State reviews of seven countries, including long-awaited review of Haiti and the first ever review of Guinea-Bissau

The Committee conducted seven reviews of periodic reports and adopted Concluding observations on the third report of Kazakhstan, the first report of Guinea-Bissau, the fourth report of North Macedonia, the fourth report of Latvia, the seventh report of Spain, the second report of Haiti, and the fourth report of Viet Nam.

The Committee also adopted the List of issues in relation to Argentina, Australia, Bahamas (never reviewed before!), Denmark, Ghana, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Sweden, and Switzerland. Even though it was announced at the beginning, in the end the List of Issues of Rwanda was not adopted. In addition to this, the Committee adopted two Follow-up reports on Concluding observations, one for Armenia and another one for Germany.

The review of Haiti finally took place after being postponed three times in three years. The Committee highlighted major concerns about ongoing insecurity, which the Haitian delegation acknowledged as a major barrier to governance, justice, and human rights progress. Nevertheless, the session ended prematurely, with the delegation leaving many critical questions unanswered.

In total, the Centre facilitated the engagement of 100 Human Rights Defenders with the Committee, including several who participated remotely. Five CSO briefings were organized by the Centre in addition to the two formal briefings organized by the Secretariat.

Decisions adopted on Individual communications

The Committee adopted 51 decisions on individual communications, 26 were decided on the merits, 12 cases were declared inadmissible, and 13 communications were discontinued. Of the decisions decided on the merits, the Committee found: 

• 25 violations
• 1 no violation

Next on the agenda

Instead of the usual October session, the next session of the Human Rights Committee will take place from 2 to 19 March 2026. The Committee will then review Andorra, Canada, Chad, Republic of Moldova and Slovakia. It will also adopt the List of Issues of Rwanda and the List of Issues prior to Reporting of Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cabo Verde, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hungary, Mexico, and Senegal.

The Secretariat confirmed that the UN treaty bodies, including the Human Rights Committee, will only have two sessions per year instead of three due to the budget and liquidity crisis. The Centre, along with more than 30 NGOs, issued a press release on the urgent support needed by UN Treaty Bodies following the 37th Annual Meeting of the Chairpersons.