CIVICUS welcomes a resolution on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights adopted by consensus by the Human Rights Council last week. For the first time, the resolution invites the UN Secretary-General to submit his annual report on reprisals to the General Assembly as well as to the Human Rights Council.

The Secretary-General’s latest report on reprisals, presented to the Council during this session, showed that reprisals continue unabated, often without accountability, and with an impact on the strength of the UN as a whole.

The UN depends on information from the ground in order to fulfil its mandate of protecting human rights. Every act of reprisal, including those detailed in the latest report as well as the countless others that go unreported, is a direct challenge to this. We were particularly concerned to see Human Rights Council members Cameroon, China, India, Indonesia, Libya, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines and Venezuela listed in the report as perpetrators of reprisals and reiterate calls for a mechanism which imposes real political costs and accountability for states that engage in reprisals.

Several hostile amendments to the resolution were tabled by Russia, but were defeated by the Human Rights Council. We welcome the strong statements made by a number of states today in support of the resolution, and we call on states, and the UN bodies, to step up their efforts to both prevent and address reprisals.

Read our statement to the Human Rights Council here.