Machinery

Please see the diagram on page 15 for a somewhat simplified picture of the UN human rights machinery.

The supreme governing body of the UN is the General Assembly, which includes representatives of each Member State. It elects the members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is the source of almost all the human rights mechanisms within the UN.

The bulk of the UN’s human rights work, however, goes on at the third tier of the structure. There are five mechanisms for carrying out this work:

• the committees, or treaty bodies: the Human Rights Committee, which covers civil and political rights; the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the four thematic committees on racial discrimination, torture, and women’s and children’s rights,
  
• the Commission and its Sub-Commission,
  
• Special Rapporteurs,
  
• Independent Experts and
  
• Working Groups.

A general description of these mechanisms is given below. In the rest of this guide more detailed information is supplied on those mechanisms most likely to be useful to readers in Ireland and the UK. For further information about these mechanisms, see the UN’s Manual for Special Rapporteurs/Representatives/Experts and Chairpersos of Working Groups of the Special Procedures of the Commission on Human Rights and of the Advisory Services Programme, E/CN.4/200/4, available on the UN’s website at http://www.unhchr.ch – see their site map at page 53, or from the UN Information Centre in London – see Appendix B.

HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES AND THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER

The UN’s human rights machinery exists in order to implement international human rights standards and monitor compliance with them by Member States. The Commission and Sub-Commission are established under the UN Charter, which contains general commitments to upholding human rights. The Human Rights Committee and other committees have been set up to monitor compliance with human rights treaties and other documents developed by the UN. Chief amongst these is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948. It affirms the freedom, equality and dignity of all human beings, sets out basic principles such as equality before the law and freedom from discrimination, and defines basic human rights, such as the right to life, and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom from torture and slavery.

All other human rights standards developed by the UN flow from the Universal Declaration, and they usually elaborate on rights set out in it. In 1976, two covenants were adopted by the UN: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which spells out in detail the civil and political rights established by the Declaration, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICECSR), which concentrates on rights relating to work, health, education and so on. Since then, various other treaties have been adopted, notably on racial discrimination, torture, the rights of the child and discrimination against women. Shamefully, neither the United Kingdom nor Ireland has signed up to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families.

Over the years, a great many other human rights instruments have been developed, including

• sets of Basic Principles e.g. on the treatment of prisoners
  
• Standard Minimum Rules e.g. on the administration of justice for juveniles
  
• Codes of Conduct e.g. for law enforcement officers
  
• Safeguards e.g. for those facing the death penalty
  
• Guidelines e.g. on the role of prosecutors
  
• Model Treaties e.g. on the supervision of prisoners released on parole
  

and so on.

The text of all these documents is available from a number of sources, including leaflets issued by the UN, and details are given in this guide. You may also be able to obtain copies from the UN Information Centre in London (see Appendix B). Many human rights instruments are available on the UN’s website at http://www.unhchr.ch – see their site map at page 53.

THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

The Human Rights Committee monitors implementation by Member States of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It receives periodic reports from all the Member States who have signed up to the ICCPR and can ask questions about their implementation of the Covenant. It then produces a report, which can be highly critical of the government’s record and practices. The government cannot be forced to implement the Committee’s recommendations, but its failure to do so can be embarrassing when it comes to the rest of its dealings within the UN. If it has failed to take account of the Committee’s report, the Committee is likely to criticise the government more heavily when it next appears before them.

The Committee consists of 18 independent human rights experts nominated by Member States and elected by them. Members of the Committee are not supposed to participate in any consideration of a report from the government who nominated them. At the moment, the United Kingdom has a nominee on the Committee but Ireland does not.

Any NGO may make a written submission to the Committee when it is due to consider a periodic report from a country. See MAKING A SUBMISSION. Sessions of the Committee are open to the public and NGOs can lobby members of the Committee - see LOBBYING. The Committee also holds a closed session during the week before the session prior to that in which a country report is due for consideration. During that week, NGOs may make written and oral representations about what questions the think the Committee should put to the government concerned.

The Committee can also consider complaints from individuals who allege that their human rights have been violated by any Member State that has agreed to be bound by the first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. Ireland has done so but the United Kingdom has not. Thus anyone who is under the jurisdiction of the Irish government can make a complaint against it to the Committee. The Committee will not accept complaints by Irish people against the UK’s actions in Northern Ireland because the UK has not ratified the first Optional Protocol. See MAKING A COMPLAINT UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS.

