Working with OHCHR: A handbook for NGOs
Working with
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
A Handbook for NGOs
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
HR/PUB/06/10
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Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Working with OHCHR: A handbook for NGOs
Abbreviations and acronyms
ACT Assisting Communities Together
APWLD Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development
ARIS Anti-Racism Information Service
CAT Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
CRTF Country report task force
ECOSOC Economic and Social Council
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICERD International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ICMW International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
IWRAW International Women’s Rights Action Watch
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
NHRI National human rights institution
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNCT United Nations country team
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme
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Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Working with OHCHR: A handbook for NGOs
CONTENTS
Abbreviations and acronyms
Introduction
Chapter
I. THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
§ The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at a glance
§ How to contact OHCHR
A. What is OHCHR?
1. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
2. The United Nations human rights programme
B. How does OHCHR work?
1. An overview of the work of OHCHR
2. Working in the field
3. Improving the international human rights system
C. Which NGOs can access it?
D. How can NGOs work with OHCHR?
II. FIELD PRESENCES AND COUNTRY ENGAGEMENT
§ Field presences at a glance
A. What are they?
B. How do they work?
1. Country engagement at Headquarters
2. Country engagement in the field
C. Which NGOs can access them?
D. How can NGOs work with them?
1. Regional offices
§ Regional priorities and strategies
2. Country offices
§ Case study: NGOs working with the OHCHR country office in Bosnia and Herzegovina to eliminate trafficking in persons
3. Human rights components of United Nations peace operations
§ Case study: NGOs working with OHCHR in peace missions in Africa
4. Human rights advisers in United Nations country teams
5. Rapid response
6. National human rights institutions
III. ENGAGEMENT WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
§ The new Human Rights Council
§ Engagement with human rights issues at a glance
A. What is it?
B. Which NGOs can access it?
C. How can NGOs work with it?
1. Rule of law and democracy
§ Case study: NGOs working with the OHCHR Rule of Law and Democracy Unit to develop and implement new international principles
2. Human rights and development
3. Millennium Development Goals and a rights-based approach to development
4. Human rights and economic and social issues
§ Case study: NGOs working to advance the understanding and implementation of economic, social and cultural rights in the Working Group considering options regarding the elaboration of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
5. Women’s human rights and gender equality
6. Anti-discrimination—World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance: implementation and follow-up
7. Indigenous peoples and minorities
8. Methodology, education and training
IV. THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
§ The new Human Rights Council
§ The Human Rights Council at a glance
§ NGOs relating to the Human Rights Council
A. What is it?
B. How does it work?
§ The former Commission on Human Rights at a glance
C. NGO access and participation in the Human Rights Council
V. SPECIAL PROCEDURES
§ The new Human Rights Council
§ Special procedures at a glance
§ How can NGOs contact special procedures mandate-holders?
A. What are they?
B. How do they work?
1. Communications
2. Country visits
3. Reporting to the Human Rights Council
4. Thematic studies
5. Press releases
C. Which NGOs can access them?
D. How can NGOs work with them?
§ The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative on human rights defenders
1. Submitting individual cases to special procedures mandate-holders
2. Providing support for country visits
§ Case study: visit by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to Nepal (December 2004)
3. Providing information to special procedures mandate-holders
§ Case study: Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences – NGO partnerships for regional consultations on violence against women (2002)
4. Working regionally, nationally or locally to advocate, disseminate, follow up and implement the work of special procedures
§ Case study: Special Rapporteur on housing – NGO partnerships to support the mandate on the right of women to housing (2002)
5. Meeting with special procedures mandate-holders
E. Additional information
§ Thematic mandates
§ Country mandates
VI. TREATY BODIES
§ Treaty bodies at a glance
§ How can NGOs contact treaty bodies?
A. What are they?
1. Treaty bodies: monitoring the core international human rights instruments
2. Treaty body mandates
§ Treaty monitoring bodies and optional protocols
B. How do they work?
1. Consideration of States parties’ reports by treaty bodies
2. Consideration of complaints from individuals claiming that their rights have been violated by a State party
3. Inquiries
4. Early warning and urgent procedures (Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)
5. General comments
6. Days of general discussion/thematic debates
7. Treaty body reform
8. The extranet
C. Which NGOs can access them?
D. How can NGOs work with them?
1. Promoting the ratification of or accession to a treaty
2. Monitoring the reporting obligations of States parties
3. Submitting written information and material
§ What is an NGO report?
§ Guidelines for written submissions
4. NGO participation in the committees’ sessions
§ Guidelines for oral submissions
5. Following up on treaty bodies’ concluding observations
§ Training workshops on follow-up to recommendations
6. How to submit an individual complaint to treaty bodies
7. Providing information for confidential inquiries
§ Case study: NGO participation in the initiation of a confidential inquiry
8. Providing information for early warning and urgent procedures (Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)
§ Case study: NGO participation in the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s early warning and urgent procedures mechanism
9. Making submissions to the annual meeting of chairpersons
E. Additional information
§ Human Rights Committee
§ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
§ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
§ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
§ Committee against Torture
§ Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
VII. SUBMITTING A COMPLAINT ON AN ALLEGED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
§ The new Human Rights Council
§ Complaints procedures at a glance
§ How can NGOs contact human rights complaint mechanisms?
