On Wednesday, 22 March 2006, over 90 participants from 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) participated in a meeting convened by Etats Généraux in Geneva, Switzerland, to plan ahead for the new United Nations Human Rights Council (Council), which will replace the sixty-year old Commission on Human Rights (Commission) and commence its work on 19 June. The meeting was convened following the adoption of the General Assembly Resolution (A/60/251) on 15 March to establish the Human Rights Council.
On Wednesday, 22 March 2006, over 90 participants from 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) participated in a meeting convened by Etats Généraux in Geneva, Switzerland, to plan ahead for the new United Nations Human Rights Council (Council), which will replace the sixty-year old Commission on Human Rights (Commission) and commence its work on 19 June. The meeting was convened following the adoption of the General Assembly Resolution (A/60/251) on 15 March to establish the Human Rights Council.
FORUM-ASIA raised key concerns for NGOs in Asia with regard to the newly created Council, including issues of access and participation, as well as other implications of the Council in Asia.
Access and participation
In contrast to the Commission, which was held once a year in Geneva for six weeks, the Council will be a standing body based in Geneva and will hold three sessions a year for at least ten weeks. The Council will also be able to convene special sessions more easily to respond to urgent human rights situations.
While FORUM-ASIA welcomes this change to respond more effectively to human rights violations, it will also pose logistical and financial challenges for NGOs based in Asia. Some of the ideas emanating from the meeting are summarised below.
NGO Fund. FORUM-ASIA supports the idea of establishing a UN Fund for NGOs to enable NGOs from developing countries to travel to Geneva to attend the sessions. It should be noted that there are already various UN Funds that have been established to assist NGOs to participate in various UN sessions, such as the UN Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, UN Voluntary Fund on Indigenous Peoples and the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.
Web-casting of the Council sessions. In addition, FORUM-ASIA encourages the Council to web-cast its sessions via the Internet, as it is currently done with the General Assembly sessions. This will enable NGOs who are unable to attend the sessions to attain a better picture of the deliberations and dynamics of the Council, beyond what is available on paper.
Rotating the main sessions of the Council at regional centres of the UN. FORUM-ASIA suggests that the Council should consider holding its main sessions on a rotating basis at various regional centres of the United Nations, which includes the UN Economic and Social Commissions in Africa (UNECA, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, based in Santiago, Chile), Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP, based in Bangkok, Thailand), and West Asia (ESCWA, based in Beirut, Lebanon). Such a rotating system will not only bring human rights issues closer to reality, but also enable better access for NGOs that do not have permanent representatives in Geneva.
Access to information. NGOs must be able to access information sufficiently in advance with regards to the planned dates of the sessions, agenda of the sessions, and necessary documents related to the work of the Council. This also includes timely information on the visits by the Special Procedures, which is currently insufficient and does not allow NGOs to plan their inputs at the national level in time.
Consultation with NGOs on a regular basis in an open, transparent and fair manner. Unlike the final session of the Commission, whereby there was only a trickle of information available to NGOs through informal sources, the full proceedings leading up to the Council sessions must be made open and transparent, allowing NGOs to participate fully in the discussions and deliberations.
Role of NGOs in the coming months
For now, whether the new Human Rights Council will truly be a better alternative than the Commission is uncertain, as the Council is still just a skeletal document, with much of the details unwritten. In the words of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, it can be criticised or praised only in the abstract. Hence, it will depend very much on the ways in which it unfolds in the coming months, with the election of the members of the Council in May and the commencement of its work in June.
