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ESCR / Events / Gambia / 2010 / December

Special Procedures Seminar Report 2009

Special Procedures Seminar Report 2009
29 pages / 279 KB

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.

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Date: December 1, 2010
Activity: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Type: Events
Country: Brazil, Gambia, India, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Sierra Leone, Uruguay, Zimbabwe

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