African States on the UN Human Rights Council, 2006–2022

The report analyzes 450 votes and 5,850 voting decisions by African states at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) between 2006 and 2022. It finds that the African Group generally opposes or is unwilling to defend civil and political rights, particularly regarding sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and freedom of expression. The group frequently protects African states from international scrutiny through country-specific resolutions while remaining inconsistent or indifferent toward human rights violations in non-African countries. Despite a general decline in the domestic freedom scores of its members, the group's HRC voting patterns show a slight shift toward a more human rights-friendly direction after 2010, though it remains largely obstructive toward intrusive mandates for African nations.

• The African Group's overall record on civil and political rights indicates that African states are generally not defenders of these rights and are more likely to oppose or undermine them.
• African states demonstrated strong opposition to human rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), including support for the Egyptian-led 'Protection of the family' resolution which ignores diverse family forms.
• The African Group's record on freedom of expression is characterized as mildly against human rights, with strong opposition specifically regarding the mandate of the special rapporteur on free expression and resolutions on the defamation of religions.
• Regarding women's rights, the African Group is classified as mildly against human rights, frequently supporting hostile amendments that oppose comprehensive sexuality education and the recognition of sexual and reproductive health as a human right.
• The African Group consistently protects African states from international scrutiny, showing a record that is mildly against human rights when dealing with country-specific resolutions on other African nations.
• The group's opposition to scrutiny is specific to African nations; its record on country-specific resolutions for non-African countries is characterized as an unwillingness to defend human rights, though it showed strong support for resolutions concerning Myanmar.
• The African Group is not a unified voting bloc on civil and political rights or country-specific resolutions, voting in total unison only 2.4% of the time across the studied votes.
• There is a high propensity for African states to abstain from voting on country-specific issues, abstaining 48.4% of the time for African countries and 63.5% of the time for the rest of the world.
• The African Group's record on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia is classified as strongly opposing human rights, often resisting investigative mandates.

APA

JORDAAN, E. (2024). African States on the UN Human Rights Council, 2006–2022. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_SR_AfricanVotingHRC.pdf

Chicago

JORDAAN, EDUARD. African States on the UN Human Rights Council, 2006–2022. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2024. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_SR_AfricanVotingHRC.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=JORDAAN |first1=EDUARD |title=African States on the UN Human Rights Council, 2006–2022 |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=August 2024 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_SR_AfricanVotingHRC.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jordaan2024african, author = {JORDAAN, EDUARD}, title = {{African States on the UN Human Rights Council, 2006–2022}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_SR_AfricanVotingHRC.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }