Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/75 Effective implementation of international instruments on human rights, including reporting obligations under international instruments on human rights
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Date:
27 April 2000
The Commission on Human Rights,
Taking note of General Assembly resolution 53/138 of 9 December 1998 and recalling its own resolution 1998/27 of 17 April 1998, as well as other relevant resolutions,
Reaffirming that the full and effective implementation of United Nations human rights instruments is of major importance to the efforts of the Organization, pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to promote universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Considering that the effective functioning of treaty bodies established pursuant to United Nations human rights instruments is indispensable for the full and effective implementation of such instruments,
Reiterating its concern about the large number of overdue reports under the United Nations human rights instruments, the increasing backlog of reports on the implementation by States parties and delays in consideration of reports by treaty bodies, as well as the lack of adequate resources, which impedes the effective functioning of the treaty bodies, including in regard to their ability to work in the applicable working languages,
Recalling that the effectiveness of the treaty bodies in encouraging the realization by States parties of their obligations under the United Nations human rights instruments requires constructive dialogue aimed at assisting States parties in identifying solutions to human rights problems and should be based on the reporting process supplemented by information from all relevant sources, which should be shared with all interested parties,
Conscious of the importance of coordination of the human rights promotion and protection activities of the United Nations system,
1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the 10th meeting of the persons chairing the human rights treaty bodies (A/53/432), held at Geneva from 14 to 18 September 1998, and the holding of the 11th meeting at Geneva from 31 May to 4 June 1999, and takes note of the conclusions and recommendations of those meetings;
2. Encourages each treaty body to continue to give careful consideration to the relevant conclusions and recommendations contained in the reports of the meetings of the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies and, in this context, encourages enhanced cooperation and coordination between the human rights treaty bodies;
3. Takes note with interest of the report of the Secretary-General on implementation of international instruments on human rights, including reporting obligations under international instruments on human rights (E/CN.4/2000/106);
4. Welcomes the submission of comments by Governments, United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, non-governmental organizations and interested persons on the final report of the independent expert on enhancing the long-term effectiveness of the United Nations human rights treaty system (E/CN.4/1997/74) and the Secretary-General's report thereon (E/CN.4/2000/98);
5. Notes with appreciation the continuing attention given by the human rights treaty bodies, the chairpersons of those bodies, Governments, United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, non-governmental
organizations and interested persons to the question of enhancing the long-term effectiveness of the United Nations human rights treaty system, including the final report of the independent expert and other contributions;
6. Emphasizes the need to ensure financing and adequate staff and information resources for the operations of the human rights treaty bodies and, with this in mind:
(a) Reiterates its request that the Secretary-General provide adequate resources in respect of each treaty body, while making the most efficient use of existing resources, in order to give the human rights treaty bodies adequate administrative support and better access to technical expertise and relevant information;
(b) Calls upon the Secretary-General to seek in the next biennium the resources within the United Nations regular budget necessary to give the human rights treaty bodies adequate administrative support and better access to technical expertise and relevant information;
(c) Welcomes the plans of action prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to enhance the resources available to all the human rights treaty bodies and thereby strengthen the implementation of these human rights treaties and encourages all Governments, United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, non-governmental organizations and interested persons to consider contributing to the appeal for extrabudgetary resources for the treaty bodies made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights until the regular budget funding meets their needs;
7. Takes note of the measures taken by each of the human rights treaty bodies to improve their functioning, as reflected in their respective annual reports, and encourages continuing efforts by the human rights treaty bodies and the Secretary-General to help improve the meeting of reporting obligations by States parties and to reduce the backlog in the consideration of reports by treaty bodies;
8. Welcomes the continuing efforts by the human rights treaty bodies and the Secretary-General aimed at streamlining, rationalizing, rendering more transparent and otherwise improving reporting procedures, and encourages the Secretary-General, the treaty bodies and the next meeting of the chairpersons of the treaty bodies to continue to examine ways of reducing the duplication of reporting required under the different instruments, without impairing the quality of reporting, and of generally reducing the reporting burden on States parties, including through an ongoing examination of proposals for reports focused on a limited range of issues, the harmonization of the general guidelines regarding the form and content of reports, the possibility of consolidating overdue reports, the timing of consideration of reports and the methods of work of the treaty bodies;
