Item 70(b): Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms
Statement by Ms Lara Nassau, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations, on behalf of Australia, Canada and New Zealand
30 October 2007
(As delivered)
Mr Chair, I have the honour to make this statement on behalf of Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Our three countries consider that protecting and promoting human rights is a key priority for the United Nations. We also believe that this is too important a matter for symbolic gestures alone as it is only through concrete efforts that we show our real commitment to human rights. And these efforts can only be strengthened through ongoing, strong support for reform.
Australia, Canada and New Zealand remain firmly committed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the international treaty body system. Treaty bodies which work constructively with States and which are viewed as credible and independent, can have a direct impact on human rights protection. An efficient and effective treaty body system can influence national human rights policies and programs through constructive and realistic recommendations.
It is important that treaty bodies continue to improve their coordination with each other, with States and with the broader human rights machinery. This facilitates greater visibility, accessibility and understanding of the system for all stakeholders. In this regard, we welcome the interaction between committees, including through the Inter-Committee mechanism. Ensuring work practices are harmonised and the system works as a coherent whole requires a continuing exchange of ideas and consideration of lessons learnt.
We commend innovative practices that treaty bodies have put in place or are trialing. The use of parallel chambers has helped to clear a backlog of reports in at least one Committee, and others are now considering this approach. Re-opening dialogue with States Parties whose reports are overdue fosters the co-operation that is important to improved reporting timeframes. Distributing a list of issues to a State Party as early as possible facilitates a focused and interactive dialogue between treaty bodies and States Parties. We encourage an approach that would result in focusing country reports on issues of direct interest to Committees and we note that one Committee will trial a further innovation by providing a list of issues to States before reports are due
Support for treaty body reform must be translated into action. Our three countries are making efforts to report to the treaty bodies in accordance with the UN’s Harmonised Guidelines. Harmonised reporting should reduce duplication of information across treaty reports and provides a uniform framework within which each treaty body can work. These guidelines represent a work in progress and, as use of them becomes standard, enhancements may be required that would further improve the reporting process.
Mr Chair, while progress is evident, more remains to be done to strengthen the treaty body system. We appreciate it is a complex system and that retaining the diversity of expertise is important.
But it is also important that the treaty bodies give consistent guidance to States and that they handle issues involving multiple forms of discrimination in an integrated way, thereby reinforcing the indivisible and interrelated nature of human rights standards.
Further, it is critical that, even while we support ongoing incremental reform of individual treaty bodies, we do not lose focus on the larger question of reform of the system as a whole. We will continue to asses all options available for improving the treaty body system, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ concept of a single, uniform treaty body.
For the treaty body system to have a sustained and systematic impact on promoting human rights, treaty bodies must complement the work of other international human rights mechanisms. But this complementary relationship will not happen automatically – and we should explore ways in which the treaty bodies can interact and collaborate with other human rights bodies.
The Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) provides an excellent opportunity for interaction between different human rights mechanisms. The UPR modalities agreed by the Council recognise the potential value of treaty body observations, and the responses of States, in informing assessments of State’s human rights records. We do not wish to see duplication between the two mechanisms. Rather, a complementary relationship will reinforce the credibility of the UPR and the authority of the treaty body system.
Strengthening the treaty body system also requires greater engagement with a broader network of actors in the UN human rights system. In particular, there may be scope for greater interaction, or at least mutual awareness of priorities between the treaty bodies and human rights special procedures.
In closing, Mr Chair, Australia, Canada and New Zealand reiterate our support for continuing reform of the treaty body system so that it may realize its full potential in supporting tangible human rights improvements on the ground.
Thank you.