Date: Mon Oct 09 2006 - 09:21:11 AST
WUNRN
http://www.wunrn.com
MANUAL OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS SPECIAL PROCEDURES IS ATTACHED.
Website Link to Thematic Mandates of UN Special Procedures:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/themes.htm
Examples of Thematic Mandates with specific links to GENDER:
Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences
Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Especially in Women and
Children
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Special Rapporteur on the Rght to Education
Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an
Adequate Standard of Living
____________________________________________________________________________
_
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/manual.htm
Important: Please click website Link to access subsite references.
English | Español | Français | | |
Field Activities Issues International Law Human
Rights Bodies About OHCHR
Home > Human Rights Bodies > Special Procedures > Manual
Special Procedures
Introduction
Mandates
Country mandates
Thematic mandates
Activities
Individual complaints
Country visits
Annual Reports
Crosscutting themes
Annual Meeting
Press Releases
Enhancing the effectiveness of Special Procedures
Seminar on "Enhancing the effectiveness of special
procedures of the CHR" 12-13 October 2005
Reform agenda
Strengthening Special Procedures: the way forward
Links
Commission on Human Rights
Manual of the United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures
This Manual aims to provide guidance to the mandate-holders
appointed under the various United Nations human rights Special Procedures.
It also seeks to facilitate a better understanding of their work by all
other stakeholders in the process. The Manual endeavours to reflect good
practices and to assist the mandate-holders in their efforts to promote and
protect human rights. It does so in light of the relevant mandates by which
the various Special Procedures have been established and of the overall
mandate given to the Human Rights Council in General Assembly resolution
60/251.
This Manual was originally adopted at the 6 th Annual Meeting of
Special Procedures mandate-holders in 1999. Since that time it has been
revised to reflect the changing structure of the United Nations human rights
machinery, new developments in relation to mandates, and the evolving
working methods of the mandate-holders. It is subject to periodic review and
updating by the mandate-holders. They are responsible for its content and
for its revision.
At their 13th Annual Meeting, in June 2006, the mandate-holders
reaffirmed the importance of working in a consultative and transparent way
and agreed to invite comments on the draft from Governments, civil society
organizations, independent experts and all other stake holders.
Comments may be sent to the following e-mail address
spmanual@ohchr.org by 31 December 2006. Comments will be posted on this
web-site.
The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures will revise the
Manual in light of the comments received, consult further with all
mandate-holders, and present a final draft for consideration and approval by
the mandate-holders at their 14th annual meeting, which is tentatively
scheduled to take place in June 2007.
______________________________________________________________________
______
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/index.htm
Important: Please click website Link to access subsite references.
Special Procedures assumed by the Human Rights Council
NEW: Manual of the United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures
English -| Français - | Español -
NEW: Report of the 13th Annual Meeting of Special Procedures,
19-23 June 2006 (advanced unedited version)
“Special procedures” is the general name given to the mechanisms established
by the Commission on Human Rights to address either specific country
situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Currently, there
are 28 thematic and 13 country mandates in place. The Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights provides these mechanisms with personnel and
logistical assistance to aid them in the discharge of their mandates.
Although the mandates given to special procedure mechanisms vary, they
usually are to examine, monitor, advise, and publicly report on human rights
situations in specific countries or territories, known as country mandates,
or on major phenomena of human rights violations worldwide, known as
thematic mandates. Various activities can be undertaken by special
procedures, including responding to individual complaints, conducting
studies, providing advice on technical cooperation, and engaging in general
promotional activities.
Special procedures are either an individual (called “Special Rapporteur”,
“Special Representative of the Secretary-General”, “Representative of the
Secretary-General”, “Representative of the Commission on Human Rights” or
“Independent Expert”) or a working group usually composed of five members.
The mandates of the special procedures are established and defined by the
resolution creating them. Mandate-holders of the special procedures serve in
their personal capacity, and do not receive salaries or any other financial
retribution for their work. The independent status of the mandate-holders is
crucial in order to be able to fulfill their functions in all impartiality.
(See Fact sheet N.27)
..................................
_________________________________________________________________
See website Link for Full UN Press Release.
Human Rights Council Suspends Second Session Until 27 November
http://www.ohchr.org/english/press/hrc/index.htm
Excerpt from Full Release.
............................................
Over the past three weeks, the Council addressed a wide range of issues,
hearing from the thematic Special Procedures on the following topics: racism
and racial discrimination, people of African descent, migrants, internally
displaced persons, minorities, indigenous peoples, extrajudicial and summary
executions, enforced disappearances, children in armed conflict, gender
issues and the status of women, violence against women, trafficking in
persons, torture, arbitrary detention, the independence of judges, freedom
of religion and belief, freedom of expression, human rights defenders, the
right to health, toxic and dangerous products and waste, housing, food,
poverty, sale of children, economic and structural reform, mercenaries,
education, transnational corporations, and human rights and
counter-terrorism measures.
The Council also considered the reports of country-specific Special
Rapporteurs and Experts, including on Belarus, Somalia, Cuba, the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, Cambodia, Haiti, Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Sudan and
Liberia.
The Council heard a presentation of the joint report by the Special
Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, on the right
of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health, and on adequate housing, and of the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of
internally-displaced persons, on their mission to Lebanon and Israel. This
was accompanied by a report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food
on his mission to Lebanon.
After the Experts presented their reports, the Council held an interactive
dialogue with each of them, with the participation of Member States,
observer States and non-governmental organizations.
A series of reports were presented to the Council by the High Commissioner
for Human Rights on the situation in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Colombia,
Guatemala, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Uganda. The report of
the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was also
considered by Member States in the context of a debate with the Chairman of
the Sub-Commission.
The follow-up of decisions and resolutions taken at the first session and
during the first and second special sessions were discussed during the
session, and a follow-up report by the Special Rapporteur on the situation
of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 was also
presented.
The Council also heard the progress report of the intersessional open-ended
intergovernmental Working Group which it established to develop the
modalities of the Universal Periodic Review mechanism; and the progress
report of the Working Group on the implementation of operative paragraph 6
of General Assembly resolution A/60/251 to review, and where necessary
improve and rationalize, all mandates of its Special Procedures, expert
advice, and a complaint procedure inherited from the former Commission on
Human Rights, and this within one year. In this regard, the Council adopted
a generic text on mechanisms and mandates.
.............................................................
Full Release: http://www.ohchr.org/english/press/hrc/index.htm
Received on Mon Oct 9 09:28:36 2006
