A/HRC/20/28
3.
Human rights mechanisms
43.
The Working Group subscribes to the absolute importance given by the Human
Rights Council in its resolution 15/23 to coordination with other United Nations human
rights mechanisms. In this regard, two members of the Working Group met with the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in October 2011 to
discuss modes of cooperation. The Working Group also held an exchange of views with the
Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child during its second session and with a
member of the Human Rights Committee during its third session. The Working Group is
expected to meet with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
during its fourth session in New York (23-27 July 2012).
44.
The Working Group has engaged with other special procedure mandate holders.
Informal meetings were held with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, and a
joint statement on the importance of women’s voices during times of transitions and reform
was issued on 8 December 2011 on the occasion of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender
Violence.5 The Working Group has also contacted the newly established Working Group on
the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises to
explore possible areas of collaboration. It has provided inputs to the draft guiding principles
on foreign debt and human rights being elaborated by the 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. On 19
March 2012, the Working Group, along with 21 other special procedures mandate holders,
co-sponsored an open letter calling on States to, inter alia, incorporate universally agreed
international human rights norms and standards, including relating to gender equality, into
the process leading up to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
(Rio+20 Conference) and into the outcome document of the conference.
45.
Representing the Working Group, Mercedes Barquet attended the fourth session of
the Forum on Minority Issues, held in Geneva on 29 and 30 November 2011, and side
events on empowering minority women to claim their rights and violence against minority
women and their access to justice. She delivered a statement on minority women and their
effective participation in political life. The Forum was of particular interest to the Working
Group, as it addressed the complex layers and interplay of various forms of discrimination
that many women face because they are women and members of a minority group. It was
also an opportunity to engage with NGOs and other stakeholders, and to inform them of the
mandate, priorities and methods of work of the Working Group.
46.
The Working Group places high priority on learning the views, issues and concerns
of different regions, and is seeking to reflect regional diversity in its work, including by
drawing on and centralizing the knowledge and resources of a range of stakeholders. The
Working Group also intends to explore cooperation with regional human rights
mechanisms, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in
particular its Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the InterGovernmental Commission on Human Rights of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the
Rights of Women and Children.
5
12
See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11700&LangID=E.