Your Excellency,

On behalf of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, I am writing to you regarding the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.

The HRC plays an essential role in the prevention of mass atrocity crimes by responding to situations where populations are at risk of, or are experiencing, genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing. During its 44th session in July 2020 the HRC adopted Resolution 44/14 on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), recognizing the important contribution of the UN human rights system in addressing situations where there is a risk of atrocity crimes being committed. This is in line with the Council’s prevention mandate, enshrined in UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251, which stipulates that it shall “contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, towards the prevention of human rights violations and respond promptly to human rights emergencies.”

We strongly urge you, as a current member of the HRC, to uphold this shared commitment to prevent atrocity crimes. The Global Centre respectfully encourages you to consider the following recommendations as you engage in the 57th regular session:

Afghanistan

Since the Taliban de facto authorities took over Afghanistan three years ago, they have perpetuated extreme forms of gender-based discrimination against women and girls through the implementation of restrictive policies and practices that deny them of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of movement, freedom of opinion and expression, employment opportunities, political and public representation and access to education and healthcare. These restrictions are in flagrant violation of their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In June 2023 the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls reported that the Taliban de facto authorities’ targeting of women and girls may also amount to gender persecution and can be characterized as gender apartheid as the Taliban appear to be governing by systemic discrimination with the intent to subject women and girls to total domination.

The Taliban de facto authorities have also committed widespread and systematic human rights violations throughout the country, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, incommunicado detention and torture and ill-treatment against former government officials and armed forces, media workers and human rights defenders. Meanwhile, the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan frequently claims attacks that target Shia Hazara, other Shia Muslims, Sufi Muslims, Sikhs and other minorities, as well as places of worship. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan has reported that attacks against ethnic and religious minorities appear to be systematic in nature and reflect elements of an organizational policy, likely amounting to crimes against humanity.

The Global Centre respectfully urges you to adopt a resolution that strengthens the mandate of the Special Rapporteur with additional resources to maintain scrutiny on the human rights situation and to ensure robust investigations and evidence collection. The Global Centre also urges you to ensure the resolution condemns violations of CEDAW and reiterates the need for member states to collectively uphold its provisions and ensure accountability for such violations. We further encourage you to ensure the resolution emphasizes the importance of prioritizing women’s rights and women’s participation in any ongoing negotiations or talks, including the Doha process.

Burundi

Burundi has endured a protracted political crisis since the late President Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would seek a third presidential term in 2015. The HRC-mandated Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Burundi found that potential crimes against humanity have been committed since April 2015, including extrajudicial killings and summary executions, disappearances, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and torture. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi, Fortuné Gaetan Zongo, as well as numerous civil society organizations, have further documented systematic human rights violations and abuses over the past nine years. To date, no perpetrators, including within the ruling party Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces de défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) and its youth wing, the Imbonerakure, have been held accountable.

General elections planned for May 2025 pose a risk factor for systematic human rights violations and abuses, as state-led repression has intensified during previous voting cycles. Following the May 2020 presidential election, the CoI released a detailed assessment based on the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes, warning that all risk factors of crimes against humanity remain present in Burundi, including the governance system under the CNDD-FDD, the appointment of individuals under international sanctions for serious human rights violations to senior government positions, the continued operations of the Imbonerakure and the refusal to release all detained human rights defenders. To date, these risk factors remain in place, and in the past few months, there has been a marked increase in hate speech and inflammatory rhetoric, including at the highest political level.

As Burundi enters a volatile electoral cycle, international scrutiny remains vital to prevent recurrence of crimes against humanity. The Global Centre therefore respectfully urges you to adopt a resolution to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. We further encourage you to ensure that the resolution recalls that the primary responsibility to protect its population from crimes against humanity lies with the Burundian government.

Central African Republic

For more than three years a loose alliance of predatory armed groups, known as the Coalition of Patriots for Change, and others have launched attacks in the Central African Republic (CAR) while perpetrating widespread violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The Central African Armed Forces – working closely with Russian security partners – have responded with counteroffensives, during which the UN has documented evidence of abuses and violations that may amount to war crimes. Ethnic and religious minorities, particularly Fulanis and other Muslims, are disproportionately targeted in abuses.

Inter-communal tensions and atrocity risks have also heightened as some armed groups are increasingly targeting civilians along ethnic and religious lines, notably in southeast CAR. Meanwhile, the cross-border flow of foreign fighters – particularly due to spillover from the conflict in Sudan – has exacerbated tensions, as armed groups engage in forced recruitment, use of child soldiers and attacks based on religious and ethnic grounds at refugee camps in northeast CAR. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has raised concern about the disproportionate risk of extrajudicial killings, displacement and forced disappearances for rural women, while the Special Representative on Sexual Violence said women and girls tending to farmland face the persistent risk of rape.

The Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in CAR, who works closely with the UN peacekeeping mission in CAR, the Special Criminal Court and other UN bodies, is essential for supporting accountability and transitional justice mechanisms and providing critical capacity-building to strengthen institutions on human rights promotion and protection. The Global Centre respectfully encourages you to adopt a resolution to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert and to support the inclusion of R2P language in the resolution by “recalling that the authorities of the Central African Republic have the primary responsibility to protect all populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” We also respectfully encourage you to call on the Independent Expert to regularly conduct atrocity risk assessments, particularly the resurgence of ethnic and/or religious-based violence, as well as election-related risks, including the propagation of hate speech and political tensions, ahead of the planned local elections and presidential elections in 2025.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

For nearly 30 years, recurrent attacks by armed groups have threatened populations in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Despite government and regional military efforts, violence has escalated, with armed groups regularly perpetrating widespread violations and abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.  Between October 2023 and March 2024 alone, the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in the DRC documented 2,110 human rights violations and abuses, 59 percent of which were perpetrated by armed groups. These include summary executions and conflict-related sexual violence. Moreover, between January 2023 and March 2024 at least 1,533 civilians were killed, 469 injured and 712 kidnapped. During military operations, some members of the government’s armed forces (FARDC) have also been implicated in violations and abuses that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The government has also integrated armed group members who have been implicated in past crimes into the FARDC, encouraging impunity and heightening risks to civilians.

Notably, the security situation in North Kivu has continued to deteriorate due to intense fighting between the March 23 Movement (M23) armed group and the FARDC supported by local militias. The fighting has been marked by heavy artillery, shelling and bombings in populated areas and has exacerbated regional tensions. The UN Security Council (UNSC)-mandated Panel of Experts has provided evidence of Rwanda’s “de facto” control over M23 operations, noting that military interventions by the Rwandan Defence Force in North Kivu were key to M23’s significant territorial expansion between January and March 2024. Meanwhile, myriad other armed groups continue to target populations in North Kivu and Ituri, where attacks against civilians and civilian property, as well as kidnappings, occur on a near-daily basis. The accelerated withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), raises critical concerns regarding the future of civilian protection. The withdrawal of MONUSCO from South Kivu has exacerbated an existing security and protection vacuum, particularly as armed groups are remobilizing, and thousands of civilians are fleeing to the province amid relentless attacks in neighboring North Kivu.

In light of these developments, the Global Centre respectfully urges you to renew the mandate of the International Team of Experts on the DRC for one year, requesting that the Team provide technical assistance to national authorities to combat impunity and support the transitional justice process. We also encourage you to call upon the Team, in collaboration with UNJHRO, to regularly report on ongoing violations and potential atrocity crimes in the conflict-affected provinces of the eastern DRC and to conduct risk assessments on warning signs of atrocity crimes, alerting the HRC on necessary action with timely and targeted recommendations.

Haiti

Approximately 300 criminal groups are active in Haiti, where they are perpetrating widespread abuses, including indiscriminate killings, kidnappings and systematic sexual violence, in a climate of total impunity. During the first quarter of 2024 the UN recorded 2,505 people killed or injured in gang-related violence – the most violent period since the establishment of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti’s monitoring mechanism on gang-related violence in 2022. The ongoing crisis has had a devastating impact on children, with a surge in grave violations against children, including forced recruitment and use. According to the UN, 30 to 50 percent of gang members are children who are subject to coercion, abuse and exploitation. As of mid-June, the violence displaced nearly 580,000 people. A UN Women Rapid Gender Assessment found that aggression against women and girls, particularly rape, is being used in most makeshift camps as a deliberate tactic to control access to scarce humanitarian assistance.

Amid the unprecedented insecurity, the Haitian National Police have lacked the capacity to combat armed gangs and protect communities. In October 2023 the UNSC authorized the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti through Resolution 2699. Although the mandate requires the highest standards of transparency and pre-deployment and in-mission awareness training, the MSS has yet to publicly release information on rules of engagement, human rights due diligence and accountability mechanisms, raising critical human rights and accountability concerns.

The Global Centre respectfully urges your delegation to utilize the upcoming Interactive Dialogue with the UN High Commissioner and his Designated Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti to underscore the need for rigorous human rights safeguards, particularly given that past multinational or foreign security missions in Haiti have resulted in widespread human rights violations and impunity, and stress that overly‑securitized international approaches will not result in lasting stability and may exacerbate risk factors for violence. Moreover, we encourage your delegation to highlight the critical importance of continued monitoring and reporting of human rights trends to alert the international community of appropriate prevention and protection strategies, particularly in light of the MSS deployment. Considering the gravity of the unprecedented human rights and protection crisis in Haiti, the Global Centre also urges your delegation to raise awareness about the possible atrocity risks populations are facing in the country, including grave violations against children and systematic and deliberate use of sexual violence by gangs. Lastly, we encourage your delegation to insist on the need to renew the mandate of the Designated Expert in full at the 58th session in April. 

