HEAD OF MEETING OF CHAIRPERSONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES SAYS RECENT DISCUSSION IN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE REQUIRES CLARIFICATION

HR/98/25
14 April 1998


The Chairperson of the Meeting of Chairpersons of Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Philip Alston, issued the following statement today:

During the recent session of the Human Rights Committee, extensive attention was given to the reports of the September 1997 and February 1998 sessions of the Meeting of Chairpersons of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies and the report on those meetings I presented to the Commission on Human Rights as the Chairperson of the two Meetings. A report of one meeting of the Committee devoted entirely to that issue is contained in United Nations Press Release HR/CT/509, of 26 March 1998.

It appears from that document that the discussion proceeded throughout on the basis of a number of factual errors. In my view, the resulting statements impugn my integrity, and make necessary the following clarifications to set the record straight.

It was stated that I spoke, without authorisation, on behalf of the Human Rights Committee. In fact, I made it clear that my statement was on behalf of the Chairpersons and not on behalf of any of the six human rights expert committees.

It was stated that my mandate as Chairperson of the Chairpersons had come to an end and that I thus had no right to represent the Meeting. In fact, the mandate continues until the next Meeting in September 1998. The official report of the September 1997 Meeting of Chairpersons states that “Mr. Philip Alston was elected Chairperson-Rapporteur of the meeting. He will represent the persons chairing treaty bodies for a 12-month period…" (A/52/507, para. 15).

It was stated that I had taken it upon myself to address the Commission and had done so without the approval of the Meeting. In fact, it had been agreed already in September 1996 that “the person elected to chair the meeting of chairpersons continue[s] to represent all of the persons chairing the human rights treaty bodies in between the annual meetings in order to follow-up on the implementation of the Chairpersons' recommendations and have the opportunity to attend meetings that could affect the treaty bodies as a whole (A/51/482, para. 33). It was specifically reconfirmed at the 1997 Meeting which stated that Mr Alston “should be invited to attend any meetings which could affect the work of the treaty bodies as a whole” (A/52/507, para. 15). There are several precedents for such a representational role, including the address by the respective Chairperson of the Chairpersons to the 1993 Vienna World Conference and to the 1997 session of the Commission on Human Rights.

It would, in my view have been appropriate for these errors to have been corrected during the meeting either by those who knew the facts or by others who might have consulted any of the reports under discussion.