What is that on the ceiling?

The meetings held on Tuesday were in one of the newly refurbished meeting rooms in the Palais des Nations (room XX). The room is in a large oval shape, with a circular ceiling containing a modern, multicolored icicle like sculpture over the entire area. Very intriguing, almost mesmerizing.

Photos are included but don't really do it justice.

Penny Parker

Iran as a case example

One of the topics the Inter Committee meeting was able to cover on Monday was the subject of cross referencing other treaty bodies' reports when examining a country situation. NGOs were given an opportunity to speak on this topic and I made some comments during this segment of the program.

I used the case example of the recent events in Iran for my remarks. Even though the political protests and police repression would most naturally fall into the category of civil and political rights, and thus fall within the mandate of the Human Rights Committee (who monitors the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), many of the other Committees also have complementary mandates that could also be invoked to examine the situation in Iran.

Some of the questions that the other treaty bodies could be asking include -- What is happening to the economic, social and cultural rights of the protesters and their families? What are the conditions of detention of those who are being detained? Are their families able to visit them? Are there reprisals against the protesters in their employment -- are they losing their jobs because of their activities? Are there children or families affected by the unrest? Are there women being arrested? How are the women being treated?

Most of these other Committees could also be examining this situation from the unique perspective of their own treaty's mandate. It is important to tackle an emerging human rights problem in this multi-disciplinary way. Each treaty body should cross reference the other treaty body's work when examining a situation, but then also contribute its own unique perspective on the problem from the reference point of its particular mandate.

I also pointed out that failing to cross reference other committees' work makes it seem as though you don't realize that other committees are also looking into the same country situation and may have issued a report on the circumstances. This omission often leaves a committee open to criticism by the state government concerned who will claim the committees are duplicating effort and should not be commenting at all on their situation since it has been taken up by another committee.

Sure enough, right on cue, several state governments complained on Tuesday during the meeting with state parties, that Committees were doing overlapping and duplicative work, failing to stay within their own treaty mandate in commenting on particular country situations.

The Iran case is a tragic one, and one that is recently in our news headlines. But unfortunately it is also a very hypothetical case study for the treaty bodies since Iran has only ratified 4 of the 9 core human rights treaties and has only recently submitted a compliance report (in July 2008) to one of the 4 treaty bodies to which reports are due, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Unless a country is willing to submit its regular periodic reports to the treaty bodies, it is very difficult for the treaty bodies to review their conditions. Some of the treaty bodies have emergency powers that would enable them to investigate new, emerging problems, but these powers are rarely invoked. Some treaty bodies also will schedule a review of a non-reporting state, in the hopes to nudge it into submitting a report. But in the case of Iran, none of these procedures have yet been invoked by any of the current treaty bodies.

Compliance reports are due every 2 to 5 years under each of the human rights treaties. But Iran hasn't filed any reports in the other 3 treaties to which it is a member for many years.

• It ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1975 but hasn't filed a report since at least 1994 (the UN treaty body database is not clear on when or if an earlier report might have been filed).
• Iran ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1975, but hasn't filed a report since at least 1993.
• It ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994 and last filed a report in 2003.

The other 5 treaty instruments that Iran has not ratified and which are considered the remaining core human rights treaties, are:

• The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which entered into force in 1979
• The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which entered into force in 1984
• The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which entered into force in 2006
• The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW), which entered into force in 1990
• The Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which entered into force May 2008

Iran does not have any treaty body appearances scheduled for 2009. Its report to CERD will be heard in public session in 2010. Iran is also usually very active in human rights meetings at the UN, but it was not present at the states parties consultation on Tuesday with the Inter Committee meeting.

Penny Parker

New human rights research website

There's a new human rights information website available, which indexes the concluding observations and recommendations of the treaty bodies, the Universal Human Rights Index site. The site has been developed by the Institute of Public law of the University of Bern, Switzerland, in collaboration with LexUM, the justice system technologies laboratory of the University of Montreal, Canada.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is responsible for updating and further developing the index.

The index is a compilation of approximately 1000 UN documents relating to conclusions and recommendations of the treaty bodies, the special procedures mechanisms of the Human Rights Council, and replies from the governments who were the subject of each conclusion or recommendation. Each observation and recommendation is classified by country, subject, treaty body and affected person or group.

Penny Parker

Day 1: getting organized

It's the first day of the 9th session of the Inter-Committee Meeting of human rights treaty bodies. A new chairperson is elected, Ms. Naela Gabr from CEDAW (the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women). Two vice chairs are also chosen, Ms. Yanghee Lee from the Committee on the Rights of the Child and Mr. Mohammed Al Tarawneh from the newest treaty body, the Committee on Rights of Disabled Persons.

Opening speeches are presented by Mr. Ibrahim Salama, head of the UN High Commissioners Office Treaties Branch, the outgoing chairperson Ms. Fatimata-Binta Victoire Dah, and later in the day, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navanethem Pillay. Emphasis was put on the continuing need for the treaty bodies to harmonize their practices and improve their effectiveness.

The meeting is being held in the Palais Wilson in Geneva. The Inter-Committee is composed of 27 treaty body members, 3 representatives from each of the 9 current treaty bodies. In addition there are about 25 other persons in the room, including Secretariat staff, NGO representatives and representatives from other UN agencies (UNESCO and the office of Refugees, UNHCR).

The Committee will have a packed program of work this session. They meet for 3 days (followed by the chairpersons' meeting Thursday and Friday). All of tomorrow's program has been dedicated to a meeting with representatives from states parties. Then they will finish up on Wednesday and adopt their report. NGOs are able to speak throughout the agenda items but this time, since most of today's work was dedicated either to the administrative matters of electing officers and adopting the agenda and program of work, or listening to opening speeches, or preparing for the states party meeting all of tomorrow, there was very little time for NGOs to be able to speak. NGOs are also not able to make presentations during the all day meeting with states parties tomorrow.

Penny Parker

Agenda of the UN human rights treaty body meetings this week

The UN human rights treaty bodies will convene for their next inter committee meeting from June 29 to July 1. The chairpersons of the nine treaty bodies will then meet for two additional days, July 2 and 3. In addition to the usual administrative/procedural matters, the draft agenda includes the following suggested topics:

• enhancing the effectiveness of the treaty bodies
• harmonization of working methods
• standardization of terminology
• follow up measures
• participation of national human rights institutions, States parties, and NGOs
• the role of the country rapporteur/task force
• the role of the inter-committee group in the treaty body system
• cross referencing to the work of other treaty bodies
• interrelationship to the universal periodic review procedure of the Human Rights Council
• informal consultation with States parties
• meeting with the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for human rights
• meeting with experts and working group chairs of the special procedures mechanisms of the Human Rights Council

I will be attending the sessions as a representative of The Advocates for Human Rights, a private non-governmental organization with special consultative status from ECOSOC (the UN Economic and Social Council). I'll be posting daily updates here at the Project Eleanor Human Rights blog throughout the sessions.

Penny Parker

Upcoming UN human rights meetings, June 29 to July 3

I'll be attending the UN human rights treaty body committee meetings in Geneva this upcoming week. Be sure to check back if you are interested in this subject, as I'll be blogging daily while I am there.

Penny Parker