The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world, the Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis.

The headquarters of the Council are at the United Nations Office at Geneva in Switzerland. The Council investigates allegations of breaches of human rights in United Nations member states and addresses thematic human rights issues like freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of belief and religion, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities. The Council was established by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 March 2006 to replace the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR, herein CHR). The Council works closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and engages the United Nations special procedures. The Council has been strongly criticized for including member countries that engage in human rights abuses. The UNHRC holds regular sessions three times a year, in March, June, and September. The UNHRC can decide at any time to hold a special session to address human rights violations and emergencies, at the request of one-third of the member states.

Links:
Human Rights Council Opens Sixty-First Regular Session, Holds Moment of Silence for Victims of Human Rights Violations Around the World

61st session of the Human Rights Council (23 February – 31 March 2026)

Torture and genocide : Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese – publication