Your government has made certain international human rights commitments, through voluntary pledges and sponsorships, as well as by ratifying international treaties. Understanding these can help you in your work to protect and promote human rights at the national level.
This section includes information on Sponsorships, while the previous section focused on Commitments and Obligations.
Sponsorships
Sponsors are those States who are the leaders or main supporters of a resolution on a particular human rights theme or country situation.
Sponsors typically write, negotiate and present the resolution to the Human Rights Council.
Co-sponsors are those States that are supporters of the resolution, and indicate so by signing on to it.
Top Tips
Below are some examples of sponsorships by different States.
Sponsors of particular human rights themes:
- African Group: racism, Impact of non-repatriation of funds of illicit origin to countries of origin, Persons with albinism, Elimination of female genital mutilation, Hazardous wastes, Private military and security companies
- Latin American and Caribbean countries, European Union: Rights of the Child
- Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Netherlands (Kingdom of the), Panama, Paraguay, Poland: Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
- Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay: Mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Canada, Fiji, Georgia, Sweden, Uruguay: Promoting, protecting and respecting women’s and girls’ full enjoyment of human rights in humanitarian situations
- Austria, Mexico, Slovenia: Rights of Minorities
- Armenia: Prevention of genocide
- Norway: Human Rights Defenders
- Portugal: Right to Education
- Canada: Violence against Women
You can check the Voluntary yearly calendar for thematic resolutions for a more detailed list of countries leading on thematic resolutions.
Examples of sponsors of a particular country situation:
- European Union – on Burundi, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Belarus, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Eritrea
- Costa Rica Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru?: on Nicaragua
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Albania, Ireland, Norway: on South Sudan
- the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, except Albania: on the Occupied Palestinian territory and occupied Syrian Golan
- African Group: on Mali, South Sudan
- Moldova, North Macedonia, United Kingdom, Iceland, Germany - on Iran
Why are they important to your advocacy strategy?
If you know the sponsor of a resolution, then you know the right country representative to talk to, to ensure your points are included in the resolution.
Knowing co-sponsors is important too. In the civil society space, co-sponsors are the ones you want to talk to in order to garner support for another resolution on a similar issue. Or put another way, if you are looking for States to support a particular position or issue, find out which States were co-sponsors of a resolution on a similar issue.
Key Resources
Resolutions, State sponsorships and HRC elections:
- The RightDocs database will help you find out when a particular country was elected to the Human Rights Council, what human rights themes or countries a State is sponsoring/co-sponsoring, which State is sponsoring/co-sponsoring a particular resolution, what resolutions have been adopted by the Human Rights Council on a particular human rights theme or country, and when and how a State voted on a particular resolution.
Human Rights Council voting, preparing for elections:
Reflection Questions
Use the Key Resources links at the bottom of this section to help you research the following:
