Human rights

Question 1

What is the difference between civil/political rights, and cultural/economic/social rights?

Answer 1

Two different International Covenants, 1966
Civil, political rights: State must respect and ensure these rights to all individuals within its territory
Social rights: State must take steps to the maximum of its available resources to achieve the full realization of those rights. These rights are not justiciable

Question 2

What is the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights?

Answer 2

Established in 1993
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) works to support the different human rights monitoring mechanisms (e.g. secretariat support) in the United Nations system :
o UN Charter-based bodies, and
o Treaty bodies created under the international human rights treaties and made up of independent experts mandated to monitor State parties’ compliance with their treaty obligations.

Question 3

What are the ways to implement Human rights?

Answer 3

• The development of guidance, « general comments » by treaty bodies;
• The drafting of regular reports by States and periodic reviews by treaty bodies ;
• The complaint mechanisms for States or individuals before the international treaties’ organs/ U.N. Charter (Human right Council ) (if the State has signed the document allowing for complaints, sometimes it’s in the protocol and not all sign the protocol)
• The special rapporteurs’ reports;
• At the regional level, complaints before regional tribunals;
• At the national level, the implementation of legal procedure before the national tribunals of the country where the violation is observed.

Question 4

What are general comments?

Answer 4

All treaty bodies publish their interpretations of the provisions of their respective human right treaty: it takes the form of “general comments” or “ general recommendations”.
They are non binding
They serve as guidance for State parties for the implementation of the provisions of the treaties.
It helps them in reporting on their implementation.

Question 5

What are the differences between the mandates of the Human Right Council and a human right treaty body?

Answer 5

The HRC is an intergovernmental body within the UN system which is competent to discuss all thematic human rights issue and situations, it is general in the sense that it protects all human rights, unlike the treaty bodies, which specialise in certain rights and HRC has the mandate to monitor all member states rather than just those states which are party to human rights treaties. Treaty bodies are made up of independent experts

The process for treaty bodies:

1. The treaty body receives and considers the reports submitted by State parties (such report providing a review of the human rights situation in the country), and then
2. The treaty body issues concluding observations & recommendations to assist States in implementing their obligations under the particular treaty

Question 6

What are the activities of the Human Rights Council?

Answer 6

Complaint procedure: address consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested violations of all human rights, in any part of the world and under any circumstances. Starts by a communication submitted by individuals, groups, or NGOs
National judicial means should be exhausted before a complaint

Universal periodic review: review of the HR records of all UN member states. Conducted based on a national report from each State, information provided by independent HR experts, information from other organizations

Question 7

What are the special procedures/ special rapporteurs of the HRC?

Answer 7

Special rapporteurs are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective
they are non-paid and elected for 3-year mandates that can be reconducted for another three years.

Question 8

What is the European Court of Human Rights?

Answer 8

It rules on individual or State applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights
Conditions for application:
- The violation has been commited within the territory of State parties
- The applicant must have directly and personally been the victim of the alleged violation
- The applicant must have used all the remedies in the State concerned
- The application must be done within the 6 months following the final decision at national level

Question 9

What is the international legal framework in case of HR violations by non-state actors?

Answer 9

Three guiding principles, 2011 UN Guiding principles on business and human rights
1- States have an existing obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and fundamental freedoms (Protect);
2- Business enterprises, as specialized organs of society performing specialized functions, are required to comply with national laws and respect human rights (Respect)
3- Effective remedies must exist to respond to violation of human rights (Remedy)
Only a few countries have national action plans to implement these principles

Question 10

What is due diligence?

Answer 10

Due diligence is a way for enterprises to proactively manage potential and actual adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved. It has four components:

a) Identifying and assessing actual or potential adverse human rights impacts
b) Integrating findings from impact assessments across relevant company processes
c) Tracking the effectiveness of measures and processes
d) Communicating on how impacts are being addressed