1. Understanding the Special Procedures

1.2 The Basics

Special procedures are independent human rights experts tasked by the UN to investigate and report on human rights situations around the world. They also provide advice and recommendations for the implementation of those rights. Find out more about what they are and what they do.

A PDF of the Transcript is available here.

Full list of the thematic Special Procedures.

Full list of the country-specific Special Procedures.

In the next section, we'll find out more about how the Special Procedures can be useful to advocates.

Learn more

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Learn how to access UN human rights mechanisms – when you need accreditation, when you don’t

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UN Human Rights Council

Understand the structure, purpose and mandate of the Human Rights Council and the opportunities for effective engagement

Treaty Bodies

Discover how the UN Treaty Bodies work and how you can use them to increase the impact of your advocacy

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) is an independent, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights. We achieve this by supporting human rights defenders, strengthening human rights systems, and leading and participating in coalitions for human rights change.

This website was developed and built by Atticmedia with the generous support from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom and of the Canadian Government. The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of the authors and cannot be regarded as reflecting the views of the project sponsors.

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2.1 How Special Procedures are nominated and appointed

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1. Understanding the Special Procedures