Twenty-eight h meeting of Chair s of the human rights treaty bodies

New York, 30 May-3 June 2016

Item 2 of the provisional agenda

Adoption of the agenda

Provisional agenda and annotations

1.Opening of the meeting and election of officers.

2.Adoption of the agenda.

3.Organizational matters:

(a)Adoption of the programme of work;

(b)Update by the Chair of the twenty-seventh annual meeting;

(c)Statement by the Chair of the twenty-eighth annual meeting;

(d)Statement by a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

4.Reporting compliance by States parties to the treaty bodies.

5.Adoption and implementation by treaty bodies of the guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (“the Addis Ababa Guidelines”).

6.Adoption and implementation by treaty bodies of the Guidelines against Intimidation or Reprisals (“San José Guidelines”).

7.Implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268 on strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system:

(a)The common core document;

(b)Information on the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268.

8.Consultations with States parties and other stakeholders.

9.Engagement of national human rights institutions with the treaty bodies.

10.Remedies.

11.Other matters:

(a)Follow-up to proposals by the treaty body Chairs to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;

(b)Inquiries: confidentiality versus publicity;

(c)Other business.

12.Adoption of the report on the twenty-eighth meeting.

Annotations

1.Opening of the meeting and election of officers

The meeting will convene in New York on Monday, 30 May 2016. It will elect its Chair and Vice-Chair, based on the principle of rotation among Chairs.

2.Adoption of the agenda

The meeting is being held pursuant to General Assembly resolution 49/178 of 23 December 1994 on the effective implementation of international instruments on human rights, including reporting obligations under international instruments on human rights.

The meeting will adopt its agenda on the basis of the provisional agenda contained in the present document.

3.Organizational matters

(a)Adoption of the programme of work

The meeting will consider and adopt a programme of work.

(b)Update by theChair of the twenty-seventh annual meeting

The meeting will hear an update from the Chair of the twenty-seventhmeeting on relevant developments since that meeting.

(c)Statement by the Chair of the twenty-eighth annual meeting

A statement will be made by the Chair of the twenty-eighth meeting.

(d)Statement by a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

A statement will be made by a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

4.Reporting compliance by States parties to the treaty bodies

Under this standing agenda item of the annual meeting of Chairs, participants will review the status of reporting compliance by States parties and discuss possible action. The meeting will have before it a note by the secretariat on reporting compliance by States parties to the human rights treaty bodies.

5.Adoption and implementation by treaty bodies of the guidelines on the independence and impartiality of membersof the human rights treaty bodies (“the Addis Ababa Guidelines”)

At their twenty-fourth annual meeting, in June 2012, the Chairs endorsed the guidelines on independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (“the Addis Ababa Guidelines”) (see A/67/222 and Corr.1, annex I) and strongly recommended that they be promptly adopted by the respective treaty bodies.

In paragraphs 36 and 37 of 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.

Under this agenda item, the Chairs will take stock of the adoption and implementation by treaty bodies of the Addis Ababa Guidelines and share good practices in this regard.

6.Adoption and implementation by treaty bodies of the Guidelines against Intimidation or Reprisals(“San José Guidelines”)

At their twenty-seventh meeting, the Chairs reiterated their invitation to treaty bodies that had not yet done so to establish a rapporteur or focal point on intimidation and reprisals. In addition, the Chairs reaffirmed their decision, first made at their twenty-sixth meeting, to include reprisals as a standing item on the agenda of the annual meeting of Chairs.

Welcoming the strong condemnation by the General Assembly, in paragraph 8 of resolution 68/268, of all acts of intimidation and reprisals towards individuals and groups for their contribution to the work of the treaty bodies, the Chairs, at their twenty-seventh meeting, endorsed the Guidelines against Intimidation or Reprisals (“San José Guidelines”) (HRI/MC/2015/6) and recommended them to their respective treaty bodies for adoption.

Under this agenda item, the Chairs will take stock of the adoption and implementation by treaty bodies of the San José Guidelines.

7.Implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268 on strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system

(a)The common core document

Under this agenda item, the Chairs will consider possible follow-up by the treaty body system to paragraph 3 of General Assembly resolution 68/268, in which the Assembly encouraged States parties to consider submitting a common core document and updating it as appropriate, as a comprehensive document or in the form of an addendum to the original document, bearing in mind the most recent developments in the particular State party, and in that regard encouraged the human rights treaty bodies to further elaborate their existing guidelines on the common core document in a clear and consistent manner.

(b)Information on the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268

In paragraph 40 of resolution 68/268, the General Assembly requested the Secretary‑General to submit to the Assembly, on a biennial basis, a comprehensive report on the status of the human rights treaty body system and the progress achieved by the human rights treaty bodies in realizing greater efficiency and effectiveness in their work, including the number of reports submitted and reviewed by the committees, the visits undertaken and the individual communications received and reviewed, where applicable, the state of the backlog, capacity-building efforts and the results achieved, as well as the situation in terms of ratifications, increased reporting and the allocation of meeting time and proposals on measures, including on the basis of information and observations from Member States, to enhance the engagement of all States parties in the dialogue with the treaty bodies.

Under this agenda item, information will be provided by OHCHR on the above-mentioned report, which will be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session for its consideration.

8.Consultations with States parties and other stakeholders

In paragraph 38 of resolution 68/268, the General Assembly encouraged the human rights treaty bodies, with a view to accelerating the harmonization of the treaty body system, to continue to enhance the role of their Chairs in relation to procedural matters, including with respect to formulating conclusions on issues related to working methods and procedural matters and to promptly generalizing good practices and methodologies among all treaty bodies, ensuring coherence across the treaty bodies and standardizing working methods.

In paragraph 39 of 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, held in Geneva and New York, with a view to ensuring a forum for an open and formal interactive dialogue.

Under this agenda item, the Chairs will hold consultations with States parties and civil society organizations on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268.

9.Engagement of national human rights institutions with the treaty bodies

The Chairs will review the current modalities of the engagement of treaty bodies with national human rights institutions to discuss current practices and possible differences among treaty bodies. The Chairs will review good practices in working methods in view of a possible simplification, harmonization and optimization of the engagement of the treaty body system with national human rights institutions.

10.Remedies

The Chairs will review the practice related to remedies in each treaty body that examines individual communications and strive to harmonize criteria on the subject.

11.Other matters:

(a)Follow-up to proposals by the treaty bodyChairs to the Inter-American Commission onHuman Rights

At their twenty-seventh meeting, the Chairs recognized the complementarity between the international human rights treaty body system and the inter-American human rights mechanisms in the protection and promotion of human rights standards. In this context, the Chairs proposed a series of recommendations to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to enhance the cooperation between the two systems (see A/70/302, annex II). The Chairs will review follow-up by the Commission to their proposals.

(b)Inquiries: confidentiality versus publicity

Since several inquiry procedures have recently been established, the Chairs have decided to discuss the various elements concerning this procedure, including the element of confidentiality while ensuring a victim-oriented approach. Each Chair will share information on the current practice in the respective treaty body.

(c)Other business

The Chairs will discuss any other matters relating to the work of treaty bodies, as considered necessary.

12.Adoption of the report on the twenty-eighth meeting

The Chairs will adopt a report of their meeting, which will include agenda items for their twenty-ninth meeting, as well as recommendations to be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session.