3 UN Human Rights Machinery

Dr. Vesselin Popovski

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Learning Outcomes

After completing this chapter, readers should be able to understand:

  • The role of the principal organs of the UN with regard of human rights.
  • The role and interaction of various UN offices dealing with specific human rights issues.
  • The framework of legal treaties and conventions composing the international human rights law.
  • The effectiveness and gaps in the UN human rights machinery to protect, promote and defend human rights;

Introduction

UN Human Rights Machinery

This module introduces the UN machinery for protection and promotion of human rights. It lists and explains the functions of various UN organs (including the principal organs) and UN offices responsible for protecting human rights. It lists the legal documents and conventions adopted in building up the international human rights law. The module helps students to orient themselves in the large spectrum of UN mechanisms dealing with human rights and how this sophisticated machinery operates.

The International Bill of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) was the first legal document protecting universal human rights. Together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the three instruments form the so-called International Bill of Human Rights. A series of international human rights treaties and other instruments adopted since 1945 have expanded the body of international human rights law.

Human Rights Treaty Bodies

The human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. Each State party to a treaty has an obligation to take steps to ensure that everyone in the State can enjoy the rights set out in the treaty.

There are ten human rights treaty bodies composed of independent experts of recognized competence in human rights, who are nominated and elected for fixed renewable terms of four years by State parties.

  • The Human Rights Committee (CCPR) monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and its optional protocols;
  • The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966);
  • The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965);
  • The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) and its optional protocol (1999);
  • The Committee against Torture (CAT) monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (1984);
  • The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and its optional protocols (2000);
  • The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990);
  • The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006);
  • The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) monitors implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2006);
  • The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) established pursuant to the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture (2002) visits places of detention in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The treaty bodies meet in Geneva, Switzerland. All the treaty bodies receive support from the Human Rights Treaties Division of OHCHR in Geneva.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was established by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 1993 in the wake of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. It has a major responsibility in the UN system for the promotion and protection of human rights. The office supports the human rights components of peacekeeping missions in many countries, and has many country and regional offices and centres.

The office is headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who co-ordinates human rights activities throughout the UN System and supervises the Human Rights Council in Geneva,  Switzerland. The High Commissioner regularly comments on human rights situations in many parts of the world and has the authority to investigate situations and issue reports on them.

The current High Commissioner is Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad who assumed his functions on 1 September 2014, following the General Assembly’s approval on 16 June 2014 of his appointment by the United Nations Secretary-General. He is the seventh individual to lead the Office and the first Asian, Muslim and Arab to do so.

The mandate of the Office derives from Articles 1, 13 and 55 of the UN Charter, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993, by which the Assembly established the post. In connection with the programme for reform of the United Nations (A/51/950, para. 79), the OHCHR and the Centre for Human Rights were consolidated into a single Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 15 September 1997.

Human Rights Council (Commission on Human Rights till 2006)

On 15 March 2006, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The UNCHR was established in 1946 by ECOSOC, under Article 68 of the UN Charter, and was one of the first two functional commissions set up within the UN structure, the other being the Commission on the Status of Women. It met for the first time in January 1947 and established a drafting committee for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted on 10 December 1948. The Commission went through two distinct phases: from 1947 to 1967 it concentrated on promoting human rights and helping states to deliberate and draft treaties, but it did not investigate or condemn violators. Since 1967 the Commission became more interventionist in the context of the decolonization of many countries in Africa and Asia, who pressed for a more active UN policy on human rights issues, especially in light of massive violations, for example in South Africa. The new policy meant that the Commission would also investigate and produce reports on violations.

To allow better fulfilment of this new policy, other changes took place. In the 1970s, the UNCHR initiated the creation of geographically-oriented workgroups. These groups would specialize on the investigation of violations on a given region or even a single country (for example Chile after 1973). In the 1980s the UNCHR started creation of theme-oriented workgroups, which would specialize in specific types of abuses.After 1993 the Commission it was assisted in its work by the OHCHR. But none of these measures were able to make the UNCHR as effective as desired, mainly because of the presence of human rights violators and the politicization of the body. During the following years until its extinction, the UNCHR became increasingly discredited among activists and governments alike. In his March 2005 report entitled “In Larger Freedom,” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recognized that the Commission’s “declining credibility and professionalism . . . cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations’ system as a whole.” He recommended that it be replaced with a smaller Human Rights Council, comprised of states with “a solid record of commitment to the highest human rights standards.”

In September 2005, leaders at the UN World Summit resolved to create such a council, but they left its contours undefined. For the six months that followed, member states engaged in a difficult negotiation process to hammer out the details of this new body. There were serious disagreements, most significantly over whether there should be criteria for Council membership, and whether the Council should be able to address human rights situations in individual countries. The result of the negotiations was a compromise text submitted to the UN General Assembly by its President, Jan Eliasson, in late February of 2006.

The Commission held its final meeting in Geneva on March 27, 2006 and was replaced by the UNHRC, created by Resolution 60/251 of the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006. In electing UNHRC members, the resolution provides that General Assembly members “shall take into account the candidates’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto.” An additional consideration should be whether the given candidate country can meet the obligations of Council membership, which include (a) “to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” and (b) to “fully cooperate with the Council.”

