7 April 2006
Child Rights and the new Human Rights Council - 2
___________________________________________________________
- COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS: Last Session Hands Over to New Council [news]
- HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: Member States Announce their Candidacies [ news]
- CIVIL SOCIETY: NGO Role in the Steps Towards the Human Rights Council [news]
___________________________________________________________
If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
___________________________________________________________
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS: Last Session Hands Over to New Council [news]
The much-criticised United Nations Human Rights Commission ended its last session on 27th March after adopting a Resolution to transfer all its work to the recently created and stronger Human Rights Council, which is scheduled to hold its first meeting on 19 June in Geneva after the UN General Assembly votes on its members on 9 May.
Addressing the 62nd and final session of the Commission, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said the overwhelming General Assembly vote on 15 March to set up the 47-member Human Rights Council marked “a major stride forward” for the UN’s human rights system, although she said there was still much to do.
“While we can say for sure that the decision taken in New York was one of historical significance, its actual impact on people’s lives is still to be determined. Much will rest on the profound culture shift that must accompany this institutional reform,” Ms. Arbour said.
Ms. Arbour went on to say that it was important for the new Council to “quickly find a way to deal with its substantive mandate,” adding that its credibility “requires quick action on matters of substance,” although she added that people should not forget some of the achievements of the 60 years of human rights work performed by the Commission.
In particular, she highlighted the fact that in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the Commission drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the General Assembly on 10 December 1948.
However despite these successes, the Commission – which meets just yearly in Geneva – has come in for increasing criticism over the years as being ineffective and not accountable, and so the idea of the Council was put forward by Secretary-General Kofi Annan a year ago.
The Council has several elements making it a stronger body than the Commission, including its higher status as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, its increased number of meetings throughout the year, equitable geographical representation and also the voting rights associated with membership.
However despite these improvements, the United States has said that the Council does not go far enough and it was among the four that voted against setting up the body earlier this month, although the Resolution was adopted by a vote of 170 in favour, with only 4 against and 3 abstentions. Despite its ‘no’ vote however, Mr. Annan has said that US Ambassador John Bolton has pledged that Washington will work cooperatively with other Member States to make the Council as effective as possible.
During the last session of the Commission, Chris Sidoti, from the International Service for Human Rights, read a letter signed by 265 non-governmental organisations, including CRIN. He said that during the 60 years of the Commission on Human Rights, NGOs had played an important role in the promotion and protection of human rights. Unfortunately the arrangement made for their participation in the final session of the Commission through a single statement did not allow this important role to be reflected.
NGOs had brought to the Commission the voices of victims of violations throughout the world. That diversity and those voices could not be encapsulated in a single statement. It was noted with disappointment that they were missing from the final session of the Commission. It had been decided, therefore, that a single non-governmental statement to assess the work of the Commission would not be made. The non-governmental organisations did not accept that this was an appropriate way to proceed now or in the future and urged States to acknowledge this.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7809
For updated information, keep checking: http://www.crin.org/chr/news
More information:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: Member States Announce their Candidacies [ news]
So far 42 Member States have announced their candidacies for next month's election to the new 47-member Human Rights Council. The elections are scheduled to take place in the General Assembly on 9 May. The Council will hold its first meeting on 19 June.
The 42 countries to have announced their candidacies are:
-
African States (13 seats): Algeria, Mauritius, Morocco
-
Asian States (13 seats): Bangladesh, Bahrain, China, India, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka
-
Eastern European States (6 seats): Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine
-
Latin American and Caribbean States (8 seats): Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
-
Western European and Other States (7 seats): Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom
The United Sates, who voted against the Human Rights Council Resolution, have not submitted their candidacies, unhappy with the fact that the new membership modalities still allow human rights abusers to be elected to the Council. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday said he hoped the US would continue to play an active role in defending universal human rights and support the new Council, despite its decision not to take part in the elections. Mr. Annan’s spokesman told reporters that the Secretary-General was “disappointed” by the US decision but said he hoped that Washington would take part in elections for the 47-member Council next year, a move that General Assembly President Jan Eliasson said the US was already considering.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7884
More information
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CIVIL SOCIETY: NGO Role in the Steps Towards the Human Rights Council [news]
On 22 March 2006 the Department of Public Information and the GA President's Office held a panel discussion on the Human Rights Council. The panelists included Jan Eliasson (President of the General Assembly, Kenneth Roth (Executive Director of Human Rights Watch), Yvonne Terlingen (Representative to the UN for Amnesty International), Craig Mokhiber (Deputy Director for the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), and Rachel Groux (Counselor for the President of the GA).
Elections
It was emphasised that the next few months will provide a crucial opportunity to ensure that the elections live up to the improved standards outlined in the Resolution and that during this period it will be important to:
First session
Because the first session of the Human Rights Council on 19 June will be crucial in shaping the Council's work, the panel also highlighted a number of areas in which human rights NGOs could play a strategic role in ensuring a strong Council:
- Monitoring the Council's review of mandates, functions, special procedures and NGO participation to ensure that these mechanisms are strengthened and improved rather than weakened
- Evaluating the ways in which NGOs previously interacted with the Commission on Human Rights and identifying the most effective ways for NGOs to contribute to the Council's work. For example, would interactive dialogue be helpful, can NGOs make their participation more targeted now that the Council will be holding three sessions per year, and what are mechanisms that can be put in place for NGOs to participate and provide input when they are unable to attend?
- Contributing to the drafting of rules and procedures
- Pushing within the next five years for the elevation of the Council's status to a principal UN body
- Providing recommendations on the Council's architecture and how its work should be distributed among the three sessions.
Subgroup for the Commission on Human Rights
The next Subgroup meeting will take place on 19 April, from 14.00-16.00 in Geneva. The discussion will be around the strategy for children’s rights in the new Human Rights Council.
The Subgroup on the Commission on Human Rights of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child brings together NGOs willing to promote the rights of the child at the Commission. The Subgroup aims to ensure that the Commission addresses the specific rights and situations of children worldwide by advocating the resolutions and by hosting a special interest group called the Children's Human Rights Caucus that serves as focal point for a range of participants to meet on children's issues. Another key activity of the Subgroup is to prepare a draft Omnibus Resolution on the Rights of the Child.
For more information, contact:
Roberta Cecchetti, Representative
Save the Children
Rue de Varembé, 1, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 919 2000; Fax: +41 22 919 2001
Email: [email protected]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7847
More information
___________________________________________________________
This update has been produced by CRIN, in collaboration with the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Subgroup for the Commission on Human Rights. To subscribe, unsubscribe or view archives, visit http://www.crin.org/email.
Further information about the 61st Session is available on the CRIN website at: http://www.crin.org/chr. To submit information, contact Veronica Yates on [email protected]. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.
___________________________________________________________
