Special Rapporteurs and Special Representatives
About Special Rapporteurs
and Special Representatives
What
a Special Rapporteur or Special Representative can do to assist you
Special
Rapporteurs & Representatives are universal mechanisms. They apply
to all countries in the world.
Special Rapporteurs and Representatives are established by the UN Commission
on Human Rights and not under a Treaty. Therefore, they do not have any
treaty (international legal) powers to compel a government to take action
or to stop violating human rights. What they can do is lobby a government
and urge it to respect human rights. They can raise individual complaints
with government representatives and urge them to prevent violations of
human rights. They can also generate publicity for individual cases by
issuing press statements. In addition, they can visit countries when invited
by a government and report on the human rights situation in a country.
Special Rapporteurs and Representatives work to promote the rights set
out in the major international human rights instruments such as the ICCPR
and the UDHR.
For the
full text of the ICCPR click here
For the
full text of the UDHR available in many languages click here
Who they are
Special Rapporteurs and Representatives
serve in an individual capacity and although some are diplomats or government
officials, increasingly many of them have expertise in human rights which
they gained in the non-state sector. They are supported by the staff at
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.
How they are established
The UN Commission on Human Rights establishes
Special Rapporteur and Representatives for specific human rights problems
(know as thematic Rapporteurs or Representatives) or for certain countries
(known as country-specific Rapporteurs or Representatives). An example
of a thematic Rapporteur is the Special Rapporteur on Torture and an example
of a country-specific Rapporteur is the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan.
Special Rapporteurs and Representatives are not established as permanent
offices. The UN Commission on Human Rights meets every year and renews, withdraws or establishes new Rapporteurs and Representatives.
This manual deals only with some of the thematic Rapporteurs and Representatives
which are currently in operation.
Individual
complaints
When
a Special Rapporteur or Special Representative receives a complaint which
they think is credible and reliable, and which falls within their mandate,
they can take action.
They
can take up the complaint with the government concerned. In practice,
this means that they can send information concerning the complaint to
the government and ask that the government respond to the information.
They may also issue press statements concerning an individual case.
In
their communications, they can urge the government concerned to investigate,
prosecute, impose appropriate sanctions and provide compensation to victims
of violations of human rights. They can also urge governments to take
measures to prevent further violations in the future.
Where
a complaint concerns a threat that a violation of human rights is about
to be carried out, they can send an urgent appeal to the government concerned
urging the government to take action to prevent the violation.
Visits
Special Rapporteurs and Representatives also visit
countries to examine the situation regarding the protection of the human
rights falling within their mandates. However, they must be invited by
the government of a county before they undertake a visit. Unfortunately,
some countries do not issue invitations to them.
During country visits, they can
meet with government representatives, NGOs, human rights defenders and
other interested parties. If a Special Representative or Special Rapporteur
is planning to visit your country, it may be useful to contact them in
advance. To find out about future visits of Special Representatives and
Rapporteurs you should contact their offices:
c/o Office of the High Commissioner
for
Human Rights
United Nations Office at
Geneva
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 917 9000
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
After
carrying out a visit, the Special Rapporteurs and Representatives present
a report setting out their findings and recommendations to the UN Commission
on Human Rights. However, the Commission does not pay much attention to
the implementation of their recommendations and most of the Rapporteurs
and Representatives are so under-resourced that it is rarely possible
for them to follow-up on country visits.
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