Reporting obligations of States parties to United Nations conventions on human rights : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly

 

Reporting obligations of States parties to United Nations conventions on human rights

  The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 37/44 of 3 December 1982, in which it noted with concern the critical situation with regard to overdue reports under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and affirmed the necessity of considering that situation within the overall framework of all reporting obligations of States parties to United Nations conventions on human rights, Recalling also its resolution 38/117 of 16 December 1983, in which it noted that many delays were also occurring in the submission of reports under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as indicated by the Secretary-General in his first report on the overall situation with regard to reporting obligations, Recalling further its resolution 39/138 of 14 December 1984, in which the General Assembly, having considered the report of the meeting of the Chairmen of the supervisory bodies entrusted with the consideration of reports submitted under United Nations conventions on human rights and of the Commission on Human Rights, held at Geneva on 16 and 17 August 1984, expressed its concern about the problems experienced by those bodies in the functioning of the reporting procedures and its conviction of the need to improve the existing reporting system in order to resolve the problems experienced both by those bodies and by the States parties to the various conventions on human rights, Having considered the report of the Secretary-General containing updated information as at 1 June 1985 on the general situation of the submission of reports of States parties to United Nations conventions on human rights and a compilation of the general guidelines elaborated by the various human rights bodies under the human rights instruments containing reporting obligations, Noting with deep concern that the number of overdue reports of States parties to at least one of the conventions on human rights has increased seriously and may even increase further unless appropriate steps are taken to ascertain better the root causes of the situation and to devise appropriate types of action that can progressively remove the difficulties being experienced, Recalling, in this respect, Commission on Human Rights resolution 1985/26 of 11 March 1985 concerning the programme of advisory services in the field of human rights, and also resolution 1985/45 of 14 March 1985, in which the Commission, having considered the status of the International Covenants on Human Rights, requested the Secretary-General to consider ways and means of making advice and assistance available to States parties to these instruments in the preparation of their reports, Recognizing once again and with deeper concern the burden that several coexisting reporting systems place upon Member States that are parties to various conventions, which in future may become more acute in relation to the ratification of other conventions, Reiterating the importance it attaches to the fulfilment of obligations under international conventions on human rights, including reporting obligations,

1. Takes note with appreciation of the very comprehensive second report of the Secretary-General on reporting obligations of States parties to United Nations conventions on human rights, which contains:

(a) Updated information on the general situation of the submission of reports of States parties to the five conventions currently in force;

(b) Consideration of and suggestions on the question of consolidating the guidelines of the supervisory bodies entrusted with the consideration of the reports of States parties on the implementation of the conventions;

(c) A list of articles dealing with related rights under the various conventions and a compilation of the current guidelines;

2. Expresses its deep concern about the alarming number of overdue reports of many States parties to the international conventions on human rights, which negatively affects the reporting systems of those conventions, in particular the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

3. Expresses particular concern that some States that are parties to four or to five conventions seem to have serious difficulties in submitting their reports, as indicated by the repeated reminders addressed to them by the Secretary-General at the request of the competent supervisory bodies;

4. Takes note with interest of Economic and Social Council decision 1985/132 of 28 May 1985, by which, while maintaining the first six-year cycle of the reporting procedures on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Council decided to establish a nine-year period for the subsequent cycles, and considers this decision a first step towards the necessary lightening of the heavy burden of reporting obligations placed upon the States parties to that Covenant;

5. Supports the request addressed to the Secretary-General by the Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1985/45, concerning the provision of practical assistance to States, under the programme of advisory services in the field of human rights, in the preparation of their reports under United Nations conventions;

6. Commends the United Nations Institute for Training and Research for having organized in the Caribbean region, at the suggestion of the Centre for Human Rights and with its close co-operation, a training course on the preparation and submission of reports under international conventions on human rights, and expresses the hope that other courses of that type may be organized in Africa and Asia;

7. Believes that new timely steps are needed in order to ascertain better the most relevant causes of the present situation regarding the non-submission of reports and to devise feasible types of action intended to remove the difficulties being encountered;

8. Requests the Secretary-General, to this end, to send a note verbale to all States parties to the five United Nations conventions on human rights having at 1 February 1986 more than two overdue reports, inviting them to indicate, if they so wish, the reasons for their difficulties in complying with the reporting obligations with regard to the conventions under which their reports are overdue and their interest, if any, in technical advice and assistance with a view to better fulfilling their reporting obligations;

9. Invites the supervisory bodies entrusted with the consideration of reports submitted under all conventions currently in force to give particular attention, during the usual consideration of the action taken by the General Assembly on their annual reports, to the report of the Secretary-General and to the present resolution;

10. Recommends to the States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination that, at their next meeting, they consider suggesting to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination the adoption, as a general rule, of the practice already being followed by the Committee of considering two successive reports in one single text;

11. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-first session a report containing updated information on the general situation with regard to overdue reports, an assessment of the operational and financial implications of increasing training activities in this field and the results of the request addressed to him in paragraph 8 above;

12. Decides to consider at its forty-first session the convening, in 1987, of another meeting of the Chairmen of the supervisory bodies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and, if already established, the committee against torture, in order to consider jointly the report of the Secretary-General requested in paragraph 11 above;

13. Fully concurs with the considerations and suggestions of the Secretary-General on the question of consolidating the guidelines of the supervisory bodies entrusted with the consideration of reports of the States parties on the implementation of the conventions on human rights;

14. Takes note with appreciation of the compilation of the general guidelines elaborated by the various supervisory bodies and of the list of articles dealing with related rights under the five conventions, both of which are very helpful for States parties in the preparation of their reports;

15. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-first session a separate item entitled "Reporting obligations of States parties to the United Nations conventions on human rights"..