Annual meeting of the Special Procedures

Annual meeting of the Special Procedures

The ICJ, together with other NGOs, submitted four documents and oral statements to the 19th Annual Meeting of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.

From 11 to 15 June 2012, the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council will undertake its 19th Annual Meeting. On behalf of 22 non-governmental organisations, the ICJ addressed an open letter dated 1 June 2012 to the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures. Building on a Joint Statement produced following the 18th Annual Meeting in 2011, the letter welcomes some positive developments and initiatives, and provides comments or suggestions for improvement on the following topics:

  1. the communications reports of the Special Procedures;
  2. the handling of urgent appeals and individual communications;
  3. non-cooperation by States;
  4. reprisals against persons who cooperate with the UN;
  5. the OHCHR compilation of UN information for the Universal Periodic Review;
  6. NGO briefings conducted in the margins of Human Rights Council sessions; and
  7. the Special Procedures “facts and figures”.

In an oral statement during the Annual Meeting, the ICJ also drew attention to the recently elaborated Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

 

ICJ submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of human rights violations in Iran

ICJ submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of human rights violations in Iran

The ICJ addressed the persistent failure of Iran to meet many of its human rights obligations and the wave of fresh human rights violations in the country in the aftermath of the June 2009 disputed presidential election.

The ICJ urged Iran to refrain from torture and ill treatment, end violations of freedoms of expression and assembly, abolish the death penalty and co-operate with international human rights mechanisms, including the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the treaty bodies.

Iran-UPR-advocacy-2009 (full text, PDF)

7th session of the UN Human Rights Council: ICJ intervention on the report of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar

7th session of the UN Human Rights Council: ICJ intervention on the report of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar

The ICJ in its intervention of 13 March 2008 deplored the Myanmar’s Government continuous gross violations of human rights, in manifest disregard of the Council’s repeated calls for reform and of the UN Special Rapporteur’s recommendations.

There are currently 1,850 political prisoners detained in Myanmar. The ICJ urged the Myanmar’s Government to receive the Special Rapporteur, who has not been allowed to return to the country, and to provide for an adequate investigation of the crackdown on peaceful protesters in September 2007.

Myanmar-HRCouncil Special Rapporteur-non-judicial submission-2008 (full text, PDF)

The application of procedures and mechanisms of the Human Rights Council

The application of procedures and mechanisms of the Human Rights Council

UN-01The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has compiled a document on the application of procedures and mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Council.

It outlines its interpretation of the way in which the Council’s institutional architecture must function in order to ensure the Council can fulfill its mandate to protect and promote human rights worldwide.

Application HRC-Occasional Papers-2007 (full text, PDF)

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