Occupied Palestinian Territory

Since 7 October 2023 Israel has conducted a relentless bombardment campaign from air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’ horrific and deadly assault. For over 10 months, Israel has targeted and destroyed civilian objects protected under IHL in a manner widely characterized as collective punishment. Over 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, approximately 70 percent of whom are women and children. Nine out of every ten Palestinians in Gaza are internally displaced and facing successive so-called evacuation orders by the Israeli military. Areas where internally displaced Palestinians have been directed to seek safety lack necessities for survival and are regularly hit by airstrikes and missiles, leading to countless mass casualty incidents. Israel’s repeated use of weapons with wide area and indiscriminate effects in densely populated areas – despite overwhelming evidence that these have led to disproportionate harm to civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure – suggests a pattern of willful violation and disregard for IHL and likely amounts to war crimes.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has concluded that Israel has committed at least three of the constitutive acts of genocide in Gaza, and that statements made by high-level Israeli military and government officials are evidence of genocidal intent. Other UN Special Procedures have also issued multiple warnings regarding a risk of genocide against the Palestinian people. In the context of proceedings concerning alleged violations of Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued legally binding provisional measures, ordering Israel to ensure its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group under the Genocide Convention and to provide basic services, including humanitarian aid, to address adverse conditions of life in Gaza.

Meanwhile, existing patterns of violence by Israeli settlers in the Occupied West Bank have also escalated since 7 October, with over 1,122 attacks resulting in Palestinian fatalities and injuries, as well as damage to Palestinian property. There has also been a significant increase in extrajudicial executions, mass detentions and enforced disappearances – with thousands held in detention in deplorable conditions without charge or trial – as well as sexual violence and ill-treatment, including waterboarding, that may amount to torture against Palestinian detainees.

The Global Centre respectfully urges your delegation to use the upcoming General Debate under Item 7 to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the implementation of UNSC Resolution 2735. We also urge your delegation to call on Israel to immediately lift the siege of Gaza, ensure safe and unimpeded access for the delivery of humanitarian aid and immediately implement the ICJ’s provisional measures orders. We further urge your delegation to cease arms exports to Israel to avoid aiding and abetting atrocities in Gaza and apply other economic and political measures necessary to ensure respect for international law.

Somalia

Populations in Somalia remain at risk of atrocity crimes amidst ongoing conflict and attacks perpetrated by armed extremist groups, particularly Al-Shabaab, and the forces combating them. According to the UN Secretary-General, at least 146 civilians were killed between 25 January to 23 May 2024, representing a 104 percent increase compared to the previous reporting period. The majority were killed in mass-casualty attacks perpetrated by Al-Shabaab using improvised explosive devices.

Populations continue to face risks of the predations of various armed groups amid the drawdown of the AU Transitional Mission to Somalia while the Federal Government of Somalia attempts to build capacity to adequately protect civilians. The Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia plays a crucial role in assisting the Federal Government in addressing these challenges. The Global Centre therefore respectfully encourages you to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert and support the inclusion of R2P language in the resolution by recalling that “the Federal Government of Somalia bears the primary responsibility to protect civilians from war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Sudan

Since April 2023 an armed confrontation between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has resulted in tens of thousands of people killed or injured amidst heavy fighting, aerial bombardments and shelling, including in densely populated areas of Sudan. There have been reports of armed actors perpetrating widespread sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, as well as reports of forced evictions in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities. Fighting between the SAF and RSF has triggered an alarming escalation in inter-communal and ethnically motivated violence in various parts of the country, particularly in the Darfur region, where the RSF and allied Arab militias are targeting civilians from the Massalit and other non-Arab communities on the basis of their ethnic identity, possibly amounting to the crime of genocide.

Across North Darfur, violence has dramatically escalated since April 2024, posing an imminent threat of further atrocities to civilian populations. Indiscriminate airstrikes and the deliberate targeting of communities in and around El Fasher have resulted in civilian deaths and the destruction of towns and villages. Several senior UN officials have raised alarm about the escalation, with the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide reiterating that the risk factors for genocide and related crimes remain present. On 1 August the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee concluded that famine is ongoing in parts of North Darfur.

