GHRP Fridays: Harmonized COVID Working Methods

Event

Chris Montgomery, Unsplash

The exceptional situation during the COVID-19 pandemic forced United Nations treaty bodies (TBs) to find temporary solutions to continue their work in absence of face-to-face meetings and travel. The inter-committee working group on COVID-19 and initiatives by individual committees have produced food for thought on ways for TBs to work online. Discussions and COVID-induced practice have also shown challenges and shortcomings. Different time zones, the digital gap and the lack of regulations regarding Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for online sessions, just to name a few of those.

This GHRP Friday will allow TB members to report back on their experiences and to discuss lessons for a post-COVID setting. They will notably address the following questions:

• What elements of online work could be taken over into regular TB work?
• What was the experience of states engaging with TBs during the online sessions?
• What were the most prominent constraints?

Opening

• Felix Kirchmeier, Executive Director, Geneva Human Rights Platform

Presentation and Recent Developments

• Olivier de Frouville, Vice-Chair, UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and Member of the GHRP Advisory Board
• Alvaro Botero, UN Committee on Migrant Workers and Chair of the Inter-committee WG on COVID (tbc)
• Tom Neijens, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Belgium to the UN in Geneva
• Elena Kountouri-Tapiero, Secretary of the TB Chairs meeting, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Christen Broecker, Deputy Director, Jakob Blaustein Institute (tbc)

About the GHRP Fridays

The GHRP Fridays provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss the results of the United Nations (UN) Treaty Body (TB) 2020 Review and practical ways to implement change. They are open to all interested delegations, TB members, staff from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and civil society.

This event series of the Geneva Human Rights Platform – co-organized with the Permanent Missions of Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Morocco, Switzerland and Uruguay to the UN in Geneva – aims at discussing the outcomes of the 2020 UN Treaty Body Review.