A/HRC/16/20
rights of older persons can be better protected, including through the consideration of new
instruments and measures.
24.
OHCHR supported the work of the Council’s Advisory Committee in the
development and adoption of the Principles and Guidelines on the elimination of
discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members. These
guidelines were adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 65/215 of 21 December
2010. OHCHR continues to facilitate the Council’s initiative, led by its cross-regional
governmental Platform for Human Rights Education and Training, to develop a United
Nations declaration on human rights education and training.
25.
OHCHR also facilitated the organization of the 2010 Social Forum, with the report
(A/HRC/16/62) available for this session of the Human Rights Council.
26.
With OHCHR support, treaty bodies held a number of days of general discussions
with a view to developing general comments: the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights discussed the right to sexual and reproductive health, and the Committee on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities discussed accessibility. Within the context of the
twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families, the related Committee discussed “Protecting
rights, building cooperation”. The Human Rights Committee developed further a first draft
of a general comment on the interpretation of articles 19 and 20 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women adopted general recommendations on older women and
protection of their human rights and on the core obligations of States parties under article 2
of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. On 2
December 2010, the Committee on Migrant Workers adopted its first general comment,
focusing on the rights of migrant domestic workers. Some 120 decisions on individual
communications were adopted in 2010 by five of the Committees which have an individual
communications procedure, which furthered jurisprudence in this regard.
27.
Special procedures have also continued to contribute to the development of
international human rights law. The work of the independent expert on water and sanitation
in clarifying the legal content of the human rights obligations related to access to safe
drinking water and sanitation directly contributed to the recognition of this right by the
General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. The Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances adopted a general comment on enforced disappearance as a
continuous crime and a general comment on the right to the truth in relation to enforced
disappearances. OHCHR also provided support to the efforts of the Special Representative
of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and
other business enterprises to develop Guiding Principles for the implementation of the
“Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework for business and human rights. OHCHR continued
to work with the United Nations Global Compact Office and provided ongoing technical
and policy advice on the human rights component of the Global Compact, including
through participation in its Human Rights Working Group and the Compact inter-agency
group, and through my participation in the Global Compact’s Leaders Summit.
28.
In 2010, the Office commenced work on the holding of four regional workshops on
the prohibition of incitement to hatred. Four consultants have prepared regional studies on
relevant legislation, jurisprudence and policies and contributions from Member States,
United Nations programmes and agencies, regional organizations, national human rights
institutions and civil society were sought. The workshops are to be held in 2011 at United
Nations Offices in Vienna (February), Nairobi (April), Bangkok (July) and Santiago
(October).
7
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