February 2020: UN Treaty Bodies, Human Rights Council, and Regional Bodies in Session

In February, universal and regional human rights bodies and experts will assess States’ compliance with their human rights obligations through the consideration of State and civil society reports and country visits. Four United Nations treaty bodies and one pre-sessional working group will be in session to assess States’ progress regarding children’s rights, women’s rights, the prevention of torture, and economic, social and cultural rights. The Human Rights Council will hold its first of three regular sessions. Eight UN special procedures will conduct country visits in February. Additionally, two UN Working Groups will hold sessions in Geneva, Switzerland. Regionally, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) will hold public sessions, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will hold two Grand Chamber hearings.

The UN treaty body sessions and the ECtHR’s Grand Chamber hearings may be watched via UN Web TV and the ECtHR’s website, respectively. 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 will meet this month to review certain States parties’ implementation of their treaty obligations. They are the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Further, the Committee on the Rights of the Child Pre-Sessional Working Group will begin its review of State reports and develop “list of issues.” 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. Additionally, the Sub-Committee on the Prevention of Torture will meet privately to advance its work.

Committee on the Rights of the Child

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) will continue its 83^rd Session in Geneva, Switzerland. The session opened on January 20 and will end on February 7, 2020. According to the programme of work, the CRC will hold interactive dialogues with Austria, Belarus, Costa Rica, Hungary, Rwanda, and Palestine to assess their compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Civil society members wishing to attend the CRC’s session must register through the Indico system before February 7, 2020. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CRC’s 83^rd Session webpage.

Following the CRC’s 83^rd Session, the CRC Pre-sessional Working Group will hold its 85^th Session from February 10 to 14, 2020, in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information on the CRC, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.

Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) will hold its 75^th Session from February 10 to 28, 2020, in Geneva, Switzerland. According to its proposed programme of work, the CEDAW Committee will engage in interactive dialogues with Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Eritrea, Kiribati, Latvia, Pakistan, Moldova, and Zimbabwe to assess their compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Civil society members who want to attend the CEDAW Committee’s session must register through the Indico system before February 28, 2020. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CEDAW Committee’s 75^th Session webpage. For more information on the CEDAW Committee, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.

Sub-Committee on the Prevention of Torture

The Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) will hold its 40^th Session from February 10 to 14, 2020, in Geneva, Switzerland, according to the calendar of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The SPT session information is confidential, but the SPT publishes annual reports on its activities. Its sessions generally provide its 25 members—an independent group of experts—a chance to report on and discuss upcoming and recent activities related to specific States, regions, and thematic priorities. For more information on the SPT, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) will hold its 67^th Session from February 17 to March 6, 2020. According to its tentative programme of work, the CESCR will hold interactive dialogues with Belgium, Benin, Guinea, Norway, and Ukraine to assess their compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights. During the remainder of the session, the Committee will hold closed discussions.

Civil society members who want to attend the CESCR session must register through the Indico system before February 14, 2020. To view session documents, including State reports and civil society submissions, visit the CESCR’s 67^th Session webpage. For more information on the CESCR, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.

UN Human Rights Council

The Human Rights Council, an intergovernmental deliberative body, will hold its 43^rd Session from February 24 to March 20, 2020, 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.

During this session, the Human Rights Council will select five individuals to serve as members of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development; two individuals to serve as members of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights; the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons; the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia; the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context; the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and its consequences; the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights; the Special Rapporteur on the right to food; the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. The Human Rights Council will also convene several panel discussions on topics including the rights of the child, the rights of persons with disabilities, the 25^th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the International Decade for People of African Descent.

NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 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 submissions from civil society and the Council’s agenda, is available on the Human Rights Council’s 43^rd Session webpage. For more information about the Human Rights Council, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.

Special Procedures

Eight independent human rights experts and monitoring bodies, known as UN “special procedures,” have country visits scheduled in February. Additionally, two working groups will hold private sessions in Geneva, Switzerland.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders agreed to visit Peru from January 21 to February 3, 2020.

