Credit: UN Photo/Violaine Martin
In March, various universal and regional human rights bodies and experts will review States’ compliance with their human rights obligations through the consideration of State and civil society reports, country visits, and the review of individual complaints. Four United Nations treaty bodies and two pre-sessional working groups will hold sessions to assess States’ progress regarding economic, social, and cultural rights; women’s rights; civil and political rights; and the rights of persons with disabilities. The Human Rights Council will continue holding one of its three regular sessions. Two UN special rapporteurs will conduct country visits in March, and the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent will be in session. Of the regional bodies, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), and the European Committee on Social Rights (ECSR) will be holding public sessions.
The UN treaty body sessions may be watched via UN Web TV. The public hearings of the AfCHPR and IACtHR may be viewed via the AfCHPR’s YouTube page and IACtHR’s Vimeo page, respectively. To view human rights bodies’ past and future activities, visit the IJRC Hearings & Sessions Calendar.
UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies
Four of the 10 UN human rights treaty bodies will meet this month to review certain States parties’ implementation of their treaty obligations. They are the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; the Human Rights Committee; and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Through the State reporting procedure, treaty bodies review States’ reports and responses to a specific list of issues, receive additional information from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and national human rights institutions (NHRIs), engage in an interactive dialogue with each State’s representatives, and then adopt concluding observations detailing the progress and remaining challenges in the State’s implementation of the treaty. Through a simplified reporting procedure, treaty bodies may invite States to respond only to questions (list of issues) prepared by the treaty body, rather than submitting a comprehensive report and also responses to a subsequent list of issues.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) will continue holding its 65th Session which began on February 18 and runs until March 8, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. According to its provisional programme of work, the CESCR will hold interactive dialogues with Bulgaria, Cameroon, Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Mauritius regarding their compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights (ICESCR). During the remainder of the session, the Committee will hold closed discussions.
To view session documents, including State reports and civil society’s alternative reports, visit the CESCR’s 65th Session webpage. For more information on the CESCR, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Following the CESCR’s 65th Session, the CESCR will hold its 64th Pre-sessional Working Group from March 11 to March 15, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. The Working Group will meet to review reports from Benin, Ecuador, Israel, Kuwait, and Senegal to assess their compliance with the ICESCR. The Committee will also begin its review of the State reports of Austria and Finland under their simplified reporting procedure. For more information on the CESCR, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) will continue holding its 72nd Session which began February 18 and closes March 8, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. According to its proposed programme of work, the CEDAW Committee will engage in interactive dialogues with Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Colombia, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Serbia, and the United Kingdom to assess their compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Civil society members looking to attend the CEDAW Committee’s session must register through the Indico system before March 8, 2019. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CEDAW Committee’s 72nd Session webpage.
After the close of the CEDAW Committee’s 72nd Session, the CEDAW Committee will hold its 74th Pre-Sessional Working Group from March 11 to March 15, 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland. The Working Group will consider the reports of Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, and Seychelles to assess their compliance with the CEDAW. The Committee will also begin its review of the State reports of Ecuador, Sweden, and Uruguay under their simplified reporting procedure. Civil society organizations wishing to attend must register for accreditation by March 15 through the Indico system. For more information on the CEDAW Committee, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Human Rights Committee
The Human Rights Committee will hold its 125th Session from March 4 to March 29, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. According to its proposed programme of work and provisional agenda, the Committee will hold interactive dialogues with Angola, Estonia, Niger, and Vietnam to assess their implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee will also hold interactive dialogues, in absence of a State report, with Dominica, Eritrea, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to assess their country situations. Additionally, the Human Rights Committee’s task forces will consider and adopt lists of issues for Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, and Senegal ahead of their interactive dialogue. Finally, the Committee will consider list of issues prior to reporting for Finland, Lesotho, and the United States to address in its simplified reporting procedure. Separately, the Committee will review individual complaints that allege violations of the ICCPR. The Committee will conclude the session with a press conference and a public discussion of the Human Rights Committee’s methods of work.
