Special Procedures Seminar Report 2009
OMCT's
third international seminar on "Addressing the economic, social and
cultural root causes of violence through the UN Special Procedures System"
took place from 29 June to 3 July 2009 in Geneva. Fourteen representatives of
national human rights NGOs from Afghanistan, Brazil, Cambodia, the Gambia,
Georgia, India, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Syria, Uganda,
Uruguay and Zimbabwe discussed and prepared complaints for submission to UN Special
Procedures mechanisms. The seminar is an important component of OMCT's project
on "Preventing Torture and Other Forms of Violence by acting on their
Economic, Social and Cultural Root Causes," now in its third year.
The project seeks to address torture and other forms
of violence by building the capacity of NGOs to impact the economic, social and
cultural root causes of that violence through both national and international
instruments. The UN Special Procedures mechanisms are a valuable resource in
this regard, and it is important that national NGOs can effectively utilize them.
The Special Procedures Seminar built on the
knowledge gained from the previous two seminars. The first Special Procedures
Seminar, held in 2007, focused on analyzing and understanding the links between
the violation of economic, social and cultural rights and violence. The second
seminar, in 2008, focused on developing concrete recommendations to address the
root causes of violence in specific cases. The 2009 seminar continued this
emphasis on developing concrete responses to specific issues by identifying
practical steps to aid NGO participants in developing interventions and/or
alternative reports for submission to UN Special Procedures mandate holders.
To achieve these objectives, prior to the
Seminar participants each submitted a five to ten page paper detailing the
economic, social and cultural rights issues and the link to violence in their
respective countries, with a focus on specific case studies. During the Seminar,
participants first came together in a plenary session to introduce themselves
and their cases studies, and to understand the various ways violations of
economic, social and cultural rights are linked to violence and how acting on
those root causes can reduce violence. In smaller working groups of four or
five, participants then discussed their individual case studies in depth and
worked to identify how action on the root causes of violence could relate to
the specific circumstances of the participants’ countries. Each then drafted an
outline of an Action File, press release or other intervention, and a plan for
dissemination to government bodies, international organisations and relevant
mandate holders.
To facilitate interaction with UN Special Procedures
mandate holders, the Seminar was held in parallel with their 15th
annual meeting. National NGO representatives attended a session of the annual
mandate holders meeting, and met with mandate holders responsible for issues
related to Water and Sanitation, Violence Against Women, Poverty, Human Rights
Defenders and Violence Against Children, as well as the Special Representative
of the Secretary General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and former
Chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Mr.
Yves Berthelot, former Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe, and Mr. François Beaujolin,
President of the Foundation for Human Rights at Work, provided a theoretical
framework for the discussion. Mr. Berthelot drew attention to practical
hurdles, such as impunity, misinformation and lack of accessible information
among the public, that NGOs face in addressing violations of economic, social
and cultural rights and torture. Mr. Beaujolin provided an analysis of the
economic link between corruption, demographic growth, and discriminatory
cultural practices and violations of civil and political rights, including
torture. Ms. Anna-Lena Svensson-McCarthy, OMCT Director of Operations,
discussed the EU Guidelines on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
punishment or treatment, and how NGOs might use the guidelines to address
rights violations in their countries. Finally, a paper by Dr. Michael Miller,
OMCT Director of Research and Development, addressed the issue of economic
relativism as an obstacle to addressing human rights violations.
Two Seminar participants also gave presentations
regarding their work. Mr. Luis Emmanuel Barbosa Cunha presented information on
the Human Rights Monitoring Project, a collaboration between national NGOs to
monitor and facilitate implementation of Special Procedures and UN treaty body
recommendations for Brazil. Mr. Kirity Roy screened a short film produced by
his organisation regarding inadequate forensic practices and the difficulty in
determining a reliable cause of death for victims of violence in West Bengal,
India.
In the final session, participants discussed the
cross-cutting issues that were common to many of their cases. Access to land
and forced evictions, violence against women, children and other vulnerable
groups, corruption and impunity, poor implementation of existing legislation
and international obligations, an ineffective judiciary, and flawed criminal
justice practices were an issue for a majority of the participants. The NGO
representatives also discussed the support they would need in the future, and
agreed on the next steps to continue the work begun at the Seminar.
Overall, as the results of the final evaluation
summarised in Appendix IV show, 85% of participants found the content and
organisation of the Seminar to be good. In addition, they made a number of
valuable comments and suggestions that OMCT will take into account in its
future work.
The
project is funded by the European Union, the Karl Popper Foundation, the
Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO), and the Foundation
for Human Rights at Work.
OMCT wishes to thank the participants and presenters
for their contributions, and Ms. Lisa Knox for the preparation of this position
paper.