A/HRC/14/33
60.
Furthermore, OHCHR developed a draft training package on a human rights-based
approach to budget monitoring and advocacy. A first training workshop on budget
monitoring was held in Haiti in November 2009 jointly with the Human Rights Section of
the United Nations Mission in Haiti. Similar training was also organized in Liberia in
December 2009 with support and assistance from the Human Rights and Protection Section
of the United Nations Mission in Liberia. A variety of Government, civil society and
UNCT actors in both countries benefited from these workshops. As follow-up, OHCHR
field presences in Haiti and Liberia, through consultation with national partners, are in the
process of formulating specific follow-up projects in the country, with a focus on piloting
some of the budget monitoring tools in the national policy and budget formulation and
implementation processes. The prospects of such follow-up in Haiti will be delayed, due to
recent tragic consequences of the earthquake in early January 2010.
61.
In October 2009 in Arusha, Tanzania, the OHCHR Regional Office in East Africa
jointly organized with the Department for Political Affairs of the African Union
Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, a meeting of
experts on the universal periodic review (UPR) and the African Peer Review Mechanism,
with specific consideration of the right to development in Africa. Practical
recommendations from the meeting included the need for both mechanisms to focus on the
right to development and to request information on specific State policies regarding
development. While harmonization and coordination of reporting systems at the national
level were felt necessary, the need for strengthening the African Peer Review Mechanism
structure at the national level to ensure that State submissions reflect input of civil society
organizations was also emphasized in order to raise public awareness and ownership.
B.
Enhanced human rights leadership
62.
The High Commissioner advocated for the integration of a human rights-based
approach in the response efforts to the global food security crisis. OHCHR contributed to
the Secretary-General’s statement at the High-Level Meeting on “Food Security for All”,
held in Madrid in January 2009, emphasizing that the right to food should be fully
integrated into both emergency assistance and in efforts to achieve sustainable food and
nutrition security for all. During the World Summit on Food Security, organized in Rome in
November 2009, the Deputy High Commissioner stressed that the right to food requires
concrete actions, such as the mapping of the food insecure, the adoption of legislation and
policies with a right to food framework, the establishment of accountability mechanisms to
enable rights-holders to claim their rights, and the participation of rights-holders,
particularly the most vulnerable, in the design and monitoring of relevant legislation and
policies. In February 2009, OHCHR joined the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food
Security Crisis convened by the United Nations Secretary-General and actively contributes
to the update process of the Comprehensive Framework for Action.
63.
In the context of the recent global financial crisis, the High Commissioner advocated
for the integration of human rights in the responses to the crisis. In particular, the High
Commissioner participated in the General Assembly Conference on the World Financial
and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development to assess the financial crisis (June
2009) and the International Seminar on Human Rights and MDGs (The Hague, May 2009),
strongly advocating and highlighting the international dimensions of human rights
obligations. OHCHR also contributed to efforts in framing the longer-term United Nations
response to the financial crisis.
64.
The High Commissioner devoted her 2009 report to the Economic and Social
Council to the implementation and monitoring of economic, social and cultural rights. The
report outlines various ways of monitoring legislation and other normative measures, such
GE.10-12597
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