UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
7 February 2020
In his latest report to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (UNGA) on the status of the human rights treaty body system, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres refers to our work on the future of UN treaty bodies.
‘This work started back in 2015 with the Academic Platform on Treaty Body (TB) review, a major project that involved more than 300 academic partners and experts and developed key recommendations to improve the work of UN TBs underlines’ Felix Kirchmeier, Executive Director of the Geneva Human Rights Platform.
‘This project culminated in a report published in 2018, and we are very pleased to see that several states across all continents and regional groups, as well as NGOs, experts and members of UN TBs have endorsed a number of these recommendations’ he adds.
Today, the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) contributes to this review process by providing expert input via different avenues, by facilitating dialogue on the review among various stakeholders, as well as by accompanying the development of a follow-up resolution to 68/268 in New York and in Geneva.
‘Our ongoing contribution notably involves regular briefings in Geneva and New York, guidance to improve the handling of individual complaints, tools to implement recommendations and optimize the planning of TB’s sessions, and comparison with the UN Universal Periodic Review System to identify good practices’ explains Felix Kirchmeier.
The release of the Secretary-General Report, the third and last in the lead-up to the 2020 TB Review will trigger the move of the debate from Geneva to New York, where discussions on a follow-up resolution to 68/268 should be expected in April.
‘Those negotiations provide an opportunity for States to address the challenges and shortcomings in the TB system and to ensure the sustainability of the monitoring system they themselves have put in place. The options are on the table, now it’s time for States to act’ adds Felix Kirchmeier.
OHCHR
Via its DHRTTDs Directory, the Geneva Human Rights Platform provides a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. But how to navigate them? Which tool should be used for what, and by whom? This interview helps us understand better the specificities of the December highlight of the directory: The National Recommendations Tracking Database (NRTD).
As an Associate at the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Persons Deprived of Liberty Unit, Hiran Geeganage supports the development of a methodology for monitoring and reporting on the institution’s detention activities. In this interview, he tells about the programme, fond memories and what it brought to his career.
Adobe
Participants in this training course, made of two modules, will examine the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights and the environment, familiarizing themselves with the respective implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
UN Photo/Violaine Martin
The IHL-EP works to strengthen the capacity of human rights mechanisms to incorporate IHL into their work in an efficacious and comprehensive manner. By so doing, it aims to address the normative and practical challenges that human rights bodies encounter when dealing with cases in which IHL applies.
Olivier Chamard/Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy