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Special
Procedures Seminar
29
June-3 July 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) invites nominations for participation in the Special Procedures Seminar 2009 that will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 29 June to 3 July 2009 at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of the University of Geneva.
The purpose of this five-day seminar is to support national NGOs in using the United Nations Special Procedures System to address the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. OMCT research has demonstrated the strong links between failure to respect economic, social and cultural rights and violence, including torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, summary or arbitrary executions, forced disappearances, violence against women and violence against children. And it has also shown that acting on those root causes can reduce violence.
OMCT seeks to address torture and other forms of violence by strengthening the capacity of national NGOs to address their economic, social and cultural root causes through national and international instruments, including interventions (complaints) addressed to UN Special Procedures mandate holders, governments, development institutions, the private sector and the institutions of the European Union.
This is the third Special Procedures Seminar. The first two seminars took place in June 2007 and June 2008. During those seminars, NGO representatives held in-depth discussions with leading UN Special Procedures mandate holders responsible for issues relating to torture, indigenous peoples, the right to health, arbitrary detention, protection of human rights defenders, violations of human rights by private security forces, adequate housing, minorities issues, right to food, and human rights of migrants. The 2007 seminar report is available at www.omct.org .
Objectives of the seminar
The principal objective of the Special Procedure Seminar is to help NGOs to prepare interventions (complaints) for submission to the UN or other organisations and/or alternative reports for submission to UN Treaty Bodies calling for practical action to stop or prevent torture and other forms of violence by dealing with their economic social and cultural root causes. An important objective for OMCT is to build partnerships with NGOs to work together on these issues over the long term. The seminar, in particular, will seek to:
The seminar’s work will be built principally around a discussion and refinement of the potential interventions or alternative report elements to ensure that the participants leave the seminar with practical action to take on returning home. Participants will be encouraged to exchange experiences and challenges and describe the methods that they have used to address the seminar’s issues.
Fifteen NGO representatives will be invited to take part in the seminar to work with international experts and UN Special Procedures mandate holders[3] to:
- Identify specific situations and concrete case studies in their country where government policy and projects risk to lead to violations or denials of economic, social and cultural rights, and this in turn lead to violence.
- Identify concrete and viable actions to be taken at national and international level as well as identify key actors to address the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture.
To facilitate exchanges with UN Special Procedures mandate holders, the seminar is held in parallel with their annual meeting.
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