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The 47th UN Human Rights Council met in Geneva from June 21 to July 14, 2021, marking its 15th anniversary. Important joint statements were made, among other things, on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet or on the role of democracies. There were votes, among other things, on the human rights situation in the Ethiopian region of Tigray or on the question of whether the Council may discuss the situation of a country without its presence.
At the end of 2020 82.4 Mio. people were forcibly displaced, which is more than 1% of humanity, double the figure a decade ago and almost 3 Mio. more than in 2019 - besides the border closure in more than 160 countries. With 58,3%, the amount of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) climbed a new record high. The dynamics of protracted conflicts, the effects of climate change as well as COVID-19 are increasingly interconnected and mutually reinforcing in driving displacement.
This month, at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May, 59 countries proposed hosting a special WHA session in November 2021 dedicated to the pandemic treaty. Already back in April 2020, Chile first put forward the idea of a pandemic treaty, which was taken up by EU Council President Charles Michel in December 2020. At the end of March 2021, 24 heads of state and government issued a call for support for the idea.
The TRIPS-Waiver is an initiative by India and South Africa to temporarily suspend patent rights in order to accelerate the global production of COVID-19 vaccines. So far more than 60 states have co-sponsored the initiative, many more are supportive of the idea. The US, Chile, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Canada, the EU, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland have so far expressed scepticism. They point to existing flexibility within the TRIPS framework. The map shows the coalition of countries that are supportive of the initiative.
During the 46th Human Rights Council China tabled a resolution on “mutually beneficial cooperation" for the third time that seeks to advance human rights through best practices between states instead of accountability for human rights violations. Observers see this as an attempt to undermine existing human rights standards. The resolution was adopted with 26 votes in favour, 15 against and 6 abstentions. In 2020 23 states voted in favour, 16 against and 8 abstained and in 2018 28 states voted in favour while only the US voted against and 17 states abstained.
On 24 February the Alliance for Multilateralism met once again on the margins of the 46th Human Rights Council in Geneva. Under the heading "New Frontiers for Human Rights. Pandemic Preparedness and Response", the relevance of the International Partnership for Information and Democracy was highlighted. The initiative condemns the manipulative use of fake news to undermine democracy. The signatories commit, i.a. to respect and defend freedom of opinion and freedom of the press, as well as to protect journalists.
During the January 2021 executive board meeting of the WHO, 46 countries launched a draft decision, based on reports from various committees, to strengthen WHO’s global health emergency preparedness and response capacities. This is considered to be a central component of a WHO reform. The goal is to develop a resolution at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2021, the highest health-related global decision-making forum.
Members of the WTO often form specific interest or negotiation groups. The following map illustrates some of them.
Director KAS Genf Office
