CRINMAIL 102:
CRIN at the Human Rights Council - Day 1

In this issue:

Welcome to the first of our special daily CRINMAILs covering the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, from where we are reporting for the whole week.

To get more information on the session and on how to participate, click here or follow us live on twitter as we report on the events of the week.

Children’s right to health – report from the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The right to health is the foundation of all other human rights, according to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, as she introduced her report on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health to the Human Rights Council this morning. Infant delivery and postnatal care, sexual and reproductive health, violence and mental health were some of the issues she mentioned as needing specific attention.

Unfortunately a lot of the general discussion focused on other issues, meaning Ms Pillay’s report did not get sufficient attention. One State that did mention the report was Malta, clarifying its position on sexual and reproductive education as noted in the report. Worryingly, the Maltese delegation firmly said, in the name of the rights of both child and the mother, that abortion should not be promoted and should not form part of sexual education or state health services. Abortion is illegal in Malta.

Read CRIN’s last word of the day for more on children’s right to access information on their health.

Every human is entitled to every human right

In the first session of the day, Iran said that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) should focus on only promoting the human rights that every State agrees on. The delegation went on to argue that ideas and values cannot be human rights unless they are universally accepted, using the example of sexual orientation and freedom from discrimination.

In a clear rebuttal of Iran’s comments, Switzerland reminded everyone that “human rights are applicable to all human beings without distinction of any kind”, and Iceland said they fully support efforts to stop discrimination and violence against the LGBT community. The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) said they strongly support the High Commissioner’s call to stop discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity, asking the international community to take a stand in favour of equality.

Child migrants - Children first, migrants second

Unbelievably, no one has any clear data on the number of migrant children. And migration will double over the next 25 years as resources become scarcer and conflicts more frequent.

In a side event for the Destination Unknown campaign, the Global Campaign to End Immigration Detention of Children used this as an impetus to call for the international community to work together to find out how many child migrants there are in the world. Visit the website for more.

Torture and health rights

Special Rapporteur (SR) on Torture, Juan E. Mendez, presented his report on torture in health settings on Monday, taking the opportunity to raise aspects of health care that may amount to torture or other prohibited treatment.

Detention, restraint and coercion

Echoing his report of last year, in which he called for a complete ban on the use of solitary confinement for juveniles, Mr. Mendez raised the issue of such detention, stating that for persons with learning disabilities and mental health problems it amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. He also raised concerns that any restraint, coercion or non-consensual measures taken against persons with psychological or intellectual disabilities may amount to prohibited treatment.

Consent

Raising again the issue of consent, Mr Mendez spoke out against homophobic ill-treatment on the part of health professionals. He labelled denial of treatment on the basis of sexuality, psychiatric evaluation, forced sterilisation and invasive virginity practices as harmful and stigmatising . His report also specifically addresses the irreversible sex assignment of children with atypical sex characteristics without their consent and the severe mental suffering that such treatment can cause.

States will have the opportunity to make statements about the SR’s report tomorrow morning when the Human RIghts Council session resumes.

Germany becomes third state to ratify OP3

One year after signing the optional protocol on a complaints procedure to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Germany has become the third country to ratify the optional protocol on a complaints procedure to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Thailand and Gabon have already ratified the protocol, and Bolivia and Spain have announced that they intend to do so in the very near future, but the treaty won’t come into force until ten states have ratified it.

The Committee has already adopted its Rules of Procedure for the complaints mechanism. You can read the new rules here. To find out how the rules compare to other treaty body complaints mechanisms, view our comparative table. An updated table will be published shortly now that the CRC Rules have been published.

Coming up tomorrow

Plenary Sessions:

• Joint interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders
• Joint interactive dialogue with the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism
• Joint interactive dialogue with the Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

Side events:

• “Criminalisation of human rights defenders” (12pm, 5 March / Room XXI)
• "The Child’s right to health through adequate nutrition – how can this be ensured in a fragile context?" (1pm, 5 March / Room XXI)
• “Extreme sentencing” 2pm, 5 March / XXI)

IGNORED AT THE HRC: ACCESS

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