The 20th anniversary of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) offers an opportunity to reflect on its achievements and examine how its institutional practice has evolved. A key feature of the first two decades of the Council has been the gradual widening of space for meaningful engagement by stakeholders beyond national governments.
This roundtable will approach National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), Indigenous Peoples and local and regional governments not as separate categories of stakeholders, but as entry points into a broader institutional question: how has the HRC widened participation over its first 20 years, and how can this evolution strengthen its impact in the future?.
Objectives
This event aims to:
- Reflect on the evolution of stakeholder engagement at the Human Rights Council over its first two decades.
- Examine how different actors beyond states have found pathways into the proceedings of the Council, including through formal recognition and thematic engagement.
- Explore the potential role of local and regional governments in strengthening implementation, follow-up and prevention within the ecosystem of the Council.
- Consider the principles that should guide further widening of participation, including independence, representativeness and proximity to rights-holders.
Programme
The three-hour roundtable will combine short framing interventions with a moderated discussion, divided into two substantive segments:
- Segment 1: Pathways into the Council: access, recognition and voice (09:50 – 11:00) This segment will examine how pathways for actors beyond states emerge, how they become recognised and the principles that should guide the participation of actors whose legitimacy derives from independence, representation or proximity to implementation.
- Segment 2: From participation to impact: implementation, follow-up and prevention (11:15 – 12:20) Moving from the question of access to impact, the second segment will ask how broader stakeholder engagement contributes to the effectiveness of the Council. Discussions will focus on building stronger connections between Geneva-based deliberation and implementation on the ground.
Speakers
The discussion will feature perspectives from NHRIs, Indigenous Peoples and local and regional governments, including:
- Prof. Brian Burdekin AO, Visiting Professor at RWI and former Special Adviser on National Institutions.
- Prof. Tom Pegram, Director of the Global Governance Institute, University College London.
- Ambassador Francisco Calí Tzay (TBC), Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
- Representatives from the Global Cities Hub, GANHRI, the Swiss NHRI and the Commissioner for Human Rights of New York City.
Organisers
Geneva Human Rights Hub (GHRH), Global Cities Hub, GANHRI, UCL Global Governance Institute, ISHR and Geneva for Human Rights.
