A/HRC/54/61
I. Introduction
1.
The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 12/2, expressed its concern over
continued reports of intimidation and reprisals against individuals and groups seeking to
cooperate or having cooperated with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms
in the field of human rights. The Council condemned all acts of intimidation and reprisal
committed by Governments and non-State actors against such individuals and groups, and
invited the Secretary-General to report annually on alleged reprisals, including
recommendations on how to address the issue. The present report is the fourteenth report
submitted pursuant to resolution 12/2.1
II. Activities in response to acts of intimidation and reprisal
2.
Forms of reprisal and retaliation for ongoing or past cooperation and intimidation
designed to discourage future participation or cooperation with a wide range of
United Nations entities at Headquarters and in the field continued throughout the reporting
period. Incidents or trends were addressed within the United Nations system by the
Secretariat, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) and United Nations field offices and peace operations, and by the Conference of
the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women),
the International Labour Organization and intergovernmental organs, such as the
General Assembly, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council and its special procedure
mandate holders, human rights treaty bodies and other entities, such as the Expert Mechanism
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the
United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and the high-level political forum on
sustainable development.
3.
The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, the senior United Nations official
designated by the Secretary-General to lead system-wide efforts to address intimidation and
reprisals, continued engagement with Member States, United Nations entities, civil society
and other stakeholders to raise awareness of and concern about such trends and incidents.
4.
The General Assembly and the Human Rights Council addressed acts of intimidation
and reprisal for cooperation with the United Nations in several thematic and country
resolutions. 2 On 14 October 2022, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights
presented, for the first time, the report of the Secretary-General to the Third Committee of
the General Assembly, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 48/17.3 Welcoming the
presentation as an important development, she noted the global relevance of the report and
emphasized that the United Nations system should continue to show zero tolerance for
reprisals. On 7 November 2022 in the margins of the Third Committee, a number of Member
States, OHCHR and civil society organized a side event on global trends and good practices
addressing intimidation and reprisals for cooperation with the United Nations.
5.
On 19 October 2022, 78 Member States and the European Union delivered a
cross-regional statement on reprisals at the Third Committee, expressing concerns about the
global patterns identified by the Secretary-General. 4 Member States welcomed the
opportunity to discuss the report at the Third Committee in New York and in Geneva.
6.
The Presidency of the Human Rights Council received allegations of intimidation and
reprisals concerning five States, two of which were members of the Council at the time of
the alleged incidents. Successive Presidents of the Council continued the practice of
addressing the allegations with the Permanent Representatives of the countries concerned.
1
2
3
4
2
See previous reports at https://www.ohchr.org/en/reprisals/annual-reports-reprisals-cooperation-un.
See, for example, General Assembly resolutions 77/227 and 77/228 and Human Rights Council
resolutions 51/20, 51/25, 52/7 and 52/31.
See A/HRC/51/47, A/77/262 and A/77/262/Corr.1.
https://press.un.org/en/2022/gashc4355.doc.htm.
GE.23-15378