What is The Human Rights Council?

What is it? What is the Human Rights Council? The United Nations Human Rights Council is an assembly of 47 countries, which meets to discuss how to respond to human rights concerns around the world. How does it work? The Council discusses human rights related to topics and themes. It also discusses on-going situations in particular countries. And in times of crises, the Council is a space for the international community to come together, to debate, and speak out. Council members select individual experts to study particular topics or countries, and visit countries to see how things really are. People can write to them for help, when they believe their human rights have not been respected. These experts report about their activities and research findings to the Human Rights Council. The Council also reviews how well countries of the United Nations are living up to their human rights promises. This is called the Universal Periodic Review. The UPR process is an occasion for a government and its people to listen to each other, discuss, and work together for progress. What can I do? Find out more the Human rights Council. Learn more about the UN human rights programme. And spread the word. Visit ohchr.org.