Notes from 2nd Roundtable Sharing and Discussion on the NGO Participation On the 1st Human Rights Council

Geneva, 31 May 2006¹

The 2nd Roundtable Sharing Discussion on NGO Participation was held as the follow up of the first meeting which took place on May 18, 2006. Around 50 participants attended this roundtable which included NGOs, Permanent Missions member of the Human Rights Council, Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the United Nations Office in Geneva. The purpose of this meeting was an informal exchange of views on information related to Human Rights Council between permanent delegations, NGO's and OHCHR on the issues of:

• Participation by NGOs in the opening session of the Council and during the High Level Segment Contributions by NGOs through:
  • written statements
  • oral statements
• Parallel events during the 1st session of the Human Rights Council.
• Possibility of NGO participation in the interactive dialogues with special procedures

The following is a brief report of the roundtable:

Opening Session and High Level Segment.

• 3-5 NGOs speaking in the Opening Session / High Level Segment is a possibility
• What are the criteria that we want to establish?
• Representativity
• Geographically diverse- but being careful not to regionalize specific issues
• Representing common issues, including, but not limited to: role of NGOs, how to retain & expand our access.
• How do we come to near-consensus on the issues we want to present.
• Need to be visionary, geographically and gender diverse. Also how do we ensure that the concerns and issues raised are those shared by local/ grassroots organizations?
• Need to be aware of precedent setting, and claim space for voices of victims.
• Need to be long term and conceptual also.
• Could suggest specific names- any specific suggestions need to come from NGO community to Secretariat by the 12th of June.

First Session of the Council:

• Celebrate how human rights consciousness has increased. Reaffirm positive steps. Show that NGOs are not counter acting to the council, rather are seeking greater cooperation.
• The first session of the Council will set precedent for the future sessions, therefore we need to set up good precedents
• How to include civil society and NGOs in the High Level Segment? What about the general debate? How are parliamentarians and National Human Rights Institution included?
• Cannot be exclusively procedural- otherwise will send wrong message to public. Substantive issues need to receive some time, though perhaps not in the “naming and shaming” method.
• Secretariat is expected to have information on their website this week. The extranet is going to be available this week.
• Under OP11 of GA 60/51, the oral and written statement will be feasible to take place
  • Written statements will be encouraged, could include:
  • vision for council – vision of the institutional building of the Council
  • why tools of ub-Commission, other tools are important
  • country situations
  • what best practices should be preserved
  • what new innovations are there
• Concerning the agenda item of the statement, the secretariat will make contact with NGO once the provisional agenda item is established
• Oral Statement is feasible, however we need to wait for further arrangement, including the provisional agenda item of the Council
• Parallel events can be organized in this first session- after the High Level Segment and it will be facilitated by the Secretariat
• Exploration of webcasting first session.
• It has been discussed within the Secretariat
  • Could be also broadcast through the UN field offices, UNDP offices, other field offices, to encourage better interconnectivity between the council and the family of UN agencies
  • investment in technology to include and ensure participation of all stakeholders
• Decision needs to be taken during first session on the roadmap/ program of work for the council.
  • Should meet at least 3 times per year, but could meet more.
  • Need some predictability and flexibility for better planning purposes.

Complementary Roundtables

• could have 1-2 meetings during High Level Segment
• would need to include high profile people
• would work best with cross cutting issues
• should be well coordinated with the Secretariat

Interactive dialogue

• Hopefully an interactive dialogue can take place in the first session with:
  • Special Procedures
  • Treaty Bodies
  • Sub-Commission
• Minutes- reserved time
• ensure no gap in protection
• are there urgent issues that we want to have addressed first?
• basis of open consultations
• set precedents at the beginning
• good opportunity to be more engaged in substantive discussions
• There is a possibility the dialogue with the mandate holders for special procedures will not be prepared for first session- otherwise it could be postponed to second session in September (3 weeks Session from 11-29 (?) September 2006)
• Regardless need to ensure that there is time and space for both NGOs and Governments to ask, and get responses to questions.

Universal Periodic Review

• could be establishing a working group
• open ended manner
• inclusion of NGOs
• how will the timing take place?
• Will this start with those who are sitting on the council?
  • The 14 that will sit for only the first year?
• Some possibilities for how this might go:
  • could see 3 hour review for each country every 3-4 years, about 50 countries per year
  • could be more elaborated, closer to the treaty body processes
  • could see 10-40 experts reviewing documents from governments, NGOs, etc. making recommendations to the full membership.
  • Could see 4-5 groups of experts doing the reviews- would this be productive?
  • If requires negotiating mandate, possibly not.
  • Could require elections of experts- there are pros and cons to this.
  • Could ask EVERY government to appoint an expert
  • last consultation on this will be 13 June