During May 2023 the HRC established an international independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for Sudan. With a mandate to investigate human rights and IHL violations and preserve evidence for future legal proceedings, among other tasks, the FFM has a crucial role to play in delivering justice for affected communities. As the conflict in Sudan shows no sign of abating, with both parties remaining entrenched in their positions with little to no incentive to halt the violence, continued international scrutiny and pressure are crucial to hold perpetrators accountable and push for a resolution. The global community must remain vigilant and engaged to ensure that efforts towards sustainable peace and humanitarian relief for all populations are sustained.

Thus far the FFM has been understaffed and under-resourced, which has impeded its ability to effectively implement and execute its crucial mandate. Considering both the gravity of the situation and the impact of the UN’s liquidity crisis on resourcing, the Global Centre respectfully urges your delegation to support the extension of the FFM for at least one year to allow it to pursue its work, as well as request regular updates and interactive dialogues at the HRC. We also urge your delegation to emphasize that the HRC will remain actively seized of the matter, including by assessing the developing situation and appropriate responses, which could include further extensions of the FFM’s mandate. It is also important that states pay their contributions to the UN in full to resolve the liquidity crisis and allow the FFM, as well as other independent investigations and human rights bodies and mechanisms, to fulfill their respective mandates.

Venezuela

On 28 July Venezuela held presidential elections. Concerns over electoral fraud emerged shortly after the government-controlled National Electoral Council claimed victory for incumbent President Nicolás Maduro over opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia in numbers which, at the time of writing, have not been verified. The Venezuelan government responded to subsequent country-wide protests by rapidly intensifying widespread repression of actual or alleged opponents, including ordinary citizens, opposition members, journalists and human rights defenders. On 30 July UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed alarm over reports “of disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials along with violence by armed individuals supporting the government, known as colectivos.” Between 29 July and 5 August alone, Venezuelan human rights organization Foro Penal verified 24 killings and 1,010 arbitrary detentions, while President Maduro has warned of “thousands more to come.” Mass arrests, enforced disappearances and other serious violations have been accompanied by intensifying inflammatory rhetoric on behalf of high-level officials. Authorities have encouraged Venezuelans to use digital channels to provide citizen data as a tool of persecution, while promoting videos of security forces conducting clandestine arrests in marginalized communities to instill fear and social control. The HRC-mandated FFM on Venezuela – which has previously found that state agents have committed possible crimes against humanity in attempts to crush political dissent – have warned of a “new wave of persecution,” including through “the accelerated reactivation of the repressive machinery that was never dismantled and is now being used to undermine the public freedoms of citizens.”

The Attorney General has also publicly threatened human rights activists engaging with the UN human rights system, including arbitrarily arresting, forcibly disappearing and placing activists in incommunicado detention.

The elections occurred amidst a decade-long multidimensional crisis marked by systematic human rights violations and abuses and an unprecedented humanitarian emergency. Since its establishment in 2019, the FFM has had a significant impact on maintaining and increasing international attention on Venezuela’s multidimensional crisis. The FFM also remains the only independent international investigative body with the mandate and resources to examine patterns of serious human rights violations and abuses in Venezuela and help combat impunity. As government repression has significantly deteriorated in the context of the presidential election – and parliamentary, governorship and municipal elections are expected to take place in 2025 – international scrutiny remains key to prevent recurrence of atrocity crimes. The recent decision by the Venezuelan government to suspend in-country activities of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – as well as its persistent refusal to cooperate with the FFM – also underlines the need to maintain robust HRC engagement.

The Global Centre therefore respectfully urges you to adopt a resolution to renew the mandate of the FFM and OHCHR in full. We further encourage you to include language in the resolution which condemns state-led repression and targeted persecution of actual or alleged opponents and recalls that the primary responsibility to protect its population from crimes against humanity lies with the Venezuelan government. Lastly, the Global Centre urges you to maintain current public reporting timelines by both the FFM and OHCHR, which will be essential to relay recommendations to UN member states on effective prevention and mitigation strategies to prevent recurrence of atrocity crimes in an environment volatile to further deterioration.

Interactive Dialogues on country-situations at risk of, or experiencing, atrocity crimes

During the 57th session, the HRC will discuss numerous other atrocity situations. We respectfully urge your delegation to actively participate in the interactive dialogues on the report of Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, on OHCHR’s report on Sri Lanka, with the Special Rapporteur on the Russian Federation, on the High Commissioner’s report on Nicaragua, on OHCHR’s oral update on technical assistance and capacity-building for South Sudan, with the CoIs on the Syrian Arab Republic and on Ukraine and with Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus. We also encourage your delegation to participate in relevant thematic interactive dialogues, including with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on truth, justice and reparation, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and on the Secretary-General’s report on reprisals for cooperation with the UN in the field of human rights. Lastly, we respectfully urge your delegation to consider including atrocity risks within your interventions on the annual discussion on integrating a gender perspective throughout the work of the HRC and that of its mechanisms.