OTHER COMMITTEES

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (not to be confused with ECOSOC, the Economic and Social Council of the UN) monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It is not such a powerful committee as the Human Rights Committee, although the ICCPR and ICESCR are supposed to carry equal weight. This is probably because Member States have tended to pay more attention to civil and political rights, which are more easily defined and enforced, than economic, social and cultural rights, which often carry very heavy resource implications - it is cheaper to guarantee the right to freedom from torture than it is to ensure a roof over everyone’s head. Also, there is not yet any equivalent under the ICESCR of the Optional Protocol procedure for making individual complaints, although a draft is under consideration.

The other significant human rights committees are:

• the Committee against Torture, which monitors the implementation of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
  
• the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
  
• the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and
  
• the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

These five committees all operate along similar lines to the Human Rights Committee, with various differences of detail that are spelled out in the sections on each committee. See also MAKING A SUBMISSION and LOBBYING.

THE COMMISSION

The Commission on Human Rights, usually referred to as “the Commission”, is the powerhouse of the UN’s human rights machinery. It takes the lead in setting international human rights standards, and many of the conventions and other human rights standards have been developed by the Commission or its Sub-Commission (see below).

It is the most overtly political of the mechanisms, being made up of 53 Member States, rather than independent human rights experts. The UK is currently represented on the Commission, but Ireland is not. It meets annually in Geneva during the spring for a session lasting six weeks.

The Commission has a standing agenda, which includes such matters as

• world-wide implementation of the various human rights Covenants and Conventions;
  

• the difficulties faced by developing countries and ex-colonies in implementing human rights;
  
• the human rights situations in particular countries, such as the Occupied Arab Territories;
  
• future developments in human rights, such as the drawing up of draft Declarations, like the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and draft Optional Protocols to the various conventions, like that on the Convention against Torture;
  
• particular human rights issues, such as the rights of migrant workers and racism; and
  
• the effectiveness or otherwise of international human rights machinery.
  

The Commission also receives reports from its Working Groups, Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts (see below). New items are added to the agenda by way of resolutions passed by the Commission – see RESOLUTIONS, and the agenda for the next session is finalised by a working group at the previous session. The provisional agenda for 2001 is included in this guide at page 59.

Only NGOs with consultative status have access to the Commission (see LOBBYING for more details). Much of what goes on at the Commission is concerned with issues that are generally considered to be serious, such as the human rights situation in a particular country, or issues that are of general interest, such as the formulation of a new set of human rights standards. The mechanism for furthering this sort of work is the passing of a resolution by the Commission – see RESOLUTIONS.

THE SUB-COMMISSION

The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights is a subsidiary body of the Commission. It is composed of 26 independent human rights experts nominated by Member States and elected by the Commission. It meets annually in Geneva in August for a session lasting three weeks. It currently includes an expert nominated by the United Kingdom, but no-one nominated by the Irish government.

The Sub-Commission is the Commission’s thinktank. Like the Commission, the Sub-Commission has a standing agenda, which tends to concentrate on the implementation and development of human rights standards, the investigation of specific problems, and reports from Working Groups. The provisional agenda for 2001 is on page 63.

It is supposed to be less political than the Commission, being made up of experts, but the nomination of experts is often politically charged, and the same process of passing resolutions is employed. Some theoretically independent experts behave as if they are representing the government that nominated them, and some governments appear to consider a nomination to the Sub-Commission as a reward for political or other services rendered. This is not to suggest that the Sub-Commission does not do very important work, or that it does not have some very distinguished members, but it is badly in need of reform and the success of your lobbying will depend on your recognition of these matters.

NGO access to the Sub-Commission is identical to that described above for the Commission, and the same considerations apply.

SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS

The Commission and Sub-Commission have appointed a number of Special Rapporteurs to work on their behalf. Independent experts who serve on the Sub-Commission can act as Special Rapporteurs, and external experts are also appointed. Special Rapporteurs are appointed for periods of three years and any individual can serve for a maximum of six years. Although the UN pays their expenses, they do not receive salaries. Most of them have other jobs, and they receive only part-time assistance from UN staff. In the circumstances, most of them do quite miraculous work. The majority of Special Rapporteurs are country specific, in other words they are appointed to report on the human rights situation in a particular country, such as Iraq and Iran. The others have thematic mandates which charge them with looking into a specific human rights issue, such as racism. This guide is concerned with those rapporteurs who have thematic mandates. For more information about Special Rapporteurs, see UN Fact Sheet No. 27, Seventeen frequently asked questions about the United Nations special rapporteurs, available on the UN’s website at http://www.unhchr.ch – see their site map at page 53, or from the UN Information Centre in London – see Appendix B.

