The 58th regular session of the Human Rights Council will take place in Geneva from 16 June to 11 July 2025. The Council proceedings can be viewed on UN TV. The meeting summaries are available on the UN Geneva website and the live-updated programme of work on Sched.

Environment and Human Rights Highlights @ HRC59

This section provides a brief overview of highlights on the environment and human rights at the fifty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council:

Climate Change and Human Rights

The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change is the usual main environmental theme of the Council’s June sessions, with the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change’s annual report to the Council. However, other interlinkages between climate change and human rights remain to be prominent in this session of the Council.

Other Matters

• Pursuant to the President’s statement OS/18/1 on “Efficiency of the Human Rights Council: addressing financial and time constraints”, no general debates will be held at HRC59. Reports and oral updates will be considered during the relevant general debate at the sixtieth session (HRC60), unless they are mandated to be considered in the context of an interactive dialogue.

Climate Change and Human Rights

Climate change is one of the greatest existential threats for people and the planet. Its harmful effects undermine the full enjoyment and realization of all human rights, posing a serious risk to the fundamental rights to life, health, food and an adequate standard of living of individuals and communities across the world and disproportionately affecting those who are already in situations of vulnerability. International Geneva as a global hub for environmental governance plays a key role in advancing a human rights-based approach to climate action.

More on Human Rights, Climate Change, and the Role of Geneva

Report | The imperative of defossilizing our economies

The UN Special Rapporteur, Elisa Morgera, in her report to the Human Rights Council, “The imperative of defossilizing our economies” (A/HRC/59/42) seeks to synthesise and analyse a varied body of evidence (from across the natural and social sciences, including Indigenous science and other knowledge systems) of the human rights impacts of the fossil fuel-based economy on the basis of a life-cycle approach, and expected impacts of the phase out of fossil fuels and related subsidies.

On that basis, the report will seek to clarify States’ international human rights obligations, individually and as part of international cooperation, as well as business responsibility, to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels and the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, in order to protect and respect human rights in the context of climate change. The obligations will be clarified giving due consideration to: the need to scale up global action and support in addressing climate change, including in averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change; and the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, all in pursuit of the objectives of the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

The report will also identify good practices, strategies and policies at all levels that contribute to the promotion and protection of all human rights and poverty alleviation in the context of a just transition away from the fossil fuel-based economy, with a view to contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goals 13 (climate action) and 14 (life below water).

The Special Rapporteur will aim to make constructive and concrete recommendations on human rights-based, gender-responsive, age-sensitive, disability-inclusive and risk-informed approaches to a just transition away from fossil fuels that prevent discrimination and enhance the protection of everyone’s human right to a healthy environment.

An interactive dialogue on the report with the Special Rapporteur is scheduled to take place on 30 June 2025.

Reports on the Special Rapporteur Visit

The Special Rapporteur also presented their report on her visit to Vanuatu (A/HRC/59/42/Add.1). An interactive dialogue on the report with the Special Rapporteur is scheduled to take place on 30 June 2025.

Annual panel discussion | Adverse impacts of climate change on human rights: Facilitating just transitions in the context of addressing the impacts of climate change on human rights

In its resolution 50/9, the Human Rights Council decided to incorporate into its annual programme of work, beginning in 2023, at a minimum a panel discussion on different specific themes on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights. In its resolution 56/8, it decided that the annual panel discussion to be held at the fifty-ninth session shall focus on facilitating just transitions in the context of addressing adverse impacts of climate change on the full realization of human rights for all people, and ways forward to address the challenges thereto, as well as on best practices and lessons learned.

The panel discussion is expected to take place on 30 June 2025.

Report | Weathering the storm: poverty, climate change and social protection

In his report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/59/51), the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, argues for a move from an ad hoc humanitarian approach to protecting people in poverty from climate disasters, towards establishing, strengthening and financing rights-based social protection. The Special Rapporteur states that social protection is the most effective tool at our disposal for building people’s ability to withstand and recover from shocks, including climate-related shocks, yet the majority of the world’s poor have no access to social security whatsoever, and are left to fend for themselves.

In his report, the Special Rapporteur urges governments to take a powerful stand against current attempts to derail the UN Charter-based international order by living up to pledges made to support low-income countries to establish social protection floors. International financial support, from traditional and new financing sources, could be channelled through a Global Fund for Social Protection; a positive incentive for low-income countries to invest in social protection which would in turn protect the most vulnerable from the climate volatility that is in no way of their making.

An interactive dialogue on the report with the Special Rapporteur is scheduled to take place on 25 June 2025.

Report | Internal displacement in the context of generalized violence

In 2023, a total of 500,000 people worldwide were displaced by crime-related violence. Crime – in particular organized criminal activity – is an increasingly prevalent driver of forced displacement, with crime-related displacement rising by 45% from 2022 to 2023.

