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United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner

The special procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. The system of Special Procedures is a central element of the United Nations human rights machinery and covers all human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political, and social. As of 1 August 2017, there are 44 thematic and 12 country mandates.

With the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), special procedures undertake country visits; act on individual cases and concerns of a broader, structural nature by sending communications to States and others in which they bring alleged violations or abuses to their attention; conduct thematic studies and convene expert consultations, contribute to the development of international human rights standards, engage in advocacy, raise public awareness, and provide advice for technical cooperation. Special procedures report annually to the Human Rights Council; the majority of the mandates also reports to the General Assembly. Their tasks are defined in the resolutions creating or extending their mandates.

Data Resources (1)

Additional Info

Field Value
Document type Archived web content
Language of document
  • English
  • French
  • Chinese
Topics Human rights
Geographic area (spatial range)
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Cambodia
  • China
  • Christmas Island
  • Cocos (Keeling) Islands
  • Timor-Leste
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Korea (Democratic People's Republic of)
  • Korea, Republic of
  • Lao People's Democratic Republic
  • Malaysia
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Sri Lanka
  • Thailand
  • Viet Nam
Copyright Yes
Access and use constraints

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Version / Edition 1.0
License unspecified
Author (corporate) United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner
Keywords human right
Date uploaded August 13, 2019, 08:11 (UTC)
Date modified August 16, 2019, 03:59 (UTC)