Opening Statement by Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director Human Rights Council and Special Procedures Division Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Study visit of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

Geneva, 2 July 2012

Excellencies,
Distinguished Commissioners,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you here today on behalf of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the beginning of your week-long visit to Geneva to take a closer look at the UN’s international human rights system.

OHCHR places great importance on your visit here, which is an encouraging sign of the ongoing cooperation between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the OIC (IPHRC). Previously, in close coordination with the OIC Secretariat, OHCHR has organised several activities to support the OIC in its efforts to establish the IPHRC. For instance, in 2010, OHCHR organised an informal briefing for the OIC on the regional human rights mechanisms in Africa, the Americas and Europe, which helped to highlight the necessary elements of a credible and effective regional human rights mechanism. Then, in 2011, OHCHR organised a training programme for members of the Secretariat of the OIC which focused on the role of the secretariat of a human rights body.

Furthermore, an OHCHR delegation which I led participated in the 38th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Astana, during which the Statute of the IPHRC was adopted. It is pleasing to see that the IPHRC is now up and running and has held its first meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia in February this year, to which my colleague Ibrahim Salama actively participated.

Ladies and gentlemen,
OHCHR recognises that regional and cross-regional human rights mechanisms can play a key role in supporting the UN human rights system in achieving the ultimate objective of improving the situation of human rights for people on the ground. However, in order for this to be the case, it is vital that there is an understanding from both the UN and the respective regional human rights mechanisms about how each other functions. Only once this understanding is in place can the possibilities for collaboration and cooperation be fully and imaginatively explored.

I hope that by the end of your week here, you will all have a clearer picture about the practical functioning and working methods of the UN human rights system. I also hope that my colleagues from OHCHR, through interacting with you all this week, will have a better understanding of how the IPHRC of the OIC works and the direction that it is heading. This will certainly benefit our future collaboration.    

Broadly speaking, the international human rights system is made up instruments and mechanisms. International instruments, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, capture the content of human rights. Regional and cross-regional human rights systems should, of course, not seek to water down these standards. Instead, they have the potential to enrich the standards developed at the international level. Indeed, the Vienna Declaration and the Program of Action adopted by consensus in 1993, clearly states in paragraph 5 that “All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis. While the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms”. As regional and cross-regional human rights mechanisms fulfil their role of promoting and protecting human rights, they will inevitably come to interact with the people that fall victim to human rights violations. The information and experiences gathered through these interactions in their respective regions can feed into and inform ongoing efforts at the international level to develop international human rights standards.  

As you know, the UN’s human rights mechanisms consist primarily of the human rights treaty bodies, special procedures of the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review. Regional and cross-regional mechanisms can help to raise awareness amongst governments and civil society about how to access these international mechanisms. Furthermore, there is a role to play in raising awareness about the recommendations that come from these international mechanisms, and in developing programmes with different actors to support their implementation.

A healthy and symbiotic relationship between regional, cross-regional and international mechanisms means that regional mechanisms will also help to inform the work of international mechanisms. Well-functioning regional mechanisms will be able to provide information to the international mechanisms on what obstacles exist to the realisation of human rights, resulting in recommendations that are better informed and more relevant. In this respect, developing close cooperation with NGOs and NHRIs will enhance your credibility and relevance.

The roadmap on cooperation recently developed by the special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is an indication of what can be achieved through greater awareness and a willingness to cooperate. This roadmap includes the establishment of a working group of representatives of the special procedures and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to build synergies and develop joint actions, as well as to ensure systematic information sharing.

Last week the Chairpersons of the Treaty Bodies met with their colleagues from the African regional and subregional human rights mechanisms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss ways and means to enhance their cooperation. May these initiatives of cooperation between regional and UN mechanisms be a source of inspiration for future collaboration between the IPHRC and the UN human rights mechanisms.

So let me end by encouraging the ongoing collaboration between the OIC’s IPHRC and OHCHR and wish you a fruitful and productive week in Geneva.