Joint civil society statement on the 4th biannual report of the Secretary General on the state of the treaty body system
October 19, 2022TB-Net signed a joint statement by 12 civil society organisations during a side event at the UN General Assembly. It calls for support for the implementation of predictable review schedules and for ensuring sustainable and adequate funding for the UN Treaty Bodies.
Read the full statement here.
Joint civil society submission to the 34th Annual Meeting of Chairpersons of the UN Treaty Bodies
May 30, 2022From 30 May to 3 June 2022, the Chairpersons of the UN Treaty Bodies met to discuss the UN Treaty Body system and continue the discussions on its strengthening. Jointly with the International Service for Human Rights, TB-Net sent a submission to highlight the importance of the system and pled for the implementation of a fixed calendar of review, of the follow-up procedure and focused reviews, as well as the consistent usage of the cross-referencing of recommendations.
Read the full submission here.
Joint civil society submission to the UN Secretary General’s report on the status of the Human Rights Treaty Body System
January 28, 2022Together with the International Service for Human Rights and Amnesty International, TB-Net sent a joint submission to share a civil society view on the status of the Treaty Body system. The submission highlighted: 1) the importance of ensuring the independence of the UN Treaty Bodies (UNTBs); 2) the necessity to improve the UNTBs’ working methods in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, by allowing hybrid participation during sessions, ensuring civil society involvement in relevant decisions, and communicating in a transparent, reasoned and advance manner the new modalities of participation of different stakeholders; 3) the need for States to provide adequate funding for the Petitions Section; 4) the urgency for merit-based nominations with transparency, with the participation of civil society and other relevant stakeholders, in the elections of the UNTBs’ Experts.
Read the full submission here.
Joint oral statement on the increasing backlog of State reports consideration by Treaty Bodies
June 21, 2021At the interactive dialogue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet during the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council, we expressed concerns on the increasing backlog of State reports pending consideration from UN Treaty Bodies and urged the United Nations to identify concrete steps to enable in-person meetings for the autumn sessions 2021.
Read the full statement here.
Joint oral statement to call for the enhancement of civil society participation in the Treaty Bodies system
June 7, 2021At the 33rd Meeting of Chairpersons of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies, we delivered a joint statement. We called on treaty bodies to: <br> 1) Improve procedures of civil society participation; <br> 2) Reflect views of civil society in their decision on modalities of focused review; <br> 3) Resume in-person reviews to tackle the growing backlog of State reports.
Read the full statement here.
Joint Civil Society Letter to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the resumption of Treaty Body reviews
October 2, 2020523 NGOs wrote to the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to urge them to schedule country reviews no later than 2021, supporting online/hybrid reviews during the pandemic and asking for clear and advance communications to civil society. The letter is available in English, French, Spanish and Russian. It was prepared by TB-Net, together with Amnesty International and International Service for Human Rights.
Read the full statement here.
Joint Civil Society Submission on the 2020 Review of the UN Human Rights Treaty Body System
August 28, 2020Over 85 civil society organisations from all over the world signed onto TB-Net and ISHR joint submission to the Co-facilitation process on the 2020 Review of the UN human rights Treaty Body System. The document highlighted the importance of the Treaty Bodies while presenting civil society key proposals for the strengthening of the system.
Read the full statement here.
Joint Oral Statement on the introduction of open and participatory nominations and elections for Treaty Body membership
August 28, 2020At the informal consultation by the Co-Facilitators of the process of the consideration of the state of the UN Human Rights treaty body system with stakeholders, TB-Net introduced the Civil Society Proposals for a fixed and co-ordinated calendar of the UN human rights treaty bodies to ensure regular, predictable and universal monitoring and accountability of States’ human rights obligations.
Read the full statement here .
Joint Oral Statement on the introduction of a fixed calendar of Treaty Bodies
August 28, 2020At the Co-Facilitators’ informal consultation, TB-Net recommended States to introduce open and participatory nominations and elections processes to promote quality, independent and diverse membership of the UN human rights treaty bodies.
Read the full statement here.
Joint Oral Statement on the Treaty Body strengthening process
August 28, 2020At the consultation with Switzerland and Morocco on the state of the UN human rights Treaty Body system, TB-Net stressed 05 (five) overarching principles for the Treaty Body strengthening process: human rights protection, specificity within one system, adequate funding, civil society participation and independence.
Read the full statement here.