2. The Human Rights Council as a political space

2.3 Human Rights Council actors and groups

When we think of the Human Rights Council, it’s important to understand that the Member States are not the only actors in the room – there are other bodies and groups influencing the activities of the Council.

Actors

Various actors engage with the Human Rights Council:

Countries that are members of the Council (the only actors who can vote)
Other countries: Observer States
NGOs
NHRIs
UN agencies
Media

Groups

How States act within the Council is influenced by its membership in various groups and they represent alliances or shared positions.

These can be divided into three broad groups:

Regional Groups
Political Groups
Informal Groups

Find out more about the roles of these actors and groups in the following sections.

Learn more

Special Procedures

Explore the purpose and mandates of the Special Procedures and how you can work with them to strengthen your advocacy

Person walking up to the UN building in Geneva

Accessing the UN

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

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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