COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE OPENS ITS SIXTY-SEVENTH SESSION

The Committee against Torture this morning opened its sixty-seventh session, hearing a statement by Antti Korkeakivi, Chief of the Anti-Torture, Coordination and Funds Section, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General. The Committee also adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session.

Mr. Korkeakivi said that this session occurred at a crucial moment for human rights treaty bodies, as the 2020 review of the treaty body system was approaching. This opened new opportunities for fresh ideas to strengthen treaty bodies and their impact for the benefit of rights holders. At the same time, treaty bodies were confronted with unprecedented challenges to fulfil their mandates, namely the shortfall in funding and restriction in the 2019 allocation of the treaty body sessions scheduled for later this year. The prospect of worrying cuts in meeting times of the treaty bodies had prompted strong reactions. The Chairpersons had made an urgent call for solutions to ensure the treaty bodies were able to fulfill their functions undiminished. In the same vein, non-governmental organizations had expressed concern that the funding gap was likely to affect the effective delivery of the mandates of human rights mechanisms in 2020 and beyond. In a letter dated 24 June 2019, the High Commissioner had informed the treaty body Chairpersons that the third session of the treaty bodies in 2019 would indeed take place. Together with the Secretary-General, she would seek to identify a solution that ensured that the planned meetings could proceed with minimal disruption.

The thirty-first annual meeting of the Chairpersons of the treaty bodies had taken place in New York last month. The meeting had focused on progress made in the alignment of working methods and other areas of implementation of resolution 68/268, and in particular on the General Assembly’s review of the treaty body system in 2020. The Chairpersons had met with the Secretary-General who had affirmed the importance of the work done by the treaty bodies and indicated that the 2020 review would be an opportunity for States to fully assume the implications of their responsibilities enshrined in human rights.

Mr. Korkeakivi added that the High Commissioner for Human Rights had repeatedly highlighted the importance of the Committee’s work and the need to increase the visibility and impact of the United Nations human rights mechanisms on the ground. Earlier this month, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Global Meeting had enabled colleagues from across the Office -- in the field, headquarters and New York -- to come together to share stories of their work and learn from each other. The objective of the Global Meeting was to improve the way the Office communicated; address inequalities and prevention; engage with the Sustainable Development Goals; and advance economic, social and cultural rights. Furthermore, the High Commissioner for Human Rights had underscored the crucial work carried out by the treaty bodies in her opening statement to the forty-first session of the Human Rights Council, in which she had addressed the issue of the suspected Daesh fighters and their families detained in Syria and Iraq as well as related States obligations and responsibilities under international law. In that context, the High Commissioner had referred to four cases that had been brought to the attention of the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Rights of the Child by the French grandparents of children held in Syria or Iraq. This highlighted the relevance of the individual complaints procedure in terms of jurisprudential developments as well as a means to respond to major present day challenges.

Finally, Mr. Korkeakivi pointed out that on the International Day in support of victims of torture, 26 June, the Secretary-General had noted with satisfaction that they were moving towards universal ratification of the United Nations Convention against Torture -- it was currently ratified by 166 States. He had also said that it was essential that national laws and practices be in line with the Convention. This would ensure that the prohibition of torture moved from principle to practice.

In response to questions by Committee Experts, Mr. Korkeakivi said that the Office of the High Commissioner was proceeding one by one to organize the third sessions of treaty bodies this year, and although the financial situation remained difficult, they were so-far finding solutions for each Committee. One challenge and shortfall that they did have was the preparation of documentation, in particular in terms of individual communications. For next year, the Office was hoping it would be able to organize the three sessions for the Committee against Torture, although the financial situation remained challenging.

The Committee then proceeded to adopt the agenda of the sixty-seventh session. During the session from 22 July to 9 August, the Committee will review reports presented by Greece, Poland, Togo and Bangladesh. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.

The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings will be available via the following link: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 23 July, to start its consideration of the seventh periodic report of Poland (CAT/C/POL/7).