HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE CONCLUDES FIRST SESSION

The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee this morning concluded its first session during which it adopted by consensus thirteen recommendations to the Human Rights Council.

In his concluding remarks, the President of the Advisory Committee, Miguel Alfonso Martínez, thanked all his colleagues for the support given to him in an effort to channel the initial work of the Advisory Committee. The outcome of their first session would become quite clear in the near future. They had achieved something: to get the ball rolling. This had been an extraordinary experience for him.

Among the recommendations adopted, the Advisory Committee recommended that the Human Rights Council and the Secretary-General should make available their good offices so as to extend the right of non-refoulement to hunger refugees. It also recoommended that the Human Rights Council, at its next session, launch an urgent appeal to Member States to increase their voluntary contributions substantially and as soon as possible so as to enable the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other United Nations bodies to discharge their mandates. Further, the drafting group on the right to food proposed a structure of its report to the Council. The main parts of the structure included the right to food and the current food crisis; its causes; its consequences; State obligations; and recommendations on measures.

In a recommendation on the right of peoples to self-determination, the Advisory Committee said bearing in mind the points of view expressed by a large number of non governmental organizations on the various and complex issues related to the content and realization of the right of all peoples, including of indigenous peoples, to self determination, and by a great number of Experts, it decided to consider this matter only if the Human Rights Council addressed a petition on this matter to the Advisory Committee.

Also among the recommendations adopted by the Advisory Committee was to entrust a drafting group with the task of undertaking preparatory work for consideration by the Advisory Committee on human rights education and training and appointed the following Experts as members of the drafting group: Emmanuel Decaux, Héctor Felipe Fix Fierro, Vladimir Kartashkin, Purificacion V. Quisumbing, and Halima Embarek Warzazi. The Advisory Committee also entrusted Latif Hüseynov, who is intended to be involved in the preparation of a study on missing person, with the task of participating in a panel on this topic. The Advisory Committee further requested the Experts Chung Chinsung, Purificacion V. Quisumbing and Mona Zulficar to prepare for the next session draft guidelines on methods to operationalize gender mainstreaming at all levels, including action-oriented mechanisms in the implementation of the Advisory Committee's mandate. The Advisory Committee designated Shigeki Sakamoto to carry out the task of following on the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the subject of elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members and to formulate a draft set of principles and guidelines on this topic.

Further recommendations included to recommend that the Human Rights Council authorizes that all reports and working papers which have been completed and submitted to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights by the former Sub-Commission be issued as United Nations official documents and be sent to the Human Rights Council. It also recommended that the Human Rights Council examined and eventually took the decisions it might consider fit for a possible follow-up to all studies commissioned by the Sub-Commission now pending a decision from the Council.

During its session, the Advisory Committee also decided to set up a drafting group that would start working on draft rules of procedure. The members appointed to the drafting group, with regional representation, were Wolfgang Stefan Heinz, Mona Zulficar, Ansar Ahmed Burney, Latif Hüseynov and Héctor Felipe Fix Fierro. The Committee also decided to appoint the following members of the Advisory Committee as members of the Working Group on Communications of the Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure: Chen Shiqiu, Emmanuel Decaux, Vladimir Kartashkin, Halima Embarek Warzazi and Miguel Alfonso Martínez. The Committee also agreed to establish a drafting group on this issue of the right to food. The group consists of José Antonio Bengoa Cabello, Baba Kura Kaigama, Chung Chinsung, Latif Hüseynov and Jean Ziegler.

This was the first session of the Advisory Committee, pursuant to the adoption of Human Rights Council resolution 5/1. The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, composed of 18 experts, was established to provide expertise in the manner and form requested by the Council, focusing mainly on studies and research-based advice. The Advisory Committee replaces the former Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, whose main functions were to undertake studies on human rights issues and to make recommendations concerning the prevention of discrimination of any kind and the protection of minorities.

