Estonia’s foreign policy actions in protecting human rights and advancing democracy is based on human rights diplomacy bases and action plan. Estonia’s human rights diplomacy main activities focuses on three areas: protection of the rights of groups in the most vulnerable situations, primarily women and children, freedom of speech and expression, including online, and freedom of the media, advancing democracy, including combating impunity.
Human rights conventions
Estonia has ratified the following international human rights conventions and submitted required reports.
UN Human Rights Council
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) is an inter-governmental body which is responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights around the world.
HRC is made up of 47 Member States, who are elected by secret voting in the UN General Assembly in New York. HRC was founded by the resolution of the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006. HRC holds three regular sessions a year, in duration of 10 weeks (4+3+3). If human rights violations in some states require it, HRC can hold in addition to regular sessions a special session.
Human Rights council work is supported by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), who observes human rights violations in the world and prepares related reports. OHCHR has branch offices in different countries to assist the establishment of human rights protection structures on site. OHCHR also supports the work of human rights experts. Volker Türk has been human rights High Commissioner since October 2022. The High Commissioner is accountable to the Secretary-General and Human Rights Council. Estonia also supports OHCHR financially.
Estonia as member of Human Rights Council
Estonia is running for Human Rights Council 2026-2028. In 2013-2015 Estonia was a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the first time. Estonia focused on women’s and children’s rights, gender aspect in conflict resolutions, the fight against combating impunity, freedom of the internet and stronger involvement of civil society in governance; we also stood for LGBT rights. As a member of the Council we participated in initiatives related to human rights protection in countries where human rights were broadly violated.
Universal Periodic Review in UN Human Rights Council
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was founded in 2006 and the objective of the process is to review the fulfillment of human rights standards and obligations in UN Member States.
Information about Estonia UPR is available in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights website.
Media Freedom Coalition (MFC)
The Media Freedom Coalition was established in July 2023. Estonia is one of the founding members of the MFC and a member of the Executive Group. From 1 July 2023, Estonia is also the co-chair of the MFC, which we chaired together with the Netherlands until January 2024 when the co-chairmanship was handed over to Germany.
The purpose of the coalition is to advocate for media freedom at home and abroad, including supporting and enhancing the safety of journalists and other media workers. The MFC is built on three pillars: member states, Consultative Network comprised of civil society representatives and High-Level Panel of Legal Experts. As a member and a co-chair of the coalition, Estonia emphasizes that media freedom is the cornerstone of the democratic society.
Women’s and Children’s Rights
The rights of women and children are listed among the priority themes of the Estonian human rights diplomacy. Estonia is focused on achieving gender equality, empowering women and girls, and the fight against sexual and gender-based violence. Estonia participates in the work of various bodies of international organisations focused on women’s rights as well as open debates of the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). Estonia has adopted three national action plans - for 2010-2014, 2015-2019 and 2020-2025 (Action Plan)- to achieve the goals of the resolution.
In the protection and enhancement of children’s rights, Estonia focuses on the accessibility of education, combating violence, prohibiting corporal punishment of children in all settings, and the protection of children’s rights in the digital society.
