Reports and related calls for input
All Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups monitor the various aspects of the human rights theme or the human rights situation in the country they have been mandated to cover by the Human Rights Council. It is a fundamental part of their work, and involves both inputs and outputs:
- Inputs from States, civil society and a broad range of experts through consultations and calls for input;
- Outputs in the form of annual reports to the Human Rights Council and usually, to the General Assembly as well.
Consultations and calls for input
In order to perform this monitoring function of their mandate, Special Procedures get input from a broad range of States, civil society and experts, either through expert panel consultations or through open calls for input.
These contributions are often, but not necessarily, published in the mandate-holders' sections of this website. If they are published, they are found on the Call for Input page, or once the report is issued, on the Report page itself. Consult all recent calls for input.
Reports to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly
All Special Procedure mandate-holders report annually to the Human Rights Council, and usually, to the General Assembly as well.
Consult the overview of the themes to be addressed by thematic mandates in their upcoming reports.
In general, all reports are accessible through the following means:
Mandate-holders web sections:
For thematic mandates:
- Thematic mandate-holder web sections are available through the Thematic Mandates link, or through the Issues page
- Each Special Procedure section has a link to Annual Thematic Reports (sometimes called Annual Reports), which provides access to both HRC and GA reports
- Reports dedicated to country visits are accessed through the Country Visits link
- Recent reports may also be featured directly on the mandate-holder's main page.
For country mandates:
- Web sections for country mandates are accessible from the pages dedicated to the country for which the mandate is established. For example, you can access the link to the Special Rapporteur for Belarus directly from the Belarus country page.
- All reports to the HRC as well as the General Assembly, are available through the Documents link
Human Rights Council website
All reports presented to the Human Rights Council* are accessible through the following path:
Human Rights Council > Sessions > XX Session > Documents > Reports
*Not limited to Special Procedures
Dedicated page for General Assembly reports
All reports presented to the General Assembly* by UN Human Rights bodies and mechanisms are accessible here:
- 74th session (2019)
- 73rd session (2018)
- 72nd session (2017)
- 71st session (2016)
- 70th session (2015)
- 69th session (2014)
- 67th session (2012)
- 66th session (2011)
- 65th session (2010)
- 64th session (2009)
- 63rd session (2008)
- 62nd session (2007)
- 61st session (2006)
- 60th session (2005)
*Not limited to Special Procedures
Recommendations
Special procedures regularly make recommendations to countries and other stakeholders in their reports to the Human Rights Council.
All recommendations contained in country visits' reports by special procedures since 2006, as well as direct access to the reports in which the recommendations are included, are accessible through the Universal Human Rights Index. Older recommendations are available here on this page of compilations of recommendations.