International Treaty Body Monitoring

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International Treaty Body Monitoring

• Judith Cohen
• Head of Programme Parliamentary and
  International Affairs
• South African Human Rights Commission
• Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Women,
  Youth, Children and People with Disabilities, 12
  August 2009

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Introduction

• The United Nations oversees a number of
  international treaties that bind state parties to
  protect and to take positive action to facilitate
  the enjoyment of basic human rights. By adopting
  these treaties, member states send a strong
  message to the world community about their
  commitment to defending human rights. This
  commitment is not only symbolic, however states
  that ratify international human rights treaties
  must implement domestic measures and legislation
  compatible with their treaty obligations and
  duties.

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To demonstrate their compliance, states must
abide by the treaty guidelines and periodically
report to United Nations committees. Independent
bodies of experts form the committees that
monitor implementation by reviewing state reports
and issuing concluding observations and
recommendations. Although the exact reporting
requirements vary, typically state parties must
submit an initial report within one year of
ratifying a convention. Periodic reports are
subsequently due at regular intervals set by each
committee. Additional reports may be required if
state parties have acceded to any optional
protocols.
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UN Treaty Body System

• International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights (ICCPR) (1966) and its Optional Protocol.
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and
  Cultural Rights (ICESR) (1966).
• International Convention on the Elimination of
  All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
  (1965).
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
  Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1979).
• The Convention Against Torture and other Cruel,
  Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT) and its
  Optional Protocol.
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
  (1989).
• International Convention on the Protection of All
  Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
  (ICRMW) (1990) only entered into force 2003.

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2 New Treaty Bodies

• International Convention on Protection and
  Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons
  with Disabilities (ICRDPD) (the Disability
  Convention)
• International Convention for the Protection of
  All Persons from Enforced Disappearance

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South Africa

• Ratified
• International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights (ICCPR)
• International Convention on the Elimination of
  All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
  Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• Convention against Torture and other Cruel,
  Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• International Convention on Rights of Persons
  with Disabilities (ICRPD)

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South Africa still needs to ratify

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and
  Cultural Rights (ICESR) signed 1994
• A 2007 report by the National Assembly and the
  National Council of Provinces Parliament of South
  Africa, Joint Coordinating Committee on the
  African Peer Review Mechanism, however, countered
  that there is no apparent reason for the
  countrys failure to ratify the Covenant because
  it imposes no greater duties than the
  Constitution.
• Current campaign to ratify
• Optional Protocol to the Convention against
  Torture (OPCAT)
• International Convention on the Protection of All
  Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
  (ICRMW)
• International Convention for the Protection of
  All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPED)

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SAs reporting status

• International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights (ICCPR) SA r as requested
• Initial report due March 2000 South Africa
  submitted mid 2009, yet to appear before
  Committee
• International Convention on the Elimination of
  All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) SA
  1998 r 1/2
• South Africa appeared before the committee in
  November 2006 and presented initial, 2nd and 3rd
  report.
• 15 August 2007 progress report outstanding, hate
  crimes, xenophobia
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
  Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) SA 1995 r
  1/4
• 2nd (2001) 3rd (2005) reports submitted in
  2008.
• Convention against Torture and other Cruel,
  Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT) SA 1998 r
  1/4
• Initial report submitted 2005 (due 2000)
  considered Nov 2006, next report due Dec 2009.
  Nov 2007, progress report outstanding (non
  refoulement NPM, rights victims of torture to
  claim compensation violence against women and
  children legislation to criminalise torture
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) SA
  1995 r 2/5
• Initial report 1997, considered 2000
  supplementary report 2002 2nd and 3rd reports
  now outstanding

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Treaty Bodies

• Breakdown of Treaties

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ICCPR civil political rights

• A treaty that safeguards the right to life,
  liberty, and security to freedom from torture
  and slavery to equality before the law to
  freedom of movement, association, thought,
  religion and expression to privacy and to the
  enjoyment of culture

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ICESCR economic social cultural rights

• Protects a range of economic, social, and
  cultural rights without prejudice to creed,
  political affiliation, gender, or race.
• Ratification campaign by civil society.
  Commission also liaised with civil society and
  government departments to ratify.

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ICERD - Discrimination

• a comprehensive instrument prohibiting
  discrimination based on race or national origin,
  sex, language, or religion.
• Committee also focuses on trafficking and
  violence against women the lack of prosecution
  of hate crimes LGBT rights etc.

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CEDAW - Women

• the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
  against Women (CEDAW) establishes an
  international bill of rights for women by
  defining gender equality and setting an agenda
  for state action to guarantee the enjoyment of
  equal rights
• Committee often comments on violence against
  women, prostitution and trafficking, and womens
  health.

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CAT - Torture

• requires states to implement measures to prevent
  torture within their jurisdiction and forbids
  them to return persons to a country where there
  is reason to believe they will be tortured.
• Recommendations from the Committee inlcude, the
  criminalization of torture the need for training
  regarding the provisions of the Convention for
  law enforcement personnel and difficulties of
  asylum seekers

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OPCAT - Subcommittee

• National Preventative Mechanism of all places
  where persons are detained against their will.
• Commission advocating for the ratification of
  OPCAT and the establishment of a NPM.

