OHCHR Statement

By Vladlen Stefanov

Chief

National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section

ICC Bureau meeting

INTERNATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL INSITUTIONS FOR THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (ICC)

March 2014

Geneva

Chairperson Mushwana,

Distinguished Bureau members,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and honour to address you today at the ICC Bureau Meeting. At the outset, I wouldlike to pay tribute to the ICC Chairperson, Adv. Mushwana, for theleadership hehas demonstrated over the past year, and recognise all the efforts he and his team havemade for the consolidation and strengthening of the ICC. OHCHR affirms its commitment to supporting you and the ICC bureau members in these endeavours.

Since the last Bureau meeting in Accra in November 2013,OHCHR, through the National Institutions and Regional Mechanism Section (NIRMS), OHCHR field presences and UN Country Teams continued to provide support to a number of NHRIs around the world. In conducting many of our activities weworked collaboratively with regional coordinating committees of NHRIs. Several technical cooperation programmes and agreements with a view to strengthening the capacity of NHRIs were developed and implemented; advice has also been givenondraft constitutional and legislative provisions regardingNHRIs; and various capacity building initiatives were carried out. A detailed account of the assistance provided by OHCHR to NHRIs around the world is contained in the latest report of the Secretary General to the UN General Assembly, provided to you as a background document for the ICC27.

Ladies and gentlemen,

OHCHR continued to assist NHRIs in their interaction with the international human rights system and in following up on observations and recommendations formulated by treaty bodies, special procedures and the UPR. Treaty bodies and the Human Rights Council (HRC)continued to implement their rules of procedure and working methods recognising the separate, independent and distinct capacity of NHRIs (in particular A-status NHRIs) to provide credible information on the national human rights situation to the UN human rights system.

NHRIs have been active in the sessions of the HRC delivering statements, submitting written documentation, participating in general debates and under specific agenda items, organizing parallel events and interacting with the special procedures.

NHRIs are valuable stakeholders in the UPR. As you know, the HRC enhanced the participatory rights and visibility of A-status NHRIsin the second UPR cycle. Information submitted by those institutions now appear in a separate section of the Summary of Stakeholders’ Information prepared by OHCHR, which is one of three documents that form the basis of the review. Also, during the adoption of the outcome of the review by the Human Rights Council Plenary, A-status NHRIs are entitled to intervene immediately after the State under review.

A number of NHRIs have already taken advantage of these enhanced opportunities. Others have not yet. From the 13th to the 16th UPR sessions: (a) for each of these sessions, at least 1 A-status NHRI did not submit information for consideration at the review of their respective state; (b) at least 2 A-status NHRIs did not make statements at the adoption of the outcome of the review of their respective States. The outcome of the reviews from the 17th session will be coming up for adoption before the Human Rights Council Plenary later this month. The 4 A-status NHRIs eligible to participate at the adoption of the outcome of the reviews, namely Nigeria, Mauritius, Jordan and Malaysia, are encouraged to so.

It is understandable that some NHRIs are unable to travel to Geneva to participate in the adoption of the outcome of the reviews of their respective States. Others question the value of travelling to Geneva to make a statement of two minutes at the plenary. Those institutions are encouraged to explore alternative options for delivering their statements, either through the Geneva-based ICC representative or by pre-recorded video statement.

In light of the UPR being in its second cycle, NHRIs are encouraged to include in their submissions information on the follow-up to the first review. NHRIs may thus wish to report on the state of implementation of the accepted recommendations. They may also wish to report on those recommendations that were not accepted, as well as other human rights issues of concern, particularly those issues that have emerged after the first review. NHRIs are encouraged to comply with the submission dates and technical guidelines for submissions which are available on the OHCHR’s website. I deliberately took more time to dwell in my statement today on the NHRI participation in the UPR because this item is included on the agenda of the ICC27 and I am very much looking forward to the discussion there.

With regard to treaty bodies, OHCHRcontinued to liaise with NHRIs prior to each session to encourage them to provide written or oral information and to attend the sessions. NIRMS also prepared briefings on institutions for the attention of treaty bodies.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you may be aware, last year, OHCHR underwent a strategic planning process, for the period 2014-2017. The thematic strategies of OHCHR for the next 4 years were finalised after a broad consultation with the participation of and collaboration with the civil society, member states and also the ICC taking into account the lessons learned, challenges and future opportunities. The High Commissioner presented the draft thematic strategies before the Member States, the civil society and the ICC. We thank the ICCfor sending a detailedwritten submission.Indeed there are similarities and synergies between OHCHR’sand the ICC’s strategic plans, including such important priorities asenhancing interaction with the international human rights system and supporting NHRI capacity building.It is important to mention here that many of the concerns and suggestions made by the ICC in its submission were taken on board while finalising our strategies. This is in line with the institutional tripartite partnership between ICC, OHCHR and UNDP, focused on ways and means to improve coordination in planning, both strategic and operational. OHCHR is fulfilling its commitment to mutual cooperation, by taking into account the views of the ICC in OHCHR planning process as discussedduring the last strategic review meeting of the trilateral partnership.

I just wanted to reiterate something that I flagged at the last ICC Bureau meeting in Accra: in 2014, NIRMS will continue to support NHRIs at the national level working closely with NHRI regional networks; to support NHRIs at the regional and international level including by encouraging NHRIs to interact with UN and regional human rights mechanisms; and to provide support to the ICC asits secretariat to meetings and the SCA for accreditation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

OHCHR continues to support the fellowship program that enables staff from A-status NHRIs to work at OHCHR for a period of time, and develop their knowledge in human rights and specifically the international human rights system. At this juncture, I would like to thank the NHRIs that are participating in this program in the first half of 2014. These includeKenya, Mexico,Mongolia and Palestine. I would like to avail myself of this opportunity and urge you to come up with candidates for the Fellowship Programme in second half of 2014. Indeed the synergy of national experience from the NHRI fellows and international expertise from the NIRMS team provides a very dynamic and diverse pool of expertise, in relation to our mandate to support NHRIs.

I would like to express my deep appreciation to the ICC Bureau members and observersthat travelled from various regions, to attend this meeting. Your commitment to human rights and especially the work of the ICC is very much appreciated and recognised by OHCHR.

I thank you and wish you fruitful deliberations.

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