The work of the Council is guided by the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, constructive international dialogue and cooperation, with a view to enhancing the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
One important new feature of the Council is universal periodic review, a mechanism by which every country, including Cambodia, will be regularly scrutinized on its fulfilment of its human rights obligations and commitments.
Other functions of the Council include:
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to promote human rights education and learning as well as advisory services, technical assistance and capacity-building, to be provided in consultation with and with the consent of Member States concerned;
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to serve as a forum for dialogue on thematic issues on all human rights;
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to make recommendations to the General Assembly for the further development of international law in the field of human rights; and
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to promote the full implementation of human rights obligations undertaken by States and follow-up to the goals and commitments related to the promotion and protection of human rights emanating from United Nations conferences and summit
The Council has assumed the role and responsibilities of the Commission on Human Rights, including the special rapporteurs, and is in the process of deciding which Commission mechanisms will be retained. It has also assumed the Commission’s role relating to the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including the Cambodia country office.
The Council works in close cooperation in the field of human rights with Governments, regional organizations, national human rights institutions and civil society.
It reports to the General Assembly.
From 18-20 May 2009, OHCHR Cambodia, together with the British Embassy in Phnom Penh and Swedish SIDA, organised a Workshop on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Phnom Penh.
The UPR is a process which reviews once every four years the human rights records of all 192 Member States of the United Nations. The UPR is a process driven by Member States, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations. The UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed.
The Workshop in Phnom Penh was opened by the chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, H.E. Om Yen Tieng. Approximately 100 participants attended the Workshop; around half from civil society and half from Government. The large majority of Government representatives were members of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, whilst other relevant line-Ministries were also represented.
Cambodia will be reviewed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva in early December 2009. Civil society organisations have already made a number of written submissions (27 in total) for the Stakeholders report for which the deadline was on 13 April 2009. The aim of the Workshop was to use international and regional partner's experience of the UPR process to kick-start a whole government Action Plan, entrench civil society engagement, and link UPR preparations to concrete human rights improvements in Cambodia. To this end, the Workshop had the following immediate objectives:
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Introduction of the new mechanism to relevant Government and Civil Society representatives;
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Introduction of best practices and provision of guidance for writing a State report to Government representatives
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Outline Civil Society's role in the UPR process.
Panelists included representatives from the UK Foreign Office, the UK Permanent Mission in Geneva, the Director of the Human Rights Unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, representatives of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden and a number of international and national civil society representatives.
Human Rights Council outline modalities of the UPR (English | Khmer)
Chart of UPR Process (English | Khmer)
Annex III - General Guidelines for the Preparation of Information under the UPR (English | Khmer)
Annex V - Information note for relevant stakeholders on the UPR (English | Khmer)
Annex VI - Factsheet Human Rights Council (English | Khmer)
More about Universal Periodic Review
All Member States of the United Nations will be subject to universal periodic review according to the twin principles of universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States. It will be based on objective and reliable information and it is intended to complement, but not duplicate, the work of the human rights treaty bodies.
The Universal Periodic Review is meant to be a cooperative mechanism, based on an interactive dialogue, with the full involvement of the country concerned and with consideration given to its capacity-building needs. The ultimate aim is to contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, towards the prevention of human rights violations and to respond promptly to human rights emergencies. The Council is in the process of developing the modalities and necessary time allocation for the universal periodic review mechanism. |