The HRC has 47 seats, divided among the UN’s five regional groups as follows: 13 from the African Group, 13 from the Asian Group, 6 from the Eastern European Group, 8 from the Latin American and Caribbean Group, and 7 from the Western European and Others Group.

The resolution creating the Council gave it the following main responsibilities:

  • To promote universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner;
  • To address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations;
  • To promote effective coordinaton and mainstreaming of human rights within the United Nations system;
  • To promote human rights education and learning, advisory services, technical assistance, and capacity building;
  • To serve as a forum for dialogue on thematic issues on all human rights;
  • To make recommendations to the UN General Assembly for the further development of international law in the field of human rights
  • To promote the full implementation by UN member states of their human rights obligations and commitments;
  • To undertake a univeral periodic review of every UN member state’s fulfillment of its human rights obligations and commitments; and
  • To contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, toward the prevention of human rights violations and respond promptly to human rights emergencies.

Special Procedures

The special procedures of the UNHRC are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. The system of Special Procedures is a central element of the human rights machinery and covers all human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political, and social.

As of 1 August 2017, there are 44 thematic and 12 country mandates. With the support of the OHCHR, the special procedures undertake country visits; act on individual cases and concerns of a broader, structural nature by sending communications to States and others in which they bring alleged violations or abuses to their attention; conduct thematic studies and convene expert consultations, contribute to the development of international human rights standards, engage in advocacy, raise public awareness, and provide advice for technical cooperation. Special procedures report annually to the UNHRC; the majority of the mandates also reports to the General Assembly. Their tasks are defined in the resolutions creating or extending their mandates.

Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect

The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide acts as a catalyst to raise awareness of the causes and dynamics of genocide, to alert relevant actors where there is a risk of genocide, and to advocate and mobilize for appropriate action; the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect leads the conceptual, political, institutional and operational development of the Responsibility to Protect.

UN Principal Organs and Other UN Offices and Bodies Responsible for Protecting Human Rights

Different intergovernmental bodies and interdepartmental mechanisms based at the UN headquarters in New York, as well as the United Nations Secretary-General, address a range of human rights issues. The General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and their subsidiary organs make policy decisions and recommendations to Member States, the United Nations system and other actors. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, has a mandate to discuss indigenous issues, including human rights. The OHCHR interacts with and provides advice and support on human rights issues to these bodies and mechanisms. It also works to mainstream human rights in all areas of work of the Organization, including development, peace and security, peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs. Human rights issues are also addressed in the context of the post-conflict UN peacebuilding support activities.

Third Committee of the General Assembly

The General Assembly’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) examines a range of issues, including human rights questions. The Committee also discusses questions relating to the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and the right to self-determination. The Committee also addresses important social development questions.

Security Council

The UN Security Council, at times, deals with grave human rights violations in conflict areas. The UN Charter gives the Security Council the authority to investigate and mediate, dispatch a mission, appoint special envoys, or request the Secretary-General to use his good offices. The Security Council may issue a ceasefire directive, dispatch military observers or a peacekeeping force. If this does not work, the Security Council can opt for enforcement measures, such as economic sanctions, arms embargos, financial penalties and restrictions, travel bans, the severance of diplomatic relations, a blockade, or even collective military action.

The UN Security Council in the late 1960s and 1970s adopted resolutions condemning the violations of human rights in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa and imposed sanctions. In March 1991 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 688 addressing the violations of human rights of the Kurdish minority in Northern Iraq. Many resolutions on the situation in Somalia, Liberia, Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda etc. since then expressed concerns with massive violations of human rights and adopted measures under Chapter VII to stop the violations.

Secretary-General

The Secretary-General appoints special representatives, who advocate against major human rights violations:

  • Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
  • Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
  • Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children

The ‘Human Rights Up Front’ Initiative is an initiative by the UN Secretary-General to ensure the UN system takes early and effective action, as mandated by the Charter and UN resolutions, to prevent or respond to serious and large-scale violations of human rights or international humanitarian law. The initiative underlines a shared responsibility among the various UN entities to work together to address such violations. HRuF seeks to achieve this by effecting change at three levels: cultural, operational and political. These changes are gradually transforming the way the UN understands its responsibilities and implements them. The initiative has been progressively rolled-out since late 2013. Through various presentations, letters and policy documents, the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General have presented HRuF to the General Assembly and to staff and UN system leaders.

UN Peace Operations

Many United Nations peacekeeping operations and political and peacebuidling missions also include the human rights-related mandates aimed at contributing to the protection and promotion of human rights through both immediate and long-term action; empowering the population to assert and claim their human rights; and enabling State and other national institutions to implement their human rights obligations and uphold the rule of law. Human rights teams on the ground work in close cooperation and coordination with other civilian and uniformed components of peace operations, in particular, in relation to the protection of civilians; addressing conflict-related sexual violence and violations against children; and strengthening respect for human rights and the rule of law through legal and judicial reform, security sector reform and prison system reform.

Commission on the Status of Women

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the advancement of women. UN Women, established in 2010, serves as its Secretariat.

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Reference

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