Human Rights Committee opens one hundred and nineteenth session

Human Rights Committee

 6 March 2017

Pays tribute to a long-time Committee Member and the “founding father of human rights,” Nigel Rodley

The Human Rights Committee this morning opened its one hundred and nineteenth session at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, hearing an address by Ibrahim Salama,  Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Committee heard solemn declarations by six newly elected members of the Committee, elected a new Chairperson and other officers of the Committee, and adopted the agenda and programme of work. The Committee also paid tribute to their colleague and a long-time Committee Member, Nigel Rodley, who had recently passed away.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Salama stated that the Committee’s work could contribute to reinforcing basic human rights precepts: non-discrimination; equality; freedom of speech; prohibition of torture; right to life; and non-refoulement, to name but a few. The Committee was tasked with telling the true story about what States should be doing to fulfill their human rights obligations and how those rights should be interpreted. 

The Committee elected Yuji Iwasawa (Japan) as the new Chairperson; Yuval Shany (Israel),  Ahmad Amin Fathalla (Egypt) and Ivana Jelić (Montenegro) as Vice-Chairpersons of the Committee; and Margo Waterval (Suriname) as  the Committee Rapporteur.

In their tribute to Nigel Rodley, Committee Members described him as one of the luminaries and a towering pioneer of the international human rights movement, who had brought an extraordinary wealth of knowledge on human rights conditions around the world.

The next public meeting of the Committee will be at 3 p.m. today to consider the initial report of Bangladesh (CCPR/C/BGD/1).
 
Opening Statement

Ibrahim Salama,   Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed deep regret at the death of Nigel Rodley, former member of the Committee.  Mr. Rodley would be remembered as a towering figure in international human rights law and a terrible loss to the human rights community.  His passion had inspired generations. The Office also regretted the passing of another ex-member of the Committee, Mr. Nisuke Ando, whose twenty years of experience on the Committee had contributed greatly to the development of its jurisprudence.

Mr. Salama also congratulated and welcomed the six new members to the Committee, telling them that they were arriving at a crucial time in the history of the human rights programme, at a time when the very raison d’être behind human rights was being challenged. It was also a time when war, mass displacement, and major economic and geo-political upheavals had led to fear, anger, frustration and a kind of human rights fatigue.

Addressing the Committee, Mr. Salama stated that its work could contribute to reinforcing basic human rights precepts: non-discrimination; equality; freedom of speech; prohibition of torture; right to life; and non-refoulement, to name but a few. The Committee was tasked with telling the true story about what States should be doing to fulfill their human rights obligations and how those rights should be interpreted.  The Committee’s legal, apolitical and independent voice was its strength.  One way to ensure that their story went beyond the walls and received the attention it deserved was through better communication and visibility, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights could help with that. Given the rise of the social media in information exchange and the information overload, it was important that the messages of the Committee were packaged in an accessible fashion.  The United Nations webcast would continue to make the work of the Committee more visible until 2018.  Donor States had expressed their satisfaction with the webcasting in terms of quality and reliability, and recognized its use for awareness raising and capacity building as well as live screening at the national level. 

Mr. Salama also indicated that another way of ensuring that the messages of the Committee reached a larger audience was through the Capacity Building Section of the Human Rights Treaties Branch, which provided technical assistance to States, including for the purpose of drafting their reports.  Mr. Salama invited the Committee to rely on the Office’s capacity-building colleagues in the field for support.  Making a connection with the Sustainable Development Goals could have the dual effect of communicating the Committee’s work to a wider audience and encouraging implementation of the Committee concerns in a different forum.  Some of those goals had a direct link with Covenant rights, including Goal 16, on access to justice.  Some Treaty Bodies had appointed a Rapporteur or Task Force to consider their engagements with the Sustainable Development Goals in greater depth.

On a final note, Mr. Salama observed that the General Assembly Resolution 68/268 on Treaty Body strengthening, which provided additional meeting time for the Committee, was already being implemented for the third year.  In August 2016, the Secretary-General had issued his first biennial report on the status of that process, which showed that the measures taken had allowed the Treaty Body System to address some of its most pressing challenges.  The Secretary-General had concluded that further progress could be made by the harmonization of the work of the Treaty Bodies. Later this year, the General Assembly would decide whether to grant additional resources for the amended meeting time in 2018-2019, based on the criteria of numbers of incoming reports and communications. If the additional resources were granted, the Committee would have an extra five weeks of meetings annually in the next biennium to deal with its significant backlog of communications.
 
