A/HRC/RES/53/13
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
21 July 2023
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Fifty-third session
19 June–14 July 2023
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 13 July
2023
53/13.
Civil society space
The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Guided also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action, and recognizing their continued significance and
relevance in the context of their anniversaries, and guided further by the International
Covenants on Human Rights and all other relevant instruments,
Reaffirming the importance of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of
Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in particular in the context of its twenty-fifth
anniversary,
Recalling Human Rights Council resolutions 24/21 of 27 September 2013 on civil
society space: creating and maintaining, in law and in practice, a safe and enabling
environment, 27/31 of 26 September 2014 and 32/31 of 1 July 2016 on civil society space,
38/12 of 6 July 2018 on civil society space: engagement with international and regional
organizations, and 47/3 of 26 July 2021 on civil society space: COVID-19: the road to
recovery and the essential role of civil society,
Recalling also all other Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions
relevant to creating and maintaining civil society space, inter alia, those addressing freedom
of opinion and expression; the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;
protecting human rights defenders; equal participation in political and public affairs;
cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of
human rights; the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful
protests; and the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet,
Reiterating that all human rights and fundamental freedoms are universal, indivisible,
interdependent and interrelated and should be promoted and implemented in a fair and
equitable manner, without prejudice to the implementation of each of those rights and
freedoms,
Recognizing the important role of civil society at the local, national, regional and
international levels, that civil society facilitates the achievement of the purposes and
GE.23-14323(E)