The scope of the Advisory Committee's advice is limited to thematic issues pertaining to the mandate of the Council, namely, the promotion and protection of all human rights. The Committee is not mandated to adopt resolutions or decisions, but may propose to the Council, within the scope of its work as set out by the Council, suggestions for further enhancing its procedural efficiency, as well as further research proposals within the scope of the work set out by the Council. Member States and observers, including States that are not members of the Council, the specialized agencies, other intergovernmental organizations and national human rights institutions, as well as non-governmental organizations, shall be entitled to participate in the work of the Advisory Committee based on arrangements and practices observed by the Commission on Human Rights and the Council. The Advisory Committee is empowered to convene up to two sessions for a maximum of 10 working days per year.

Addressing the Advisory Committee at the opening session, Kyung-Wha Kang, Acting United Nations High-Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the first session marked a significant step forward in realizing and completing the Council's institution-building process. It was also an important moment for the international community as this new human rights mechanism charted its future course within the United Nations' comprehensive human rights system.

Also addressing the Advisory Committee at its opening session, Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, President of the Human Rights Council, underlined that the Committee had to work as an independent expert body. He mentioned that the Human Rights Council had made a number of specific requests to the Committee. Further solicitations would follow and the President was convinced that the Advisory Committee would contribute to the advancement of these expectations by providing an independent and objective point of view. The Advisory Committee had to be mindful of the legacy of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. It had left behind a substantial body of studies of varying status. Suggestions as to how these studies should be addressed by the Council would be of great value.

The second session of the Advisory Committee will be held from 26 to 30 January 2009.

Action on Recommendations

Requests to the Advisory Committee stemming out of Human Rights Council resolutions

Under this agenda item, the Advisory Committee approved measures:

-on a drafting group on human rights education and training; programme of work, to entrust a drafting group with the task of undertaking preparatory work for consideration by the Advisory Committee and appoints the following Experts as members of the drafting group: Emmanuel Decaux, Héctor Felipe Fix Fierro, Vladimir Kartashkin, Purificacion V. Quisumbing, and Halima Embarek Warzazi. The Advisory Committee further welcomed the paper prepared by the drafting group, containing the elements of the conceptual framework for further work and consultations; encouraged the drafting group to continue its preparatory work, with a view to submit further elements to the next session of the Advisory Committee; and requested all the necessary assistance of the Secretariat to facilitate the activities of the drafting group.

- on promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, to decide that it would continue its deliberations on this matter at its next session, including by looking at the work that has been already done by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection and Protection of Human Rights and any other human rights mechanisms.

- on missing persons, to entrust Latif Hüseynov, who was intended to be involved in the preparation of the study, with the task of participating in the said panel and reporting back at its next session. The Committee also requested the President of the Human Rights Council to extend an invitation to Mr. Hüseynov to participate in the Human Rights Council panel discussion, to be held in September 2008.

- on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system, to request the Experts Chung Chinsung, Purificacion V. Quisumbing and Mona Zulficar to prepare for the next session draft guidelines on methods to operationalize gender mainstreaming at all levels, including action-oriented mechanisms in the implementation of the Advisory Committee's mandate and recommended to authorize the same team to identify proposals for concrete action in specific areas, special procedures or further measures needed to enhance substantive gender equality within the UN agencies and at the regional and national levels.

- on elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members, to designate Shigeki Sakamoto to carry out the task of following on the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and to attend the meeting to be convened by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights if extra budgetary funding is available for exchange of views among the relevant actors; to examine the reports transmitted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding information on the measures that Governments have taken to eliminate leprosy-related discrimination; and to formulate a draft set of principles and guidelines for the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members, for review by the Advisory Committee at its next session in January 2009 and for consideration by the Human Rights Council by September 2009.

- on refugees from hunger: good offices of the Human Rights Council and the Secretary-General, to suggest that the Human Rights Council and the Secretary-General should make available their good offices so as to extend the right of non-refoulement to hunger refugees.

- on the realization of the right to food in United Nations refugee camps, to suggest that the Human Rights Council, at its next session, launched an urgent appeal to Member States to increase their voluntary contributions substantially and as soon as possible so as to enable the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other United Nations bodies to discharge their mandates.