Special Rapporteurs appointed by the Commission can have three types of mandate: thematic/investigative, where they study both a general issue and individual cases; thematic/reporting, where they examine a problem but do not consider cases; and country-specific. This guide only deals with relevant mandates.

The Special Rapporteurs with thematic/investigative mandates reporting to the Commission cover:

• extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions;
  
• torture;
  
• freedom of religion or belief;
  

• the use of mercenaries to thwart the right to self-determination (not covered by this guide);
  
• the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
  
• the dumping of toxic waste;
  
• the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
  
• the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people (not covered by this guide);
  
• the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, jurors and assessors and the independence of lawyers; and
  
• internally displaced persons (not covered by this guide).

These Special Rapporteurs will examine any complaint sent to them. They are not able to investigate complaints, in the true sense of the word, but they will make an assessment about whether they think the complaint is genuine. In doing so, they will take into account what they know about the person or body making the complaint, and they will also look at it against the background of similar complaints from the same country or about the same issue. See MAKING A SUBMISSION for ways of enhancing the credibility of your complaint. If they are satisfied that the complaint is authentic, they will transmit it to the government. The government then has an opportunity to put its side of the story. Special Rapporteurs have no powers to force governments to respond. If they do so, the Rapporteur may send you a copy of the response for your comments, and may relay those comments to the government, but this does not always happen. The exchange of correspondence with the government will be reported by the Rapporteur in his or her next report, and s/he may criticise the government or make recommendations for avoiding a similar situation or putting matters right. See MAKING A SUBMISSION for ideas about how to make this process work as well as it can.

If a Special Rapporteur is convinced that a problem is sufficiently serious, he or she may undertake a mission (visit) to the country concerned to investigate the issue in greater depth. Special Rapporteurs will only visit a country where the Member State has agree to co-operate with the mission. The Special Rapporteur then presents a report of his or her findings to the Commission. Mission reports carry considerably more weight than mere mention of a country in the Special Rapporteur’s general report.

Someone whose role is very similar to a Special Rapporteur is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders. She is there to protect NGOs and individuals who find their own human rights being violated as they work to defend the rights of others.

The Commission has also appointed the following five Special Rapporteurs with thematic/reporting mandates:

• the elimination of violence against women;
  

• contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia and related discrimination;
  
• adequate housing;
  
• the right to food; and
  
• the right to education.

These Special Rapporteurs will not examine individual complaints, but they will accept submissions and may incorporate points that you have made in their next report. They may also carry out missions to individual countries.

The Sub-Commission’s Special Rapporteurs only have reporting mandates, where they prepare a report for the Sub-Commission but do not take up individual cases. They are currently working on:

• traditional practices affecting the health of women and female children;
  
• the concept and practice of affirmative action;
  
• indigenous peoples and their relationship to land;
  
• the rights of non-citizens;
  
• globilization and its impact on human rights and
  
• human rights and terrorism.

INDEPENDENT EXPERTS

The Commission has also appointed various experts to consider particular problems. Currently, such experts are examining the following issues:

• the protection of persons from enforced or involuntary disappearance;
  
• extreme poverty;
  
• internally displaced persons;
  
• a draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
  
• the right to development; and
  
• structural adjustment.

Individual experts on the Sub-Commission are also looking at a wide range of human rights issues, including:

• domestic implementation of the obligation to provide remedies for human rights violations;
  
• military tribunals and other exceptional forms of jurisdiction;
  
• measures for the promotion and consolidation of democracy;
  
• discrimination in criminal justice.

None of these studies is covered by this guide. Submissions can be made to these experts in the same way as to Special Rapporteurs with reporting mandates.

WORKING GROUPS

Both the Commission and the Sub-Commission have established various Working Groups that report to them. Working Groups are made up of international human rights experts appointed by the Commission or Sub-Commission. Some of them have regional representatives from different areas of the world. There are three types of Working Groups: groups that are working on drawing up new human rights standards or studying particular human rights problems; thematic groups, that look at particular problems wherever they may occur in the world; and groups set up to consider the human rights situation of a particular country. This guide only goes into detail about those thematic groups most likely to be of interest to readers.

The following thematic Working Groups currently report to the Commission:

• the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. This deals with allegations concerning people who have disappeared.
  
• the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which examines allegations that people have been wrongfully imprisoned, often for political reasons.
  

• the Working Group on Situations, to which the Sub-Commission’s Working Group on Communications reports (not covered in this guide because there is no access to this group except via the Sub-Commission).

