The Human Rights Council convenes for its 57th session between 9 September and 9 October 2024. You can find all our statements delivered during this session below as they become available. Our past advocacy interventions are available here.
Item 4: General Debate – Mozambique (25 September)
More than half a million people are still displaced by the conflict in Northern Mozambique. Over 1.5 million face dire humanitarian conditions, with limited access to food, shelter, water, sanitation, and education – leaving them vulnerable to radicalization by extremist organizations. The official narratives on the conflict in Cabo Delgado ignore the socio-economic disparities which fuel the conflict, in part driven by transnational corporations that exploit natural resources. We urged Mozambique to comply with international human rights and humanitarian law obligations, including by regulating businesses operating in this conflict situation.
Item 3: General Debate – Honduras (20 September)
Although Honduras committed in 2023 to stop using petroleum coke and coal, it is still facilitating a thermoelectric project in the Tocoa municipality, which relies on petroleum coke. The environmental impact studies presented by the company in question contain vague, incomplete, and deficient information, and authorities should have canceled the project from the outset. Instead, community members opposing the project have been attacked, culminating in the brutal murder of environmental activist Juan Antonio Lopez on 14 September. At the Human Rights Council, we stressed that Honduras should urgently comply with its human rights obligations to protect its population and hold companies and public officials accountable for their actions and negligence.
Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights (17 September)
Unchecked business activities in Guatemala are negatively impacting both the environment and the lives and human rights of Indigenous Peoples. Mineral extraction has contaminated aquifers with heavy metals. Agri-businesses have contaminated soil and watersheds with pesticides. This has led to environmental degradation, the destruction of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and increased risks to the health, food security, livelihoods, and culture of the country’s Indigenous Peoples. Guatemala must urgently comply with its international obligations by regulating and controlling extractive industries. At HRC57, we urged the government to ratify the Escazú Agreement as an essential step toward this goal.
Item 3: Interactive Dialogue on the report of the Secretary-General on the impacts of loss and damage from climate change
The loss and damages caused by climate change go far beyond material destruction, deeply affecting human dignity, cultural identity, and emotional well-being. Together with the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights (GIF) we highlighted the unique position of faith communities in responding to the challenges posed by non-economic loss and damages. We called on the Council to integrate these insights into policies as a way to strengthen the international human rights frameworks and to ensure that non-economic loss and damage is addressed in a more holistic, culturally sensitive, and human-centered manner.
Item 2: Interactive Dialogue on OHCHR report on Sri Lanka (9 September)
Sri Lanka has failed to make significant progress in upholding its human rights obligations. Franciscans International expressed its concerns about the lack of accountability mechanisms for victims of enforced disappearances and other violations in the past and present, as well as the lack of progress in the investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. Considering this, we urged the Council to renew the mandate for OHCHR and its Sri Lanka Accountability project for at least two years.
Thumbnail photo: UN Photo / Jean Marc Ferré