Strengthening support to and enhancing the effectiveness of the treaty bodies : . 13/06/2002.

Convention Abbreviation:
Fourteenth meeting of chairpersons
of the human rights treaty bodies
Geneva, 24-26 June 2002
Item 8 of the provisional agenda


STRENGTHENING SUPPORT TO AND ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE TREATY BODIES

Informal note on the deliberations of the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-eighth session on agenda item 18 (a) entitled "Effective functioning of the human rights mechanisms: treaty bodies"


Background

1. Item 18 of the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights, entitled "Effective functioning of human rights mechanisms", is divided in three sub-items: (a) Treaty bodies; (b) National institutions and regional arrangements; and (c) Adaptation and strengthening of the United Nations machinery for human rights. The present note reflects only the points which were discussed at the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on Human Rights regarding item 18 (a).

2. At its fifty-eighth session, the Commission considered agenda item 18, concurrently with items 16, 17, 19 and 20, at its 46th, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 56th and 57th meetings, on 23, 24, 25 and 26 April 2002. No particular time was reserved for the discussion of sub-item 18 (a).


3. The Commission had before it a report of the Secretary-General (E/CN.4/2002/110). The following issues were highlighted by the report:

(a) The expansion of the work of the treaty bodies, owing to the fact that more States
ratify more treaties, as well as to the fact that treaty bodies are embarking on additional activities (e.g. new reporting requirements relating to the recently adopted Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child);

(b) The increase in the number of initial reports submitted to the treaty bodies 20-60 initial reports were submitted in 2000, depending on the treaty body, while as of 30 November 2001, 15-50 initial reports had been submitted;

(c) The continuation of training workshops on reporting under the treaties;

(d) The newly created Petitions Unit to deal with individual communications;

(e) The fully operational database for communications, which enables retrieval of
information relevant to individual cases as well as the full text of public documents;(f) The need to update and translate the current version of the Manual on Human
Rights Reporting which is used extensively by the United Nations in training programmes relating to reporting under the treaties;(g) The conclusion reached by independent studies prepared on the treaty system that
the current amount of secretariat resources is not sufficient to deal with the growing workloads faced by the treaty bodies.

Summary of statements

4. Canada, on behalf of Australia, Chile, New Zealand and Norway, was the only speaker to address specifically agenda item 18 (a). In its statement, Canada mentioned that the most serious problems facing the treaty body system are: (a) the backlog and delays in the consideration of periodic reports and communications by the treaty bodies; (b) overdue reports or non-reporting by States; (c) the lack of adequate resources to service the treaty bodies.

5. In particular, Canada mentioned that:

(a) It is necessary to reduce the burden of reporting on States by streamlining periodic
reporting requirements and reducing duplication. Reports should be shorter and more focused, concentrating on areas of interest and concern already identified by the treaty bodies and other special mechanisms;

(b) Treaty bodies should continue their efforts to improve the efficiency of their
working methods and the productiveness of their dialogue with States;

(c) There is a need to ensure that treaty bodies are properly supported by the
Secretariat in their work. It is important that sufficient regular budget resources be allocated to this core function of OHCHR;

(d) It is important to expand and better coordinate technical assistance among States
and multilateral and regional agencies to help States, especially smaller ones, to fully understand their obligations, including that of reporting to the treaty bodies.

6. The representative of the International Labour Office (ILO) mentioned that several of the United Nations human rights treaties foresee a role of the specialized agencies as regards the monitoring of progress made in their implementation. ILO cooperates actively with the committees set up to monitor the implementation of these treaties, providing information from the operation of its own supervisory mechanisms. Reference was also made to the fact that ILO is present at the meetings of the treaty bodies and that it contributes to the elaboration of general comments by the treaty bodies. In this context, ILO welcomed the integration of a gender perspective into the work of the treaty bodies. Furthermore, ILO reaffirmed its commitment to contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights through close cooperation with the United Nations treaty bodies. To this end, it has committed itself to bringing, on a more systematic basis, the concluding observation of the treaty bodies to the attention of its standards specialists in the field.

7. The representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated that in June 2001 a follow-up meeting on human rights approaches to women's health In 1996, UNFPA, jointly with OHCHR and the Division for the Advancement of Women of the Secretariat, organized a meeting on human rights approaches to women's health with a view to helping the treaty bodies interpret and apply human rights standards to issues relating to women's health, particularly reproductive and sexual health. had been held to assess progress and elaborate further measures and strategies to be used by the treaty bodies. One of the recommendations that had emerged from the meeting - that members of the treaty bodies should be given briefings on reproductive and sexual health - had already been implemented.

8. In its statement, the non-governmental organization International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education said that the Commission should request the treaty bodies to include human rights education on their agendas for the remainder of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education so that recommendations could be formulated on the issue.

Action by the Commission

9. On 26 April 2002 the Commission on Human Rights adopted, without a vote, resolution 2002/85 entitled "Effective implementation of international instruments on human rights, including reporting obligations under international instruments on human rights". In that resolution, the Commission on Human Rights:

(a) Encouraged each treaty bodies to give careful consideration to the relevant conclusions
and recommendations contained in the reports of the meetings of the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies and, in this context, encouraged enhanced cooperation and coordination between the human rights treaty bodies (para. 2);

(b) Emphasized the need to ensure financing and adequate staff and information resources for
the operations of the human rights treaty bodies, particularly in view of the additional demands placed on the system by the new reporting requirements and the increasing number of ratifications (para. 5);

(c) Requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to take the necessary measures to ensure the translation into all the official United Nations languages of the revised Manual on Human Rights Reporting (para. 15).


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