Tuesday 17 Sep 2013
Dear Drew,
Greetings from Geneva.
I am pleased to inform you that your application to undertake an internship with ERI has been formally approved and endorsed by the ERI Board.
Whilst dates for the UPR sessions of the Human Rights Council are not yet finalised there will be a 2 week session in Jan/Feb. My suggestion therefore is that you aim to arrive in Geneva no later than mid-Jan and plan to leave by Feb 12th.......which will ensure you will be able to attend the UPR session. At least one of the treaty bodies will be meeting in Geneva during that time as well.
I look forward to welcoming you to Geneva in January.
So Drew is off to Geneva, to intern with an NGO attached to the United Nations. He can attend the UPR sessions and a Treaty Body meeting. What does all that mean? Read on.
What is the Universal Periodic Review?
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. The UPR is a significant innovation of the Human Rights Council which is based on equal treatment for all countries. It provides an opportunity for all States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights. The UPR also includes a sharing of best human rights practices around the globe. Currently, no other mechanism of this kind exists.http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/upr/pages/BasicFacts.aspx
Countries reporting in Jan 2014 are New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Vietnam, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, Macedonia, Comoros and Slovakia.
(http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/Pages/HumanRightsBodies.aspx)
There are currently ten human rights treaty bodies, which are committees of independent experts. Nine of these treaty bodies monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties while the tenth treaty body, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, monitors places of detention in States parties to the Optional Protocol.
There are ten human rights treaty bodies that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties :
- Human Rights Committee (CCPR)
- Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
- Committee against Torture (CAT)
- Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT)
- Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
- Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
- Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)
I still can't quite believe it. Drew had a Skype interview early last week; the guy suggested that he live in France and commute to Geneva because it's cheaper to live in France. Live in France and commute to the UN headquarters?? Holy Crap.
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