Organized criminal activity can lead directly to displacement, in contexts where civilians are driven from or prevented from returning to their homes as a result of crime-related violence and/or militarized State responses to criminal activity. Organized criminal groups and networks and/or irregular armed groups engaged in criminal activity may be de facto authorities with an obligation to ensure displaced persons receive protection and assistance, yet often fail to fulfill or intentionally disregard this imperative.

Displacement driven by organized criminal activity often overlaps or interacts with other drivers of forced displacement, including disasters, the adverse effects of climate change, and poor governance that results in human rights violations. As with other drivers of displacement, violence associated with organized criminal activity tends to exacerbate existing inequalities for those already facing discrimination.

The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur, will focus her next report for the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/59/46) on internal displacement in the context of organized criminal activity. This report will focus on internal displacement in the context of organized criminal activity, both within and outside armed conflict and encompassing the activities of both organized criminal groups and irregular armed groups engaged in criminal activity as well as responses by the State, the international community, and other relevant duty-bearers, and the impacts thereof on the enjoyment of all human rights by internally displaced persons.

An interactive dialogue on the report with the Special Rapporteur is scheduled to take place on 23 June 2025.

Reports on the Special Rapporteur Visit

The Special Rapporteur also presented their report on her visit to Marshall Islands (A/HRC/59/46/Add.1). An interactive dialogue on the report with the Special Rapporteur is scheduled to take place on 23 June 2025.

More on Geneva Rights and Climate Talks

Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

Water and sanitation are recognized by the United Nations as human rights, reflecting the fundamental nature of these basics in every person’s life. Water access, lack, and related activities are found to have an important gender dimension, with women and girls collectively spending 200 million hours collecting water, which affects their education and working lives as well as their health and safety.

More on the Water Cycle and the Role of Geneva

Panel Discussion | Realization of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

In pursuance to resolution HRC/RES/57/13, the Human Rights Council decided to convene, at its fifty-ninth session, a panel discussion on the realization of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, with a particular focus on mainstreaming the human rights of safe drinking water and sanitation into the upcoming 2026 United Nations Water Conference, and also decides that the discussion shall be fully accessible to persons with disabilities, including through the provision of hybrid modalities.

The panel discussion is scheduled to take place on 26 June 2025.

Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Environment

Protecting 80% of the world’s biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. However, as they face discrimination due to their culture or attacked as they defend their rights, protecting their human rights is an indispensable element in protecting the environment.

More on Indigenous Peoples and the Role of Geneva

Indigenous Peoples and International Solidarity

Over recent decades, the rights of Indigenous Peoples have become a significant element of international law and policy. The coming together in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, by civil society, international mechanisms and States at the domestic, regional and international levels, led to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, by the UN General Assembly in 2007. While the Declaration is not a formally binding treaty, it contains rights and freedoms, such as self-determination and non-discrimination, set out in binding international human rights treaty law, of which some may be considered customary international law. Despite the adoption of the afore-mentioned Declaration, Indigenous Peoples around the World, continue to be subjected to human rights violations, ranging from displacement and dispossession of their lands, territories and resources, often as a result of activities related to the extraction industry. Women and children are disproportionately impacted in such cases.

To be presented to HRC59, the report of the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Cecilia M. Bailliet, (A/HRC/59/40) will aim to understand Indigenous concepts and practices of solidarity and to what extent they enjoy the right to express solidarity with other tribes and groups, as well as with the environment. It will also seek to highlight examples of good practice in this regard.

An interactive dialogue on the report with the Special Rapporteur is scheduled to take place on 27 June 2025.

Events

Date and time of some events subject to change on the live-updated programme of work on Sched.

Deadline for side events applications (NGOs)

19 August 2025 | 12:00 CEST

NGO Registration

Organizational meeting for the 59th session of the Human Rights Council

2 June 2025 | TBC CEST | Palais des Nations, Room XX & Online

Inscription on the lists of speakers | NGOs

10 June 2025 | 14:00 CEST

Opening of the session and Annual report by the High Commissioner

16 June 2025 | 10:00 – 10:45 CEST | Palais des Nations, Room XX & Online

Interactive Dialogue with SR on internally displaced persons

23 – 24 June 2025 | 17:00 CEST onwards | Palais des Nations, Room XX & Online

Interactive Dialogue with SR on extreme poverty

25 June 2025 | 11:30 – 13:00 CEST | Palais des Nations, Room XX & Online

Panel discussion on the realization of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

26 June 2025 | 10:00 – 12:00 CEST | Palais des Nations, Room XX & Online

Annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights

30 June 2025 | 10:00 – 12:00 CEST | Palais des Nations, Room XX & Online

Interactive Dialogue with SR climate change

30 June 2025 | 12:00 – CEST onwards | Palais des Nations, Room XX & Online

Draft Proposals | Submission Deadline

TBC | 13:00 CEST

Decisions and Conclusions

9 – 11 July 2024 | Palais des Nations, Room XX

Reports

Reports to be presented at HRC59 relating to the global environmental agenda are listed below. The full list of reports can be consulted on the HRC website.

