HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE CONCLUDES ITS TWENTY-FIRST SESSION

GENEVA (10 August 2018) - The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee today concluded its twenty-first session, which was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 6 to 10 August 2018

At the opening of the session, Eduardo Eguiguren, Vice-President of the Human Rights Council, addressed the Advisory Committee. In his address, the Vice-President updated the Committee on the work of the Human Rights Council and congratulated the Committee on its tenth anniversary and for having provided expertise and research-based advice to the Council over the past decade.

The Committee held a commemorative event to mark its tenth anniversary during the session. The event included the first screening of a video on the work of the Advisory Committee, the presentation of a brochure celebrating the tenth anniversary, and a panel discussion entitled “How research leads to action: commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Advisory Committee”.
Documentation relating to the twenty-first session, including the agenda and draft programme of work, is available on the Advisory Committee’s webpage. The Committee took action on seven thematic issues.

On the activities of vulture funds and their impact on human rights, the Committee requested the drafting group to prepare a draft final report before the Committee’s twenty-second session, taking into account new developments and relevant input received, with a view to submitting the final report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-first session.

On the negative impact of the non-repatriation of funds of illicit origin on the enjoyment of human rights, the Committee requested the drafting group to seek further views of relevant stakeholders and to submit a final report to its twenty-second session, taking into account the discussions held at the present session and questionnaire inputs, with a view to submitting the final report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-second session.

On the negative effects of terrorism on the enjoyment of all human rights, the Committee decided to send a note verbale asking for focused input on the effects of terrorism on economic, social and cultural rights. It also requested the drafting group to submit a final report to the Advisory Committee at its twenty-second session, with a view to submitting the final report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-second session.

On national policies and human rights, the Committee decided to continue the exchange of views on this subject with external experts and members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, requested the drafting group to inform the Committee at its twenty-second session on its activities related to the preparation of the report, and requested the Office of the High Commissioner to inform of all documents prepared by United Nations bodies and other international organizations on different issues concerning the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

On the contribution of development to the enjoyment of all human rights, the Committee took note of the draft report prepared by the Rapporteur, which integrated the replies to the questionnaire concerning best experiences and practices and requested the drafting group to submit the study to the Committee at its twenty-second session.

On the global call for for concrete action for the total elimination of racism, the Committee established a drafting group and elected Mr. Seetulsingh as Chairperson and Mr. Hennebel as Rapporteur. It welcomed the active participation of external experts in the discussion and requested inputs and further collaboration from relevant bodies and mechanisms. The Committee also requested the drafting group to submit a draft preliminary outline of the study to the Committee at its twenty-second session.

On mutually beneficial cooperation, a drafting group was established with Mr. Liu as Chairperson and Mr. Bouzid as Rapporteur. The Committee noted that the discussion held with stakeholders provided valuable input. It requested the drafting group to present a draft outline of the study, taking into account the replies to the note verbale that was distributed to the Committee at its twenty-second session.

This session was the last for three Committee members who have completed two terms: Ms. Katharina Pabel (Austria), Mr. Mario Luis Coriolano (Argentina), and Mr. Imeru Tamrat Yigezu (Ethiopia). At its thirty-ninth session, the Human Rights Council will elect three new members.

On 10 August, the Advisory Committee elected Ms. Hananía de Varela, Mr. Ludovic Hennebel and Ms. Mona Omar to replace outgoing Committee members on the Working Group on Communications of the Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure.


The twenty-second session of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 18 to 22 February 2019.


Background

The Advisory Committee is a body of 18 independent experts serving as a think-tank to the United Nations Human Rights Council. It was established in 2008, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, to provide studies and research-based advice, as requested by the Council, and meets twice annually. The Committee’s work is implementation-oriented and follows thematic issues linked to the mandate of the Council, namely, the promotion and protection of all human rights. It interacts with States, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and other civil society bodies.

Membership

The present composition of the Advisory Committee - with an indication of the expiration of the term of membership in brackets - is as follows: Ibrahim Abdulaziz Alsheddi (Saudi Arabia, 2018); Mohamed Bennani* (Morocco, 2020); Lazhari Bouzid (Algeria, 2019); Mario Luis Coriolano (Argentina, 2018); Ion Diaconu* (Romania, 2020); Karla Hananía de Varela* (El Salvador, 2019); Ludovic Hennebel (Belgium, 2020); Mikhail Lebedev* (Russian Federation, 2019); Xinsheng Liu (China, 2019); Ajai Malhotra (India, 2020); Kaoru Obata* (Japan, 2019); Mona Omar (Egypt, 2019); Katharina Pabel (Austria, 2018); Elizabeth Salmón (Peru, 2020); Dheerujlall Baramlall Seetulsingh (Mauritius, 2020); Changrok Soh* (Republic of Korea, 2020); Imeru Tamrat Yigezu (Ethiopia, 2018); and Jean Ziegler* (Switzerland, 2019).


For use of the information media; not an official record

AC/18/004E