The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights agreed to visit Spain from January 27 to February 7, 2020.

The UN Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights agreed to visit Mauritius from January 27 to February 6, 2020.

The UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context agreed to visit New Zealand from February 10 to 20, 2020.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members agreed to visit Japan from February 12 to 19, 2020.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons agreed to visit Iraq from February 15 to 23, 2020.

The UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls agreed to visit Romania from February 24 to March 6, 2020.

The UN Working Group of experts on people of African descent agreed to visit Peru from February 25 to March 4, 2020.

The UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises will hold its 25^th Session from February 3 to 7, 2020, in Geneva, Switzerland.

The UN Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances will hold its 120^th Session from February 10 to 14, 2020, 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 hold its 27^th Extraordinary Session from February 19 to March 4, 2020 in Banjul, The Gambia. The ACHPR reviews State compliance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 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.

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) will continue to hold its 133^rd Regular Session in San José, Costa Rica. The session began on January 27 and will conclude through February 7, 2020. 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 Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will hold two Grand Chamber hearings in February. See ECtHR, Calendar of Hearings.

The ECtHR will hold a Grand Chamber hearing in the case Guðmundur Andri Ástráðsson v. Iceland (no. 26374/18) on February 5, 2020, in Strasbourg, France. See ECtHR, Calendar of Hearings. This case concerns the right to an independent and impartial tribunal establish by law (Article 6) under the European Convention on Human Rights. [ECtHR Press Release: Iceland] The applicant, Guðmundur Andri Ástráðsson, was convicted of driving under the influence and without a valid driver’s license in March 2017. He appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, but his case was transferred to Iceland’s Court of Appeal in January 2018 – the same year the Court of Appeal was established – after his case was not heard by the end of 2017, as required by national law. [ECtHR Press Release: Iceland] Three judges sat on the panel that reviewed Ástráðsson’s case, one of whom Ástráðsson requested be removed from the case given the “irregularities in the procedure when she had been appointed as judge to the Court of Appeal.” [ECtHR Press Release: Iceland] The Court of Appeal denied his request and upheld his conviction. [ECtHR Press Release: Iceland] Ástráðsson complained to the ECtHR that the appointment of the judge he asked be removed from his case violated Article 6 of the European Convention and, therefore, his conviction was “not determined by a tribunal established by law.” [ECtHR Press Release: Iceland] In its chamber judgment, the ECtHR held that the process by which the judge was appointed violated Article 6 given that it did not comply with relevant laws and “contravened the very essence of the principle that a tribunal must be established by law.” [ECtHR Press Release: Iceland] The State requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber, and the Grand Chamber Panel accepted the request on September 9, 2019. [ECtHR Press Release: Iceland]

The ECtHR will also hold a Grand Chamber hearing in the case Hanana v. Germany (no. 4871/16) on February 26, 2020, in Strasbourg, France. See ECtHR, Calendar of Hearings. This case concerns the rights to life (Article 2) and to an effective remedy (Article 13) under the European Convention with respect to an investigation into an airstrike that killed the applicant’s two sons, following an order by German Colonel K. [ECtHR Press Release: Germany] Germany began a criminal investigation into the airstrike and Colonel K, but discontinued it in April 2010 after determining that the Colonel had “no intent to kill or harm civilians or damage civilian objects to a degree that had been disproportionate to the military benefit of the airstrike.” [ECtHR Press Release: Germany] The applicant attempted to bring a motion to compel public charges against the Colonel before national courts, but his motion was dismissed as inadmissible. [ECtHR Press Release: Germany] The applicant submitted an application to the European Court on January 13, 2016, alleging that the airstrike that killed his sons is attributable to Germany and that he does not have access to an effective “domestic remedy…to challenge the decision to discontinue the investigation.” [ECtHR Press Release: Germany] The ECtHR chamber relinquished jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber on August 27, 2019.

For more information on the ECtHR, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.