Reform of the UN human rights treaty body system: Locating the dublin statement

Human Rights Law Review

Volumn 10, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 319-335

  O'Flaherty, Michael ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 77953891427     PISSN: 14617781     EISSN: 17441021     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/hrlr/ngq009     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. The process was facilitated by the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre, with the financial support of the Government of Ireland. The full report is available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hrlc/documents/specialevents/dublinstatement.pdf [last accessed 24 March 2010]. The Statement is reprinted in 2010 Netherlands Human Rights Quarterly 116. Some elements of the present text may also be found in the introduction to that reprint.
2. See O'Flaherty and O'Brien, 'Reform of UN Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Bodies: A Critique of the Concept Paper on the High Commissioner's Proposal for a Unified Standing Treaty Body', (2007) 7 Human Rights Law Review 141.
3. These are the Committee Against Torture (CAT); the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR); the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD); the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW); the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC); the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD); the Human Rights Committee (HRC); and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT).
4. GA Res. 61/177, 20 December 2006, A/RES/61/177;14 IHRR 582 (2007). Article 26 provides for the establishment of a Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
5. Pursuant to HRC Res. 11/1, 21 April 2009, A/HRC/11/1, the first session of an Open-ended Working Group to explore the possibility of elaborating an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child was held in Geneva from 14 to 18 December 2009. Submissions and further documentation are available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/OEWG/index.htm [last accessed 24 March 2010]. 7 The Sub-committee on Torture.
6. Statement in Dublin by Ms Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 19 December 2009, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=9642&LangID=E [last accessed 24 March 2010].
7. The Concept Paper on the High Commissioner's Proposal for a Unified Standing Treaty Body, 14 March 2006, HRI/MC/2006/2 at paras 16-26.
8. Many such issues were highlighted at an Expert Workshop on Reform of UN Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Bodies, convened by the Human Rights Law Centre of the University of Nottingham on 11-12 February 2006.
9. For more detail, see the report of the Workshop's proceedings ('Nottingham Report') particularly at 4-7, available at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/law/hrlc/documents/publications/treatymonitoringbodies2006workshopreport.pdf [last accessed 24 March 2010].
10. Exploring Complementarity Between the Treaty Monitoring Bodies and the Universal Periodic Review Process, Side-event Panel Discussions Report by Ireland and the Netherlands, 20 March 2009, A/HRC/12/G/.
11. See Ramcharan (ed.),'The Protection Methods of Human Rights Field Offices', in Human Rights Protection in the Field (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2006) 141.
12. Various resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council and the former UN Commission on Human Rights have been concerned with the issue of regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights and their relationships with the UN treaty bodies. Amongst these are Commission on Human Rights Res. 1993/51, 9 March 1993; HRC Res. 6/20, 28 September 2007, A/HRC/6/20; and, more recently, HRC Res. 12/15, 1 October 2009, A/HRC/12/15.
13. Initial Report of the Secretary-General's Independent Expert, Mr Philip Alston, Effective Implementation of International Instruments on Human Rights, including Reporting Obligations Under International Instruments on Human Rights, 8 November 1989, A/44/668 ('Initial Report') at para. 175.
14. Bayefsky, The UN Human Rights Treaty System: Universality at the Crossroads (Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers, 2001) at xiii-xv.
15. Heyns and Viljoen,'The Impact of the United Nations Human Rights Treaties on the Domestic Level', (2001) 23 Human Rights Quarterly 483 at 488.
16. Strengthening the United Nations: An Agenda for Further Change, 9 September 2002, A/57/387 at paras 52-4.
17. Report of a Brainstorming Meeting on Reform of the Human Rights Treaty Body System, Malbun, Liechtenstein, 4-7 May 2003 ('Malbun Report'), 8 July 2003, A/58/123 Annex at para. 6.
18. In 2004, the OHCHR Secretariat prepared draft harmonised guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties: see Guidelines on an expanded core document and treaty-specific targeted reports and harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties, 9 June 2004, HRI/MC/2004/3. Subsequently, harmonisation on working methods has been a regular feature of inter-committee and chairpersons' meetings: see, for example, Report on the Implementation of Recommendations of the Seventh and Eighth Inter-Committee Meetings and the Twentieth Meeting of Chairpersons, 24 June 2009, HRI/MC/2009/2.
19. In response to the Report of the Secretary General,'In larger freedom: Towards development, security and human rights for all', 21 March 2005, A/59/2005, the High Commissioner set out her 'OHCHR Plan of Action: Protection and Empowerment' of May 2005, available at: www2.ohchr.org/english/planaction.pdf [last accessed 24 March 2010]. The High Commissioner's initial proposal for a 'unified standing treaty body' is presented at para. 147. 25 Concept Paper, supra n. 10.
20. See, for example, Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Annual Report, 19 August 2005, A/60/18 at paras 475-85.
21. NGO Group for the Convention on the rights of the Child, Statement to the Fifth Inter-Committee Meeting, 20 June 2006, available at: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=10875#reactions [last accessed 24 March 2010].
