16 June 2006 - Child Rights and the new Human Rights Council 4
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- HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: First session convenes in Geneva [event]
- NGO PARTICIPATION: NGO speakers at the High Level Segment [news]
- CHILD RIGHTS: Save the Children calls on Council to Hold Governments to Account on Child Rights [news]
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HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: First session convenes in Geneva [event]
Date: 19-30 June 2006
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
The Human Rights Council’s first session will take place from 19-30 June, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Council is replacing the Commission on Human Rights as the main UN body in charge of monitoring and protecting fundamental rights and freedoms.
The Human Rights Council (HRC) was created on 15th March 2006 with the almost unanimous adoption of General Assembly Resolution A/Res/60/251. The Commission on Human Rights was formally abolished today, 16 June 2006.
The new Human Rights Council carries high expectations – it was established with the hope that it could be more objective, credible and efficient in denouncing human rights violations worldwide than the highly politicised Commission on Human Rights.
Significant improvements on the Commission include:
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Elections: members of the HRC are elected by an absolute majority and on their human rights commitment. De facto permanent membership is eliminated;
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Suspension of membership: membership can be suspended by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly for any Council member who commits gross and systematic violations of human rights;
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Universal periodic review: all UN Member States, starting with the members of the Council itself, will have their Human rights records regularly examined.
The first session will mainly focuses on procedural issues while the second session (11-29 September 2006) is likely to be more substantial. The first session will consist of an opening ceremony (Monday 19th), a High-Level Segment (Monday 19th to Thursday 22nd) and meetings addressing the agreed agenda.
The High-Level Segment (HLS) takes place during the first week, between 19-22 June. The HLS will consist of statements from dignitaries, i.e. government representatives of ministerial or higher rank or Vice-Ministers. In addition, heads of specialised agencies, programmes and intergovernmental organisations, including regional organisations, will also be provided an opportunity to address the HLS after States representatives.
On the initiative of HRC President Designate Ambassador de Alba (Mexico), 3-5 NGO representatives are given the possibility to address Council members during the HLS (see next item). The NGO consultation process involving 60 NGOs and Ambassador de Alba ended on Friday 16th June and a list of speakers finalised.
According to the draft agenda (the final agenda should be adopted next week) presented by the President Designate the programme of work for the rest of the first session includes:
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reports of mechanisms and mandates (Report of the 5 Intergovernmental Working Groups);
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pressing human rights issues;
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Universal Periodic Review Mechanism;
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review of mandates and mechanisms (special procedures, expert advice and complaint procedure);
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discussion and cooperation on human rights: human rights education and learning, advisory services, technical assistance and capacity-building;
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programme of work for future sessions of the Council;
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conclusions and recommendations, including interim measures on mechanisms and mandates
CRIN will be reporting from the Human Rights Council through the HRC CRINMAIL and daily updates on the HRC news page. In addition, CRIN has produced a new webpage on the Human Rights Council. The page offers information on the first HRC session for child rights NGOs. It provides links to daily news updates on the HRC, information on NGO participation and useful contacts. It contains background information on the Commission on Human Rights and the creation of the Human Rights Council, as well as on the historical involvement of child rights NGOs in the work of the Commission.
For more information on the Human Rights Council, contact:
The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, OHCHR – UNOG,
8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.
Tel: +41 22 917 9000; Fax: +41 22 917 9016
Website: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil
Further information
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NGO PARTICIPATION: NGO speakers at the High Level Segment [news]
The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) has just circulated the outcome of the NGO consultation process initiated on 7 June at the request of HRC President Designate Ambassador de Alba, to facilitate the participation of NGOs to the High-Level Segment of the Human Rights Council's first session.
This process began with a meeting in which more than 60 NGO representatives participated and was followed by 2 meetings of an open ended working group on 8 June and 12 June. General guidelines have been elaborated and two letters (8 June and 12 June) have been addressed to the President Designate to keep him updated about the developments of this process.
The group of NGOs involved in this process has been committed to find speakers with a well known human rights record and who would reflect some kind of balanced representation of gender, regional and thematic backgrounds, as suggested by the President Designate. This group believes that the suggested speakers will represent a broad spectrum of voices from civil society in which many NGOs will be able to recognise themselves.
The names of the available speakers that have been identified and that will be suggested to the Chair Designate are:
Since the participation of Shirin Ebadi could not yet be fully confirmed at the time when the decision must be submitted to the Chair (today), and with the view not to have only 3 NGO speakers in case she could not address the Council for any practical reason, many of the NGOs involved in this process supported the view that Sunila Abeysekera, whose availability has been confirmed, should be included in this list. A few NGO representatives however expressed an opposite view and it must be noted that it was not possible, due to time constraints, to organise another physical meeting to strengthen further consensus on this point. The above names will be submitted to the President-designate on 16 June 2006.
The 5 identified speakers will speak in their personal capacities and not as representatives of the sponsoring NGOs. The speakers' statements will represent their vision of the Council, but we expect that their views will echo those of many NGOs. To that end, a compilation of the thematic bullet points received by CONGO from various NGOs or groups of NGOs regarding themes and issues they would like to see addressed by the speakers will be sent to them, so that they can benefit from these inputs.
For information, another name whose availability was confirmed but who is not proposed by the group of NGOs for this year is: Fatmire Feka (Kosovo). Other suggested names of potential speakers proposed during the process but whose availability could not been confirmed at this time are: Vandana Shiva (India), Lida Yusupova (Chechnya), François Hutard (Belgium), Elie Wiesel (USA), Alirio Uribe Muñoz (Colombia), Juan Mendez (Argentina), Vivian Labrie (Canada).
The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) is an international, membership association that facilitates the participation of NGOs in UN debates and decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to ensure the presence of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments and United Nations agencies on issues of global concern.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=8698
For more information, contact:
CONGO - Conference Of Non-Governmental Organisations
Case postale-50, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 917 1881; Fax: +41 22 917 0373
Email: congongo@iprolink.ch
Website: http://www.conferenceofngos.org
For more information on NGO participation, contact:
Ms Laura Dolci-Kanaan
OHCHR’s NGO Liaison Officer
Email: ldolci-kanaan@ohchr.org
Tel: +41 22 917 9656
Further information
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CHILD RIGHTS: Save the Children calls on Council to Hold Governments to Account on Child Rights [news]
The Save the Children Alliance today called for an end to the routine violation of the rights of the world’s children and says the new Human Rights Council must mark a turning point in the treatment of children. The call comes as Kofi Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations opens the Council’s first session in Geneva on Monday 19 June.
Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children UK Chief Executive, said: "The rights of children have been well established for years yet countries continue to violate them leaving millions of children around the world without protection from abuse, violence, exploitation and without access to healthcare and education.
"This is a global opportunity to hold Governments to account on their promises to protect the rights of children."
The Save the Children Alliance, operational in over 100 countries, wants the Human Rights Council to commit to:
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Promote the implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols throughout its deliberations and decisions.
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Ensure children are given the opportunity to be involved in making the decisions that affect them.
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Involve child rights NGOs in its work including consultations during the Universal Periodic Review process
Promote the implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols throughout its deliberations and decisions.
For more information, contact:
Save the Children UK, 1 St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK
Tel: +44 20 7012 6400; Fax: +44 20 7012 6963
Email: supporter.care@savethechildren.org.uk
Website: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk
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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 Human Rights Council is available on the CRIN website at: www.crin.org/HRC. To submit information, contact Isabelle Guitard on iguitard@crin.org. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.
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