Special Procedures Seminar Report 2008
From 23 to 27 June 2008, OMCT hosted its second
international seminar in Geneva on “Addressing the economic, social and
cultural root causes of violence through the UN Special Procedures System”.
This seminar, attended by representatives of national human rights NGOs from 14
countries, is an important element of OMCT’s three-year project on “Preventing
Torture and Other Forms of Violence by acting on their Economic, Social and
Cultural Root Causes” funded by the European Union, the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Karl Popper Foundation, the Interchurch
Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO) and the Foundation for Human
Rights at Work.
The OMCT project, now in its second year,
focuses on developing concrete measures to address the economic, social and
cultural root causes of violence, particularly torture and other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment, including violence against women and
children. The UN Special Procedures mechanism represents an important resource
in this regard. It is, therefore, important that national NGOs addressing both
human rights and development issues are aware of how to interact most
effectively with this mechanism.
The 2008 seminar very much built on the
experience gained during the first Special Procedures seminar in 2007. This
first seminar focused on analysing and understanding the links between the
violation of economic, social and cultural rights and violence, while the 2008
seminar gave greater emphasis to developing concrete recommendations to address
the root causes of violence in specific cases.
The opening ceremony was addressed by Ms.
Anne-Laurence Lacroix, OMCT Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Orest Nowosad,
Coordinator, Civil and Political Rights Unit,
Special Procedures Division, UN Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Mr. Roberto Garretón, of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention, and Mr. Yves Berthelot, former Executive Secretary, United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe and member of OMCT’s Scientific Council. Ms.
Lacroix underlined the importance of efforts to address the economic, social
and cultural root causes of torture and other forms of violence, Mr. Nowosad
spoke of the Special Procedures system and the role of OHCHR in supporting it,
and Mr. Garretón traced the development of the issue of economic, social and
cultural rights in the UN system and underlined the importance of the emerging
concept of human security. Mr. Berthelot concluded this session with a
presentation that addressed the links between economics and human rights and
drew attention to the central importance of issues of access to land and food,
both in the present and for the future (see Appendix II).
The seminar was organised in
parallel with the 14th annual meeting of the UN Special procedures
mandate holders. This enabled seminar participants to meet and discuss with
mandate holders responsible for Human Rights Defenders, Adequate Housing,
Minority Issues, Indigenous People, the Right to Food and the Human Rights of
Migrants. Participants also met with staff of the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights and attended a session of the Annual Mandate
Holders Meeting at which the relations between Mandate Holders and NGOs were
discussed.
The substantive framework for the discussions
during the five-day seminar was provided by presentations from two invited
experts: Mr. Yves Berthelot (see above), and Mr. Pierre de Senarclens,
Professor of International Relations at the University of Lausanne, also member
of OMCT’s Scientific Council and former Human Rights Director of UNESCO (see
Appendix III).
OMCT would like to thank all the speakers who
took time to share their insights and experience in the course of this seminar.
It would also like to thank the staff of the UN Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights for the support and guidance they provided. OMCT is also
grateful to the funding bodies that make this project possible.