INFO NOTE ON UN SPECIAL PROCEDURES (MAY 2023): CALLS FOR INPUT AND UPCOMING COUNTRY VISITS
Summary
This issue includes:
Call for inputs: African descent; Business enterprises; Discrimination against women and girls; Environment; Extreme poverty; Foreign debt; Hazardous substances and wastes; Human rights defenders; Independence of judges and lawyers; International order; Mercenaries; Older persons; Racism; Sale of children; Slavery; Summary executions; SOGI; Trafficking; Unilateral coercive measures; Violence against women.
Upcoming country visitsmissions carried out by UN Special Procedure mandate holders to assess the situation of human rights in a specific country. During their missions, they will meet with national and local authorities, national human rights institutions, as well as with NGOs, civil society, and survivors of human rights violations. Findings, conclusions and recommendations of such missions are published in reports to the Human Rights Council. More: Australia; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Brazil; Botswana; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; Finland; Georgia; Honduras; Japan; Liechtenstein; Malta; Mauritius; Mauritania; Peru; Republic of Moldova; South Africa; Syrian Arab Republic; Tunisia; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Uruguay.
Joint Submission to the Independent Expert on SOGIabbreviation standing for sexual orientation and gender identity More
The Independent Expert on SOGI is planning to produce a report on colonialism and sexual orientationrefers to a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to - and intimate and sexual relations with - individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender. More and gender identityrefers to a person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. More, and he is currently collecting inputs. The mandate will be seeking information on the historic and ongoing impacts of colonialism on the enjoyment of human rights by lesbianadjective/noun to describe a woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves. More, gayadjective to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional
attractions are to people of the same gender. Men, women and non-binary people may use this
term to describe themselves. More, bisexualadjective used to describe a person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of other genders. More, transadjective/umbrella term to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. More and genderrefers to a social construct which places cultural and social expectations on individuals based on their assigned sex. More diverse (LGBT) persons.
ILGA World will be collecting information on this topic to prepare a joint submission to the Independent Expert. If you have any data relating to LGBTIacronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. Although this is not the acronym available to describe people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics, it is the most commonly used in United Nations spaces and advocacy. More communities and colonialism and would like to be included in this joint effort, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We will be receiving inputs until the 22 May 2023.
Calls for input
| Mandate | Call | Deadline | Additional Info |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Tunisia |
01 May 2023 | Read more |
| Independent Expert on older persons | Call for inputs: report on older persons in the context of climate change-induced disasters and building back better (to be presented at the GA 78) |
01 May 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers | Call for inputs: report on legal empowerment to expand and transform access to justice (to be presented at the GA 78) | 05 May 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on sale of children | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Uruguay | 05 May 2023 | Read more |
| Independent Expert on foreign debt | Call for inputs: report on “Multiple crises, fiscal systems and human rights” (to be presented at the GA 78) | 08 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on summary executions | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Honduras | 12 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Working Group on the use of mercenaries | Call for input: report on “Recruitment including predatory recruitment of mercenaries and mercenary related actors” (to be presented at the HRC 54) | 15 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Working Group on the use of mercenaries | Call for input: report on “The relevance of Security Sector Reforms in addressing mercenaries and private security companies” (to be presented at the GA 78) | 15 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Independent Expert on international order | Call for input: report on “Youth participation and engagement in intergovernmental forums: Challenges and opportunities” (to be presented at the HRC 54) |
15 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on trafficking | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Colombia | 15 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Working Group on business enterprises | Call for inputs: report on extractive sector, just transitionrefers to a series of steps people may take to live in the gender they identify with. A person’s transition can be social and/or medical. Steps may include: coming out to family, friends and colleagues; dressing and acting according to one’s gender; changing one’s name and/or sex/gender on legal documents; medical treatments - including hormone therapies and possibly one or more types of surgery. More and human rights (to be presented at the GA 78) | 15 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on violence against women | Call for inputs: report on “Nexus between Violence against Women and Girls, Nationality Laws, and Statelessness” (to be presented at the GA 78) |
15 May 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes | Call for submissions in advance of the visit by the Special Rapporteur to Australia | 15 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on summary executions | Call for input: report on “The investigation and documentation of gender-based killings of women and girls” | 19 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders | Call for input: report on the challenges faced by woman human rights defenders working in conflict, post-conflict or crisis-affected settings (to be presented at the GA 78) |
22 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! African Descent | Call for inputs: report on “the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent reviewing the 20 years of work since its establishment and how to address more efficiently the human rights concerns of people of African descent” (to be presented at the HRC 54) | 22 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Independent Expert on SOGI | Call for inputs: report on colonialism and sexual orientation and gender identity settings (to be presented at the GA 78) |
26 May 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on racism | Call for inputs: report on “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discriminationunequal or unfair treatment which can be based on a range of grounds - such as age, ethnic background, disability, and diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions or sex characteristics, amongst others. More, xenophobia and related intolerance” (to be presented at the GA 78) | 26 May 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on slavery | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Canada | 31 May 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Working Group on discrimination against women and girls | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Malta |
01 Jun 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on environment | Call for inputs: report on “Should the interests of foreign investors trump the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment?” (to be presented at the GA 78) | 15 Jun 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on violence against women | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Brazil | 16 Jun 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty | Call for inputs for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Ecuador | 01 Jul 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on environment | Call for inputs: report on “Promoting Environmental Democracy: Procedural elements of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” (to be presented at the HRC 55) | 02 Oct 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures | Calls for inputs for the Sanctions Research Platform | 31 Dec 2023 | Read more |
: requests information on LGBTI persons
Country visits by the Independent Expert on SOGI
The UN Independent Expert on SOGI, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, undertakes 1 to 3 fact-finding country visits per year.
He visited the United States of America in 2022, Tunisia in 2021, Ukraine in 2019, and Georgia and Mozambique in 2018. In 2017, his predecessor Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn visited Argentina.
In March 2018, Victor Madrigal-Borloz made 12 country visit requests. On 4 July 2018 Malta invited the Independent Expert to visit their country. The Independent Expert also requested a visit to Japan (8 October 2019), Tunisia (19 November 2019), India and Colombia (both 7 January 2020), Cambodia (28 March 2020), and Fiji and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (both 24 May 2022).
In this section, you may find information about current status of the requests. Up-to-date information about country visits may be found here.
If your country is planned for the Independent Expert’s visit and you wish to engage with ILGA on this, please contact us ([email protected]).
| Country | Current Status |
| Argentina* | Visit conducted on 1–10 Mar 2017.
End of Mission Statement: English – Spanish |
| Armenia* | Request to postpone (17 Apr 2018) |
| Burkina Faso | Reminder visit request – for 2021 (17 Jan 2020) |
| Cambodia | Visit conducted on 10–20 Jan 2023.
End of Mission Statement: English |
| Colombia* | Request to postpone (7 Apr 2020) |
| Fiji* | Visit request (24 May 2022) |
| Georgia* | Visit conducted on 25 Sep to 5 Oct 2018.
End of Mission Statement: English – Georgian |
| Ghana* | Reminder visit request – for 2021 (7 Jan 2020) |
| India* | Visit request (7 Jan 2020) |
| Japan* | Visit request for second half of 2020 (8 Oct 2019) |
| Kenya* | Reminder visit request – for 2021 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Malta* | Invitation Country Visit (4 Jul 2018) |
| Mozambique* | Visit conducted on 3-10 Dec 2018.
End of Mission Statement: English – Portuguese Press Release: English – Portuguese |
| Nepal | Reminder visit request – for 2020 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Poland* | Reminder visit request – for 2020 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Sri Lanka* | Request to postpone to 2020 (2 Oct 2019). |
| Thailand* | Reminder visit request – for 2020 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Tunisia* | Visit conducted on 8 -18 Jun 2021
End of Mission Statement: English – Arabic – French |
| Ukraine* | Visit conducted on 30 Apr to 10 May 2019.
End of Mission Statement: English – Ukrainian |
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland* | Accepting dates: 24 Apr – 5 May 2023 (6 Feb 2023) |
| United States of America* | Visit conducted on 15 – 26 Aug 2022
End of Mission Statement: English Press Release: English |
* Countries with standing invitations. A standing invitation is an open invitation extended by a Government to all thematic special proceduresindependent human rights experts within the UN Human Rights Council with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. They are non-paid and elected for 3-year mandates that can be re-conducted for another three years. Special procedures can undertake country visits, and act on individual cases of reported violations by sending communications to States and others. They also engage in advocacy, raise public awareness, provide advice for technical cooperation, and contribute to the development of international human rights standards.
More. By extending a standing invitation States announce that they will always accept requests to visit from all special procedures.
Upcoming country visits by other mandates
This information is regularly updated by the OHCHR here.
To find out how to support the visits, please contact the respective mandate-holders at their e-mail addresses, available here.
| Country | Mandate | Dates |
| POSTPONED!!! Singapore | Terrorism | 12 – 19 Jul 2021 |
| POSTPONED!!! Bosnia and Herzegovina | Mercenaries | 3 – 11 Oct 2021 |
| POSTPONED!!! Mozambique | Summary executions |
6 – 21 Nov 2021 |
| POSTPONED!!! Russian Federation | Minority issues | 1 – 18 Apr 2022 |
| Botswana | Disabilities | 24 Apr – 4 May 2023 |
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | Sexual orientation and gender identity |
24 Apr – 5 May 2023 |
| Syrian Arab Republic | Water and sanitation | 24 Apr – 3 May 2023 |
| Georgia | International order | 26 Apr – 5 May 2023 |
| Liechtenstein | Foreign debt | 1 May – 31 Aug 2023 |
| Chile | Environment | 3 – 12 May 2023 |
| POSTPONED!!! Costa Rica | Minority issues |
4 – 16 May 2023 |
| Peru | Freedom of peaceful assembly |
8 – 17 May 2023 |
| NEW!!! Uruguay | Sale of children | 15 – 29 May 2023 |
| Tunisia | Independence of judges and lawyers | 16 – 26 May 2023 |
| Bangladesh | Extreme poverty |
17 – 29 May 2023 |
| Colombia | Trafficking |
22 – 31 May 2023 |
| NEW!!! Honduras | Summary executions | 22 May – 2 Jun 2023 |
| NEW!!! Mauritius | Freedom of religion |
30 May – 8 Jun 2023 |
| Malta | Discrimination against women and girls |
26 Jun – 7 Jul 2023 |
| Costa Rica | Health |
18 – 28 Jul 2023 |
| NEW!!! Japan | Business enterprises |
24 Jul – 4 Aug 2023 |
| NEW!!! Brazil | Violence against women | 31 Jul – 10 Aug 2023 |
| South Africa | Racism |
21 – 30 Aug 2023 |
| Canada | Slavery |
23 Aug – 6 Sep 2023 |
| Ecuador | Extreme poverty |
28 Aug – 8 Sep 2023 |
| Australia | Hazardous substances and wastes | 28 Aug – 8 Sep 2023 |
| Mauritania | Discrimination against women and girls |
25 Sep – 6 Oct 2023 |
| NEW!!! Republic of Moldova | Older persons |
7 – 16 Nov 2023 |
| Finland | Education |
21 – 30 Nov 2023 |
| NEW!!! Bahamas | Arbitrary Detention | 27 Nov – 8 Dec 2023 |
: Mandate frequently considers LGBTI issues