9. Urges States parties to contribute, individually and collectively, such as through meetings of States parties, to identifying practical proposals and ideas for improving the functioning of the treaty bodies;
10. Also urges States parties to make every effort to meet their reporting obligations under United Nations human rights instruments;
11. Reiterates that a priority of the programme of advisory services and technical assistance of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights should be to provide assistance to States parties, upon their request and, if possible, in coordination with other United Nations bodies, Governments and other interested parties in order to:
(a) Assist those States in the process of ratifying United Nations human rights instruments;
(b) Assist States with the implementation of their obligations under such instruments, including the preparation of their initial reports;
12. Welcomes the publication of the revised Manual on Human Rights Reporting, and requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in accordance with Economic and Social Council decision 1998/252 of 30 July 1998, to take the necessary measures to ensure the translation into all the official United Nations languages of the revised Manual as soon as possible;
13. Also welcomes the availability of documentation regarding the treaty bodies on the Website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and urges the Secretary-General to ensure that United Nations practices concerning access to treaty information are consistent with Commission resolutions 1999/60 of 28 April 1998 on public information activities and 1999/64 of 28 April 1998 on human rights education;
14. Invites States parties that have not yet submitted their initial reports under United Nations human rights instruments to avail themselves, where necessary, of technical assistance for this purpose;
15. Encourages the human rights treaty bodies to continue to identify specific possibilities for technical assistance, to be provided at the request of the State concerned, in the regular course of their work of reviewing the periodic reports of States parties, and encourages States parties to consider carefully the concluding observations of the treaty bodies in identifying their needs for technical assistance;
16. Urges each State party whose report has been examined by a human rights treaty body to translate, publish and make available in its territory the full text of the concluding observations of the treaty body on its report and to provide adequate follow-up to those observations;
17. Welcomes the contribution to the work of the human rights treaty bodies made by the specialized agencies and other United Nations bodies and encourages the specialized agencies and other United Nations bodies, the Commission on Human Rights, including its special procedures, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies to continue to explore specific measures to intensify this cooperation among themselves and improve communication and information flow to improve further the quality of their work, including by avoiding unnecessary duplication;
18. Recognizes the important role played by non-governmental organizations in all parts of the world in the effective implementation of all human rights instruments, and encourages the exchange of information between the human rights treaty bodies and such organizations;
19. Recalls, with regard to the election of the members of the human rights treaty bodies, the importance of giving consideration to equitable geographical distribution and gender balance of membership and to the representation of the principal legal systems, and of bearing in mind that the members shall be elected and serve in their personal capacity and shall be of high moral character, acknowledged impartiality and recognized competence in the field of human rights, and encourages States parties, individually and through meetings of States parties, to consider how to give better effect to these principles;
20. Welcomes the continuing emphasis by the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies that the enjoyment of the human rights of women should be monitored closely by each treaty body within the purview of its mandate and, in this regard, takes note of the report of the Gender Integration Workshop (E/CN.4/2000/118) and the report of the Division for the Advancement of Women on trends regarding the integration of a gender perspective into the work of the United Nations human rights bodies (HRI/MC/1998/6);
21. Also welcomes the contribution of the human rights treaty bodies, within their mandates, to the prevention of violations of human rights, in the context of their consideration of reports submitted under their respective treaties;
22. Encourages the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies to pursue at their future meetings the reform process aimed at improving the effective implementation of international instruments on human rights;
23. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Commission at its fifty-eighth session on measures taken to implement the present resolution and obstacles to its implementation, and on measures taken or planned to ensure financing and adequate staff and information resources for the effective operation of the human rights treaty bodies;
24. Decides to consider this question on a priority basis at its fifty-eighth session under the agenda item entitled "Effective functioning of bodies established pursuant to
United Nations human rights instruments".
66th meeting
26 April 2000
[Adopted without a vote.]
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