PRI at the UN Human Rights Council 50th session

The 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council took place in Geneva from 13 June to 8 July 2022.

Over the past weeks, human rights experts, state and civil society representatives have highlighted human rights violations in criminal justice systems, particularly for vulnerable and marginalised groups, and have underlined the need to, among other things:

• Reform punitive drug policies and promote health and harm reduction measures in prisons (High Commissioner for Human Rights);
• Address structural gender-based violence by police and in custodial settings (Special Rapporteur on the right to health);
• Implement the Bangkok Rules to provide adequate sanitary materials for women in prison (Chair of the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls).

PRI made the following oral statements at the Council, raising the rights of people in prisons and criminal justice systems:

Panel discussion on good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on human rights in Central African Republic

Panel discussion on the human rights of people in vulnerable situations in the context of climate change