Swearing in of New Members and Election of the Committee Officers

Simon Walker, Chief of the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section of the Human Rights Treaties Branch at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, then proceeded to invite the new members of the Committee to make their solemn declarations. The following newly elected members of the Committee pronounced their solemn declarations as in accordance with Article 38 of the Covenant:  Tania Maria Abdo Rocholl (Paraguay); Bamariam Koita (Mauritania); Christof Heyns (South Africa); Ilze Brands Kehris (Latvia); Marcia Kran (Canada); and Jose Manuel Santos Pais (Portugal).

The Committee subsequently proceeded to the Election of Chairperson and other officers of the Committee.  A discussion was opened for nominating candidates and Yuji Iwasawa (Japan) and Yuval Shany (Israel) were nominated as candidates. A debate subsequently followed regarding the nomination for the office of Chairperson of the Committee. Whereas some Committee members supported the nomination of Mr. Iwasawa, underlining the importance of the practice of regional rotation, others were of the view that the Committee had never in its history had a person serving as the Chairperson twice.  The Committee then proceeded to elections via a secret ballot procedure and, under the principle of simple majority, Mr. Iwasawa was elected as Chairperson of the Committee for two years, with nine votes from among the present Committee Members.  Mr. Shany received eight votes.

Mr. Iwasawa, addressing the Committee as the newly elected Chairperson, said that he would strive to make the work of the Committee more effective and efficient.  The Committee was regarded as one of the most important Treaty Bodies, and he would try to maintain its role as such, and improve the situation of human rights in the world. He asked the Committee Members for their strong support and cooperation, and thanked them for the trust they had granted him.  

The Committee then elected Yuval Shany (Israel),  Ahmad Amin Fathalla (Egypt) and Ivana Jelić (Montenegro) as Vice-Chairpersons of the Committee, and Margo Waterval (Suriname) as the Committee Rapporteur.  

The Committee proceeded to adopt the provisional agenda and the proposed programme of work, and heard the report from the Working Group on Individual Communications, chaired by Ms.  Waterval. The Working Group, composed of seven members, had met from 7 February to 3 March, and had examined 34 cases. The Working Group recommended inadmissibility on eight of these cases, and considered that 26 contained recommendations on the merits, of which five cases contained two options.
 
Tribute to Nigel Rodley

Committee Members expressed their dismay at the passing on 25 January of Nigel Rodley. Mr. Rodley had been a world renowned expert on human rights law, described once by a reporter as the “founding father” of human rights.  He had devoted his life to human rights, and throughout his lifetime he had held numerous positions in the human rights world, including membership to the Committee from 2000 to 2016 during which he had held many important positions. He had been a remarkable member of the Committee, never shying away from work.  Committee Members described Mr. Rodley as one of the luminaries of the international human rights movement, and the Committee would always remember him as an extraordinary human being.  The Committee recognized his important work, especially on the right to life and on the struggle to outlaw torture. 

An Expert, dedicated a poem to him, while another dubbed him the “Forest Gump of human rights,” always at the right place at the right time.  Another Expert stated that Mr. Rodley had been regarded by all as a close friend, a father figure, a tutor, and a source of wisdom and strength.  He had exercised rigor and commanded it from his colleagues. Many Members spoke to his humaneness, his outstanding personality in the area of human rights, and his gentleness. His generosity, his sense of humour, and his willingness to share and impart his knowledge with younger people would be remembered.  He had been a towering pioneer of the human rights movements, bringing an extraordinary wealth of knowledge on human rights conditions around the world, including in Latin America where he had battled dictatorial regimes. He had cared deeply for women’s rights, and had done ground-breaking work on the recognition of rape as a form of torture.  The Committee would keep fighting, just like he had.

A representative of the Centre for Civil and Political Rights, speaking on his behalf but also wishing to reiterate the feeling among civil society, expressed his grievances, stating that Nigel Rodley had been a strong ally and supporter of non-governmental organizations and had encouraged civil society to participate through follow-up procedures.

Closing the meeting, Mr. Iwasawa conveyed his condolences on behalf of the Committee to the families of Mr. Ando and Mr. Rodley.

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