• A/HRC/59/20 | Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• A/HRC/59/32 | The practical application of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to the activities of technology companies, including activities related to artificial intelligence | Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• A/HRC/59/34 | Panel discussion on the rights of Indigenous Peoples | Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• A/HRC/59/35 | Discussions and outcomes of the two intersessional meetings on concrete ways to enhance the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the work of the Human Rights Council | Joint report of the co-facilitators and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• A/HRC/59/36 | Implementation and enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights | Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
  Prepared with a view to making a human rights-based contribution to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the report contains an overview of the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights relating to financing for development in the context of the implementation and enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights. The report clearly integrates the human rights economy as a concept that calls for a profound transformation of the economic system to ensure that economic and social policies – from taxation and public spending to climate action and a just transition – focus on advancing human rights.
• A/HRC/59/40 | International solidarity and Indigenous Peoples | Report of the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity
• A/HRC/59/42 | The imperative of defossilizing our economies | Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
• A/HRC/59/42/Add.1 | Visit to Vanuatu | Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
• A/HRC/59/46 | Internal displacement in the context of generalized violence | Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
• A/HRC/59/46/Add.1 | Visit to the Marshall Islands | Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
• A/HRC/59/51 | Weathering the storm: poverty, climate change and social protection | Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
• A/HRC/59/51/Add.1 | Visit to Colombia | Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
• A/HRC/59/60 | Thirteenth session of the Forum on Business and Human Rights | Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises

Resolutions and Decisions

Resolutions and decisions (found on the HRC59 website) relating to the global environmental agenda tabled or adopted by their main sponsors at HRC59 and their subsequent decisions will be listed below.

A summary of actions on the resolutions will be provided by the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue.

Call for Submissions

Special Procedures

The special procedure mandate-holders are independent human rights experts who help advance human rights, by reporting and advancing from a country-specific or thematic perspective, some of which are related to the environment. Calls for submissions are made to help mandate-holders prepare their reports to the Human Rights Council.

More information on the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council

Videos and Highlights

Videos and highlights of related events are featured in this section.

Links and Resources

• 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council
• UNOG Library | Conference Primer – HRC59
• GCHRAGD | Updates on HRC59
• ISHR | HRC59 | Key issues on agenda
• URG | Inside Track: HRC59
• GEN | Human Rights and the Environment

News and Updates

Relevant news and updates are featured in this section.

Past HRC Sessions

Environment @ HRC58 | Environment @ HRC57 | Environment @ HRC56 | Environment @ HRC55 | Environment @ HRC54 | Environment @ HRC53 | Environment @ HRC52 | Environment @ HRC51 | Environment @ HRC50 | Environment @ HRC49 | Environment @ HRC48 | Environment @ HRC47 | Environment @ HRC46 | Environment @ HRC45 | Environment @ HRC44 | Environment @ HRC43

Who to Follow on X

#HRC59

@UN_HRC | UN Human Rights Council
@swiss_un | Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, President of the Human Rights Council in 2025
@SwissAmbUN_GVA | H.E. Amb. Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, President of the Human Rights Council in 2025
@BDPM_Geneva | Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva
@TareqMdArifulI1 | H.E. Amb. Tareq Md. Ariful Islam, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Vice-President of the Human Rights Council in 2025
@UNHumanRights | The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights)
@volker_turk | UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
@NadaNashif | United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
@SREnvironment | Astrid Puentes Riaño, SR on the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment (also @astridpuentes)
@SRclimatechange | Elisa Morgera, SR on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
@SRtoxics | Marcos Orellana, SR on toxics and human rights
@RelatorDd | José Francisco Calí Tzay, SR indigenous peoples
@SRWatSan | Pedro Arrojo Agudo, SR on rights to water and sanitation
@MichaelFakhri | Michael Fakhri, SR on right to food
@AXanthaki | Alexandra Xanthaki, SR on cultural rights
@SRpoverty | Olivier De Schutter, SR on poverty and human rights (also @DeSchutterO)
@ISHRglobal | The International Service for Human Rights
@FranciscansIntl | Franciscans International
@Geneva_Academy | Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
@hrw | Human Rights Watch
@URGthinktank | Universal Rights Group (URG)
@YvesLador | Special Representative of Earthjustice in Geneva
@duycks | Senior Attorney – Climate and Energy Programme at the Center for International Environmental Law
@katha_nina | Katharina Rall, Senior Environment Researcher at Human Rights Watch
@ChildRightsCnct | Child Rights Connect
@CERI_Coalition | Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative (CERI)
@CRINwire | Child Rights International Network