A/HRC/16/32
6.
Six meetings of States parties took place in Geneva or New York during 2010,
essentially to hold elections to fill seats for which the previous members’ mandates had
ended (the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women, the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination and the Committee on the Rights of the Child). In the case of the
Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture the membership expanded to 25 members
following the entry into force of the Convention for the fiftieth State party and its meeting
of States parties thus also elected experts to fill the new seats. The membership of the
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was enlarged from 12 to 18 following
the entry into force of the Convention for the sixtieth State party. During 2010, human
rights treaty bodies also had three informal meetings with States parties which were widely
attended and provided an opportunity for States parties and treaty bodies to discuss the
most recent developments in the work of treaty bodies, as well as other matters of common
interest, in particular the efforts of treaty bodies to improve their working methods (the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women, and the Committee against Torture). An open-ended
working group of the Human Rights Council on an optional protocol to the Convention on
the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure met from 6 to 10 December
2010.
7.
OHCHR updated the training tool (DVD) on the work of the treaty bodies, entitled
“Bringing human rights home”, which is available in all United Nations official languages.
In addition to traditional treaty body support provided by country offices, the Human
Rights Treaties Division of OHCHR has continued to support in 2010 a number of
capacity-building activities and training sessions upon requests of State parties, United
Nations partners and regional organizations, on the common core document and treatyspecific guidelines, reporting, individual communications and follow-up to
recommendations in Bahrain; Belarus; Cap Verde; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Kazakhstan;
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Mexico; Peru; Qatar; Senegal; and
Turkmenistan. Also, the Division’s staff trained or presented the work of the treaty bodies
at specific events upon the request of regional organizations such as the Council of Europe,
United Nations departments, programmes and specialized agencies, academia and civil
society.
8.
On 29 November 2010, OHCHR organized an event to celebrate the twentieth
anniversary of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families, in cooperation with the International Steering
Committee for the campaign for ratification of the Convention. Participants discussed legal,
social and practical improvements in the protection of migrants and migration policies
following ratification; the relationship between international migration, development and
the protection of human and labour rights of migrants; the application and applicability of
the standards contained in the Convention, and the current and future prospects for further
ratifications.
9.
OHCHR organized a one-day celebration on 29 October 2010 to commemorate the
100th session of the Human Rights Committee. On this occasion, States parties, United
Nations bodies and other intergovernmental organizations, national human rights
institutions, international and national non-governmental organizations and academics were
invited to join the members of the Committee for discussions on the main following
themes: identifying and stocktaking the main achievements, constraints and challenges
faced by the Committee; assessing the implementation of the Covenant in the various
regions of the world, with examples of achievements and best practices regarding civil and
political rights; and identifying priorities for future activities of the Committee.
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