31/24 Conclusions and recommendations of special procedures

Human Rights Council Thirty-first session

Agenda item 2

Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the

High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Conclusions and recommendations of special procedures*

Report of the Secretary-General

1. The Human Rights Council, in its decision 2/102, requested the Secretary-General

and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue their activities in

accordance with all previous decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and

to update the relevant reports and studies.

2. The Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 2004/76, requested the

Secretary-General to issue annually conclusions and recommendations of the special

procedures so as to enable further discussion of their implementation. The Commission also

requested the High Commissioner to continue to prepare a comprehensive and regularly

updated electronic compilation of recommendations made by the special procedures, by

country, where such did not yet exist. In paragraph 29 of the annex to its resolution 65/281,

the General Assembly provided that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights (OHCHR) would continue to maintain information on special procedures

in a comprehensive and easily accessible manner.

3. The Secretary-General draws the attention of the Human Rights Council to the

conclusions and recommendations included in annual reports and the relevant addenda

thereto submitted by the special procedures to the Council in 2015 at its twenty-eighth,

twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions.1

4. In 2015, special procedure mandate holders presented 134 reports to the Human

Rights Council.

* The present report was submitted after the deadline in order to reflect the most recent developments.

1 Available on the OHCHR website at www.ohchr.org.

I. Twenty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council

5. At the twenty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council, the following 18 special

procedure mandate holders, including 11 thematic and 7 country mandate holders,

presented their reports:

• Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the

enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment

• Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international

financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly

economic, social and cultural rights

• Special Rapporteur on the right to food

• Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate

standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context

• Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

• Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities

• Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

• Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights

• Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

• Special Rapporteur on minority issues

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories

occupied since 1967

• Independent Expert on capacity-building and technical cooperation with Côte

d’Ivoire in the field of human rights

• Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti

• Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali.

6. The Council also heard an oral update from the Independent Expert on the situation

of human rights in the Central African Republic.

7. The special procedure mandate holders presented reports on their visits to 10

countries. The Special Rapporteur on torture also presented a follow-up report on his

mission to Tajikistan and Tunisia.

8. The special procedure mandate holders also presented a report on communications

sent by all mandate holders. The Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights

defenders and on torture presented reports containing observations on communications

transmitted to Governments and replies received.

9. The Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures presented the report

on the 21st annual meeting of special rapporteurs/representatives, independent experts and

working groups of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, including updated

information on the special procedure mandate holders.

II. Twenty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council

10. At the twenty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council, the following 21 special

procedure mandate holders, including 17 thematic and 4 country mandate holders,

presented their annual reports:

• Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants

• Special Rapporteur on minority issues

• Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and

other business enterprises

• Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children

• Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

• Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons

• Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of

opinion and expression

• Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association

• Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers

• Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest

attainable standard of physical and mental health

• Special Rapporteur on the right to education

• Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity

• Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions

• Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice

• Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

• Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and

fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism

• Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination,

xenophobia and related intolerance

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea

• Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Central African Republic

• Independent Expert on capacity-building and technical cooperation with Côte

d’Ivoire in the field of human rights.

11. The special procedure mandate holders presented reports on their visits to 25

countries. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions also

presented a follow-up report on his mission to India and Turkey, and the Special

Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants presented a follow-up report on his mission to

Italy.

12. The special procedure mandate holders also presented a report on communications

sent by all mandate holders. The Special Rapporteurs on the rights to freedom of peaceful

assembly and of association, on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of

opinion and expression and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions presented

reports containing observations on communications transmitted to Governments and replies

received.

III. Thirtieth session of the Human Rights Council

13. At the thirtieth session of the Human Rights Council, the following 16 special

procedure mandate holders, including 12 thematic and 4 country mandate holders,

presented their reports:

• Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent

• Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

• Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

• Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally

sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes

• Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples

• Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international

order

• Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and

impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination

• Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons

• Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and

consequences

• Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of

non-recurrence

• Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the

enjoyment of human rights

• Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation

• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia

• Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Central African Republic

• Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia

• Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan.

14. The special procedure mandate holders presented reports on their visits to

18 countries. The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances presented a

follow-up report to its missions to Mexico and Timor-Leste.

15. The special procedure mandate holders also presented a report on communications

sent by all mandate holders.