Opening address by Mr. Alessio Bruni Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rightsto the 85th session of the Human Rights Committee

Mme Chairperson,

Distinguished members of the Committee,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Geneva and to address you on the occasion of the eighty-fifth session of the Human Rights Committee.

The High Commissioner asked me to extend to you her best wishes for a successful and productive session.

Since your July session, important developments have occurred related to the reform of the United Nations and in particular to human rights.

Outcome of the United Nations Summit in New York

As you know, the Heads of States and Governments, gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 14 to 16 September for the 60th anniversary of the Organization, adopted the 2005 World Summit Outcome.

In the text, Heads of States declare that the protection of human rights is a central purpose of the United Nations, and that without human rights; there can be no security, and no development.

The most positive element in the declaration is the reference to the responsibility to protect. Indeed, it recognizes that States have the responsibility to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. It explicitly says that the international community has the responsibility to use diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means to help States protect their own population. Moreover, States are prepared to take collective actions through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

The declaration also reaffirms the importance of protecting vulnerable groups namely women, children, minorities, indigenous peoples, internally displaced persons, refugees and persons with disabilities.

It specifically refers to treaty bodies in a commitment to improve their effectiveness, including through more timely reporting, improved and streamlined reporting procedures and technical assistance to States to enhance their reporting capacities and further enhance the implementation of their recommendations.

Finally, world leaders resolved to create a Human Rights Council whose mandate, modalities, functions, size, composition and membership will be established by the General Assembly. They also resolved to double the OHCHR regular budget resources over a period of five years.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights considered this Summit and its outcome as an important step. She stressed, at the same time, that much work remained to translate these solemn commitments into reality, and to strengthen the human rights work of the United Nations.

OHCHR Plan of Action and the Reform of Treaty Bodies:

During your discussion on 20 July 2005 with the High Commissioner on the Plan of Action, particular attention was paid to both the need to finalize and implement the drafting of harmonized guidelines on reporting and to the proposal to establish a unified standing human rights treaty body.

As a follow-up to the recommendations of the seventeenth meeting of chairpersons and fourth inter-committee meeting in June 2005, a technical working group, composed of a representative of each treaty body, is tentatively scheduled to meet during the second week of December 2005 and again early next year to finalize the draft harmonized reporting guidelines for consideration and eventual adoption by each of the committees. The exact dates will be communicated to you as soon as possible. We have taken note of your Committee’s decision at its last session that Mr. Roman Wieruszewski will represent you.

Regarding proposals for a unified standing treaty body, as announced by the High Commissioner at your last meeting, a concept paper will be developed, which will be prepared in an open and participatory way for all stakeholders concerned so as to draw on the widest possible expertise available.

Our office has identified areas which will require in-depth examination in the process of developing the concept paper. Among the areas identified thus far are legal and procedural questions related to the establishment of a unified standing body, possible lessons we can draw from the experience of regional systems and other reporting systems such as the ILO, questions related to the modalities of such a body; and the role of stakeholders. Last week, a brainstorming meeting was organized by our Branch, the Treaties and Commission Branch, in consultation with the whole Office, in order to reflect on the development of this concept paper and its implications and to draw optimal benefit from in-house expertise. A similar meeting had been organized by the United Kingdom for members of the European Union on 6 October 2005.

In order to ensure the broadest possible participation in discussing the key substantive areas under consideration, an on-line discussion forum will be launched this week for a period of six weeks. The forum will propose issues for discussion such as the strengths and weaknesses of the current system; the possible form, composition and functions of a unified standing treaty body; how marginalization of specific rights can be prevented; how a new unified standing treaty body could enhance implementation at the national level and finally, what are the legal issues to be addressed vis-à-vis the creation of a unified standing treaty body.

A briefing for Geneva-based NGOs was held on 11 October while a briefing for Geneva-based agencies will take place before the end of October. States parties, national institutions, academic institutions and other interested actors are also consulted.

