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We don’t often get the chance to highlight good news here in the Daily Brief, so when three positive stories happen all at once, it’s more than welcome.
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva gave us three reasons to be encouraged last week.
First, let’s remember what the United Nations Human Rights Council is: a body within the UN system that promotes human rights and addresses situations of human rights violations around the world. It’s been going since 2006 and is composed of 47 “Member States,” that is, governments, which are regularly elected from among the 193 member countries of the UN.
The Council can do things like establish investigations into human rights abuses in a particular country. It assigns independent human rights experts to collect information and report their findings back to the Council. This helps keep a global spotlight on these situations and hopefully helps lead to human rights abusers one day facing justice.
The three bits of good news from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last week concern situations in Sudan, Venezuela, and Russia.
On Sudan, Council members voted to renew the work of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan. This mission investigates crimes committed by Sudan’s warring parties (see Daily Brief, August 29). It collects evidence and preserves it to identify those responsible and for future prosecutions.
On Venezuela, the UN Human Rights Council, also extended its probe, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela. This mission was among the first international bodies to say Venezuelan authorities have engaged in serious human rights violations that could amount to crimes against humanity.
On Russia, the UN Human Rights Council last week also renewed the work of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country. While Russia’s atrocity-ridden invasion of Ukraine is under investigation by other bodies – not least the International Criminal Court – the rapporteur looks at the Kremlin’s vicious crackdown on dissent at home.
So, it was three for three in Geneva last week, and those of us who support human rights around the world can feel some sense of encouragement.
Now, let’s not go overboard here. Successes at the UN Human Rights Council do not mean things instantly improve for people on the ground in these countries. The atrocities and extreme repression don’t magically stop with a vote in Geneva.
But these moves by the Council – pushed for by rights activists in Geneva and around the world – signal top-level international concern and continued monitoring. That’s critical to shining a light in the dark corners abusers don’t want anyone to see. It’s also a signal to the victims that they are not forgotten, that the world cares, and that justice is still possible.
