A/HRC/31/80
residence permits in the country. Through its human rights advisers, OHCHR has assisted
victims and United Nations partners to clarify international law requirements.
E.
1.
Compliance and engagement by States with United Nations human
rights mechanisms and bodies
Timor-Leste: strengthening State capacity to report on the International Convention
on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families
63.
At the request of the Government of Timor-Leste, the human rights advisers unit of
OHCHR provided its assistance in preparing the first State party report under the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families. Between March and October 2015, the unit, in collaboration
with IOM, conducted three training sessions for 40 officials (including 10 women) on the
Convention, the reporting process and its outcome, facilitated the translation of the list of
issues and the concluding observations into Tetum (one of the official languages of TimorLeste), and co-facilitated with the Government two consultations that gathered input for the
report from State officials, civil society entities, the private sector and embassies. At the
Government’s request, the unit also commented on the draft State report. It disseminated
the concluding observations to government officials, the national human rights institution,
civil society entities, the United Nations and development partners, as well as to members
of a government-led technical working group that was preparing a national plan of action
on labour migration, with extensive support from IOM.
64.
The draft plan of action includes a number of recommendations made by the
Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families in September 2015 (see CMW/C/TLS/CO/1). In the recommendations, the
Committee called upon the Government to reform laws that restrict workers’ rights, to raise
public awareness of the benefits of migration, to promote non-discrimination, to improve
monitoring of labour conditions and to strengthen accountability for abuses of migrant
workers. OHCHR provided funding to allow some of these activities to be undertaken.
2.
Belarus: protecting the human rights of victims of trafficking
65.
After the universal periodic review of Belarus and in response to the
recommendation that to the State develop and implement, together with OHCHR, training
courses on protecting the human rights of victims of human trafficking for representatives
of law enforcement bodies, including those studying at the International Centre on
Migration and Anti-Trafficking in Minsk, OHCHR is currently implementing a technical
cooperation project in close consultation with UNDP in Belarus. During the first phase,
concluded in December 2013, five training courses were organized for law enforcement
officials. They included a workshop for member States of the Group of Friends United
against Human Trafficking, and an international workshop on the theme “Cross-border
cooperation: exchange of experiences and best practices for combating international
trafficking”. Five training courses for law enforcement officials have been organized during
the ongoing second phase, which started in 2014. The courses, attended mainly by
participants from Belarus but also from Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, the Republic of
Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, addressed the challenges of trafficking in
persons, and identified good practices when combating trafficking.
16
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