Representatives of the World Jewish Congress took the floor of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in recent weeks for its 47th session to advocate for the prioritization of combating the rise of antisemitism. The UNHRC, which holds three such sessions each year – in March, June, and September – held a combination of virtual and in-person sessions, as the WJC delivered six oral statements, as well as a written statement on the anti-Israel Item 7, the only agenda item of the HRC biasedly and unfairly focusing on a single regional situation.
The WJC has been providing the platform to its affiliated Jewish communities around the world to take the floor at the HRC during the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) reports of their country, and propose concrete measures on how to further enhance the efforts to combat antisemitism. At this session, the Presidents or Directors of the Jewish communities of Australia, Austria and Georgia took the floor. The UPR is a HRC process whereby the human rights record of every UN member state is reviewed regularly.
The WJC has been actively engaged at the United Nations both in Geneva and New York for many years. Since 2015, the World Jewish Congress has given over 100 statements at the UNHRC in Geneva.
The 48th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is scheduled to take place from 13 September 2021 to 01 October 2021.
Promoting human rights and fighting antisemitism across the world
