HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE OPENS ITS ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION

The Human Rights Committee this morning opened its one hundred and twenty-sixth session, hearing a statement by Albane Prophette-Pallasco, Officer-in-Charge of the Human Rights Treaties Branch at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Committee adopted the agenda and programme of work for the session.

Ms. Prophette-Pallasco said this session of the Human Rights Committee was occurring at a crucial moment for the treaty body system as it was confronted with unprecedented challenges to fulfil its mandate. The Chairs of the treaty bodies had been informed about the shortfall in funding and restrictions in the 2019 allocation of the approved funds within the secretariat. They were also informed of the possible cancellation of treaty body sessions scheduled for later this year. The High Commissioner had addressed this issue with the Secretary-General and both were doing their utmost to minimize the potential unprecedented impact of the financial cuts on the treaty body system and to ensure that the Committee’s third session was held this year. In such a context, the importance of the Committee’s work could not sufficiently be highlighted. Its work was powerful in its authority and legitimacy. It had made a real difference on the ground for people and had triggered accountability for human rights violations.

Committee Expert Photini Pazartzis presented the report of the Working Group on individual communications, which met from 24 to 28 June and considered and adopted 32 draft communications, including 15 violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

During the session, to be held from 1 to 26 July, the Committee will review the reports of Mauritania, Netherlands, Paraguay and Tajikistan, and will examine the situation of civil and political rights in Equatorial Guinea and in Nigeria in the absence of a report. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.

The Committee’s public meetings are webcast live at http://webtv.un.org/metings-events/.

The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. today, 1 July, to start the consideration of the fifth periodic report of the Netherlands (CCPR/C/NLD/5).

Opening Statement

ALBANE PROPHETTE-PALLASCO, Officer-in-Charge of the Human Rights Treaties Branch at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said this session of the Human Rights Committee was occurring at a crucial moment for the treaty body system as it was confronted with unprecedented challenges to fulfil its mandate. The Chairs of the treaty bodies had been informed about the shortfall in funding and restrictions in the 2019 allocation of the approved funds within the secretariat. They were also informed of the possible cancellation of treaty body sessions scheduled for later this year. This unprecedented situation had been deeply worrying for everyone concerned, she remarked, adding that the High Commissioner had addressed this issue with the Secretary-General and that both were doing their utmost to minimize the potential unprecedented impact of the financial cuts on the treaty body system and to ensure that its third session was held this year. The Office was working actively to secure the funds necessary, and was operating under the assumption that the meetings would indeed take place. But this was not a cash in hand situation yet; the overall cash flow situation remained critical.

In such a context, the importance of the Committee’s work could not sufficiently be highlighted. Its work was powerful in its authority and legitimacy. It had made a real difference on the ground for people and had triggered accountability for human rights violations. Over the past year, the Petitions Unit had received more than 2,000 submissions per month. Each of these decisions had to be attended, and because of the existing backlog of cases ready for decisions, individuals had to wait for years until a final decision could be adopted. This was not acceptable. The permanent fight to gather the necessary human resources remained a concern and required a lot of time and energy. Work was conducted on a daily basis to improve the accessibility, transparency and efficiency of the complaints procedure. There was still a long way to go and the suggestions and criticisms received from victims and States parties were key. The General Assembly’s review of the treaty body system in 2020 was also a unique opportunity in this context.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CCPR19.012E