The UN human rights system

Many people talk about human rights, but few are familiar with human rights system and mechanisms.

As with other acronym-filled systems and mechanisms under the United Nations, the UN Human Rights System (UNHRS) and International Human Rights Mechanisms (IHRM) presumably took various inputs from 193 member-states. As a result, it could take quite time navigating through the maze of the UNHRS and IHRM.

Upon the invitation of the National Union of People’s Lawyers and the Federal Republic of Germany Human Rights Project, I attended yesterday the lecture-discussion in Manila about the UNHRS and IHRM by Mika Kanervavuori, senior human rights adviser under the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator. Kanervavuori is from Finland and studied international law there.

Let me share his explanation of some of the salient points of the UN Human Rights System and International Human Rights Mechanisms. Nations of the world, forming the UN after World War II, codified the human right system as an offshoot of the unimaginable atrocities of the war.

There are accusations the concept of human rights is a Western-imposed concept, but actually, the idea is universal, coming from different civilizations. Kanervavuori said it’s wrong to say the US and other Western powers created the international human rights system and mechanisms. It appeared so Western nations dominated the discussion on human rights because they won the war. But the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948, with only eight nations abstaining from the vote and none opposing.

Kanervavuori said the declaration over the past 70 years has become a cornerstone of customary international law, and all governments are bound to apply its principles.

The elephant in the room is the member-states with leaders who dislike human rights. In 2016, the Philippines elected such leader in President Rodrigo Duterte.

So how will the UNHRS and IHRM figure in the current situation in the Philippines?

The human rights system (UNHRS) is composed of three bodies: the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), the UN Human Rights Treaties, and the UN Human Rights Council. Under the human rights mechanisms (IHRM) is the nine human rights treaties and the Human Rights Council, which provides “Special Procedures” and does universal periodic reviews.

The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council monitor, examine, advise, and publicly report on human rights issues. These issues cover civil, political rights, economic, social, and cultural rights. Within the Special Procedures are mandate holders - independent individuals selected among prominent experts from different backgrounds appointed to serve in their personal capacity for a maximum of six years. They are unpaid and not UN staff members, but are provided secretarial support by the OHCHR.

Mandate holders may send official communications to the Council irrespective of whether an alleged victim has brought a case before domestic courts. These communications may deal with individual cases, patterns and trends of violations, cases affecting a particular group or community, and content of draft or existing laws, policy or practice considered incompatible with international human rights standards.

Specific forms or questionnaires to collect information are available at the www.ohchr.org website. And cases of alleged human rights violations can be submitted by providing the required information and completing the relevant form or questionnaire and sending this to [email protected].

If a case meets the criteria, OHCHR may send either "Urgent appeals" (for time-sensitive violations) or "Letters of allegation" (for abuses already committed).

Kanervavuori said Special Procedures send almost a thousand communications to more than 120 states annually.

What are the consequences of such process to the people and states concerned? I’ll take that up in my next column.