Civil society members interested in attending the session must register through the Indico system between March 4 and March 29, 2019. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the Human Rights Committee’s 125th Session webpage. For more information on the Human Rights Committee, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) will hold its 21st Session from March 11 to April 5, 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland. According to its proposed programme of work, the CRPD will hold interactive dialogues with Cuba, Niger, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Turkey, and Vanuatu to assess their implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Additionally, the CRPD will consider list of issues prior to reporting for Belgium, the Cook Islands, the Czech Republic, and Denmark to address in its simplified reporting procedure.
According to the information note on the participation of stakeholders, civil society members who would like to attend the CRPD’s session must register through the Indico system before April 5, 2019. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CRPD’s 21st Session webpage. For more information on the CRPD, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council, an intergovernmental deliberative body, will continue its 40th Session which began February 25 and lasts until March 22, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. According to the session agenda, the Human Rights Council will review reports from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Secretary General, outcome reports from the Universal Periodic Review Working Group on specific States, and reports from UN special procedures mandate holders. The list of reports is available on the session’s webpage.
The Human Rights Council will select four individuals from a proposed list of candidates to serve as members of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Human Rights Council will also convene several panel discussions on topics including human rights and multilateralism, the rights of persons and children with disabilities, human rights violations related to the implementation of the death penalty, and efforts to counter the rise of nationalist populism and supremacist ideologies.
NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council can be accredited to participate in the Human Rights Council’s sessions as observers, as described on the Council’s webpage on NGO participation. Relevant documents and further information regarding the issues that will be covered at the session, including the reports considered during the session, submissions from civil society, and the Council’s agenda, is available on the Human Rights Council’s 40th Session webpage. For more information about the Human Rights Council, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Special Procedures
Various independent human rights experts and monitoring bodies, known as UN “special procedures” have country visits or sessions scheduled for March. Two special rapporteurs will carry out country visits this month. Additionally, one working group will hold a session in Geneva, Switzerland.
The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights agreed to visit Laos from March 18 to March 29, 2019.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers agreed to visit Morocco from March 20 to March 27, 2019.
The UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent will hold its 24th Session from March 25 to March 29, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland.
During their country visits, these special procedures mandate holders will assess both the overall human rights situation in the country and the issues specific to their thematic focus. Experts also meet with civil society, government, and national human rights institutions when they visit a country. Their findings are published later in reports addressed to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly. See OHCHR, Country and other visits of Special Procedures. To view the full list of forthcoming country visits, review the Special Procedures’ Visits document and visit the OHCHR website. For more information on each special procedure, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Regional Bodies
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) will continue holding its 25th Extraordinary Session which began on February 19 and will close on March 5, 2019 in Banjul, The Gambia. The ACHPR reviews State compliance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) through its reporting procedure, assessment of individual complaints, fact-finding and promotional missions to States, and monitoring. For more information about the ACHPR, visit the IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) will hold its 52nd Ordinary Session from March 4 to March 29, 2019 in Arusha, Tanzania. During its sessions, the AfCHPR typically holds hearings on the admissibility and merits of pending complaints alleging violations of the African Charter. For more information on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) will hold its 130th Regular Session from March 4 to March 15, 2019 in San Jose, Costa Rica. During its sessions, the IACtHR typically holds public hearings on the merits of individual complaints and deliberates on contentious cases alleging human rights violations. For more information about the IACtHR, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
European Committee of Social Rights
The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) of the Council of Europe will hold its 305th Session from March 18 to March 20, 2019 in Strasbourg, France. The agenda and the synopsis for this session will be published on the ECSR’s calendar at a later date. During its sessions, the ECSR reviews States’ reports on their implementation of the European Social Charter, considers collective complaints alleging violations of the Charter, and follows up on the Turin process to improve implementation of the Charter at the continental level. According to the ECSR’s calendar for national reporting, the ECSR will consider State reports concerning the rights of children, the family, and migrants from France, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, and Finland throughout the 2019 calendar year. The ECSR will consider simplified reports on the same topics from the Netherlands, Sweden, Croatia, Norway, Slovenia, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic throughout the 2019 calendar year. Simplified reports focus on areas of non-conformity identified in the Committee’s previous conclusions. For more information on the European Committee of Social Rights, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.