Pandemic-related inequalities magnified existing gaps between the marginalized and privileged, conflicts erupted and intensified and the deadly consequences of climate change wreaked havoc in many countries.
Despite the hardship, last year also gave us reasons for hope. Extraordinary collaboration between scientific and medical experts – working at an impressive and unprecedented speed – delivered effective vaccines against COVID-19. In the face of the tragedies that were caused or compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has shown remarkable resilience and an ability to adapt.
At UN Human Rights, I am proud of our staff who have risen to the challenges of our new ways of working and are continuing their tireless efforts to ensure human rights are being upheld all over the world.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to stand up for human rights. We cannot do this without you.
United Nations
Human Rights Report 2021
The UN Human Rights Report 2021 presents the progress achieved in 2021 against the targets set out in the OHCHR Management Plan 2018-2021, which has been extended to 2023. It also shows how we addressed the challenges highlighted and reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to human rights, and the efforts made towards building forward better. It includes an overview of management, funding, and expenditure as well as detailed results from the field and headquarters.
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Michelle Bachelet
High Commissioner for Human Rights
High Commissioner for Human Rights
Foreword
“2021 marked the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a prolonged crisis that continues to undermine human rights the world over. ”
Read full Foreword
Chapters
Stories
Go to Exposure for more stories
“We need your support and hope to see our dreams coming true”
A landmark forum for environmental human rights defenders
Support for resettled communities in Cambodia
Upholding the rights of every child, including children with disabilities (Moldova)
“The blood we sacrificed was worth it” (South Africa)
Strengthening prevention of and response to sexual and gender-based violence in Kenya
“To defend water is to defend life itself” (Honduras)
Online course inspires participation in decision-making and the promotion of the right to development
Mongolia: New law to protect human rights defenders
UN Human Rights around the world
2
Headquarters
19
Country / Stand-alone Offices / Human Rights Missions
12
Regional Offices / Centres
11
Human rights components of UN Peace / Political Missions
54
Human Rights Advisers deployed under the framework
of the UNSDG
of the UNSDG
7
Other types of field presences
Mexico
Guatemala
Honduras
El Salvador
Costa Rica
Belize
Dominican Republic
Suriname
Jamaica
Venezuela
Haiti (BINUH)
South America
(Santiago de Chile) Central America
(Panama City) Bolivia
Bolivia Argentina Uruguay Brazil Paraguay Peru Ecuador Barbados Trinidad and Tobago Guyana Bosnia
Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia Europe (Brussels) Geneva Ukraine Republic of Moldova Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Maldives Malaysia Cambodia Pacific (Suva) Timor-Leste Philippines OHCHR Field-based structure
(Seoul, Republic of Korea) Mongolia Central Asia
(Bishkek) Kosovo
(UNMIK) Russian Federation Republic of North Macedonia South Caucasus
(Tbilisi) Middle East and
North Africa (Beirut) Jordan Saudi Arabia Yemen UN Human
Rights Training and
Documentation Centre
for South-West Asia
and the Arab Region
(Doha) Iraq (UNAMI) Lybia (UNSMIL) Burundi
Rwanda Uganda South Sudan
(UNMISS) Southern
Africa
(Pretoria) Bahrain Lesotho Zimbabwe Malawi Madagascar Kenya Somalia (UNSOM) East Africa (Addis Ababa) UN Sub-Regional
Center for Human
Rights and
Democracy in
Central Asia
(Youndé) Central
Africa
Republic
(MINUSCA) Democratic
Republic
of the Congo
(MONUSCO) Nigeria Liberia Guinea Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
G5 Sahel Niger
G5 Sahel Mali
(MINUSMA)
G5 Sahel Guinea-Bissau West Africa (Dakar) Sudan
(UNAMID/UNITAMS)
Chad
G5 Sahel
Mauritania
G5 Sahel
Tunisia Syria - based in Beirut State of
Palestine
(Gaza and
Ramallah) New York Samoa Papua New Guinea Kazahkastan Equatorial Guinea Republic of the Congo Mozambique
Mozambique Eswatini Zambia Gambia Sierra Leone Tajikistan Afghanistan (UNAMA) Colombia South-East Asia (Bangkok) Myanmar – based in Bangkok
Myanmar – based in Bangkok
(Santiago de Chile) Central America
(Panama City) Bolivia
Bolivia Argentina Uruguay Brazil Paraguay Peru Ecuador Barbados Trinidad and Tobago Guyana Bosnia
Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia Europe (Brussels) Geneva Ukraine Republic of Moldova Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Maldives Malaysia Cambodia Pacific (Suva) Timor-Leste Philippines OHCHR Field-based structure
(Seoul, Republic of Korea) Mongolia Central Asia
(Bishkek) Kosovo
(UNMIK) Russian Federation Republic of North Macedonia South Caucasus
(Tbilisi) Middle East and
North Africa (Beirut) Jordan Saudi Arabia Yemen UN Human
Rights Training and
Documentation Centre
for South-West Asia
and the Arab Region
(Doha) Iraq (UNAMI) Lybia (UNSMIL) Burundi
Rwanda Uganda South Sudan
(UNMISS) Southern
Africa
(Pretoria) Bahrain Lesotho Zimbabwe Malawi Madagascar Kenya Somalia (UNSOM) East Africa (Addis Ababa) UN Sub-Regional
Center for Human
Rights and
Democracy in
Central Asia
(Youndé) Central
Africa
Republic
(MINUSCA) Democratic
Republic
of the Congo
(MONUSCO) Nigeria Liberia Guinea Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
G5 Sahel Niger
G5 Sahel Mali
(MINUSMA)
G5 Sahel Guinea-Bissau West Africa (Dakar) Sudan
(UNAMID/UNITAMS)
Chad
G5 Sahel
Mauritania
G5 Sahel
Tunisia Syria - based in Beirut State of
Palestine
(Gaza and
Ramallah) New York Samoa Papua New Guinea Kazahkastan Equatorial Guinea Republic of the Congo Mozambique
Mozambique Eswatini Zambia Gambia Sierra Leone Tajikistan Afghanistan (UNAMA) Colombia South-East Asia (Bangkok) Myanmar – based in Bangkok
Myanmar – based in Bangkok