The Role of Prevention in the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights the Rule of Law and Accountability

A/HRC/RES/60/12View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A document of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2025.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2022–2025

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/HRC/RES/60/12	The role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights the rule of law and accountability :	1,863	88%Compare
2022	A/HRC/RES/51/14	The role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights the rule of law and accountability :	1,697	–

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 20	Human rights	433

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 20	Human rights	433	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Accountability Crime Prevention Human Rights Human Rights in Armed Conflicts International Obligations Rule of Law Sexual Offences

What’s in this document?

44 operative paragraphs

Affirms the importance of effective preventive measures as a part of overall strategies for the promotion and protection of all human rights;

Recognizes that States have the primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of all human rights, including the prevention of human rights violations and abuses;

Stresses that States should promote supportive and enabling environments for the prevention of human rights violations and abuses, including by, inter alia:

Considering ratifying international human rights conventions and covenants;

Fully implementing international human rights conventions and covenants to which they are party;

Enhancing and developing good governance, democratic systems, the rule of law and accountability;

Adopting policies to ensure the enjoyment of all human rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;

Addressing all forms of discrimination, including racial discrimination and discrimination against women and girls;

Addressing factors, inter alia inequality and poverty, that may lead to situations in which human rights violations and abuses are committed;

Promoting freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;

Promoting and protecting a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders and a free and active civil society;

Promoting and protecting the safety of journalists and media workers;

Ensuring, where they exist, strong and independent national human rights institutions, in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles);

Addressing violence in all its forms and manifestations, including sexual and gender-based violence;

Promoting human rights and international humanitarian law education and training;

Ensuring an independent and functioning judiciary;

Fighting corruption;

Promoting the implementation, by business enterprises, of human rights impact assessments;

Countering disinformation, propaganda, hate speech, and any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, that can lead to serious violations of international law and can have a far-reaching negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights, in particular in times of emergency, crisis and armed conflict;

Affirms the primary responsibility of States to strengthen rule of law institutions and to provide effective frameworks for all prevention efforts, including those of civil society actors, academics and national human rights institutions in fulfilling their monitoring, reporting and advocacy functions;

Reiterates that States have the primary responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, and have the responsibility to comply with their relevant obligations to prosecute those responsible for crimes involving violations and abuses of human rights, and violations of international humanitarian law, and to provide an effective remedy to any person whose rights have been violated, such as guarantees of non-recurrence, with a view to ending impunity and ensuring accountability and justice;

Welcomes the role of national human rights institutions in contributing to the prevention of human rights violations and the promotion of the rule of law;

Encourages States and other international actors to ensure the direct, safe and meaningful participation of victims, survivors, members of affected communities and civil society in the development, implementation and evaluation of prevention strategies, and to integrate long-term rehabilitation and reintegration measures into those strategies as guarantees of non-recurrence;

Continues to invite national human rights institutions to consider addressing the issue of the role of prevention in the promotion, protection and fulfilment of human rights in the framework of relevant international and regional forums;

Welcomes the role of civil society in contributing to the promotion of human rights and the prevention of human rights violations;

Encourages all United Nations human rights mechanisms to accord high priority to rule of law activities;

Stresses the need to bring to justice perpetrators of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, as a significant contribution towards the promotion of a culture of prevention;

Emphasizes the importance of transitional justice in breaking the cycles of violence and of the most serious crimes, delivering a sense of justice to victims and survivors and prompting examinations of deficiencies that may have enabled those cycles;

Recognizes the preventive role of the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and other international judicial institutions that are part of a multilateral system through their contribution to upholding the rule of law and ensuring accountability;

Acknowledges that, in its resolution 60/251, the General Assembly decided that the Human Rights Council shall, inter alia, contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, towards the prevention of human rights violations and respond promptly to human rights emergencies;

Commits to assessing impartially and transparently situations of human rights violations and abuses, including where it aids accountability;

Acknowledges the role that the investigative bodies of the Human Rights Council can play in non-recurrence of human rights violations and abuses;

Also acknowledges the importance of the universal periodic review as a cooperative mechanism of the Human Rights Council aimed at, inter alia, improving human rights situations on the ground and the fulfilment of the State’s human rights obligations and commitments, based on the principle of promoting the universality, interdependence, indivisibility and interrelatedness of all human rights;

Further acknowledges that technical assistance and capacity-building in the field of human rights with the consent of the country concerned may contribute to the prevention of human rights violations and abuses;

Recognizes the particular importance of the role played by the system of special procedures as a tool in preventing human rights violations and abuses by, inter alia, monitoring, reporting and/or making recommendations to States and other stakeholders, and reaffirms the importance of upholding the independence of the special procedures, in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/2;

Invites the special procedures, in accordance with their mandates, to continue to identify and incorporate practical approaches to the prevention of human rights violations and abuses in their assessments and recommendations, and to explore further ways to contribute to enhancing cooperation of United Nations actors towards better achieving the preventive mandate of the United Nations system;

Stresses the need to develop further the concept of the prevention of human rights violations and to step up efforts to raise awareness of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights in order to encourage its reflection in relevant policies and strategies at the national, regional and international levels;

Recognizes the need for further research to assist States, at their request, and other stakeholders to understand and mainstream the role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights;

Continues to encourage the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the basis of consultation with States, relevant regional organizations, national human rights institutions and other relevant stakeholders, to inform the Human Rights Council on a regular basis on the practical applications of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to compile examples of, and analyse, the positive impact of the work of the special procedures in assisting States and other stakeholders in the prevention of human rights violations and abuses;

Takes note with appreciation of the study of the Office of the High Commissioner on the role of the rule of law and accountability, at the national and international levels, in the prevention of human rights violations and abuses;²

²A/HRC/57/27.

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a study on the role of the rule of law and accountability, at the national and international levels, in preventing and addressing conflict-related sexual violence, including through access to justice, reparations for victims and survivors, and effective prosecution of perpetrators, and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-sixth session;

Encourages the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to gather information and research for further preparation of a practical toolkit to support States and other stakeholders in the practical application of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights;

Decides to continue its consideration of the matter under the same agenda item, in conformity with its annual programme of work.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?