UN Human Rights Council: Unravelling the tissue
19 February 2008, 10:25AM
UN Headquarters © AI
We note with deep concern that the process followed by the Consultative Group established to propose to the President of the Human Rights Council a list of candidates for vacant Special Procedures mandates fails in important ways to respect the letter and spirit of Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007. The bare report submitted to the President of the Council on 7 February 2008 invites speculation about whether other requirements of resolution 5/1 were respected.
Resolution 5/1 requires the Consultative Group to propose a list of candidates for each mandate. It confers on the President of the Council the prerogative to identify an appropriate candidate for each vacancy. Through the list it proposed on 7 February, the Consultative Group effectively attempts to usurp the functions of the President of the Council by severely limiting his choice of candidates. For four mandates, the Consultative Group has put forward only one candidate. For nine other mandates, the Consultative Group has recommended a single candidate, although the report of the Group records that for these mandates, some members have "supported" a second person and in some cases a third person "was also suggested". For one mandate, the Group has suggested further consultations, but it not clear who is to conduct them.
The new procedure established in resolution 5/1 to select Special Procedures mandate-holders was intended to be more transparent than the one followed in the Commission on Human Rights. The resolution requires that recommendations to the President of the Council be public and substantiated. The report of the Consultative Group does not substantiate any of the recommendations made. Similarly no explanation is offered for the support offered by some members to other candidates or for the suggestion of yet others. This opaque language about support for or suggestion of some candidates adds mystery not clarity to the process. No indication is given of whether or how the views of other stakeholders, including current or outgoing mandate-holders, were taken into account as called for in resolution 5/1. Although the report informs the President and the Council that the Group held nine formal meetings, there is no information about who attended the meetings or what was discussed at each meeting.
The report of the Consultative Group gives no indication of whether or how account was taken of the general criteria of expertise, experience, independence, impartiality, personal integrity and objectivity, or the requirement that the selection process give due consideration to gender balance and equitable geographic representation, as well as appropriate representation of different legal systems. We regrets that only two of the 13 persons recommended by the Group are women.
While the President of the Council has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the general and specific criteria and other considerations set out in resolution 5/1 are respected in identifying the Special Procedures mandate-holders, the Consultative Group has an important role to play. We acknowledge the substantial contribution that the members of the Consultative Group have made to the Council's efforts to make this new appointment process work. However, for the process to work, the Group must fulfil its important role in conformity with the requirements of resolution 5/1.
The Council has already demonstrated a troubling tendency to disregard rules and procedures that it established for itself in its institution-building package of 18 June 2007. Continuation of this tendency by failure to address the flaws in the process followed by the Consultative Group will further contribute to undermining the Human Rights Council and the credibility of Council members. We recommend that the Human Rights Council request the Consultative Group to prepare a new report in conformity with the requirements of resolution 5/1.
The concerns expressed by Amnesty International about the process and outcome of the deliberations of the Consultative Group do not reflect any opinion, positive or negative, about the qualities of the persons proposed by the Consultative Group to the President of the Council. In keeping with long-established policy, we do not take a position in favour of or against any candidate.
Background information
The appointment of independent, impartial, competent and expert men and women from all regions of the world is key to ensuring a well-functioning system of Special Procedures.
In March 2008, the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to appoint up to 14 human rights experts to serve as Special Procedures mandate-holders. These include Special Procedures dealing with the right to adequate housing, the right to food, indigenous people, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, contemporary forms of slavery, extreme poverty and the human rights situations in Myanmar. The vacancy list for the Special Procedures is available at the OHCHR website.
The new appointment process, established in Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2008 has several stages. The basis of the appointment process is a roster of eligible candidates, reflecting technical and objective requirements, to be prepared, administered and regularly updated by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Resolution 5/1 sets out general criteria for nominating, selecting and appointing mandate-holders. It calls for eligible candidates for appointment as Special Procedures to have demonstrated expertise, relevant experience, independence, impartiality, personal integrity and objectivity. These criteria are to be reflected in the "technical and objective requirements for eligible candidates" to have their name placed on the roster and in the determination of specific requirements for individual mandates by the Consultative Group. The first set of requirements were adopted by the Human Rights Council at its sixth session in September 2007 in decision 6/102, part C, "Technical and objective requirements for eligible candidates for mandate holders". In determining the second set of requirements, i.e. the necessary expertise, experience, skills, and other relevant requirements for each mandate, resolution 5/1 calls on the Consultative Group to take into account, as appropriate, the views of stakeholders, including the current or outgoing mandate-holders. Resolution 5/1 also requires that all the Consultative Group's recommendations to the President be public and substantiated. On the basis of the recommendations of the consultative group and following broad consultations, in particular through the regional coordinators, the President of the Council is to identify an appropriate candidate for each vacancy and to present to member States and observers a list of candidates to be proposed at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the session in which the Council will consider the appointments. The appointment of the mandate-holders is completed upon the approval by the Council of the President's appointments. Read more information
The Consultative Group, which has just made recommendations to the President of the Council, consists of Ambassadors Idriss Jazairy, Juan Martabit, Masood Khan, Valery Loshchinin and Blaise Godet. Although they are respectively the Geneva United Nations Ambassadors of Algeria (African Group), Chile (GRULAC), Pakistan (Asian Group), Russian Federation (Eastern European Group) and Switzerland (Western European and Others Group), they serve on the Consultative Group in their personal capacities.
For more information, see the Amnesty International webpage on the appointment of Special Procedures mandate-holders
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