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Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council

List of mandate holders - 2008
(Excel – 255KB)

UN HUMAN RIGHTS SPECIAL PROCEDURES MANDATE HOLDERS - SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS, INDEPENDENT EXPERTS +

In a report in February 2008, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, expressed concerns about the existence in the United Kingdom of the common-law offence of blasphemy. The law was discriminatory, she said, as it favoured Christianity alone. Jahangir’s concerns were taken up by Parliament. Subsequently, amendments were introduced in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill in order to abolish the offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel under the common law of England and Wales. The Act received Royal assent on 8 May 2008; two months from that date blasphemy would no longer be an offence under the law.

The blasphemy case highlights the positive impact of the work of the Special Procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council. These men and women, who gathered in Geneva 23 -27 June for their annual meeting, serve as pivots for action on human rights. When a complaint or allegation of a violation of human rights is received, it is the relevant mandate holder who will judge what action to take.

He or she will do this from a position of complete independence: No mandate holder receives a salary or other financial compensation. This independent status is considered crucial to the mandate holder’s credibility and impartiality. (Work-related expenses and secretariat and other services are provided by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.)

Mandate holders are expected to engage with interlocutors at all levels, from governments to civil society groups, in order to monitor, examine, advise and report publicly on violations of human rights. They address human rights issues that range from the situation in specific countries, such as Haiti and Myanmar, to broader thematic areas that run from violence against women to internally displaced persons and enforced disappearances.

The mandate holders in Geneva will look at ways to improve their working methods and their relationship with the Human Rights Council in order to improve their effectiveness and strengthen their independence. They will look into their engagement with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), an initiative of the Council to examine the human rights records of all the UN Member States. Finally, they will seek ways to bring gender considerations into all their work.

As existing mandates are consolidated or renewed, new ones may be created as fresh human rights issues come to the forefront of global concern. For instance, in September 2007 the Human Rights Council decided to create a new mandate on contemporary forms of slavery, and in March 2008 appointed Gulnara Shahinian of Armenia the Special Rapporteur on this issue. Slavery—and slavery-like conditions—exist on all continents and in most countries in the world today.

In March 2008 the Human Rights Council established the position of Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Under the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, the international community set itself the goal of halving the number of people worldwide without sustainable access to drinking water and safe sanitation by 2015. The Human Rights Council has expressed concern that today, more than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water and some 2.6 billion do not enjoy basic sanitation. The new Independent Expert will be appointed in September 2008.

As of June 2008 there were 38 Special Procedures in operation, grouped into 29 thematic mandates and nine country mandates. Sixteen new mandate-holders took up their functions on 1 May 2008. Seven more mandate-holders appointed during the June session of the Council will take up their functions on 1 August 2008. (For a list of mandates, see the link below.)

A mandate holder may undertake a country visit—though only at the invitation of the government. In 2006 Louis Joinet, the Independent Expert on Haiti, conducted a mission to the country during which he paid special attention to the condition of women. He looked into the issue of violations of human rights through sexual assault, and sought decriminalization of abortion on medical grounds, incest and rape.

Walter Kälin, the Representative of the Secretary General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, visited Cote d’Ivoire in June 2007 to evaluate progress since an earlier trip in 2006, during which he urged the Government to draw up national plans of action on internal displacement. Kälin had suggested that these cover all phases of displacement and range from preventive measures to reintegration.

Special Procedures mandate holders like Kälin, Joinet and others, with their unique ability to respond to urgent and critical human rights situations, are at the vanguard of the fight for human rights today.





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