On 4 April 2025, the UN Human Rights Council concluded its 58th Session in Geneva. ARTICLE 19 conducted extensive advocacy at the session to promote the right to freedom of expression and interrelated rights, including by taking part in negotiations on resolutions, meeting with delegations, and making statements.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the session, deploring the ways in which human rights are being ‘suffocated’ from all angles across the globe.
Our core priority at the session was to take part in negotiations on a new resolution on human rights defenders, as well as to defend the consensual adoption of two parallel resolutions on freedom of religion or belief.
We also made a statement on ensuring a feminist approach to the safety of journalists, as well as several statements to address country human rights situations, including on Belarus, Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Thailand.
We highlight the details of the resolutions we followed closely at the session below – it is not an exhaustive list of developments at the session.
Human rights defenders
Norway led a new strong resolution on human rights defenders and new and emerging technologies at the session. At the Council, Norway leads a resolution on human rights defenders every three years, each time with a different thematic focus.
This iteration makes major progress by being the first UN resolution to call on governments to refrain from biometric mass surveillance, which brings severe chilling effects on the right to freedom of expression and the work of human rights defenders. It is also notably the first UN resolution to call on government to refrain not only from internet shutdowns but explicitly other practices that impede connectivity, including filtering and throttling measures. Aside from this, it consolidates language on a wide range of other issues affecting human rights defenders – including on connectivity, spyware, and strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) – further mainstreaming these commitments within international human rights standards.
We now call on all States to implement these new commitments, including by immediately banning the indiscriminate and untargeted use of biometric technologies in public and publicly accessible spaces.
Read out full analysis of the resolution here.
Freedom of religion or belief
The Council got back on track through resuming the adoption of two parallel resolutions related to freedom of religion or belief. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation led the renewal of a resolution on combating religious intolerance – also known as Resolution 16/18 – while the European Union led a resolution on freedom of religion or belief. This is a welcome development given the consensual adoption of these two resolutions was broken for the first time last year.
Since 2011, except for last year, these dual resolutions have been renewed together each March, representing a consensual and universal framework to address the root causes of hate based on religion or belief in law, policy, and practice. Together, these resolutions promote open debate over censorship as fundamental to challenge deep-seated prejudices that drive hate against religious groups and individuals.
Now that the Council has achieved consensus once again, we urge all States to reaffirm their commitment to these two resolutions and adopt comprehensive and evidence-based national implementation plans, with the full and effective participation of diverse stakeholders. We also call for the reinvigoration of the Istanbul Process and to ensure the process is cross-regional, participatory, practitioner-oriented, and inclusive of key stakeholders.
Belarus
The European Union led the adoption of a new resolution on Belarus to renew the mandates of both the Special Rapporteur and the Group of Independent Experts, as well as to provide recommendations to remedy the ongoing deterioration of the human rights situation in the country.
This resolution is more important than ever. Alongside our partner Human Constanta, we spoke out at the session about the 1,200 civil society actors who remain behind bars. This includes human rights defender Nasta Lojka, who is still serving her 7-year sentence for doing her work. We also raised the alarm over Belarusian authorities readily equating dissenting political opinions with ‘extremism’ and ‘terrorism’ – the latter being punishable with death.
We reiterate our support for the Special Rapporteur and the Group of Independent Experts and encourage them to continue demanding the release of Nasta Lojka and all political prisoners.
Iran
Iceland – alongside a core group consisting of Germany, North Macedonia, Moldova, and the United Kingdom – led a resolution to renew the Special Rapporteur on Iran and to crucially also broaden the mandate of the previously established Independent International Fact-Finding Mission to investigate any recent or ongoing serious human rights violations and crimes under international law. The Mission now has the mandate to gather crucial evidence for potential legal proceedings against responsible officials, helping to end the human rights crisis and complete lack of impunity in the country.
The Mission’s work so far has led to the conclusion that widespread human rights violations constitute crimes against humanity. It has notably concluded that these crimes, inflicted with discriminatory intent and in the context of the deprivation of fundamental rights, amount to the crime against humanity of gender persecution. This intersects with ethnic and religious discrimination, highlighting a deeply entrenched system of oppression. The Mission has also covered the harrowing use of technology to collect digital evidence and conduct surveillance as methods to further persecute protesters. The use of censorship and internet shutdowns are of particular concern given their assistance to these broader crimes.
We express our full support for the Special Rapporteur and the Fact-Finding Mission and call for the provision of adequate additional resources and heightened engagement from delegations to support efforts to ensure accountability.
Read a broad joint statement issued with Impact Iran on the resolution here.
Myanmar
The European Union led a resolution on Myanmar to renew the Special Rapporteur and to outline measures that must be taken by the junta and other relevant actors to solve the human rights crisis in the country.
This resolution comes as Myanmar is reeling from the catastrophic 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck last month, now followed by deadly aftershocks and a growing humanitarian emergency. The scale of the disaster is exacerbated by the ongoing armed conflict and the information blackout resulting from the military junta imposing restrictions on the internet and independent reporting.
In this context, the international community must exert diplomatic pressure on the junta to respect the calls in the resolution, including to lift internet shutdowns and censorship in the country, support the deployment of emergency communication tools, and back independent media and local responders best able to provide life-saving information at this time.