Human Rights Committee Opens One Hundred and Forty-Fourth Session
The Human Rights Committee this morning opened its one hundred and forty-fourth session, during which it will examine the reports of Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain and Viet Nam on their implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In her opening remarks, Sara Hamood, Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section within the Rule of Law, Equality and Non-Discrimination Branch of the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, said this session was taking place in extremely challenging times for human rights globally.
Quoting the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ opening remarks at the current Human Rights Council session, she expressed concern about “spiralling conflicts”, “social tensions”, “widespread discrimination” and “attacks on the international institutions that underpin our rights, including the International Criminal Court”, as well as about funding cuts affecting the Office of the High Commissioner, the human rights mechanisms, and civil society partners. The High Commissioner appealed for the strongest possible defence of international law and human rights, emphasising that human rights provided stability and security in troubled times and that they were guardrails on power, especially when it was unleashed in its most brutal forms.
On 17 June, the High Commissioner presented to the Council his annual report (A/HRC/59/20), in which he stressed that the “global consensus around international norms and institutions continues to face serious threats”. He stated that “in this troubled and turbulent context, a global coalition is needed to demonstrate an unequivocal commitment, anchored in human rights, to international order and the rule of law.”
Last week, the Council also held interactive dialogues with Special Procedures. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association presented her report on the “impact of the 2023-2025 ‘super election’ cycle on the rights of peaceful assembly and association” (A/HRC59/44). The Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression presented her report on “freedom of expression and elections in the digital age” (A/HRC/59/50).
Ms. Hamood said this year marked the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first international human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly on 21 December 1965. This year’s commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was dedicated to this important anniversary. There needed to be a renewed commitment to the Convention, stronger implementation, and inclusive dialogue to advance racial justice. A series of global events were being held to mark the occasion, including commemorations in New York and Geneva. As part of this initiative, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would host a commemorative event on 4 December.
While recent years had seen growing momentum for racial justice, a rollback on racial justice commitments was now being seen in some contexts, Ms. Hamood said. Despite significant progress, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination's promise remained unfulfilled for many. Racism and white supremacy continued to poison communities, politics, media and online platforms. Racism was manifested in many ways, including through violations of civil and political rights. The Human Rights Committee needed to continue its important contribution to the fight against racism; the work of the anti-racism mechanisms would prove helpful in this regard.
Addressing the financial crisis in the human rights system, Ms. Hamood said that for treaty bodies with three annual sessions, including the Human Rights Committee, the Office of the High Commissioner would not be able to secure the funding to hold their third sessions this year. The Office received only 73 per cent of its approved regular budget in 2025, a further decrease from the 87 per cent of its approved regular budget received in 2024. As most of these funds were needed to cover contractual liabilities, particularly staff costs, the amount available for meetings and activities was simply inadequate. Next year also risked seeing a continuation of this trend.
The liquidity situation was a system-wide crisis. The United Nations Office at Geneva’s Conference Services had also faced dramatic cuts, leading it to adopt cash conservative measures that would impact the conference support provided to the human rights treaty bodies, particularly in terms of documentation, meeting time and interpretation. It was called on to reduce official meetings and documentation by 10 per cent.
Ms. Hamood said reductions of the allotments would impact the treaty bodies' ability to hold dialogues with States parties and to take decisions on individual communications, resulting in further delays and backlogs. Another area where cuts were being made was in treaty body capacity building activities, which provided valuable support for States to report to and interact with the treaty bodies. All this caused real damage to the predictability of the reporting cycle, which was critically important to enable States, civil society organizations and right holders to engage effectively with the treaty bodies. Ms. Hamood expressed regret that, given the overall reduction in funds and availability of support services, business as usual was no longer possible.
She reported that the thirty-seventh annual meeting of the Chairs of the human rights treaty bodies took place in Geneva from 2 to 6 June 2025. An overarching theme addressed in considerable depth was the United Nations liquidity crisis and how it was impacting the effective discharge of the mandates of the treaty bodies. The Chairs also discussed how to create synergies between human rights mechanisms as well as regional mechanisms, the progress made on the alignment of their working methods and practices, and the implementation of the guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies.
Ms. Hamood said the Committee had a busy agenda ahead of it, including seven State party reviews, the consideration and adoption of 10 lists of issues prior to reporting, as well as several individual communications under the Optional Protocol. It would also hold briefings with various stakeholders, each of which was a vital opportunity to stem the local but also global assault on human rights and their defenders. She closed by wishing the Committee a successful and productive session.
Changrok Soh, Committee Chair, said the Committee was particularly interested in the commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Convention against Racial Discrimination. Racial discrimination was an issue often dealt with by the Committee, as it often manifested itself in violations of civil and political rights. The Committee would continue to scrutinise the state of racial discrimination under its mandated activities. The Committee took inspiration from Ms. Hamood’s statement, as next year would mark the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Covenant, Mr. Soh noted.
The Committee then adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session.
Hélène Tigroudja, Committee Vice Chair and Chair of the working group on communications, presented the report on the group’s activities for the one hundred and fortieth session. She said that the format of the group’s work had been adjusted, with three days dedicated to discussions on communications prior to the session. These were not enough to assess all the communications before the Committee. However, the working group had done tremendous work in a spirit of solidarity.
Ms. Tigroudja said that, of the 21 documents submitted for consideration, it discussed 18 and adopted 16. The Committee had continued to append in a single document communications submitted against the same State party and concerning the same claims. This enabled the group to review a total of 26 communications, covering, inter alia, participation in public affairs, the right to self-determination, freedom of expression in political and electoral processes, political representation of indigenous peoples, racial discrimination, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment in detention, and non-refoulement. The communications examined were submitted between 2015 and 2023 and concerned 13 States parties covering different continents and regions.
Following its discussions, and pending the finalisation of its work this week, the working group submitted to the plenary 10 communications with a finding of inadmissibility and six communications with a finding of violation of the rights of the Covenant, Ms. Tigroudja reported. Five communications were still to be examined this week. She thanked all those who had worked hard to facilitate the holding of the condensed working group, including the petitions unit, which prepared draft decisions.
Preparation of draft decisions in advance of plenary meetings was an absolute necessity, and one of the fundamental tasks entrusted to the Committee by States through the Optional Protocol, Ms. Tigroudja said. Individual communications were an important part of the Committee’s raison d'être. A session without draft decisions previously discussed, reviewed and finalised in working groups and in person would lead to a decrease in the quality and effectiveness of the Committee’s work, and moreover a denial of justice for victims seeking to denounce violations of their rights, she concluded.
A Committee Expert thanked the working group for its work, and expressed concern about the financial situation, which impeded the holding of pre-sessional working groups, and had caused the cancellation of the third session of the Committee. She thanked all Committee members for their efforts to maintain the Committee’s work in these difficult circumstances.
The working group’s report was adopted.
The Human Rights Committee’s one hundred and forty-fourth session is being held from 23 June to 17 July 2025. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Meeting summary releases can be found here. The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.
The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 24 June, to begin its consideration of the third periodic report of Kazakhstan (CCPR/C/KAZ/3).
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