A/HRC/24/55
7.
It was stressed that joint action by mandate holders had been strengthened. For
example, in February 2013, a panel on human rights mainstreaming and the role of special
procedures had discussed how special procedures and other parts of the United Nations
could work together to mainstream human rights across its work, whether in the context of
development, peace and security or other areas. Mandate holders had continued to issue
joint statements on issues of common interest, such as on the occasion of the High-Level
Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law on 24 September 2012, and on
International Women’s Day, and they advocated mainstreaming of human rights in the
post-2015 agenda.
8.
Participants’ attention was drawn to the OHCHR planning process for the next fouryear cycle and mandate holders were called upon to provide their insights with a view to
ensuring that OHCHR resources are spent where they are likely to have most impact. One
of the major areas of focus and work of OHCHR is support and strengthening of human
rights mechanisms. Examples of special procedures activities and results included in the
2012 OHCHR report were highlighted.
9.
Participants elected the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally
displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani, Chairperson of the meeting and of the Coordination
Committee. The Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances, Olivier de Frouville, was elected Rapporteur and member of the
Coordination Committee. The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Eritrea, Sheila Keetharuth; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana; and the Chairperson of the Working Group on the issue
of discrimination against women in law and in practice, Frances Raday, were endorsed as
members of the Committee. Farida Shaheed, a former Chairperson, will remain an ex
officio member for the following year.
10.
The provisional agenda of the meeting was revised and adopted.
III. Activities of the Coordination Committee
11.
The outgoing Chairperson of the Coordination Committee briefed participants on the
activities of the Committee in 2012/2013, noting that it had focused on strengthening
engagement with various stakeholders, including the President of the Human Rights
Council, States and regional human rights systems. Emphasis had also been placed on
identifying situations and cross-cutting issues of common concern to mandate holders.
12.
Pursuant to the standing invitation to mandate holders to participate in special
sessions of the Human Rights Council, which had resulted from a discussion between the
President of the Council and the Chairperson of the Coordination Committee in November
2008, arrangements were made to facilitate contributions of special procedures to special
sessions. On 29 May 2013, during its twenty-third session, the Human Rights Council held
an urgent debate on the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic
and the recent killings in Al-Qusayr. In that context, the Special Rapporteur on the human
rights of internally displaced persons and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary
or arbitrary executions delivered a statement on behalf of the Coordinating Committee and
were invited to share their views from the perspective of their respective mandates. This
was the first time that special procedures had been seated on the podium and given the
floor from there during an urgent debate of the Council.
13.
It is the established practice of the Human Rights Council to invite mandate holders
to participate in panels of relevance to their mandates and in accordance with the modalities
defined for each of these panels. In addition, chairpersons of the Coordinating Committee
have been invited to participate in panels from the floor. On 1 March 2013, the Chairperson
5
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents