INFO NOTE ON UN SPECIAL PROCEDURES (SEPTEMBER 2023): CALLS FOR INPUT AND UPCOMING COUNTRY VISITS
Summary
This issue includes:
Calls for input: Business enterprises; 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 against Women and Girls; Education; Environment; Extreme poverty; Freedom of opinion and expression; Freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Housing; Independence of judges and lawyers; Minority issues; Older persons; Freedom of religion; Sale of children; Slavery; Torture; Unilateral coercive measures; Water and Sanitation
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: Algeria; Australia; Bahamas; Burkina Faso; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Ecuador; Finland; Georgia; Honduras; Mauritania; Mexico; Mongolia; Montenegro; Peru; Philippines; Republic of Moldova; Sweden; The Netherlands; Tajikistan; Tunisia; Ukraine
Submission to the Special Rapporteurs on Housing and Extreme Poverty
The Special Rapporteurs on the right to adequate housing and the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights are planning to produce a report on the decriminalisation of homelessness and extreme poverty, and will be collecting inputs until 15 September 2023. The mandates are seeking information on efforts made to decriminalize offences frequently associated with homelessness and poverty – such as street vending, begging, staying, sleeping, eating or undertaking any other life-sustaining activities in public spaces.
ILGA World will be collecting information on this topic to present a submission to the mandates and will be collecting inputs until 11 September 2023. If you have any information, data or testimonials relating to this subject, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Calls for input
| Mandate | Call | Deadline | Additional Info |
| Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers | Call for contributions for the country visit of the Special Rapporteur to Montenegro | 01 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on minority issues | Call for inputs from the mandate for the country visit to Tajikistan (to be presented at the HRC 55) | 05 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on housing and the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty | Call for inputs: Decriminalization of homelessness and extreme poverty | 15 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| Working Group on discrimination against women and girls | Call for inputs from the mandate for the country visit to Mauritania (to be presented at the HRC 56) | 15 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| Working Group on discrimination against women and girls | Call for inputs from the mandate on lessons learned, key challenges and impact over the last six years | 18 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures | Call for inputs: Draft Monitoring & Impact Assessment Tool | 20 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression | Call for inputs from the mandate for the country visit to Honduras |
20 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Independent Expert on older persons | Call for inputs from the mandate for the country visit to the Republic of Moldova |
21 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on education | Call for contributions from the mandate for the country visit to Finland (to be presented at the HRC 55) | 22 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation | Call for inputs from the mandate for the country visit to Canada | 22 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on housing | Call for inputs: Resettlement as a human rights issue (to be presented at the HRC 55) | 30 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on slavery | Call for inputs from the mandate for the country visit to Côte d’Ivoire | 30 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Working Group on business | Call for inputs: report on “Investors, ESG and Human Rights” (to be presented at the HRC 56) | 30 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association | Call for inputs: report on “Development of practical tools to assist law enforcement bodies in promoting and protecting human rights in the context of peaceful protests” (to be presented at the HRC 55) |
30 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures | Call for inputs: Draft Monitoring & Impact Assessment Tool | 30 Sep 2023 | Read more |
| 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 |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on the sale of children | Call for inputs: “study on the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the entertainment industry” (to be presented at the HRC 55) | 04 Oct 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on the sale of children | Call for inputs from the mandate for the country visit to Australia (to be presented at the HRC 58) | 20 Oct 2023 | Read more |
| NEW!!! Special Rapporteur on religion or belief | Call for inputs: report on “Advocacy of Hatred Based on Religion or Belief – Transformative Responses” | 29 Oct 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on torture | Call for contributions from the mandate for the country visit to Ukraine | 31 Oct 2023 | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures | Calls for inputs for the Sanctions Research Platform | 01 Jan 2024 | Read more |
: requests information on 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 persons
Country visits by the Independent Expert on SOGI
The UN Independent Expert on SOGIabbreviation standing for sexual orientation and gender identity More, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, undertakes 1 to 3 fact-finding country visits per year.
He visited Cambodia in 2023, 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 the 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. |
| 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 |
| 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 Press Release: English – Arabic – French Country visit report: E / F / S / A / C / R |
| Ukraine* | Visit conducted on 30 Apr to 10 May 2019. End of Mission Statement: English – Ukrainian Press Release: English – Russian – Ukrainian Country visit report: E / F / S / A / C / R |
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland* | Accepting dates: 24 Apr – 5 May 2023 (6 Feb 2023) End of Mission Statement: English |
| 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 |
| POSTPONED!!! Costa Rica | Minority issues | 4 – 16 May 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 |
| Georgia | Disabilities | 4 – 14 Sep 2023 |
| Ukraine | Torture | 4 – 15 Sep 2023 |
| Algeria | Freedom of peaceful assembly |
16 – 26 Sep 2023 |
| Honduras | Climate change | 18 – 28 Sep 2023 |
| Mexico | Arbitrary Detention | 18 – 29 Sep 2023 |
| Montenegro | Independence of judges and lawyers | 19 – 26 Sep 2023 |
| NEW!!! Colombia | Truth | 19 – 29 Sep 2023 |
| NEW!!! Sweden | Freedom of religion or belief | 11 – 17 Oct 2023 |
| Mauritania | Discrimination against women and girls |
25 Sep – 6 Oct 2023 |
| Peru | Arbitrary executions | 25 Sep – 6 Oct 2023 |
| Canada | Water and sanitation | 2 – 13 Oct 2023 |
| NEW!!! Tajikistan | Minority issues | 9 – 20 Oct 2023 |
| Chile | Torture | 16 – 28 Oct 2023 |
| Honduras | Freedom of expression |
17 – 27 Oct 2023 |
| Australia | Sale of children | 30 Oct – 10 Nov 2023 |
| Mongolia | Independence of judges and lawyers | 6 – 15 Nov 2023 |
| Republic of Moldova | Older persons |
7 – 16 Nov 2023 |
| Algeria | Human rights defenders |
15 Nov – 5 Dec 2023 |
| Finland | Education |
21 – 30 Nov 2023 |
| Bahamas | Arbitrary Detention | 27 Nov – 8 Dec 2023 |
| The Netherlands | Housing | 11 – 21 Dec 2023 |
| Tunisia | Business enterprises |
1 Jan – 31 Mar 2024 |
| Philippines | Freedom of expression |
23 Jan – 2 Feb 2024 |
| Chile | Cultural Rights |
25 Mar – 5 Apr 2024 |
| Canada | Arbitrary Detention | 13 – 24 May 2024 |
| NEW!!! Burkina Faso | Trafficking |
10 Jul – 19 Jul 2024 |
| NEW!!! Chile | Independence of judges and lawyers | 29 Jul – 9 Aug 2024 |
| Colombia | Business enterprises |
29 Jul – 9 Aug 2024 |
: Mandate frequently considers LGBTI issues
