Dr. Avnish Jolly, Chandigarh, 19th June:Louise Arbour, High Commissioner, United Nations, shared that Human Rights United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a new legal instrument which will enable people to submit complaints on violations of their economic, social and cultural rights to an international human rights body and it will provide an important platform to expose abuses that are often linked to poverty, discrimination and neglect, and that victims frequently endure in silence and helplessness.
The Human Rights Council has also decided to extend the terms of office of seven of its special procedures mandate holders—rapporteurs, experts and working groups which the council can use to explore either specific country situations or thematic issues—and is expected to appoint several more.
Louise emphasized that it will provide a way for individuals, who may otherwise be isolated and powerless, to make the international community aware of their situation and that the lack of a complaint procedure for economic, social and cultural rights has been a missing piece in the international human rights protection system, since the Covenant—which has 158 states parties—opened for signature in 1966. The protocol is expected to get the final approval by the UN General Assembly later this year. It will enter into force once it has been ratified by 10 states.