The United Nations Treaty Body System in Practice

1
The United Nations Treaty Body System in Practice

• Gemma Connell
• IFHHRO Staff Member and former consultant at the
  UN Division for the Advancement of Women

2
Some facts about the Committees

• The Committees are composed of independent
  experts. This differs from the UN Human Rights
  Council which is composed of State party
  representatives
• CESCR 18 members (currently 13 men and 5 women)
• CEDAW 23 members (currently 22 women and 1 man)

3
What does State Reporting actually involve?

• Once a State ratifies a Convention, it is
  required to periodically report to the treaty
  body
• Two possible situations
• Non-reporting State (eg India under ICESCR until
  2006)
• Reporting State
• If non-reporting NGOs may provide Committee with
  Shadow Reports

4
Procedure following State submission of report

• The report is received by the servicing section
  of the UN Secretariat.
• It is then processed and translated.
• For all treaty bodies other than CEDAW, this has
  been the Office of the High Commissioner for
  Human Rights (OHCHR) which is based in Geneva
• Until now, CEDAW has been serviced by the
  Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) which
  is a Division of the Department of Economic and
  Social Affairs (DESA) in New York. However, after
  the current session, it will move to Geneva.

5
Cont.

• Once the UN receives the State Party report, the
  report is allocated to a Session at which it will
  be examined
• Prior to the examination of the report by the
  full Committee, the report is examined by a
  pre-session Working Group composed of around ½ of
  the full Committee.

6
The Pre-Session Working Group

• Each member of the pre-session working group will
  work with a member of the UN Secretariat to
  develop a list of issues and questions
• NGOs are able to contribute Shadow/Alternate
  Reports prior to the pre-session working group
  and are also able to orally present information

7
The list of issues and questions

• The list of issues and questions is (for CEDAW)
  usually around 25 questions long
• The Committee member and Secretariat staff member
  review the State Partys report and identify
  issues that have not been dealt with, or previous
  recommendations of the Committee that have not
  been addressed

8
CEDAW Greece List of IQ

• In its previous concluding comments the Committee
  recommended that the State party intensify its
  efforts, inter alia by strengthening specific
  programmes targeting men and boys, to change
  stereotypical roles and discriminatory attitudes
  and perceptions about the roles and
  responsibilities of women and girls and boys in
  the family an in society (A/57/38 at para 274).
  Please provide details on whether a comprehensive
  strategy exists to address the prevalence of
  stereotypes which inhibit the full participation
  of women in Greek society and the efforts the
  Government has taken to eliminate stereotypes
  across all sectors and spheres, in accordance
  with article 5(a) of the Convention.

9
Cont.

• The List of Issues and Questions is then
  finalised and sent to the State Party.
• The State Party responds in writing and the
  responses are circulated to the Committee members.

10
The Committees in Session

• States Parties are strongly encouraged to attend
  the Session at which their report is examined
• State Party Delegations vary in size and
  composition (eg China delegation outnumbered
  CEDAW members)
• Usually on first day of session, NGOs are invited
  to present oral information

11
CESCR

• Process takes around 2 days
• State Party delegation provides a brief
  introduction and responses to the list of issues
  and questions
• UN agencies are then invited to present info on
  the State Party report
• Committee members then question the delegation
• Delegation responds
• Concluding observations are formulated

12
CESCR Concluding observations

• Five components
• Introduction
• Positive aspects
• Factors and difficulties impeding implementation
• Principal subjects of concern
• Suggestions and recommendations
• Adopted in closed session and released to public
  at end of session.

13
CEDAW

• Very similar procedure to CESCR
• Usually considers 8 state parties during each 3
  week session but, in order to deal with backlog,
  is now working in double chambers to deal with
  more reports.

14
Possibilities for NGO contribution

• Contribute reports or oral information to
  pre-session working group
• Provide Shadow/Alternate Reports to Committee
  (these should be provided in advance, but may be
  provided at the session)
• Make an oral intervention at the Session

15
Some things to keep in mind

• Amount of material being examined by experts
  keep reports as short as possible, while still
  providing all relevant information
• Finances for attending the meetings are not cheap
  collaborate with other NGOs to try and ensure
  that someone is at the meeting to present the
  report

16
Other opportunities for NGO contributions

• Example Secretary Generals In-depth Study on
  Violence Against Women
• Prepared by DAW
• Online consultations held with NGOs, NGOs invited
  to submit reports
• When preparing good practices and state
  responsibility chapters, these reports were
  referred to