09 May 2008

























tool by hioxindia.com


 

HRC in Midst of Session 7, Tries to Conclude Institution-building

New York, 12 March 2008 – The UN Human Rights Council has convened for its Seventh Session in Geneva, Switzerland. The Council is now in the second week of a four-week program that includes both the Council’s continued institution-building efforts as well as substantive human rights issues.

Aspects of institution-building on the agenda include: election of HRC Advisory Committee members, review of 29 Special Procedures mandates, selection of new mandate holders and a review of the Complaint Procedure. Although not formally scheduled into the agenda, the forthcoming session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) (7-18 April) is also a topic of discussion.

This Session will see the Council move towards a more substantive human rights agenda and somewhat away from the focus on institution-building, which has dominated the agenda previously. The majority of the Session is comprised of panels, reports, interactive dialogues and general debates focussing on a variety of human rights issues.

The primary institution-building work this week will be two days of “review, rationalization, and improvement of mandates” on Thursday and Friday, 13-14 March.

The programme of work for Session 7, which runs until 28 March, can be found here.

High-Level Segment: Comments on the Direction of HRC

Opening statements were given on 3 March by HRC President Doru-Romulus Costea, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, and Switzerland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey. Member States made comments in the “high-level exchange” following the statements.

  • President Costea declared Session 7 unique in its capacity to work towards progress on two separate fronts. First, to complete the ongoing process of institution building, and second, to tackle the most pressing and important issues that the Human Rights Council was intended to address. Conscious that this year is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Costea concluded that the success of the Council can only be measured by success “on the ground” in protecting human rights.

  • Secretary-General Ban, remarking on the progress of the HRC, Ban the Council for having “clearly set its direction on the right track in establishing your mechanisms and procedures.” However, Ban also asked that the Council aspire further and work to promote the universal application of human rights values “without favour, without selectivity, without being impacted by any political machinations around the world.” Ban also recognized the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) as a “historic undertaking, with significant consequences for people around the globe” and declared, “No country, however powerful, should escape the scrutiny of its record, commitments and actions on human rights.”

  • High Commissioner Arbour reflected that the Council had reached a turning point in its development. It was now in a position to utilize the institutional mechanisms at its disposal, she said, to concentrate more fully on substantive human rights issues. Arbour also stated that it was important to maintain a culture of open-mindedness and commitment to consensus. (For an update on Arbour’s resignation announcement, see UNelections.org.)

Many Member States confirmed the point that the future of the Council depended on being able to evolve out of the institution-building stage into a working institution. Many States also affirmed their support of the UPR process, calling for an effective and transparent process. Another aspect of the HRC’s development that delegations noted was the need to maintain the independence and effectiveness of both the Council and the OHCHR. Tables of key issues raised by delegations are available from International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) for Day 1 and Day 2.

Special Debate Convened on Gaza Situation

In response to recent developments last week, the Council rearranged its agenda to address the ongoing human rights situation in the Gaza Strip. The item, which was also the subject of the Council’s Sixth Special Session in January 2008, had originally been scheduled for 17 March.

Arbour condemned the violence and urged all parties to “conduct law-based, independent, transparent and accessible investigations into the killings of civilians, to make the findings public and to hold any perpetrators accountable.” She also stressed that all human rights are equal for all human beings. No party can claim that in defending its own population, it is allowed to disavow the rights of others, she said.

Delegates from Israel and Palestine (who are not Council members) addressed the Council as interested parties, followed by a General Debate by Member States and statements by four civil society representatives.

Israel suggested that adopting another Resolution would be duplicative and a waste of the OHCHR’s time and money. Palestine charged Israel with using self-defense as a pretext for violating international human rights law and humanitarian law. Almost all Member States condemned the violence in Gaza and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the region. Egypt and Slovenia strongly condemned the attacks on behalf of the African Group and the European Union respectively.

The meeting resulted in the adoption of a Resolution (HRC/7/L.1) calling for the immediate cessation of all military attacks and firing of rockets throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which “constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and of the human rights of the Palestinian people therein.” It also called for urgent international action to put an immediate end to the grave violations committed by the occupying Power, Israel, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The resolution passed by a vote of 33 in favor, one against (Canada), and 13 abstentions.

Efforts to Conclude Institution-building in Session 7

The work of the Human Rights Council to date has focused on institution-building measures for the Council. Despite the remarks of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner that this Session would be an opportunity to bring these efforts to a close, much remains to be done to establish agreed working mechanisms for the Council. During Session 7, the Council will be considering the institution-building measures detailed below.

Review of Special Procedures

One of the immediate challenges the Council faced at its establishment was how to continue with the work of Special Procedure mandates set up under the former Commission on Human Rights. During HRC Session 6, the Council developed a process to review each Commission mandate and determine its status in the Council now. It was decided that:

  • Primary responsibility for existent mandates falls to the main original sponsor;

  • The sponsoring State usually will introduce the mandate and also hold consultations on a draft resolution aiming at the renewal of that mandate;

  • The current mandate holder would have an opportunity to address the Council, providing an opinion on the merits of the mandate; and

  • Such procedures would be followed by an interactive dialogue to allow Member States and NGOs to comment on the mandate.

Following the establishment of this common framework for reviewing mandates, the Council commenced the Review, Rationalization and Improvement (RRI) of all Special Procedures Mandates. The current timetable for Review of Special Procedures Mandates lists 29 such mandates during Session 7.

The OHCHR’s full list of current SP mandates can be found here.

