Voting results 2016

Five of six elections to be held in 2016 have now taken place, filling expiring roles on the UN human rights treaty bodies. These elections covered 47 candidates from 38 countries. The Committees affected were CEDAW, CESCR, CCPR (HRCttee), CRC and CRPD. The 6th election to be held later this year, for 12 of the 25 members of the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture, will be in October. Elected members will begin service in 2017.

Some results are surprising.  Some indicate some backsliding on prior successes.  Lets take a look at the results so far.

Background

This year a group of NGOs have combined efforts to present information on the candidate profiles of persons running in four of the six elections discussed here (CEDAW, CRC, CRPD and HRCttee).  Candidates were asked to fill in questionnaires on their experience -- some of whom complied -- and you can see those answers at that website.

The Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights has also recently published a 25 page brochure on Human Rights Treaty Bodies and Election of Treaty Body Members (A Guide for UN Delegates Based in New York) at

http://www.ohchr.org/Lists/MeetingsNY/Attachments/38/treaty-body-elections-guide.pdf

and a Handbook for Treaty Body Members at

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HR_PUB_15_2_TB%20Handbook_EN.pdf

both of which provide useful information on the elections process.

Brief summary of each election

CESC

Elections of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESC) were held in New York by the Economic, Social and Cultural Council, on April 5, 2016.  

There were four new members and five re-elected members.  There will now be 5 women and 13 men on the Committee, a better balance than the previous 3 women and 15 men.

Newly elected:

• Ms. Laura Maria Craciunean (Romania)
• Ms. Sandra Liebenberg (South Africa)
• Ms. Lydia Carmelita Ravenberg (Suriname)
• Mr. Michael Windfuhr (Germany)

Re-elected:

• Mr. Mohamed Ezzeldin Abdel-Moneim (Egypt)
• Mr. Chen Shiquiu (China)
• Mr. Waleed Sadi (Jordan)
• Mr. Zdzislaw Kedzia (Poland)
• Mr. Mikel Mancisidor (Spain)

CRPD

Elections of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) were held in New York on June 14th to 16th.  

There were seven new members and two re-elected members.  Since five women's terms had expired and all were replaced by men, the gender mix is now only one woman and 17 men (formerly, it was 6 women and 12 men).

Newly elected:

• Mr. Ahmad Alsaif (Saudi Arabia)
• Mr. Imed Eddine Chaker (Tunisia)
• Mr. Jun Ishikawa (Japan)
• Mr. Samuel Njuguna Kabue (Kenya)
• Mr. Robert George Martin (New Zealand)  
• Mr. Valery Nikitich Rukhledev (Russian Federation)

Re-elected:

• Mr. Monthian Buntan (Thailand)
• Mr. Laszlo Gabor Lovaszy (Hungary)
• Mr. Martin Babu Mwesigwa (Uganda)                                                                                           

CEDAW

Elections of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) were held in New York on June 21st.  Historically the composition of this Committee has been almost all women. Currently there is one man and 22 women. It would seem that this type of gender mix is also unhealthy -- it tends to diminish or marginalise the importance of the Committee, and deprive the Committee of a healthy mix of different views and perspectives. 

The elections produced six new members and five re-elected members.  The gender mix continues the same, with 22 women and 1 man.

Newly elected:

• Mr. Gunnar Bergby (Norway)
• Ms. Marion Bethel (Bahamas)
• Ms. Rosario G. Manalo (Philippines)
• Ms. Bandana Rana (Nepal)
• Ms. Wenyan Song (China)
• Ms. Aicha Vall Verges (Mauritania)

Re-elected:

• Ms. Nicole Ameline (France)
• Ms. Hilary Gbedemah (Ghana)
• Ms. Nahla Haidar (Lebanon)
• Ms. Dalia Leinarte (Lithuania)
• Ms. Theodora Nwankwo (Nigeria)

CCPR

Elections of the Human Rights Committee under the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) were held in New York on June 23rd.  

There were three new members and six re-elected members.  There will now be 8 women and 10 men on the Committee, a better balance than the previous 5 women and 13 men. 

Newly elected: 

• Ms. Marcia Kran (Canada)
• Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris (Latvia)
• Mr. Christof Heyns (South Africa)

Re-elected:

• Ms. Anja Seibert-Fohr (Germany)
• Mr. Yuval Shany (Israel)
• Mr. Koita Bamariam (Mauritania)
• Ms. Tania Maria Abdo Rocholl (Paraguay)
• Mr. Ahmed Amin Fathalla (Egypt)
• Mr. Jose Manuel Santos Pais (Portugal)

CRC

Elections for the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) were held in New York on June 30, 2016.  Five new members and four existing members were elected.  There was a net gain of one more woman member so the gender ratio becomes 10 women and 8 men (previously it was 9 women and 9 men). 

Newly elected:

• Mr. Cephas Lumina (Zambia)
• Ms. Mikiko Otani (Japan)
• Mr. Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reyna (Uruguay)
• Ms. Ann Marie Skelton (South Africa)
• Ms. Velina Todorova (Bulgaria)

Re-elected:

• Ms. Amal Salman Aldoseri (Bahrain)
• Ms. Olga A. Khazova (Russian Federation)
• Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur (Ethiopia)
• Ms. Renate Winter (Austria)

Gender balance

As noted in the above summaries, gender balance has remained essentially the same after these five elections, although one treaty body (CRPD) has worsened considerably, one (CEDAW) has stayed the same (unbalanced), and three have improved their gender balance slightly. Here is a table showing the data: 

Treaty body	women	percent	comment	last election
CRPD	1 of 18	6%	under balanced	June 2016
CED	2 of 10	20%	under balanced	June 2015
CESC	5 of 18	28%	under balanced	April 2016
CMW	5 of 14	36%	under balanced	June 2015
CERD	7 of 18	39%	under balanced	June 2015
CAT	4 of 10	40%	under balanced	Oct 2015
CCPR	8 of 18	44%		June 2016
SPT	13 of 25	52%		Oct 2014
CRC	10 of 18	56%		June 2016
CEDAW	22 of 23	96%	overbalanced	June 2016
TOTAL	77 of 172	45%

*The total ratio remained the same but CRPD got worse, CEDAW stayed the same and the others got slightly better. Since CEDAW has an overbalance of women (96%), it brings the overall average up (to 45%). When you remove CEDAW from the count the system-wide average becomes 37%.  

Reporting compliance

Another interesting analysis is to look at the reporting compliance of states who nominate experts from their country to serve on one or more of these Committees.  Of the 38 countries who nominated one or more candidates who won a seat in these particular elections: 

• 30 or 79% were overdue in submitting one or more reports under the treaty instruments (in other words, only 8 countries were up to date on all reports owed under the treaty body system when these candidates were nominated for election)
• eight (8) countries (21%) were overdue in submitting their current report to the particular treaty body whose election was at issue -- and this included countries that were 10 years, 12 years, 13 years and 21 years overdue in submitting their current report!

Should countries who are this late in submitting their own reports to these Committees be permitted to nominate candidates in the elections process? Do states who vote on these candidates know about these reporting compliance figures when they vote? Would more transparency in these figures help to ensure better reporting compliance? 

Some discussion of these issues would seem appropriate as part of the treaty body strengthening process, in light of the generally held view that the elections process should be strengthened and improved, and that reporting compliance also needs to be improved. 

Conclusion

With five of six elections now complete in 2016, analysis of the results can begin. In determining what type of treaty body system we want, the election of members matters. The goals should include good gender balance and highly qualified candidates.  It is submitted that evaluating the reporting compliance record of states who nominate candidates is also fair game.