Between 24 February 2025 and 4 April 2025, the UNPO actively engaged with the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 58th Session on behalf of its members. Over the course of the Session, the UNPO attended numerous side events focused on human rights in Iran, China, Russia and the need to preserve democracy; celebrated the Kurdish New Year with the Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan-Geneva and the Administrative Council of the City of Geneva; stood in solidarity with the Sindh defending rivers and the right to water; and reconnected with a former UNPO founding member, Palau (previous Belau).
Side Event on Human Rights in Iran: “Seeking Justice, Testimony of a Survivor of the Women, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran”
The UNPO was delighted to attend a side event on human rights in Iran, hosted by Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva’s Executive Director, Taimoor Alliasi, and featured the Chair of the UN Fact Finding Mission on Iran (FFMI), the Special Rapporteur on Iran and the Executive Director of Together Against the Death Penalty. The event centred around human rights defenders and their personal accounts of torture and the severe human rights situation for ethnic minorities, including children, in Iran.
The side event was held in the backdrop of the informal dialogues on the resolution to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Iran and broaden the mandate of the Independent (FFMI). In March, 2025, the UNPO joined a coalition of Iranian and international human rights organisations calling for the Special Rapporteur’s mandate to be extended. The UNPO was therefore delighted that the resolution to extend and broaden these two vital mandates has been approved by the UN Human Rights Council, marking a crucial step forward by granting the mission the ability to investigate past, ongoing and future human rights violations and crimes against humanities. This is of particular importance following the Special Rapporteur’s recent report highlighting systemic injustices, including arbitrary detention, unfair trials and the disproportionate application of death penalty, affecting the Balochi, Kurds, Azerbaijanis and Ahwazi Arabs, and the FFMI’s report which shares findings of crimes against humanity.
Kurdish New Year
The UNPO was honoured to attend a celebration of Kurdish New Year 2725, Newroz, on 18 March, hosted by the Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan-Geneva and the Administrative Council of the City of Geneva. The ceremony, music and food made for a lively, vibrant and spectacular evening of celebrating the rich and diverse Kurdish culture.
Side Event on Democracy and Human Rights
The UNPO welcomed a side-event co-hosted by CIVICUS and Democracy without Borders, amongst others. The event called for the introduction of a Special Rapporteur on Democracy, due to the need to preserve democracy and human rights as a constant. In attendance, in her personal capacity, was Dr. Dalia Leinartė of the UN Human Rights Committee.
Side Event on Human Rights in China
The UNPO was grateful to attend a side event on Human Rights in China, chaired by the Society for Threatened Peoples. The panel featured representatives from Tibet, the Dalai Lama’s Envoy in Geneva, Dolkun Isa, former President of the World Uyghur Congress, a survivor of the reeducation camps in East Turkestan, and human rights activists fighting against the persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners in China. The event served as a stark reinforcement of the continued severe human rights violations against minorities in China, highlighting the necessity of continued civil society and State action to remedy this dire situation.
Side Event on Prisoners of Conscience
The UNPO was honoured to attend a side event on the situation of prisoners of conscience, with voices from Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan. The panel included four human rights defenders, a moderator from Future Russia, in addition to Mariana Katzarova (UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Russia) and Karinna Mosalenko (Head of the UN Group of Independent Experts on Human Rights in Belarus). The human rights defenders delivered accounts of their severe torture and abuse during their imprisonment as prisoners of conscience, who had peacefully advocated and demonstrated for political change. During the event, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russia shed light on the case of 40 Crimean Tatars (a UNPO member since 1991) in Russian prisons who are in serious medical condition due to tortuous detention, potentially facing death in detention.
World Sindhi Congress UN Protest
The UNPO stood in solidarity with the Sindh at a UN protest organised by the World Sindhi Congress (WSC), following their 2025 Conference. The protest and Conference aimed to shed specific awareness on the human rights violations and injustices caused by the construction of canals in the Sindh province, which act to deny the Sindh of water and thus their livelihoods. The 2025 WSC Conference featured prominent activists and scholars with extensive human rights expertise and reaffirmed a commitment to the necessity of collaboration between groups in the Sindh region and peoples whose human rights are abused by the current Pakistani Government.
Reconnecting With UNPO Founding Member
During the Human Rights Council, UNPO Secretary-General, Mercè Monje Cano, was honoured to reconnect with Palau (previously Belau), a founding member of the UNPO, as a part of their campaign for independence. The UNPO is delighted by Palau’s continued enthusiasm and support for the organisation and its values, of our mutual focus on climate justice, and its commitment to actively supporting unrecognised nations in international fora, including some of the UNPO’s current members. We greatly look forward to our continued engagement and the re-forging of our bonds.