These thematic Working Groups currently report to the Sub-Commission:

• the Working Group on Communications, formerly known as the Working Group on Consistent Patterns of Gross Human Rights Violations. This deals with complaints made on the basis of Resolution 1503 where it is alleged that a Member State is violating human rights on a grand scale. (The Commission also has such a Working Group, but the only access to it is via the Sub-Commission’s Working Group.) See USING THE 1503 PROCEDURE.
  
• the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, which looks at issues such as indentured and child labour.
  
• the Working Group on Minorities, which promotes the rights of members of national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
  
• the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (not covered in this guide).

Anyone can complain to these working groups provided the complaint comes within their mandate. See MAKING A SUBMISSION. The procedure for dealing with complaints is similar to that adopted by Special Rapporteurs. Working Groups can carry more weight than Special Rapporteurs because they are made up of several experts, they have been set up to deal with specific problems, and Member States are anxious to avoid appearing on their agendas.

The groups that are working on new human rights standards or studying particular problems will not look into individual complaints but will receive written submissions and may take them into account when preparing their reports.

Such Working Groups currently working for the Commission are looking at issues including:

• the right to development;
  
• the Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture;
  

• the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and
  
• the effects of structural adjustment programmes on economic, social and cultural rights.
  

Similar Sub-Commission Working Groups are considering:

• the administration of justice; and
  
• the methods and activities of transnational corporations.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

The post of High Commissioner for Human Rights was established in February 1994. Its creation shows a determination on the part of the UN to accord very high status to its human rights work. It is a measure of that resolve that the Commissioner is the first high-level official to be able to take initiatives without the Commission having adopted an explicit resolution beforehand. In his first report to the Commission in 1995, the first ever High Commissioner, José Ayalo Lasso of Ecuador, recalled that the General Assembly had given his role “unprecedented moral and political authority to express ... the voice of the moral conscience of mankind”.

The present High Commissioner is Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and an experienced human rights lawyer. Her background means that she has an intimate knowledge and understanding of human rights issues throughout the island of Ireland, but she is scrupulous about not giving undue weight to issues arising in her own country. Mary Robinson has carried on the tradition she established when she was President of using her position to highlight issues that attract less of the limelight as well as focussing on the major issues of the day.

She is responsible for the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which employs all the staff working on human rights, such as Committee secretaries and assistants to Special Rapporteurs. However, her primary role is to enable the UN to have an overview of the many human rights issues arising around the world, and to respond to human rights crises. She is charged with promoting international co-operation, strengthening the implementation of human rights, preventing violations, improving human rights mechanisms, and assisting countries in the throes of transition to democracy.

In the vast majority of cases, it will be more appropriate to invoke directly one of the mechanisms described in this guide, rather than going through the High Commissioner’s office.

SOME USEFUL BOOKS

In addition to the “further reading section” in the tables at the back of this guide, the following more general books are worth obtaining:

A good general textbook (expensive, but widely available in law libraries) is the Guide to International Human Rights Practice, Hurst Hannam (editor), 2nd Edition, Pennsylvania University Press.

Much cheaper and very accessible is The Human Rights Handbook: A Practical Guide to Monitoring Human Rights, Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, obtainable at a cost of £15 sterling including postage and packaging from The Human Rights Handbook, Dept AMM, P O Box 1995, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 8QY, UK.

Many of the human rights instruments referred to in this guide, together with useful annotation, can be found in International Human Rights: Documents and Interpretative Notes, Evmacora, Nowak and Tretter (editors), available in law libraries. They can also be found on the UN’s website at http://www.
unhchr.ch – see their site map at page 53. The UN Information Centre in London can also help in obtaining copies of instruments – see Appendix B.

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade produces an annual United Nations Handbook, obtainable from their embassies, which contains basic information about all the functions of the UN, including the human rights machinery.

See also Appendix C for details of very useful publications by the International Service for Human Rights.

For Ireland, see the Irish Human Rights Review, Dennis Driscoll (editor), 1999, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, Brehon House, 4 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin 7, Ireland; and the IPA Administration Yearbook and Diary (published annually) which contains an excellent section on NGOs. See also the chapter on human rights in the Department of Foreign Affair’s white paper on foreign policy, entitled Challenges and Opportunities Abroad.

Amnesty International has produced three very good guides. Their Fair Trials Manual, published in 1998, costs £23 including postage and packing (quote order number PB254). The United Nations Thematic Mechanisms, produced jointly with the Law Society of England and Wales, costs £8.05 inclusive (quote Amnesty International Index IOR40/20/00). Their handbook Using the international human rights system to combat racial discrimination costs £8.04 inclusive (order number PB253). All three publications can be obtained from Amnesty International UK, P.O. Box 4, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV21 1RU (telephone number: 01788 545553).