A. What are they?
B. How do they work?
1. Individual complaints under the international human rights treaties
2. Communications under special procedures
3. The 1503 procedure
C. Which NGOs can access them?
D. How can NGOs work with them?
1. Individual complaints under the international human rights treaties
§ What should individual complaints under treaty bodies include?
§ Where to send an individual complaint under the international human rights treaties?
2. Communications under special procedures
§ What should individual complaints under special procedures include?
§ Further information
3. The 1503 procedure
§ What should complaints under the 1503 procedure include?
§ Where to send a complaint under the 1503 procedure?
VIII. FUNDS, GRANTS, FELLOWSHIP AND TRAINING PROGRAMMES
§ The new Human Rights Council
§ Funds, grants, fellowship and training programmes at a glance
A. What are they?
1. Funds and grants
2. Fellowship programmes
3. Training workshops
B. How do they work?
1. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture
2. The Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations
3. The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
4. The “Assisting Communities Together” grant project
5. The Indigenous Fellowship Programme
6. The Minorities Fellowship Programme
7. The Training Workshop for Minorities
C. Which NGOs can access them?
D. How can NGOs work with them?
1. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture
§ Type of assistance funded by the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to date
2. The Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations
3. The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
§ Examples of recent project funding
4. The “Assisting Communities Together” grant project
5. The Indigenous Fellowship Programme
6. The Minorities Fellowship Programme
7. The Training Workshop for Minorities
IX. PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCE MATERIAL
§ OHCHR publications at a glance
§ OHCHR Library at a glance
A. What are they?
1. OHCHR publications
2. OHCHR Library
B. How can NGOs access them?
1. OHCHR publications
2. OHCHR Library
C. Additional information
§ OHCHR publications list
Annexes
I. Model complaint form for communications under:
• The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
• The Convention against Torture (CAT) or
• The International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
II. Complaint guidelines for communications under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
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Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Working with OHCHR: A handbook for NGOs
Introduction
“Looking ahead, I see a world of opportunities for stronger ties between us. I see a United Nations keenly aware that if the global agenda is to be properly addressed, a partnership with civil society is not an option; it is a necessity. I see a United Nations which recognizes that the NGO revolution—the new global people-power—is the best thing that has happened to our Organization in a long time” (remarks by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to civil society in Wellington, New Zealand, on 29 February 2000).Since its establishment, the United Nations has been dedicated to improving the standard of living and the enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms of all people. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), set up in 1993 following the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, is the United Nations office with primary responsibility for promoting and protecting the enjoyment and full realization of human rights for all.
Much has been achieved since 1945. At the 2005 World Summit, Governments of the world reaffirmed that all human rights were universal, indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. They also said that human rights were one of the foundations for collective security and well-being, and that “the promotion and protection of the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all are essential to advance development and peace and security.”[1]
However, despite the fact that legal standards that define the rights of individuals and the responsibilities of Governments have been adopted, every day people in every country face enormous obstacles to the realization of their rights.
Civil society, especially non-governmental organizations (NGOs), has been crucial in the process of defining and realizing human rights throughout the world. Playing a multiplicity of roles, NGOs are helping to build, drive and strengthen the international human rights system. The effectiveness of the work of OHCHR depends on the collection and dissemination of accurate information, and NGOs are a valuable link between the grass roots and the national and international levels of action.
OHCHR provides and supports mechanisms that are able to respond to human rights concerns highlighted by NGOs. It also provides tools, standards and frameworks that NGOs can use to further human rights within their own areas of work. This Handbook aims to facilitate the participation of NGOs as essential partners in the United Nations human rights system and to guide their interaction with OHCHR.
United Nations reform towards greater realization of human rights
The United Nations is currently involved in a far-reaching reform that will streamline and strengthen the international mechanisms that deal with human rights. This reform is changing some key human rights institutions and mechanisms.
At the time of writing this Handbook, historic changes are taking place. These include the establishment of the Human Rights Council to replace the Commission on Human Rights, the intergovernmental entity that guided the United Nations human rights programme for over 60 years. In June 2006, the Human Rights Council held its first session and took over all mandates, mechanisms, functions and responsibilities of the Commission. During its first year, the Council will set up its own modalities of operation and also review the human rights machinery it inherited from the Commission with the goal of improving and rationalizing it.
The treaty bodies are also being reformed, and progress continues to be made in harmonizing their working methods and procedures.
Over the past year, OHCHR has also worked on defining and implementing a new vision.[2] The High Commissioner’s Plan of Action,[3] released in May 2005, presents a strategic vision for the future direction of OHCHR, building on the assertion that the international community needs to do much more to address today’s threats to human rights. A key strategy of this reform is building closer partnerships with civil society, recognizing that human rights are most effectively realized when the United Nations and civil society work together towards common goals.