HRC 33 - Joint NGO Oral Statement on gender parity in international human rights bodies
Annual discussion on theintegration of a gender perspective throughout the
work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms
Monday, 26 September, 2016
Last year this paneldiscussed gender parity ininternational human rights bodies, including the Human Rights Council and itsmechanisms.
States resolutely calledfor the redoubling of efforts to improve gender balance on UN human rights bodiesand mechanisms, courts and tribunals and specialised agencies. Unfortunately, sincethen, the gender balance on these bodies has not improved and, in some cases,it has worsened.
For instance, for theSpecial Procedures mandate holders, the most recent figures are for 31 December2015, when a total of 37 per cent of mandate holders were femaleand 63 per cent were male.[1]
The situation in thetreaty bodies is particularly disturbing. At 1 January 2016, outof a total of 172 treaty body members - if we take out CEDAW members - therepresentation of women in the membership of the treaty bodies is 31 per cent.[2]
Illustrative of thenegative trend is the recent elections in the Committee on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities which had the result that there will be only1 female member amongst 17 male members, from 1 January 2017.
It is also important torecall that the current Bureau of the Human Rights Council is comprisedentirely of men. It is disappointing to observe that since the commencement ofthe Council there has been only 1 female President compared with 9 malePresidents.
Weshould be alarmed by these outcomes. Despite commitments and fine words in resolutionsand treaties, actions have not followed.
We call on States to takeactive measures to significantly increase the number of women on UN bodies -the human rights treaty bodies, Special Procedures and the HRC Bureau itself -by, for instance:
· establishing safeguards to increase participation of women candidatesin the process for proposal of candidates, including with more inclusivenational processes;
· supporting women candidates within the Regional Groups;
· establishing and using a gender-sensitive guide in the interviewingof candidates for the Special Procedures.
We believe that thesituation calls for special measures – that is, the institution of objectiveand concrete targets, quotas, guidelines for nomination and voting, and other measuresthat require State delegations to the UN to pay attention to gender balance atthe point of soliciting candidates, nomination of candidates and voting.
Thank you
[1] A/HRC/31/39para 4
[2] Annexes tothe Secretary-General’s report on the Status of the human rights treaty bodysystem (A/71/118), p 35