- on the right to food: programme of work, the drafting group on the topic at hand proposed a structure of its report to the Council. The main parts of the structure included the right to food and the current food crisis; its causes; its consequences; State obligations; and recommendations on measures. The drafting group deemed necessary that two further related studies be undertaken, and recommended that the Council entrusted it with the task of preparing the following studies: "Current food crisis, the right to food and hunger refugees: definition and situation" and "Current food crisis, the right to food and the rights of peasants". The Advisory Committee requested the Council, at its next session, to approve the preparation of the studies on hunger refugees and the rights of peasants, so that the Advisory Committee may subsequently appoint experts to conduct such studies and determine the timetable for their realization.

Implementation of section II of Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 entitled "Human Rights Council Advisory Committee"

Concerning the mandate of the Advisory Committee entrusted to it by the Human Rights Council, its annual programme of work and working methods, the Advisory Committee adopted measures:

- on the official summary records, to recommend that the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to take the necessary steps to provide official summary records of all plenary meetings held by its Advisory Committee. It also recommended that webcasting be made available to it to ensure enhanced access by the public at large.

- on the publication of studies completed by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, to recommend that the Human Rights Council authorized that all reports and working papers which had been completed and submitted to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights be issued as United Nations official documents and be sent to the Human Rights Council.

- on new bodies established by the Human Rights Council, to designate Committee Member Mr. José Antonio Bengoa Cabello to follow the work of the Social Forum and to brief the Committee at its resumed first session in January 2009 on issues of relevance to the work of the Committee. The Advisory Committee also designated two other members, Mona Zulficar and Miguel Alfonso Martinez, to follow the work of the Forum on Minorities Issues and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, respectively, and to brief the Committee at its session in January 2009 on issues of relevance to its work

- on right of peoples to self determination, bearing in mind the points of view expressed by a large number of non governmental organizations on the various and complex issues related to the content and realization of the right of all peoples, including of indigenous peoples, to self determination, and by a great number of Experts, the Advisory Committee decided to consider this matter, only if the Human Rights Council addressed a petition on this matter to the Advisory Committee.

- on Sub-Commission studies, to suggest that the Human Rights Council examined and eventually took the decisions it might consider fit for a possible follow-up to all studies commissioned by the Sub-Commission now pending a decision from the Council, in connection with, inter-alia, the studies on discrimination in the criminal justice system; corruption and its impact on the full enjoyment of human rights; discrimination based on work and descent; and the role of States in the guarantee of human rights with reference to the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

Adoption of the Report

The Advisory Committee also approved its report to the Human Rights Council on the first session of the Advisory Committee.

Membership of the Advisory Committee

The 18 members of the Advisory Committee were elected on 26 March 2008, at the seventh session of the Human Rights Council. The membership of the Advisory Committee has to conform with the following geographical distribution guidelines set out in its establishing resolution: five members each from African and Asian States; three each from Latin American and Caribbean States, and Western European and other States; and two members from Eastern European States.

Members serve for a period of three years and are eligible for re-election once. In accordance with resolution 5/1, the staggering of terms of membership of the Advisory Committee members was determined by drawing lots immediately after the election. Hence, in the first term, one-third of the experts will serve for one year and another third for two years. The list of members of the Advisory Committee and their respective terms of office are set out below.

José Antonio Bengoa Cabello (Chile) 2009; Ansar Ahmed Burney (Pakistan) 2010; Chen Shiqiu (China) 2008; Chung Chinsung (Republic of Korea) 2009; Emmanuel Decaux (France) 2010; Héctor Felipe Fix Fierro (Mexico) 2010; Wolfgang Stefan Heinz (Germany) 2009; Latif Hüseynov
(Azerbaijan) 2010; Baba Kura Kaigama (Nigeria) 2010; Vladimir Kartashkin (Russian Federation) 2009; Miguel Alfonso Martínez (Cuba) 2008; Bernards Andrews Nyamwaya Mudho (Kenya) 2009; Purificacion V. Quisumbing (Philippines) 2010; Shigeki Sakamoto (Japan) 2009; Dheerujlall Seetulsingh (Mauritius) 2010; Halima Embarek Warzazi (Morocco) 2008; Jean Ziegler (Switzerland) 2008; and Mona Zulficar (Egypt) 2009.

The Chairperson of the first session was Miguel Alfonso Martinez, Vice-Chairpersons were Mona Zulficar, Vladimir Kartashkin and Chung Chinsung. The Rapporteur was Emmanuel Decaux.