22. Johnstone,'Cynical Savings or Reasonable Reform? Reflections on a Single Unified UN Human Rights Treaty Body', (2007) 7 Human Rights Law Review 173 at 200.
23. Treaty Body Reform: The Case of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
24. Chairperson's Summary of a Brainstorming Meeting on Reform of Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Malbun, Liechtenstein, 14-16 July 2006 ('Malbun 2'), 25 September 2006 A/HRC/2/G/5 Annex at paras 12 and 15.
25. While not contained in the report of the meeting, this is the recollection of the author who was present throughout the meeting.
26. Report on the Working Methods of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies Relating to the State Party Reporting Process, 24 June 2009, HRI/MC/2009/4.
27. Tenth Inter-Committee Meeting of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Follow-Up to Concluding Observations - Overview of follow-up procedures, 10 November 2009, HRI/ICM/2009/6; Follow-Up to Decisions - Overview of follow-up procedures, 10 November 2009, HRI/ICM/2009/7.
28. See, for example, in the case of China at: http://tb.ohchr.org/default.aspx?country=cn [last accessed 24 March 2010].
29. Report of the Berlin Workshop on UN Treaty Body Reform, 2007, at 7. This workshop was jointly organised by the University of Mannheim and the OHCHR, with the support of the Foreign Office of Germany, in Berlin on 2 and 3 July 2007 [report on file with author].
30. Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 66th and 67th sessions, 2005, A/60/18 at paras 114-15.
31. See Nowak, 'The Need for a World Court of Human Rights', (2007) 7 Human Rights Law Review 251.
32. See, for example, the address by Ms Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Introduction of the Annual Report, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=9333&LangID=E [last accessed 24 March 2010].
33. See, for example, statement by Ms Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to the General Assembly Third Committee, NewYork,21October 2009, available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/Huricane/Huricane.nsf/60a520ce334aaa77802566100031b4bf/7a1b6ad3fe539289c125765d00408e74?OpenDocument [last accessed 24 March 2010].
34. Report of the International Commission of Jurists on the Reform of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Body System (2007) [on file with author].
35. Comments to the Dublin expert meetings by the author in his capacity as chairperson of the meeting.
36. Signatories to the Dublin Statement included the following current and/or former members of the UN treaty monitoring bodies: Agnes Akosua Aidoo (CRC), Francisco Alba (CMW), Mohammed Al-Tarawneh (CRPD), Joyce Aluoch, (CRC), Noureddine Amir (CERD), Lotfi Ben Lallohom (CRPD), Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati (HRC), Virginia Bonoan-Dandan (CESCR), Maria Virginia Bras Gomes (CESCR), Shanthi Dairiam (CEDAW), Jaap E Doek (CRC), Abdelhamid El Jamri (CMW), Cees Flinterman (CEDAW), Felice Gaer (CAT), Claudio Grossman (CAT), Yoko Hayashi (CEDAW), Zdislaw Kedzia (CESCR), Helen Keller (HRC), Azzouz Kerdoun (CESCR), Ahmed Tawfik Khalil (HRC), Alexander Kovalev (CAT), Lothar Krappmann (CRC), Zbigniew Lasocik (Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture), Soledad Murillo de la Vega (CEDAW), Michael O'Flaherty (HRC), Pramila Patten (CEDAW), Victoria Popescu (CEDAW), Pierre-Richard Prosper (CERD), Eibe Riedel (CESCR), Sir Nigel Rodley (HRC), JoséPérez Sánchez-Cerro (HRC), Marta Santos Pais (CRC), Linos Alexandre Sicilianos (CERD), Nora Sveaass (CAT), Wilder Tayler Souto (Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture), and Theo Van Boven (CERD).
37. See, for example, Gaer,'Implementing International Human Rights Norms: UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies and NGOs', (2003) 2 JournalofHumanRights339.
38. See, for example, the thorough and practical handbook by Müller and Seidensticker,The Role of National Human Rights Institutions in the United Nations Treaty Body Process (Berlin: German Institute for Human Rights, 2007).
39. Kotter, Leading Change (USA: Harvard Business School Press, 1996).
40. Documents relating to the Annual Meeting of Chairpersons of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies and Inter-Committee Meetings are available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/icm-mc/documents.htm [last accessed 24 March 2010].
41. Recounted to the author by a number of actors in the treaty body system, including at the Malbun 2 meeting.
42. OHCHR, Rule-of-law Tools for Post-Conflict States: National Consultations on Transitional Justice, HR/PUB/09/2, available at: http//www.ohchr.org/EN/PublicationsResources/Pages/SpecialIssues.aspx [last accessed 24 March 2010].
43. For example, at paras 7, 12 and 15.
44. See, for instance, Bowman, 'Towards a Unified Treaty Body for Monitoring Compliance with UN Human Rights Conventions: Legal Mechanisms for Treaty Reform', (2007) 7 Human Rights Law Review 225.
45. The author is in possession of an account of a meeting in 2009, where a State representative argued that efforts to 'establish'a treaty body system should be opposed.
46. See Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 9: The domestic application of the Covenant, 3 December 1998, E/C.12/1998/24; 6 IHRR 289 (1999). 76 CCPR/C/SR 2648.
47. The CERD, for example, called on Nigeria 'to take all necessary steps to incorporate the substantive provisions of the Convention in its domestic law, with a view to ensuring comprehensive protection against racial discrimination'.
48. See Concluding observations of the CERD regarding Nigeria, 27 March 2007, CERD/C/NGA/CO/18 at para. 13.
49. As an example of ongoing treaty monitoring body requests for support, see the 2009 Report of the Committee Against Torture, 41st and 42nd sessions, 2009, A/64/44.
50. GA Res. 141, 20 December 1993, A.RES/48/141.
51. Information made available to the author on an informal basis.
52. Record of exchange on file with the author.
53. Statement on file with the author.