the UNGA  the opportunity to pursue that objective in their choice of Council members. In practice, the  lack of competition has resulted in the election for all the candidates in a closed slate,  irrespective of their human rights performance or commitments. This turns the election into a  de facto appointment process that violates the spirit of the Council’s membership rules and  may have the result of undermining the responsiveness and effectiveness of the Council.  Thus, we urge you, as we urge other regional groups of States, to ensure competitive  slates of candidates and to further deepen the level of competition. While an electoral  slate with one more candidate than available seats offers a level of competition, it is a bare  minimum. We therefore urge you to encourage more states from your group and from  all other regional groups to run for the Human Rights Council to increase the level of  competition.

Furthermore, UNGA Resolution 60/251 decided 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. We  urge all candidates running for election to prepare and publish their pledges in a timely  manner. The elaboration of voluntary pledges and commitments should be based on broad,  inclusive, and meaningful consultations with a range of actors, including civil society,  parliamentarians, national human rights institutions, ministries, and the broader public. In  publishing timely pledges, candidate States encourage engagement and ownership by other  actors to follow up on, and contribute to, their implementation, with the ultimate goal of  improving the human rights situation on the ground.

Each year, civil society organizes pledging events which take place for candidate States in  early September. The pledging events provide a critical opportunity for member states and  civil society to directly and constructively engage with candidate States for the Council, with  the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability in Council elections and improve  adherence to Council membership standards. We urge all candidate States running for  election to participate in the event.

We also urge member states to bear in mind the membership standards contained in  General Assembly resolution 60/251 when electing members to the Council, which refer  to taking into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection  of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto. This  includes pledging to refrain from voting for any State credibly accused of committing gross  and systematic violations of human rights, or flagrantly refusing to cooperate with the Council  and its mechanisms, as well as, for committing reprisals.

Building on the close and constructive relationship civil society organisations have established  with the delegations of a large number of WEOG member states, we look forward to engaging  with you further on this issue.

Sincerely,

  1. Amnesty International
  2. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  3. Association for Progressive Communications – APC
  4. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
  5. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  6. Coalition Togolaise des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CTDDH)
  7. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
  8. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
  9. Global Justice Center
  10. Human Rights Defenders Network-SL
  11. Human Rights House Foundation
  12. Human Rights in China (HRIC)
  13. Human Rights Watch
  14. Institut des Médias pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l’Homme (IM2DH) International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
  15. MENA Rights Group
  16. Namibia Diverse Women’s Association (NDWA)
  17. OutRight Action International
  18. Partnership for Justice
  19. Réseau Ivoirien pour la Défense des Droits de l’Enfant et de la Femme (RIDDEF) The Network of the independent Commission for Human rights in North Africa – CIDH Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights

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