Human Rights Council session 4

 

Fourth session of the Human Rights Council: 12 March - 6 April 2007

Read CRIN's daily briefings from the Human Rights Council: Day 1  Day 2  Day 3  Day 4 - Day 5 - Day 6 - Day 7

This page offers information on the fourth HRC session for child rights NGOs. It provides daily news updates, links to official documentation, information on NGO participation and useful contacts. 

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News on the 4th session - CRINMAILs - Events - Documentation - Sources of information -  NGO participation - Subgroup on the HRC - Useful contacts

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News on the 4th HRC session

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CRINMAILs

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Events

Documentation

DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED BY NGOs

SPECIAL PROCEDURES AND UNSG REPORTS

RESOLUTIONS, DECISIONS AND STATEMENTS ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

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Sources of information

CRIN - sign up to the special HRC CRINMAIL and get our daily updates on our HRC news page.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Press releases are issued by the HRC on a daily basis and are available on the OHCHR website. In addition, relevant documents are posted on the Human Rights Council extranet (sign up).

Relevant and updated information on the 4th session of the HRC will be regularly posted on the HRC Extranet. Username: hrc extranet - Password: 1session.

A live Webcast service will be available under the Council’s webpage, covering the plenary session online, and will be accessible through this link.

Civil society news and perspectives are available on the CONGO website (Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the UN) and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) - ISHR: Human Rights Council daily updates

UN - FAQs about the Human Rights Council 

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NGO participation

During the upcoming fourth session of the Human Rights Council OHCHR's NGO Liaison Officer, Ms. Laura Dolci-Kanaan, will be in charge of facilitating the participation of NGO representatives in the work of the Council.

Contact information, as well as the NGO liaison office location for the duration of the session from 12 March to 6 April will follow.

Written statements

New: suggestions for oral interventions for NGOs

As under the arrangements and practices observed by the Commission on Human Rights, NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC will be able to submit written statements relevant to the work of the Human Rights Council (in accordance with paragraphs 36 and 37 of ECOSOC resolution 1996/31).

While at the time of writing of this note, the provisional agenda for the 4th session of the Human Rights Council has not yet been issued, NGOs may submit their written statements to the Council Secretariat electronically to [email protected]. The deadline for the submission of written statements is Wednesday, 28 February 2007. The Secretariat will not be able to ensure the timely circulation of written statements late in submission.

The HRC Secretariat wishes to draw the attention of NGOs to ECOSOC resolution 1996/31, which authorizes written statements of: a) 2,000 words for NGOs in general consultative status; and b) 1,500 words for NGOs in special consultative status and on the roster.

Please also refer to the annexed guidelines for the technical submission of NGO written statements.

Accreditation

NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC wishing to accredit representatives to the fourth session of the Human Rights Council are invited to send their letter of accreditation request/s to the Secretariat of the Council as of 5 February 2007 by fax, to the attention of Ms. Kate Hardie, who can be contacted at:

From 5 February until 9 March:
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 90 11
Tel: +41 (0)22 917 92 56;

From 12 March to 06 April:
Fax: + 41 (0)22 917 04 94
Tel: + 41 (0)22 917 15 25 / 917 92 56

The letter requesting accreditation should contain the following elements:

  • It should be submitted on the official letterhead of the organisation;
  • It should clearly state the title and duration of the session the organisation wishes to attend, eg “[Name of NGO], in consultative status with ECOSOC, wishes to send the following members to attend the 4th session of the HRC (12 March – 6 April 2007)…..“;
  • The letter needs to be signed by the President or the Main Representative of the organisation in Geneva;
  • It should also indicate the name/s (first name and family name) of the person/s who will represent the organisation at the HRC session. Names of persons must appear exactly as they appear in the ID document. Family name(s) have to be capitalised.

