ICC 27 GENERAL MEETING Thursday 13 March 2014 WELCOME/GREETINGS - PDF document

ICC 27 – GENERAL MEETING Thursday 13 March 2014 WELCOME/GREETINGS ICC Chair Advocate Lawrence Mushwana Mr Vladlen Stefanov and staff of NIRMS Ms Shireen Said of UNDP ICC Secretary Alan Miller Regional Chairpeople and Coordinators ICC members from all regions Welcome and warmest greetings to you all. This is my first ICC General Meeting after giving birth, exactly one year ago, today. Let me start by saying how much I am pleased to be with you today and how much I enjoyed working with all of you over the past months since returning to office in September. I would like take this opportunity to express appreciation to Bruce Adamson for the great job he has done whilst I was on maternity leave. I would like to thank ICC Chair Adv Mushwana for his leadership and vision as well as his office for their support and cooperation. I also wish to thank Mr Stefanov and staff of NIRMS for their support to the work of the ICC. The two progress reports before you, from May to October 2013 and from November 2013 to date, provide you with an overview of the key activities and achievements over the reporting period. For the purposes of this presentation, I wish to focus on the following activities and achievements. My presentation is complementary to the one by ICC Chair and his office. United Nations General Assembly Resolution In December 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an important resolution on NHRIs. The resolution is sponsored by Germany and was adopted by consensus with cross regional support from 70 co-sponsoring states.

The German Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the German Institute for Human Rights as well as states and NGOs have provided important support and cooperation to the ICC during the negotiations of this resolution. ICC members in all regions have engaged with their respective state representatives, to advocate for support for the resolution, which to a great extent has contributed to the cross regional support among states of the resolution. The resolution contains the following key elements:  The resolution reaffirms the critical role of NHRIs and the importance of the Paris Principles in ensuring NHRIs' independence and effectiveness.  It welcomes the participation of NHRIs in United Nations mechanisms and processes and encourages NHRIs to extend their contributions, both in Geneva and New York.  The resolution adds new elements to address reprisals against NHRIs. It stresses that NHRIs should not be subjected to any form of reprisals nor intimidation as a result of their mandated activities, including in the form of budgetary constraints.  The resolution also addresses the role of NHRIs in relation to the protection of human rights defenders and as being human rights defenders themselves.  Finally, the resolution requests the UN Secretary General to present in his next report to the General Assembly a vision for NHRI participation across the UN system, on the same basis that NHRIs do at the Human Rights Council. From this resolution it is clear that NHRIs are increasingly acknowledged as the critical bridge between international human rights standards and their full realisation at the national level. NHRI training To support NHRIs in this role, the ICC has had an opportunity to develop a partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the OHCHR, to provide training for NHRIs on international human rights mechanisms. The training aims at strengthening NHRIs' capacities to effectively engage with the United Nations human rights mechanisms. The training has ben specifically developed to meet the interests and needs of NHRIs. It is directed at NHRI staff from all regions. The training will support participants in  Expanding their knowledge of the UN system;  Identifying concrete opportunities for NHRIs' effective engagement;  Participating in sessions of UN bodies;  Engaging with colleagues from OHCHR, Geneva-based NGOs and state representatives;  Exchanging of experiences and best practices with peer NHRIs participating in the training. The first training will take place from 5 to 9 May 2014 in Geneva. We received a high level of interest and 49 applications from all regions. From among these applications, we have selected 17 participants, 12 of which will be entirely funded by our partner the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung through either its Geneva or local offices. The high level of interest from NHRIs as witnessed by the number of applications was very encouraging, as was the good cooperation with our partners from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the OHCHR as well as with the many resources persons from various organisations, who kindly agreed to work with us during the training.

Against this positive background and the feedback, with our partners we are looking into the possibility of offering this training for NHRIs in Geneva on a regular, annual basis. We are also looking at the possibility of proposing the training in ICC languages other than English. In parallel to developing this face to face Geneva-based training, we have worked with our partners on a proposal together with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), for an e-learning training for NHRIs on international human rights mechanisms. The overall proposal envisages the development of a blended (online and face-to-face) training programme on “United Nations Human Rights Treaties and Mechanisms” aiming at strengthening NHRIs’ capacity to effectively engage with United Nations human rights mechanisms at all stages including reporting, participation in meetings and follow up in country. At the end of the project, NHRIs’ awareness of and participation in United Nations human rights mechanisms is increased. As this is an online course, we envisage that up to 80 NHRIs staff per year could be trained.The training could be translated into all ICC languages, pending available funding. We have developed a concrete project proposal and have approached potential donors with regard to possible funding of the project including the online learning components and we hope to confirm positive news in the coming months. ICC strategic engagement plan A strategic engagement plan has been developed, and will be regularly updated, to assist ICC members identify relevant engagement opportunities with key international human rights meetings and conferences. The plan highlights key UN meetings in 2014, identifies dates and participation opportunities for NHRIs. The engagement plan in available on the ICC webpage for your kind consideration. Cooperation with treaty bodies In November 2013, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances invited the ICC to a meeting to discuss the development of a Committee position paper on national human rights institutions. The objective of the paper will be to establish the foundations for a cooperative relationship between NHRIs and the Committee, similarly to the position paper the Human Rights Committee has developed on NHRIs. The ICC Chair contributed to the discussions by video statement. The Committee is presently developing a first draft and will invite ICC members for comments. Over the reporting period, the ICC in Geneva has had an opportunity to strengthen partnership with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and particularly with its newly appointed Secretary. The 2012 Amman Declaration and Program of Action was discussed. The relative low level of participation of NHRIs the CEDAW Committee's work was raised. To assist NHRIs engaging with the Committee, the following immediate next steps were agreed upon:  That the CEDAW Secretariat develop a NHRI Information Note, to advise NHRIs in advance of each session on opportunities to engage with the CEDAW Committee;  That the CEDAW Secretariat send a formal invitation letter to all those NHRIs whose state will be examined by CEDAW; and  That the ICC Geneva Office follows up individually with NHRIs concerned, offering assistance and advice where to required. I am pleased to report that the February 2014 session has witnessed a good level of interaction from NHRIs with the work of the Committee and we hope to be building on these developments.

ICC webpage The ICC office in Geneva has worked on regularly updating the ICC webpage. On each event a small press release was uploaded with pictures, to document NHRI engagement. We have also sought and received news from NHRIs, the regions and partners, that are relevant for NHRIs. Based on feedback received from ICC members, we have re-organised some sections on the webpage and some of the documentation, to make it more accessible. ICC Intern Last but not least, in cooperation with the Danish Institute I am delighted to be able to welcome Emilie Thage as ICC intern to Geneva. My personal and most warmest thanks to her. Emilie is with the Geneva Representative's office since January through mid April. Emilie contributed widely to the work of the office and her performance has been continuously outstanding and is a lovely person working with. Her presence was necessary in light of the continuously increasing workload in Geneva. Thank you very much for your consideration and I much look forward to fruitful discussions this morning and over the coming days.