CCPR Centre>
28 June 2022
At their 34th Annual Meeting, Chairpersons of United Nations (UN) treaty bodies (TBs) agreed on a predictable review schedule of eight years.
‘We have been pushing for such predictable schedules – along with others – since the beginning of our involvement in the 2020 review. This has been a key recommendation emanating from our Academic Platform on Treaty Body Review 2020 and of our follow-up work related to this review’ underlines Felix Kirchmeier, Executive Director of the Geneva Human Rights Platform.
Accordingly, states will have to present a report on their obligations under the treaty in question every eight years and the committees will review a state’s performance even in the absence of a report. The schedules will notably take into consideration the calendar of the Universal Periodic Review to avoid overlap.
‘Such predictable review schedules will allow addressing the existing backlog of reports pending review and will increase state parties’ compliance with their reporting obligations. While this might sound technical, it constitutes a major breakthrough’ explains Felix Kirchmeier.
‘In this respect, we developed a series of recommendations and proposals on how this can work in practice, as well as on how to do the follow-up at the national level’ he adds.
Domenico Zipoli>
Follow-up reviews focussing on a limited number of issues will take place in between these eight-year cycle full reviews.
‘One model for such follow-up review is the in-country focused reviews that we have been testing in Sierra Leone and Grenada. Both pilots have highlighted the benefits of such in-country follow-up mechanisms for implementation at the national level’ says Felix Kirchmeier.
‘We look forward to continuing accompanying UN TBs in this endeavour by providing concrete proposals based on our research and consultations with the various stakeholders’ he adds.
Geneva Academy
Our recent Academy Briefing, 'The Human Rights Data Revolution', has garnered significant international recognition in recent months with presentations in Indonesia, Paraguay and at the United Nations in New York.
Geneva Academy
From 1 March to 7 May 2024, the Geneva Human Rights Platform’s Training Hub organized an online customized training course on Women’s Rights, sponsored by the Irene M. Staehelin Foundation.
Adobe
Participants in this training course, made of two modules, will examine the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights and the environment, familiarizing themselves with the respective implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Victoria Pickering
This project aims at providing support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Voulé by addressing emerging issues affecting civic space and eveloping tools and materials allowing various stakeholders to promote and defend civic space.
Adobe
This initiative wishes to contribute to better and more coordinated implementation, reporting and follow-up of international human rights recommendations through a global study on digital human rights tracking tools and databases.
Geneva Academy