COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE OPENS THIRTY-FIFTH SESSION
The Committee against Torture this morning opened its thirty-fifth session by hearing an address by a Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and adopting its agenda and programme of work.
Jane Connors, Team Leader of the Treaties and Follow-up Unit of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the Declaration adopted at the New York Summit in September 2005 had recognised that States had the responsibility to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and explicitly stated that the international community had the responsibility to use diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means to help States protect their own populations. It also referred to treaty bodies in a commitment to improve their effectiveness, including through more timely reporting, improved and streamlined reporting procedures, and technical assistance to States.
At the last session, the Committee had learned about the broader reform processes proposed in connection with the Secretary-General’s agenda for reform. In the report of the High Commissioner, which was provided to the Committee in May, the vision for the Office and the steps necessary to strengthen the human rights treaty body system, which was one of the Organization’s great achievements, were laid out. The role of the Committee Experts in the reform process was essential, as they had the expertise and insight that was needed, Ms. Connors said. It was the hope and firm commitment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that with these contributions, and the Experts’ inputs and unique enterprise, the reform engaged would reach its main goal, namely better protection of rights holders through a more rational treaty monitoring system.
Today, as rising security concerns had led many peoples and countries to reverse what had been believed to be achieved long ago, universal acceptance that torture was unacceptable, it was fortunate that these challenges could be faced with international instruments that criminalized torture, prohibited the creation of circumstances which could and often led to torture, and established increasingly active monitoring mechanisms. In this context, the work of the Committee had never been more important, and it should strive to make it as effective and efficient as possible.
The Committee also adopted its agenda and programme of work and discussed organizational and other matters, after hearing the views of Committee Experts on various aspects of the lists of issues on country reports scheduled to be considered during the current session. Committee Experts in particular addressed last minute changes. The Committee also discussed the possibility of holding a thematic discussion at some point during the session, with a theme that remained to be determined, as well as the scheduling of a debate on a General Comment.
Due to a request by the State party, the Committee also decided to move the consideration of the report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the morning of Friday 18 November.
Over the course of its three-week session, the Committee will review measures undertaken by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Austria, and France to prevent and punish acts of torture. These countries are among the 140 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will meet in private with representatives of non-governmental organizations to discuss the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 8 November, it is scheduled to take up the initial report of Bosnia and Herzegovina (document CAT/C/21/Add.6).
Statement by Representative of Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights
JANE CONNORS, Team Leader of the Treaties and Follow-up Unit of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Heads of States and Governments, who had gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York in September to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Organization, had adopted the 2005 World Summit Outcome Declaration, in which they declared that the protection of human rights was a central purpose of the United Nations, and that without human rights there could be no security and no development. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the declaration was its reference to the responsibility to protect. The document recognised that States had the responsibility to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and explicitly stated that the international community had the responsibility to use diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means to help States protect their own populations. It also underlined that States would be prepared to take collective actions through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter. The declaration also reaffirmed the importance of protecting groups, and world leaders also resolved to create a Human Rights Council whose mandate, modalities, functions, size, composition and membership would be established by the General Assembly. Finally, it specifically referred to treaty bodies in a commitment to improve their effectiveness, including through more timely reporting, improved and streamlined reporting procedures, and technical assistance to States.
Ms. Connors said that at the last session, the Committee had learned about the broader reform processes proposed in connection with the Secretary-General’s agenda for reform. In the report of the High Commissioner, which was provided to the Committee in May, the vision for the Office and the steps necessary to strengthen the human rights treaty body system, which was one of the Organization’s great achievements, were laid out. This Plan of Action acknowledged the challenges facing the system, including delayed and inadequate reporting, as well as resource constraints. It also pointed out that a considerably enhanced programme of country engagement would assist in ensuring that the treaty body process was better supported and more relevant to processes of human rights reform at the national level. Streamlining reporting requirements and harmonising working methods had been on the agenda of the Committees for some time, and were the subject of discussions at the Fourth Inter-Committee meeting and the seventeenth meeting of human rights treaty body chairpersons, and pursuant to these meetings, a draft on harmonised reporting guidelines would be submitted to the consideration of the Committees.
Other aspects of the Plan of Action had also been discussed in the meetings, and particular attention had been devoted to the High Commissioner’s proposals for a unified standing treaty body. The role of the Committee Experts in the reform process was essential, as they had the expertise and insight that was needed, Ms. Connors said. It was the hope and firm commitment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that with these contributions, and the Experts’ inputs and unique enterprise, the reform engaged would reach its main goal, namely better protection of rights holders through a more rational treaty monitoring system.
The text of a new Draft Convention on the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance had been approved by the Working Group on that project, with a new, independent monitoring mechanism, Ms. Connors said. The Draft Convention represented significant progress in international law for the protection of persons from enforced disappearance, in particular by defining enforced disappearance for the first time in a treaty. Within the Office, efforts had continued to make efforts to help raise awareness of the human rights treaty body system among non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, and the media. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights continued to advance the treaty system through its traditional form of engagement, by promoting ratification of the treaties as well as encouraging reporting thereto. At the same time, Headquarters continued to implement a major programme that worked to help national actors make best use of the treaty monitoring process prior to sessions.
The Committee had wisely decided to extend the present session to three weeks to address part of the backlog of reports, Ms. Connors said, and as a result faced the onerous task of examining seven State party reports, all of which were complex countries and most of which were hosts to major Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights operations. The present session would help to reduce part of the backlog, however, it would clearly need more dedicated attention. The time gap would increase if the Committee continued the practice of selecting some reports as having priority over others. Under the circumstances, the Committee might wish to reconsider the modalities of the work to be undertaken by the Working Group. It might wish to consider ways to make best use of the time at its disposal, including, the possibility of temporarily transforming the Working Groups into an additional week of plenary meetings, as was the case at this session, until the backlog was cleared.
Today, as rising security concerns had led many people and countries to reverse what had been believed to be achieved long ago, universal acceptance that torture was unacceptable, it was fortunate that these challenges could be faced with international instruments that criminalized torture, prohibited the creation of circumstances which could and often led to torture, and established increasingly active monitoring mechanisms. In this context, the work of the Committee had never been more important, and it should strive to make it as effective and efficient as possible. The High Commissioner would be eager to hear of the progress of the session, and any requirements the Committee may have to make it as effective as possible.
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