HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE OPENS ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD SESSION
The Human Rights Committee this morning opened its one hundred and third session, adopting its agenda and programme of work and hearing an address by Wan-Hea Lee, Officer-in-charge of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The Committee also heard the report of the Working Group on Communications, and from Kyle Ward, Chief of Programme Support Management Services of OHCHR, and discussed budgetary concerns and working methods.
In opening remarks Ms. Lee updated Committee members on the outcomes of the eighteenth session of the Human Rights Council, including the adoption of a resolution on the promotion and protection of freedom of expression on the Internet. The Committee’s newly adopted General Comment on article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on freedom of opinion and expression would no doubt be a valuable source of reference for the ensuing panel discussion. The Council also considered a report on the death penalty by the Secretary-General and adopted a resolution requesting him to continue to submit to the Human Rights Council a yearly supplement to his quinquennial report on capital punishment, paying particular attention to the imposition of the death penalty on persons younger than 18 at the time of the offence, on pregnant women and on persons with mental or intellectual disabilities. Ms. Lee referred to the third regional expert workshop on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred, to the United Nations greening policy, and also the crucial role in the treaty body strengthening process the Committee was playing, including a formal meeting planned during the session with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Secretariat support and budget allocations were also discussed, with budgetary pressures creating a greater need for a functional system whereby the resource needs for the work of the treaty bodies would be reviewed periodically, instead of relying on ad hoc requests.
Ms. Lee said that the hundred and third Human Rights Committee session would be another busy one with the consideration of five country situations, including one State party in the absence of a report, 20 individual communications under the Optional Protocol and follow-up reports to concluding observations and to Views. The Committee would also be adopting, for the first time, lists of issues prior to reporting on five States parties, as well as five lists of issues under the regular reporting procedure.
Regarding the report of the Working Group on Communications, Lazhari Bouzid, Rapporteur on Communications, reported briefly and said that the group found limits imposed by translation services – in particular word limits for documents - to be unacceptable and proposed they should be a subject of discussion in plenary.
During the meeting, the Committee also adopted its agenda and programme of work.
The Committee then continued in private to hear briefings on the situation of human rights in Iran by United Nations organizations, specialized agencies, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations. When the Committee resumes its work in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon it will begin consideration of the initial report of Iran (CCPR/C/IRN/3). The press release on Iran will be released at the end of the day on Tuesday, 18 October, after the Committee ends its review of the report, which will be held over two meetings.
Opening Address
WAN-HEA LEE, Officer-in-charge, Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, opened the session and first updated Committee members on the outcomes of the eighteenth session of the Human Rights Council, from 12 to 30 September. Numerous resolutions were adopted by the Council, including a resolution on the promotion and protection of freedom of expression on the Internet. According to that resolution, a panel discussion would be convened at its nineteenth session on the item, with a particular focus on the ways and means of improving its protection in accordance with international human rights law. The Committee’s newly adopted General Comment on article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on freedom of opinion and expression would no doubt be a valuable source of reference for such a discussion.
The Council also considered a report on the death penalty by the Secretary-General and adopted a resolution requesting him to continue to submit to the Human Rights Council a yearly supplement to his quinquennial report on capital punishment, paying particular attention to the imposition of the death penalty on persons younger than 18 at the time of the offence, on pregnant women and on persons with mental or intellectual disabilities.
Ms. Lee said the third regional expert workshop on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred, to explore legislative patterns, judicial practices and policies in that regard, took place in Bangkok between 6 and 7 July 2011. The Chairpersons participated in that meeting, during which many experts referred to the fact that insufficient ratification of international human rights instruments, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, was one of the challenges in the Asia-Pacific region to implementing that provision. The Experts also emphasized that existing anti-blasphemy laws in a number of countries in the region had negatively affected the human rights of religious minorities and their relationships within their own communities, as well as those with other religious communities. The last regional workshop in that series took place from 12 to 13 October in Santiago.
The Committee had played a crucial role in the treaty body strengthening process, and Ms. Lee was pleased to note that the Committee had organized a formal meeting with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Such meetings could only impact positively on the work of both Committees with respect to the substance of work on gender issues, as much as working methods. Ms. Lee also noted that the discussion commenced last session on improving collaboration with national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations would be continued during the current session.