Please also note that the so-called “orange registration forms” previously distributed by Conference Services during the session, will no longer be in use. Therefore, in order to register names for the list of participants, it is important to ensure that the name(s) of those members already in possession of a valid identity badge issued by UNOG Security and Safety Section, and who plan to attend the 4th session of HRC, is/are also included in the accreditation letter, with an indication that the person(s) hold(s) an annual badge.

Annual or temporary representatives of NGOs in possession of an identity badge issued by UNOG Security and Safety Section and valid for the duration of the session, will have unrestricted access to the conference rooms.

Any other participants without a UNOG identity badge should apply in person to the security entrance at Pregny Gate, 8 – 14 Avenue de la Paix; on presentation of an identity document and a copy of the letter of accreditation, a photo-badge valid for the duration of the Council session will be issued.

The accreditation office of the Human Rights Council will be located at the security entrance "Pregny Gate" and will be open from Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm throughout the session.

For further information concerning the accreditation procedure, such as access requirements, visa requests, renewals, etc, please contact Ms. Kate Hardie: [email protected].

Room booking

During HRC sessions, the Conference Services allocate to the HRC Secretariat a number of rooms for the holding of parallel activities organised by various stakeholders, including Governments, NGOs, OHCHR, Special Procedures etc. in the margins of the sessions. Unfortunately, as it has been the case over the past HRC sessions, some rooms will have to be reserved for the recurrent consultations in relation to the on-going institution-building process. It is, therefore, challenging to accommodate all the (many) requests received thus far from NGOs, along with requests coming from Special Procedure mandate-holders and the various OHCHR-led events scheduled for this session.

In order to accommodate as many requests as possible in light of the available large rooms (four), the NGO liaison office would kindly ask you to review your HRC4 room booking requests (past and future) taking into account the possibility of:

  • reducing the length of events from 2 hours to one hour;
  • starting and/or ending the event 30 minutes earlier or later than the proposed time for a maximum event length of 1.5 hours;

Additionally, to facilitate the work of the room booking focal point, Ms. Francoise Kenfack, it would be greatly appreciated if you could provide her with a 'prioritised list' in case you have submitted, or intend to submit, multiple room booking requests for the up-coming session. Ms. Kenfack will do her best to accommodate your requests taking into account points 1 an 2, as well as your indicated priorities.

Ms. Kenfack ([email protected]) remains at your disposal for any assistance, and may be reached as follows:

Until 9 March:
Fax: + 41 (0) 22 917 90 11
Tel: +41 (0) 22 917 96 41

From 12 to 14 March (for the duration of the High-level Segment):
Fax: +41 22 917 03 59
Tel: +41 22 917 67 68

As of 15 March to 30 March 2007 - Office E-1008
Fax: +41 22 917 03 55
Tel: +41 22 917 71 12

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Subgroup on the HRC

The Subgroup for the Human Rights Council, 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 United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Subgroup’s aim so far has been to ensure that the Commission on Human Rights addresses the specific rights and situations of children worldwide in its regular work and sessions on human rights. By advocating for the inclusion of its concerns into the Commission's Resolutions, the NGO community has ensured better support and coherence between international politics and local realities affecting the realisation of children's rights.

The Subgroup has been active during the negotiations on the creation of the Human Rights Council and during consultations on the first session of the Council.

It produced a call for action in May 2006, calling on the Human Rights Council to act on four specific child rights issues: violence against children - sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography - children affected by armed conflict and displacement - children in conflict with the law. The  Call for Action was updated last November.

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Useful contacts

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/chr

For more information on NGO participation, contact:
Ms Laura Dolci-Kanaan
OHCHR’s NGO Liaison Officer
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +41 22 917 9656

For more information about the Subgroup for the Human Rights Council, contact:
Simone Ek, Convenor
Save the Children Sweden
Email: [email protected]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp

Any other enquiries:
Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
c/o Save the Children, 1 St. John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7012 6865; Fax: + 44 (0)20 7012 6963
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org/HRC

 

 

Organisation: 
UN Human Rights Council
Tags: 
Reporting to and monitoring the CRC

Countries

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.