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In August, 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 and country visits. Three United Nations treaty bodies will hold sessions to assess States’ progress regarding the prevention of torture, the elimination of racial discrimination, and the rights of persons with disabilities. Five UN special procedures will conduct country visits in August. Additionally, the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention will hold a session in Geneva. Of the regional bodies, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) will hold a special session this month.
The UN treaty body sessions may be watched via UN Web TV. The public hearings of the IACtHR may be viewed on the IACtHR’s Vimeo page. To view human rights bodies’ past and future activities, visit the IJRC Hearings & Sessions Calendar.
UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies
Three of the 10 UN human rights treaty bodies, the Committee Against Torture, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will meet this month to review certain States parties’ implementation of their treaty obligations. 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 Against Torture
The Committee Against Torture (CAT) will continue holding its 67th Session, which began on July 22 and will end on August 9, 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland. According to its proposed programme of work, the CAT has held interactive dialogues with Bangladesh, Greece, Poland, and Togo to assess their implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Civil society members who would like to attend the CAT’s session must register through the Indico system before August 9, 2019. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CAT’s 67th Session webpage. For more information on the CAT, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) will hold its 99th Session from August 5 to August 29, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. Based on its proposed programme of work, the CERD will hold interactive dialogues with the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Iceland, Mexico, Mongolia, Poland, and Palestine to assess their implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Civil society members who would like to attend the CERD’s session must register through the Indico system before August 29, 2019. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CERD’s 99th Session webpage. For more information on the CERD, 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 22nd Session from August 26 to September 20, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. Based on its tentative programme of work, the CRPD will be holding interactive dialogues with Albania, Australia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greece, India, Iraq, Kuwait, and Myanmar 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 Canada and Ukraine to address in its simplified reporting procedure.
Civil society members who would like to attend the CRPD’s session must register through the Indico system before September 20, 2019. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CRPD’s 22nd Session webpage. For more information on the CRPD, 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 in August. One working group will hold a session this month. Additionally, four special rapporteurs and one working group will carry out country visits this month.
The Working Group on arbitrary detention will hold its 85th Session from August 12 to August 16, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights agreed to visit Malaysia from August 13 to August 23, 2019.
The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions agreed to visit Nigeria from August 13 to August 27, 2019.
The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief agreed to visit Sri Lanka from August 15 to August 24, 2019.
The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers agreed to visit Honduras from August 16 to August 22, 2019.
The Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises agreed to visit Honduras from August 19 to August 28, 2019.
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
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) will hold its 62nd Special Session from August 26 to September 6, 2019 in Colombia. 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 on the IACtHR, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.