Advancing gender rights at the Human Rights Council in times of backlash

In a context of high polarisation and long-term tensions over advancing gender equality, this report examines how negotiations at the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2025 achieved some key successes, and managed to hold the line on gender rights in the face of backlash.

Based in Geneva, the Human Rights Council is the leading intergovernmental human rights body that crafts global frameworks and advances normative standards on human rights. Geopolitical pressures, alongside growing financial and political constraints, are increasingly shaping gender-related negotiations – making it much harder for Member States to advance (or simply hold the line) on gender equality.

While the UN has always been a primary arena for politicised contestations over gender rights, today, polarisation and tensions are at a peak. So, can multilateralism prevail? And, what kind of strategies can negotiators employ to successfully navigate debates around gender equality in this new challenging context?

Based on interviews, direct observations and text-tracing of negotiations for four key gender-related resolutions (including on violence against women and girls, female genital mutilation, sexual orientation and gender identity, and sport), the analysis reveals tactics and counter-tactics of both gender expansive and gender restrictive actors who seek to influence the outcome of the sessions.

To the surprise of many negotiators and civil society representatives, productive multilateralism was preserved, and the report identifies five critical strategies for success that can be taken forward into 2026 and beyond.

Key messages

• The 59th session produced more positive outcomes for gender rights than initially anticipated, with negotiators seeking to engage in more constructive discussions amid rising polarisation. This enabled the renewal of the IE SOGI Mandate, cross-regional support for the FGM resolution, and the VAWG resolution passing by consensus.
• Despite immense pressure on the multilateral system and gender equality more broadly, productive multilateralism was preserved through perseverance and better strategic engagement.
• The strategies that enabled the accomplishments of the Session included: 1) careful crafting of broader political coalitions of Member State support, 2) engagement with historic issues of systemic inequalities, 3) utilisation of expertise from civil society and the UN to inform the process, 4) practice of equitable inclusion and respect during bilateral negotiations, and 5) prioritising of issues.
• Major obstacles to negotiations included the deepening financial crisis, which curtailed speaking time during the session, and created pressures to limit the scope of future resolutions to reduce budgetary implications. A growing presence and influence of gender-restrictive actors included new levels of hostility that in some cases neared harassment.