Thirty-fourth meeting of Chairs of the human rights treaty bodies

Geneva, 30 May–3 June 2022

Item 2 of the provisional agenda

Adoption of the agenda and organization of work

Provisional agenda and annotations *

Provisional agenda

1.Election of officers.

2.Adoption of the agenda and organization of work.

3.General Assembly review of the treaty body system in 2020: follow-up.

4.Progress made on the alignment of working methods and practices of the treaty bodies.

5.Implementation by the treaty bodies of the Guidelines against Intimidation or Reprisals (San José Guidelines), with a particular focus on trends and cases of reprisals in the treaty bodies.

6.Implementation by the treaty bodies of the guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (the Addis Ababa guidelines).

7.Modalities and organization of future meetings of Chairs and other intersessional activities.

8.Any other business.

9.Adoption of the report on the thirty-fourth meeting.

Annotations

1.Election of officers

It is expected that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will make opening remarks, subject to availability. The Chair and Vice-Chair will be elected at the opening of the meeting, on the basis of the principle of rotation agreed by the Chairs.

2.Adoption of the agenda and organization of work

The meeting will be held pursuant to General Assembly resolution 49/178 on the effective implementation of international instruments on human rights, including reporting obligations under international instruments on human rights.

The Chairs will adopt the agenda based on the provisional agenda contained in the present document. They will also adopt the draft programme of work and consider any organizational matters.

3.General Assembly review of the treaty body system in 2020: follow-up

Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 68/268, the Chairs will give priority to the consideration of the follow-up to the review of the treaty body system, as they did at their thirty-third meeting. The Chairs will further discuss the recommendations contained in the report of the co-facilitators on the consideration of the state of the United Nations human rights treaty body system. In particular, the Chairs will discuss the following recommendations of the co-facilitators: (a) that, in order to better inform the discussions and with the aim of increasing reporting compliance to its fullest extent, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) could prepare, in coordination with the treaty bodies, a proposed schedule and estimated costing for predictable review cycles, that the aim of such a calendar should be to maximize synergies between reviews and take into account the resource constraints of States parties, including those of small States, small island developing States and least developed countries, and that the scheduling of States’ reviews by OHCHR should also factor in other reporting obligations, including with respect to the universal periodic review; (b) that treaty bodies should accelerate the alignment of their working methods, and that OHCHR could be requested to present a suggested model for rationalized, harmonized and modern working methods for treaty bodies, drawing on the views and conclusions of the consultation process, successive meetings of the Chairs of the human rights treaty bodies and lessons learned during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic; and (c) that OHCHR should undertake measures to enhance the visibility and accessibility of the treaty body system, such as facilitating digital interaction with stakeholders through online tools.

In its resolution 68/268, the General Assembly encouraged the human rights treaty bodies to strengthen the possibilities for interaction during the annual meetings of the Chairs of the treaty bodies with States parties to all human rights treaties, with a view to ensuring a forum for an open and formal interactive dialogue.

4.Progress made on the alignment of working methods and practices of the treaty bodies

The secretariat will present information on reporting compliance for the consideration of the Chairs.

The Chairs will discuss the following recommendations of the co-facilitators of the treaty body review: that the Chairs of treaty bodies should play a central role in further harmonizing the different treaty bodies’ working methods, including by continuing initiatives to enhance coordination and planning and to share best practices across treaty bodies; and that the Chairs should meet more frequently, including on an online basis, and monitor the implementation of their agreed conclusions on working methods.

The Chairs will discuss a note by the Secretariat entitled “Aide-mémoire on tracking the implementation status of decisions and recommendations of the Chairs of the treaty bodies”. The note is indicative only and non-exhaustive, and further developments will be reflected in subsequent updates, as often as necessary. It comprises a list of decisions made by the Chairs, previous proposals, good practices and outstanding issues in relation to the simplified reporting procedure, intersessional work, remedies, inquiries and country visits, general comments and reprisals.

The Chairs will also discuss a note by the Secretariat on progress made on the alignment of working methods and practices of the treaty bodies, and three conference room papers mapping out treaty body working methods and practices – one on coordination of thematic issues in the reporting procedure, one on remedies and measures of reparation in treaty body jurisprudence and one on inquiries and country visits – identifying progress achieved in aligning working methods, highlighting good practices and making suggestions for ways to enhance coherence and consistency across the treaty body system.

5.Implementation by the treaty bodies of the Guidelines against Intimidation or Reprisals (San José Guidelines), with a particular focus on trends and cases of reprisals in the treaty bodies

The Chairs will discuss a note on the practices of the human rights treaty bodies on intimidation and reprisals and issues for further action by the Chairs, which includes a summary of trends and cases concerning reprisals, prepared by the Secretariat pursuant to the request made by the Chairs at their thirty-first meeting.

6.Implementation by the treaty bodies of the guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (the Addis Ababa guidelines)

At their twenty-fourth meeting, held in June 2012, the Chairs endorsed the guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (the Addis Ababa guidelines), and strongly recommended that they be promptly adopted by the respective treaty bodies.

In paragraphs 36 and 37 of its resolution 68/268, the General Assembly encouraged the treaty bodies to implement the Addis Ababa guidelines in accordance with their mandates, and invited the Chairs to keep States parties updated on their implementation.

The Chairs will discuss key challenges and further steps to operationalize the guidelines across treaty bodies.

7.Modalities and organization of future meetings of Chairs and other intersessional activities

With the aim of further enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their annual meeting, the Chairs will discuss the working modalities and organization of the meetings of Chairs and their intersessional activities.

8.Any other business

The Chairs will discuss any other matter relating to the work of human rights treaty bodies, as necessary.

9.Adoption of the report on the thirty-fourth meeting

The Chairs will adopt the draft report on the thirty-fourth meeting, ad referendum, which will include the draft agenda items for the thirty-fifth meeting and, as necessary, recommendations to be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session.