Information note for National Human Rights Institutions

Registration to attend the session in person OR participate with a video statement

Registration of NHRIs shall be given to:

• institutions which are accredited by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI);
• the GANHRI as the representative body of NHRIs globally; and
• regional coordinating bodies of NHRIs, speaking on behalf of “A” status institutions, in line with the strict criteria agreed upon by the GANHRI at its 19^th annual general meeting in March 2007.

NHRIs that wish to accredit representatives to the 63^rd session of the Human Rights Council should:

• Register online on the following link: https://indico.un.org/event/1019476/
• Upload the request on official letter head to the INDICO platform. Please, clearly state the title and the dates of the session the NHRI wishes to participate in, e.g.: “[Insert name of NHRI] wishes to send the following members to attend OR to send a video statement for the [insert relevant session number] session of the Human Rights Council ([insert dates of session])…”. The letter must be signed by the President or main representative of the NHRI, indicate the first name and family name of the person(s) who will represent the NHRI at the Council session. Names must appear exactly as they appear on the person’s ID document and family names must be capitalized.
• Additional information on the accreditation to the Council’s session is available at the following link: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/accreditation  

Each member of a national institution’s delegation must be individually registered online. 

Registration on EVENTS platform

All “A” status NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies on behalf of “A” status accredited member NHRIs that wish to participate with oral, video or written statements or organize parallel events of relevance to the work of the Human Rights Council (see Section 6 of this information note for more details on organization of parallel events) must register in the online platform “EVENTS” which will be accessible at least a week before HRC63 in the following link: https://events.ohchr.org 

Please note that for approval of the registration, NHRIs must upload a letter of request to the events platform. NHRIs may wish to reach out to the National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Unit (NIRMU) by emails if necessary to cynthia.radert@un.org with a copy to daphne.coetzee@un.org

IMPORTANT: When accessing the platform for the first time, NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies speaking on behalf of “A” status accredited member NHRIs will need first to create their unique profile. The creation of this account is crucial for NHRIs’ planning to engage with the HRC as well as with multiple mechanisms. NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies of NHRIs are therefore encouraged to carefully consult the updated technical guidelines for the creation of NHRI’s accounts in the EVENTS platform.

NHRIs with “A” status accreditation^[1], the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and regional coordinating bodies of NHRIs (speaking on behalf of its “A” status members) can:

• Make written submissions either as written statement or NHRI documentation which will be issued with UN document symbol;
• Participate through oral intervention either in person or through pre-recorded video messages in the HRC plenary debates, including during the adoption of the outcome of the UPR of the country by the Council, the interactive dialogue following the presentation of a country mission report by a special procedures mandate holder and panels or annual discussions.

Written submissions: written statement or documentation

When uploading NHRI documentation or written statements on the EVENTS platform, please refer to the guide for uploading written submissions. 

NHRIs can make written submission on any agenda item of the Council sessions. Written submission can be in the form of NHRI documentation or a written statement. 

The deadline for uploading of written submission for the 63^rd session of the Human Rights Council is 31 August 2026. The Secretariat will not be able to ensure the timely processing and circulation of statements submitted after the deadline.

a) Written Statements

“A” status NHRIs may submit written statements to the Human Rights Council. Statements should be no longer than 2,000 words and relevant to the Council's Programme of Work of the 63^rd session. Please refer to the technical guidelines available on the HRC’s webpage for more information on the written statements.

Please note that the deadline for submitting written statements on the EVENTS platform for the 63^rd session of the Human Rights Council is 31 August 2026. The Secretariat will not be able to ensure the timely processing and circulation of statements submitted after the deadline. 

b) NHRI Documentation

 “A” status NHRIs are entitled to submit documentation at Council sessions.^[2] NHRIs may submit written documentation in the form of reports, policy papers, etc.

The documents:

• should relate to a particular HRC agenda item;
• will receive an official UN document symbol (e.g. A/HRC/../NI/...);
• will not be edited;
• will not be translated (should therefore be in Arabic, English, French or Spanish); and
• should not exceed a reasonable number of pages (i.e. 20 pages maximum).

The deadline for submitting written documents on the EVENTS platform for the 63^rd Session of the Human Rights Council is 31 August 2026.

5.2 Oral interventions

“A” Status accredited NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies of NHRIs speaking on behalf of “A” status accredited members can make oral interventions on any agenda item of the Council sessions. Oral interventions can take the form of an in-person statement or pre-recorded video message in one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Only the Head, Secretary General or their designated representative in possession of a written authorization may be entitled to make an oral intervention.

“A” status NHRIs, the GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies speaking on behalf of “A” status accredited member NHRIs wishing to make an in-person intervention or through a pre-recorded video message are required to:

• Ensure that all person addressing the Council on behalf of the “A” status NHRI or GANHRI and their delegation register online on the following link: https://indico.un.org/event/1019476/ to get accreditation to access the Assembly Hall where the statement will be read. For more details, please see procedure in paragraph 4.1;
• Send a request, attaching an official letterhead signed by the head of the NHRI or the Secretary General, to Ms. Cynthia Radert (cynthia.radert@un.org) with a copy to  Ms. Daphne Coetzee (daphne.coetzee@un.org ). 

