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A/HRC/61/L.14 > Distr.: Limited

Original: English

Main Sponsor: [Member State Sponsorship Open]

Co-Sponsors: [In Consultation]

Authoring NGO: Global Human Rights Taskforce (GHRTF)

United Nations General Assembly Distr.: Limited Original: English

Human Rights Council Sixty-first session 23 February–2 April 2026

Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

A/HRC/61/L.14

Sponsors: [To be determined]

Topic: The Prevention of Institutional Impunity: Establishing Superior Responsibility and Juridical Liability for Administrative Hierarchies

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which recognize the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members of the human family,

Recalling Article 28 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court regarding the responsibility of superiors for crimes committed by subordinates under their effective command and control,

Deeply concerned by the "clerical shield" phenomenon, whereby institutional religious hierarchies utilize sovereign or administrative immunity to obstruct domestic and international investigations into systemic human rights violations,

Stressing that the prevention of impunity is a prerequisite for global security and that no entity, regardless of its status as a religious or sovereign observer, should exist beyond the reach of the rule of law,

1. Calls upon all Member States to review and, where necessary, amend domestic legislation to ensure that religious and institutional hierarchies are recognized as juridical persons subject to civil and criminal liability;

2. Affirms that the doctrine of Superior Responsibility applies to civilian and religious leaders who exercise effective control over subordinates and fail to take all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or punish human rights abuses;

3. Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish a Permanent Monitoring Mechanism (PMM) to track institutional compliance with international human rights standards;

4. Urges international financial institutions and Member States to implement mandatory financial audits for institutions found to be in systemic breach of their duty to protect;

5. Encourages the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief to prioritize the investigation of institutional structures that facilitate violations under the guise of autonomy;

6. Decides to remain seized of the matter under the same agenda item at its sixty-second session.