Human Rights Council

How UN ‘human rights experts’ became a tool of dictatorships - opinion

The corruption of the system did not happen overnight. As dictatorships gained influence inside the UNHRC, they learned they need not abolish the language of human rights to weaken it.

JUNE 8, 2026|ByDINA ROVNER

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a news conference during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 24, 2026.

People and rescue forces work following an Israel strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026.

Primary school strike prompts Iran to request urgent UN Human Rights debate

The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School consisted of two missile strikes in quick succession that killed 168 children, mostly ⁠girls, Iranian officials say.

MARCH 24, 2026|ByREUTERS, MIRIAM SELA-EITAM

United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Mai Sato delivers her report before delegates of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva on March 16, 2026.

Violent suppression, human rights violation: UN rapporteur submits report on Iran’s Jan. protests

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, noted that while drafting the report, she found many Iranian families were reluctant to give consent for her to share their testimonies.

MARCH 16, 2026|ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD

An Afghan Taliban fighter sits on a tank near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Spin Boldak, Kandahar Province, following exchanges of fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces

UN rights chief says Taliban decree expands executions, deepens repression

The Taliban has restricted women's movements and barred girls from education beyond primary school since coming to power in 2021, via a series of morality laws limiting expression and employment.

FEBRUARY 26, 2026|ByREUTERS

UNHRC discriminates against Israel, should send rapporteur home - opinion

Appointing a UNHRC rapporteur to Israel is an outrageous and totally fictitious antisemitic assessment of the relationship between our Arab citizens and residents, and the Jewish Israeli public.

JANUARY 31, 2023ByWALTER BINGHAM

MICHAEL LYNK, then-special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a session of the Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva, in 2019.

Discrimination, demonization and delegitimization has no place at the UN - opinion

Navi Pillay wrote a letter to the president of the Human Rights Council, alleging that her colleagues were being "deliberately misquoted."

DECEMBER 17, 2022ByDANIEL S. MARIASCHIN, DAVID J. MICHAELS

NAVI PILLAY, who heads the newest UN ‘commission of inquiry’ on Israel, has been called out for prejudice, say the writers.

UNHRC to hold special session on Iran, human rights violations

The UNHRC needed one-third of the 47 members of the Council's support is required in order to hold a special session.

NOVEMBER 21, 2022ByNOA FEIGENBAUM

Deputy Minister, Alvin Botes delivers a National Statement at the Annual High Level Panel on Human Rights Mainstreaming under the theme “Thirty years of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: challenges and opportunities”, at the UNHRC, Geneva.

Would the FBI come to different conclusion of Shireen Abu Akleh's death? - editorial

The US administration said that the ballistics test of the bullet fragment was "inconclusive." The UNHRC came to a similar conclusion.

NOVEMBER 16, 2022ByJPOST EDITORIAL

Palestinians walk in front of a mural depicting the slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh ahead of the visit of US President Joe Biden at Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 13, 2022

Europe calls for UNHRC debate on Iran protests, human rights violations

Germany and Iceland submitted a request on Friday on behalf of dozens of countries to hold a special session at the UN Human Rights Council on the ongoing protests in Iran.

NOVEMBER 12, 2022ByREUTERS

Overview of the session of the Human Rights Council during the speech of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, February 27, 2020.

Diplomatic invective: UN takes its war on Israel to next level - opinion

the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) did not mention a word about Hamas. It only dealt with Israel, which appears 277 times in the report.

NOVEMBER 4, 2022ByDORE GOLD

MEMBERS OF THE United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Navanethem Pillay, Miloon Kothari and Chris Sidoti, attend a press briefing at the United Nations headquarters in New York, last week.

Jewish organizations denounce UN's COI report: 'Distorted and biased'

OCTOBER 22, 2022ByOMRI NAHMIAS

The United Nations needs to be reimagined and reformed - opinion

A survey in The Washington Post said 84% of people agree with the statement: “I would rather be a citizen of America than of any other country in the world.”

OCTOBER 18, 2022ByERIC R. MANDEL

UNHRC refuses to debate China's human rights violations

47-member body rejected text in a narrow vote of 17-19, with 11 abstentions • FM claims victory after human rights body approves first Israeli resolution

OCTOBER 6, 2022ByTOVAH LAZAROFF

Activists take part in a protest against China's treatment towards the ethnic Uyghur people and calling for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, at a park Jakarta, Indonesia, January 4, 2022

Qatar UN envoy deletes Twitter account after uproar over cursing Jews, gay men

Tweets by the Qatari UN envoy cited antisemitic tropes and called on God to "curse" gay people.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022ByTZVI JOFFRE