This 23 June 2021, GI-ESCR joined fellow members of TB-Net (the NGO Network on UN Treaty Bodies) in an oral Statement calling for OHCHR to identify concrete steps that would enable in-person meetings of Treaty Bodies to be resumed no later than the autumn sessions of 2021.

The intervention was made on the second day of the 47th Human Rights Council, during the Interactive Dialogue on the Annual Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. It was delivered by Taisuke Komatsu ( International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism) on behalf of the seven organisations which form TB-Net.

The Statement expressed appreciation of the efforts that all Treaty Bodies have made to pilot online State reviews during the period in which in-person meetings have not been possible due to the pandemic. However, it also underscored growing concern at the fact that the limited number of online reviews that can be undertaken in a single Treaty Body session has led to a sharp increase in the backlog of State party reports pending consideration. In order to prevent a significant protection gap from emerging, OHCHR must examine options for resuming in-person meetings by the autumn sessions of 2021.

The intervention follows TB-Net’s recent statement at the 33rd Meeting of Chairpersons of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/Annual-meeting/TB-Net-Statement.docx

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