We would like to re-emphasize that your role in this process is essential as you have the expertise and insight that we need to rely upon to produce the concept paper. The paper should be available in early 2006 and circulated for comments, in particular to treaty body members. It is envisaged that a brainstorming meeting on the paper will be organized in May 2006, the results of which will be considered by the fifth inter-committee meeting and eighteenth meeting of chairpersons in June 2006. Finally, a two-day intergovernmental consultation of States parties will be convened during the second half of 2006 to discuss options for this reform.

It is our hope and firm commitment that with all those contributions, and in particular your inputs and unique expertise, the reform engaged will reach its main goal, namely the protection of rights holders.

International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance

On Friday 23 September, the Working Group on a draft legally binding normative instrument for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance approved the text of a new Draft Convention with a new, independent monitoring mechanism.

The Draft Convention represents significant progress in international law for the protection of persons from enforced disappearance, in particular by defining enforced disappearance for the first time in a treaty. A Committee on Enforced Disappearances established under the convention will be composed of ten experts. The Draft Convention provides for a reporting procedure, a system of visits to States parties, an optional procedure to deal with complaints on behalf of disappeared persons and a procedure whereby, in case of widespread or systematic enforced disappearances, the Committee will bring the matter to the attention of the Secretary-General.

One can note article 27 of the Draft Convention which provides that a conference of States parties would take place between four and six years after the entry into force of the convention to evaluate the functioning of the Committee and to decide, by a majority of two thirds, whether it would be appropriate to transfer to another body the monitoring functions of the committee. This provision therefore takes into consideration the reform of treaty bodies that might take place.

Finally, article 28 provides that the Committee shall consult other treaty bodies, in particular the Human Rights Committee with a view to ensuring the consistency of their respective observations and recommendations.

The text of the Draft Convention will be transmitted to the Commission on Human Rights and subsequently to the General Assembly for approval. It will be opened to signature and ratification probably towards the end of 2006.

Present session of the Human Rights Committee

Coming back to the international covenant on civil and political rights and its optional protocols, I would like to inform you that since your 84th session, Moldova signed the Optional Protocol to the Covenant while Bosnia-Herzegovina submitted its initial report. UNMIK committed itself to report to the Committee on Kosovo which is under its administration at present. It is the first time that a United Nations agency or institution accepts to report on how the provisions of a major human rights instrument are being guaranteed. It should be noted however that UNMIK will be acting under the authority granted to it in Security Council resolution 1244 and independently of Serbia and Montenegro’s status and obligations as a party to the Covenant. The approach followed by your Committee and your assessment will be of particular significance for the whole United Nations system and therefore the international community.

Regarding your present session, you will have, as always, a charge agenda with the consideration of 4 reports (Canada, Paraguay, Italy and Brazil), one country situation (namely in the absence of a report- Saint-Vincent and Grenadines), a large number of communications, your continued deliberations on the revised General Comment on article 14 of the Covenant, your discussion on the working methods of the Committee, and the progress reports submitted by the Special Rapporteurs on Follow-up of Views and to Concluding observations.

Please be assured of the full support of our Office in assisting you to fulfil your mandate. In that context, the Office has continued to be actively engaged in encouraging universal ratification of international instruments and in strengthening the implementation of treaty bodies’ recommendations through various projects.

Among those projects, I would like to draw your attention to the one which was the subject matter of an agreement signed on 31 August 2005 between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities aimed at helping China implement recommendations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and at facilitating the country’s ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Furthermore, I would like to inform you that our Office continues to carry out its project, funded by the European Commission, which aims, through training workshops, at enhancing the knowledge and raising the awareness of representatives of non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and the media with regard to the treaty body process. It also seeks to increase the capacity of stakeholders to take an active part in the reporting and implementation process. Since July 2005, one follow up workshop was held in Croatia.

Still under that project, our Office has undertaken to produce a DVD containing both a film and extensive documentation on the work of the treaty bodies, focusing primarily on the reporting process. The production phase began in July 2005 and covered some of your meetings. The final product is expected to be ready by 31 December 2005.

Finally, I would like to underline that these are your concluding observations, your legal interpretation and your jurisprudence that guide our Office in turning human rights commitments into reality and therefore in responding to the key challenge of implementation.

In conclusion, I wish you a fruitful and successful session.