Representation, the mother of women’s rights: on CEDAW’s General Recommendation 40

by Amalia Ordóñez Vahí, Researcher, URG Gender equality, Treaty Bodies

On 25 October, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) launched its General Recommendation 40 , on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems. The General Recommendation culminates a process that began in February of 2023, and that aims to provide States with guidance, based on the premise that the achievement of gender equality is a fundamental …

Statement by Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Mr Marc Limon Executive Director, Universal Rights Group on the passing of Prof. Christof Heyns

by the URG team and URG Chair Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Special Procedures, Treaty Bodies

Everyone at the Universal Rights Group (URG), board members and staff, are shocked and greatly saddened by the news that our friend and colleague, Professor Christof Heyns, passed away yesterday (28 March 2021). Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Christof was a giant of the human rights world. He allied a brilliant mind with a fierce determination …

Putting people at the heart of the human rights treaty body system

by Ashley Bowe, Senior Human Rights Advisor, SPC RRRT and Joshua Cooper, Lecturer, University of Hawai’i, National Universal Periodic Review Task Force Co-Chair, US Human Rights Network By invitation, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Treaty Bodies

Samoa held a ground-breaking treaty body session on child rights, evidencing the benefits of extending these sessions beyond Geneva. Calls for treaty body committees to undertake their sessions  on the ground have been made for decades. The first ever such session recently took place in the Pacific, providing empirical evidence of the significant opportunities and slight obstacles of this practice. The genesis of this session can be traced back …

Is the world really ‘backsliding’ on human rights, and is it getting worse with the Covid-19 pandemic?

by the URG team Human rights implementation and impact, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Special Procedures, Treaty Bodies, Universal Periodic Review

Even before the outbreak of the current COVID-19 pandemic, commentary on the worldwide human rights situation was characterised, to a large degree, by negative assertions of an unfolding human rights crisis. Powered by influential voices at the UN, as well as by civil society and the media, the general public narrative was often one of backsliding in the world’s major …

El sistema de tratados de derechos humanos de la ONU: ¿más cerca del terreno?

by Christof Heyns, Professor of Human Rights Law, Univeristy of Pretoria and Member of the UN Human Rights Committee and Willem Gravett, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria By invitation, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Treaty Bodies

En una publicación de 2017 en este sitio (y basándose en una idea presentada hace 20 años por Christof Heyns y Frans Viljoen ), argumentamos que el proceso actual de reforma del sistema de tratados de derechos humanos debe incluir esfuerzos para “acercar el sistema de tratados a la gente en el terreno”. De manera más específica, los órganos de tratados no solo deben realizar su trabajo en Ginebra, sino también celebrar reuniones en otras partes, en particular …

The UN human rights treaty system: Getting closer to the ground?

by Christof Heyns, Professor of Human Rights Law, Univeristy of Pretoria and Member of the UN Human Rights Committee and Willem Gravett, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria By invitation, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Special Procedures, Treaty Bodies

In a 2017 post on this site (and drawing on an idea advanced 20 years ago by Christof Heyns and Frans Viljoen ), we argued that the current process of reform of the human rights treaty system should include efforts to “bring the treaty system closer to the people on the ground.” More specifically, treaty bodies should not only conduct their work in Geneva, but also hold meetings away from their home base, in particular in the …

Mid-way to universality! CTI2024 supporting all States to ratify and implement the UN Convention against Torture

by Dr. Alice Edwards, Head of the CTI Secretariat By invitation, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice, Treaty Bodies

Guiding States on how to prevent and respond to torturous forms of abuse of power or position is what the UN Convention against Torture is all about. Yet, despite torture being long condemned and the prohibition recognised as a jus cogens international norm, there continue to be grave abuses perpetrated in many countries and in all regions. In others, lack …

How UN Treaty Bodies can better address corruption and its negative impact on human rights

by Patrick Mutzenberg, Director of the Centre for Civil and Political Rights. By invitation, Corruption and human rights, Human rights implementation and impact, Thematic human rights issues, Treaty Bodies

It is now widely recognised that corruption negatively affects the enjoyment of civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. Corruption not only has a negative impact on the ability of States to implement their treaty-based human rights obligations, but it also directly affects the population of such countries. This concern was raised several times by …

Supreme Court of Spain: UN Treaty Body individual decisions are legally binding

by Dr. Koldo Casla By invitation, Human rights implementation and impact, Treaty Bodies

The Spanish Supreme Court has established that the views expressed by UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies in individual complaints are binding on the State. The Court ordered Spain to pay €600,000 in compensation to Ángela González for the responsibility of its authorities in relation to the death of her daughter. Her daughter was murdered by her father in an unsupervised …

Human rights treaty bodies in the field: The experience of the African regional system

by Christof Heyns, Professor of Human Rights Law, Univeristy of Pretoria and Member of the UN Human Rights Committee and Abiola Idowu-Ojo, Acting Deputy Secretary of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights By invitation, Human rights implementation and impact, Treaty Bodies

In a 2017 post  on this site, Christof Heyns and Willem Gravett proposed the idea of external sessions for the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies – they should meet at least once a year for part of the session outside Geneva, in order to ‘bring the system closer to the people’. This idea generated considerable interest, including in the recent report by the Geneva …