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CRC - children

• A comprehensive instrument that sets out rights
  and defines universal principles and norms
  regarding the status of children
• Areas of concern raised about high rates of HIV
  infection in children, female genital mutilation,
  child physical and sexual abuse, and child
  prostitution
• Requires review of legislation to ensure no
  violence of children in any setting

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ICPMW Migrant workers

• Firmly establishes the economic, social,
  cultural, civil and political rights of all
  persons who are currently engaged or will engage
  in employment in a country of which they are not
  a national
• The need to protect particularly vulnerable
  groups of migrants, especially children, and
  recommended that steps be taken to eliminate
  hazardous forms of labor for migrant children, to
  prevent commercial sexual exploitation of migrant
  children, and to ensure that migrant children
  involved in trafficking and/or prostitution are
  properly treated as victims.

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ICRPD - Disability

• Comprehensive instrument that articulates the
  rights of persons with disabilities.
• The SAHRC also designed a Toolkit for training
  and awareness raising on the Convention, which
  was launched at a conference in December 2007.
• Children with disabilities often face major
  barriers to education, including refusals to
  accommodate learners in mainstream schools to
  these schools not being accessible.

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ICPED Enforced disappearances

• This Convention is significant as it defines
  enforced disappearances as a human rights
  violation and imposes a duty on state parties to
  criminalise such acts. The Convention recognises
  the right of families to know what happened to
  victims and also the right to reparations for
  victims of enforced disappearances. The
  Convention is novel in that family members are
  also recognised as victims.

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Role of parliamentary committees

• Monitoring as oversight

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Ratification

• Encourage ratification
• ICESCR economic social and cultural rights
• OPCAT establishment of national preventative
  mechanism (NPM)
• ICRMW Migrant workers and their families
• ICPED - Enforced Disappearance, victims can be
  family members

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1. Before the Treaty Body Session

• Increase awareness about the Treaty Body systems
  through
• Information and training sessions
• Ensuring that members of the committee are aware
  of South Africa international treaty body
  obligations
• Infuse the treaty body obligations into the daily
  work of the committee
• Actively hold sessions on the treaty bodies and
  call government officials to account on the
  process and specific issues
• Request Department of International Affairs and
  Co-operation and responsible government
  departments to keep the committee up to date on
  the status of SAs reporting obligations

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2. During the Treaty Body session

• Host meetings, create awareness in constituencies
• Issue press statements, participate in public
  meetings, radio talk shows

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3. After the Treaty Body session

• Publicizing and awareness raising domestically
  about the proceedings before the Treaty Body and
  the concluding observations and recommendations.
• Monitoring the implementation by government of
  the recommendations.

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African Regional System

• African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights,
  1981
• In terms of Article 62 - submit a report on
  legislative and other measures every 2 years
• Reporting has been criticized as arduous and too
  heavy a burden resulting in many states not
  reporting or reporting late
• Quality of reports have been a matter of concern
  due to lack of expertise, resources or political
  will
• Makes General Comments

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African Instruments

• African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
• The African Charters deals with gender in its
  preamble and in Articles 2, 3, and 18(3). Article
  18(3) addresses specifically the rights of women
  by making it a duty on States to "eliminate all
  forms of discrimination against women and ensure
  adequate protection of women and childrens
  rights as they are stipulated in international
  conventions and declarations".
• The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and
  peoples Rights, relative to the Rights of Women
  in Africa was adopted in July 2003 and entered
  into force on 25 November 2005

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African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the
Child

• Corporal punishment provisions
• Art 11(5) parties to the Charter should take all
  appropriate measures to ensure that a child who
  is subjected to school or parental discipline
  shall be treated with humanity and with respect
  to the inherent dignity of the child.
• Art21(1) parties should take all appropriate
  measures to eliminate harmful social and cultural
  practices affecting the welfare, dignity, normal
  growth, development of the child and those
  customs and practices prejudicial to the health
  or life of the child.
• Disability provisions
• Art 13 special mention of PWDs by calling for
  adoption of special measures of protection,
  together with the principle of self-reliance,
  participation and access.

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Universal Periodic Review

• UPR is new mechanism established by the Human
  Rights Council (HRC).
• Its aim is to improve the human rights situation
  on the ground, in every UN member state, by
  assessing the fulfillment of each countrys human
  rights obligations and looking at positive
  developments and challenges in this area.
• All member states will be reviewed, in sessions,
  over a period of four years. South Africa was
  reviewed in the first session, which took place
  in April 2008.
• Recommended to South Africa to systematically and
  continuously integrate a gender perspective in
  the follow-up process to the UPR (Slovenia)

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UPR Recommendations

• Recommended to take increased measures to protect
  and provide redress to women at risk of or
  subjected to gender-based violence (The
  Netherlands)
• Recommended South Africa to follow up on the
  recommendation made by the Committee against
  Torture to adopt all necessary measures to
  prevent, combat and punish violence against women
  and children (Switzerland)
• Recommended that concrete measures be taken to
  improve the handling by police of rape cases and
  to curb rates of violence, particularly against
  women and girls (Canada)
• Recommended to South Africa to persevere in its
  efforts to promote the rights of education and to
  pay particular attention to continuing and
  disseminating the culture of human rights among
  young people as part of its educational and
  pedagogical programme (Tunisia)

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Conclusion

• South Africas standing in the international
  community.
• Role of international law in ensuring that we
  achieve the full enjoyment of the rights in the
  constitution.

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Contact Details

• Parliamentary and International Affairs Programme
  South African Human Rights Commission
• Head of Programme Judith Cohen
• Email jcohen_at_sahrc.org.za / stula_at_sahrc.org.za
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• 132 Adderley Street, 7th floor ABSA Building