Ms. Lee spoke about Secretariat support and budget limitations, which she said continued to have a negative impact on the organization of treaty body sessions. During the consultations with States parties in Sion last May the Committee learned for the first time the full resource requirements for the preparation of the documentation needed by treaty bodies. States parties were continuously confronted with ad hoc requests for additional resources by individual treaty bodies, and Ms. Lee believed that more and more States were beginning to see that in the absence of comprehensive solutions those ad hoc requests would become a permanent feature of the treaty system. A functional system whereby the resource needs for the work of the treaty bodies would be reviewed periodically, instead of relying on ad hoc requests, was needed.
Concerning elections, Ms. Lee noted that two members had resigned at the last session and on 3 October 2011 the Secretary-General declared the two seats vacant and invited States parties to submit nominations for elections, which would be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 16 January 2012, and thus should be filled prior to the Committee’s session in New York next year. Ms. Lee welcomed the trend among the treaty bodies to implement the United Nations greening policy, including the extension of the extranet established prior to the last session to the petitions section. In addition, the Secretariat would make further suggestions on reducing the amount of paper that would be thrown away at the end of the session. Ms. Lee was hopeful that great rationalization of documentation would lead to the same positive results seen with other bodies.
The one hundred and third Human Rights Committee session would be another busy one with the consideration of five country situations, including one State party in the absence of a report, 20 individual communications under the Optional Protocol and follow-up reports to concluding observations and to Views. The Committee would also be adopting, for the first time, lists of issues prior to reporting on five States parties, as well as five lists of issues under the regular reporting procedure. Ms. Lee wished the Committee a very successful and productive session.
Report of Working Group
LAZHARI BOUZID, Rapporteur on Communications, reported briefly on the recent Working Group on Communications, which had been held earlier in the year. The group found limits imposed by translation services – in particular word limits for documents - to be unacceptable and proposed they should be a subject of discussion in plenary.
Address from Support Management Services
KYLE WARD, Chief of Programme Support Management Services, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, said he was glad he did not have all bad news to give today. However they were working at a time of extreme financial austerity, with the Organization seeing the reflection by the extraordinary constraints most Member States had. There had been enormous pressure to reduce the amount of resources being used. Human rights was a special case, in 2005 when the General Assembly decided the resources for the High Commissioner should be doubled it was a great and encouraging sign that Member State were taking on board human rights as the third pillar of the United Nations. However that still left them in a position where they were far behind the other two pillars: security, and peace and development. One pillar was somewhat shorter than the others.
Nevertheless financial proposals to the General Assembly for the coming biennium supported the competing demands of the various working groups of the Human Rights Council. Mr. Ward spoke widely about budget restrictions on travel, and the difficulties that caused for planning future meetings. The Organization was increasingly being asked to do more with less, at an unfortunate time when the United States dollar had reduced so much against the Swiss franc, an exchange rate issue which had had impact across the board at the United Nations in Geneva. The many new resource requirements arising from resolutions of the Human Rights Council and the new Conventions meant cuts had to be absorbed, and the three per cent reduction looked more like a ten per cent reduction. Positively the next budget for the Human Rights Committee represented a 23 per cent increase for the next biennium. Mr. Ward said he would soon travel to New York to defend the proposed budget to the Fifth Committee at the General Assembly.
Questions and Remarks by Committee Members
On the issue of travel, a Committee member pointed out that for example, nobody minded not travelling first class, it was not an essential part of their work. The member said he feared that in the future persons would look back on the United Nations and how it paralyzed itself by not funding basic operations, and that was a fear for the future of humanity.
Another Expert said they must bear in mind the impact of budget cuts on the actual work of the Committee. It was clear the proposed measures would have a negative impact on the Committee, which had built a prestigious reputation for itself over the past 30 years. States deserved high quality work by treaty bodies, and the Committee should produce high quality work for the victims of human rights violations.
A member made a point on the proposed word limits to documentation, and said the Committee had no desire to write lengthy texts, but occasionally it was necessary that a document be long. Paradoxically it was more expensive to be more concise, it took more time to go through repeated revisions as parties were providing more information, in order to bring a document within a word limit.
Response to Questions
KYLE WARD, Chief of Programme Support Management Services, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, said they were faced by a tyranny of the masses. The United Nations was the Member States, and the Secretariat merely supported Member States in implementing decisions that they took. All of the main Committees of the United Nations were all Member State bodies, but there was a lack of communication between Member State bodies in New York and in Geneva. The Secretariat was not in a position to establish priorities and had to be non-discriminatory in respect of all assignments received. The Secretariat was told time and again to absorb new costs into existing resources. Concerning word limits, that was not a decision taken by the administration; it was a result of decisions taken by the Committee on Conferences at the General Assembly.
For use of the information media; not an official record
CT11/017E