NOTE: The Human Rights Council has adopted exceptional time saving measures and decided that the length of interactive and enhanced interactive dialogues would be capped at 1 hour and 30 minutes with 15 minutes allocated for NHRIs and NGOs. Therefore, the Human Rights Council can only accommodate three NHRIs on the list of speakers per dialogue. In light of this, NHRI statements delivered in the context of presentation of country mission reports and UPR outcomes will be prioritized and remaining slots will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Where more than three NHRIs request to intervene in a single dialogue, priority will be given to NHRIs that are not already speaking in other dialogues or panel discussions, so as to allow as many institutions as possible the opportunity to participate. We therefore encourage NHRIs to submit their requests well in advance.

a) In-person statements

The request to deliver an oral/in-person statement and accompanying documents (official letter or request, passport/identity document and transcript of the statement) should be sent through email at least 5 days ahead of date of intervention in line with the agenda of the session, to Ms. Cynthia Radert (cynthia.radert@un.org) with a copy to  Ms. Daphne Coetzee (daphne.coetzee@un.org).

b) Video statements

"A" status NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies speaking on behalf of "A" status accredited member NHRIs may submit video statements to the Human Rights Council. The procedure is as follows.

Step 1: Send an advance notification (at least 7days before the intervention)

Send an email notifying the National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Unit of your intention to submit a video statement to:

• Ms. Cynthia Radert — cynthia.radert@un.org
• cc: Ms. Daphne Coetzee — daphne.coetzee@un.org

Attach an official letter on NHRI letterhead, signed by the head of the NHRI or the Secretary General, containing the following:

• The HRC session concerned, the agenda item, and the specific segment of the programme of work during which the video statement will be delivered;
• The full name (FAMILY NAME, First name) and functional title of the designated representative who will deliver the statement. The name must appear exactly as shown on the passport or official identity document.

Step 2 — Upload to the EVENTS platform (at least 5 days before the intervention)

Upload the following together with the video statement:

• A colour copy of the speaker's passport or official identity document;
• A transcript of the video statement, to facilitate interpretation. Video statements submitted without a transcript will not be accepted.

Technical specifications for the video

Statements delivered by video message are subject to the same rules as oral statements delivered in person. The video messages are subject to the same time limits as, and should mirror as closely as possible, the in-person statements delivered in person. In particular, the following rules must be strictly observed:

• The video statement must consist of a single shot of one individual delivering a statement, seated against a neutral, monochrome background;
• The camera should be focused on the person’s face, and should not move during the shot;
• No symbols, flags, banners, or other images are permitted in the shot, either in the background or on the clothing of the person delivering the statement;
• The video statement must include captioning. NHRIs are encouraged to consider including international sign language, to enhance participation of persons with disabilities. In the absence of captioning, the video statement will not be admissible;
• Must be within the speaking time limits prescribed for oral interventions as enumerated in paragraph 5.3. 

The minimum technical specifications for the video are as follows:

• Resolution:
  • video resolution min 640x480 max 1024x768, frame rate 30 fps
  • audio resolution 44100 Hz, 16 bits, stereo
• AVI/WMV
  • video encoding WMV3 (Windows Media Video 9)
  • audio encoding WMA2 (Windows Media Audio 2)
• MOV
  • video encoding H.274
  • audio encoding MP3 or AAC

Delivery of the video statement: The video statement will be projected in the room under the same conditions as an oral statement delivered in the rooms. The rules of procedure and practices of the Council apply in the same manner to video statements as to all other statements.

Speaking time for oral interventions (in-person and video statement)

SPEAKING TIME MODALITIES HRC63 NHRIs/NGOs

* “A” status NHRI of the country concerned shall be entitled to intervene immediately after the country concerned during the interactive dialogue, following the presentation of a country mission report by a special procedure mandate holder and immediately after the State under review at the adoption of the UPR report in plenary. 

** “A” status NHRI of the country concerned intervening immediately after the country concerned during presentation of country mission report by special procedure mandate holder can speak for 3 minutes instead of 1 minute and 30 seconds.  “A” Status NHRI of the country concerned is also entitled to speak for 3 minutes immediately after the concerned country during interactive dialogues with investigative mechanisms, should it wish to do so.

‘‘A” status NHRIs, the GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies on behalf of “A” status accredited member NHRIs accredited for the 63^rd Session of the Council may organize parallel events of relevance to the work of the Human Rights Council, subject to availability of conference rooms.

NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies on behalf of ‘A’ Status accredited member NHRIs may submit their requests for NHRI side events through the EVENTS platform.

IMPORTANT: When accessing the platform for the first time, NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating committees will need first to create their unique profile. The creation of this account is crucial for NHRIs’ planning to engage with the HRC as well as with multiple mechanisms. NHRIs, GANHRI, and regional coordinating bodies are therefore encouraged to carefully consult the updated Technical Guidelines for the creation of NHRI’s accounts in the EVENTS platform.

Given the reduced number of rooms allocated, the Secretariat may not be able to accommodate all requests. Slots will therefore be allocated according to availability and on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to accommodate as many requests as possible, only one side event per requesting organizer would be accommodated and each side event will be for one hour only. Organizers are requested to respect allotted time strictly and leave the room in time in order to ensure the smooth organization of the following side event.

Please be advised that the Secretariat does not provide interpretation for parallel meetings. Organizers should therefore provide their own interpreters, if they so wish, and inform the Secretariat accordingly ahead of time.

Participants requiring a badge to attend exclusively side events (and not the main session) will need to register at the ad-hoc page.