Appointment of Mandate Holders for Special Procedures

Each Special Procedure is carried out by an appointed “mandate-holder” with primary responsibility for the mandate.

The process for selecting and appointing mandate holders was designed to be transparent and objective. Mandate holders can be nominated by governments, regional groups, international organizations, NGOs or individuals, and they are to be appointed on the criteria of:

  • Expertise;

  • Experience in the field of the mandate;

  • Independence;

  • Impartiality;

  • Personal Integrity; and

  • Objectivity.

Prior to the session, the HRC Secretariat places candidates for each vacancy on a Public List that is then considered by a Consultative Group. (The Consultative Group consists of one person appointed by each regional group but serving in his/her personal capacity.) The Consultative Group then proposes to the HRC President a list of candidates that are most qualified to fill the posts. The President engages in broad consultations, including with NGOs, to identify the appropriate candidate for each Special Procedure vacancy.

The manner in which this procedure has been carried out, to date, has created some controversy. Human rights NGOs have suggested that the process to select the President’s candidates for the March 2008 and June 2008 vacancies has lacked transparency and resulted in a selection process that does not live up to the expectations of being more objective and independent than its Human Rights Commission predecessor. Click here for the President’s list of current candidates, as of 3 March 2008.

Amnesty International recently stated, “The Consultative Group effectively attempts to usurp the functions of the President of the Council by severely limiting his choice of candidates.” Specifically Amnesty notes:

  • For four mandates, the Consultative Group has put forward only one candidate;

  • For nine other mandates, the Consultative Group has recommended a single candidate, although the report of the Group records that for these mandates, some members have "supported" a second person and in some cases a third person "was also suggested;" and

  • For one mandate, the Group has suggested further consultations, but it not clear who is to conduct them.

The Ambassador of Algeria, who is a member of the Consultative Group, called that view a “gross misinterpretation of what the consultative group has been doing.” Before the end of this Session the Council will dedicate time to clarifying appointment procedures and moving forward with appointments for the March 2008 vacancies. On 25 March the Council is expected to discuss the procedures and appoint mandate-holders.

Election of members of the Advisory Committee

The HRC also is tasked with electing members to the newly established HRC Advisory Committee. Candidates to the HRC Advisory Committee are to be elected on the basis of:

  • Experience in the field of Human Rights;

  • High Moral Standing;

  • Independence; and

  • Impartiality.

Some Council members have argued in favour of conducting the election by acclamation, as opposed to a secret ballot. However, President Costea announced before the start of the Session that the election would take place by secret ballot, even if there was only one candidate per seat available, just as with the UN General Assembly’s elections of members to the Human Rights Council itself.

The ballot for the HRC Advisory Committee members will be conducted on March 25.

Universal Periodic Review

The appointment of “troikas” – three Rapporteurs selected from various regional groups to facilitate the review of each state for the UPR –also has been subject to additional negotiations, in particular over the exact function of the troikas. However, a roster of troika appointments for the first and second UPR sessions was approved in February 2008 after consultations and organizational meetings. As such, the UPR process is on-track for its first session (7-18 April).

The list of troikas is available here, and with narrative from ISHR here.

Complaint Procedure

On 17 March the Council will discuss the Complaint Procedure, the mechanism by which victims can bring human rights problems to the attention of the Council and request action. The Council is likely to discuss modalities of the complaint procedure that were not entirely decided following the adoption of the institution-building text last year (Resolution 5/1).

Current Human Rights Issues

This is the first session where the majority of time has been dedicated to addressing substantive human rights issues. Either country specific situations or thematic human rights issues are the focus of two weeks of the month-long program. The agenda includes over 22 different issues, including: the right to food, health and housing; freedom of expression, religion and beliefs; migrants and human trafficking; arbitrary detention and torture, and access to medications.

Also on the agenda is consideration of the ongoing situations in Sudan, the DPRK and Burma/Myanmar, as well as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Cambodia, Somalia and Liberia.

Coming Up

As detailed in the draft program of work:

  • Presentations of the Special Procedures (as detailed above) are scheduled until Thursday, 13 March. The RRI process should begin immediately thereafter.

  • On Monday, 17 March the Council will discuss the Complaint Procedure.

  • The Council will select Advisory Committee members and appoint mandate-holders on 25 March.

Documents/Resources

Draft Program of Work for the 7th Session of the Human Rights Council (as of 5 March 2008)

International Service for Human Rights — Human Rights Council Seventh Session Council Alert (21 February 2008)

Secretary-General's Statement at HRC Session 7 (3 March 2008)

High Commissioner's Presentation of OHCHR Report (7 March 2008)

International Service for Human Rights — Timetable for the Review of Special Procedures Mandates (2 November 2007)

Universal Periodic Review Troika Selection (25 February 2008)

President's List of Candidates for Special Procedures Mandate Holders (3 March 2008)

Amnesty International — Concern Over Appointment Process for Special Procedures Mandates (18 February 2008)

Special Procedures - Mandate Holders List of Vacancies (1) (1 March 2008)

Special Procedures – Mandate Holders List of Vacancies (2) (1 March 2008)

Resolution on Palestine and other Occupied Arab Territories (5 March 2008)

Daily Updates from International Service for Human Rights:

The e-Newsletter of ReformtheUN.org is a free service. To subscribe, go to http://reformtheun.org/mailman/listinfo/latestdevelopments. Please forward this announcement widely to individuals and organizations that have expressed an interest in UN reform.