الملاحظات الافتتاحية التي أدلت بها السيدة نافي بيلاي، مفوضة الأمم المتحدة السامية لحقوق الإنسان، عند إصدار الدليل العملي الجديد للمجتمع المدني - كيفية متابعة توصيات الأمم المتحدة بشأن حقوق الإنسان

Friday 29 November 2013
Palais des Nations, Room XXIII

Colleagues, Friends,
Good afternoon and welcome.

It is with great pleasure that I am here with you today to launch OHCHR’s Practical Guide for civil society on How to follow up on United Nations human rights recommendations.

This is the fifth in the series of Practical Guides for civil society produced in the last three years.  In common with the earlier Guides, it seeks to facilitate the engagement of a broad range of civil society actors with the United Nations human rights programme.   

There is a feature that I particularly like. This Guide is not only for civil society but was also developed with civil society. It includes real experiences contributed by civil society actors and field colleagues from all geographic regions.  They shared their strategies and practices, using a holistic approach to follow up on human rights recommendations from all UN mandates and mechanisms.

I know that many of you in this room have contributed your own experiences or have facilitated contacts with national organizations that had interesting and inspiring stories to share. Thank you to those of you who have participated in developing this Guide and mobilized others to do the same. This is what makes this Guide concrete, real and grounded in experience. It is what makes this Guide YOUR Guide.

This Guide is also one of the tools marking the 20th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Plan of Action, as well as the 20th anniversary of this Office. Over the years, I have stressed again and again the pivotal role played by civil society actors in the establishment of the position that I now hold, and the essential contribution of civil society in boosting the development of new standards over these past two decades.  

The Guide speaks of yet another area where civil society can make the difference, namely in “follow - up”. It is about pushing duty-bearers, primarily States, to deliver on their human rights obligations and responsibilities by implementing recommendations stemming from human rights mechanisms and bodies. We all know that ratifying a convention is important, but it does not mean that the rights enshrined in that treaty are applied in law and practice. We all know that being told what to do by a treaty-body or a Special Rapporteur does not mean that a State will necessarily do it. One of the many things we have learned in these 20 years is that ratifying a human rights treaty is good - but it is not enough; that monitoring and reporting are good - but not enough; that making recommendations is good - but not enough. We have to combine our efforts to demand implementation.   This Guide, with its examples and illustrations, suggests many creative ways in which we can do it.

I encourage you to use and disseminate this Guide, which will be made available in the six UN languages in the coming weeks. Above all, I encourage you to keep developing initiatives and implement follow-up activities such as those described in the Guide, and encourage and support your partners, networks and member organizations to do the same, in accordance with their respective scope of action, priorities and capacities.

I consider that civil society action to enhance human rights promotion and protection of all human rights for all people is the life-blood of the United Nations human rights system. It is in recognition of this vital role that I decided to dedicate this OHCHR Guide, with its emphasis on implementation of human rights on the ground, to “civil society actors working for human rights around the world”.

I look forward to seeing you all again at our Human Rights Day event here on the 5th December.