E/CN.6/2000/8 - E/CN.4/2000/_

Economic and Social Council

Distr.: General
_________ 2000

Original: English

Introduction
A. Assessment of the implementation of the current work plan
B. Joint work plan for 2000

Annex. Report of the workshop: Gender integration into
the human rights system, 26-28 May 1999

1. Introduction
1. Based on resolution 39/5 of the Commission on the Status of Women and resolution 1997/43 of the Commission on Human Rights, a joint work plan has been prepared annually for the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (see, for example, E/CN.6/1999/2). In resolution 1999/41, the Commission on Human Rights welcomed the cooperation and coordination between the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights aimed at mainstreaming women's human rights, such as the joint work plan. It requested that this plan continue to reflect all aspects of work under way and identify where obstacles / impediments exist and areas for further collaboration, and that it be made available to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session and to the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-fourth session. The present report has been prepared in accordance with this request.

   A. Assessment of the implementation of the current work plan

2. In the implementation of the current joint work plan (see E/CN.6/1999/2, paras. 61 - 73, and E/CN.4/1999/67/Add.1), the exchange of information between the Office of the High Commissioner and the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women continued. The Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women addressed the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-fifth session during consideration of item 12 (integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective). She also participated in a panel discussion moderated by the High Commissioner to mark the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In the course of the year, the Special Adviser met several times with the High Commissioner, and with the Deputy High Commissioner, including to discuss preparations for the special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", 5 to 9 June 2000. Staff of the Division participated in the eleventh meeting of persons chairing the human rights treaty bodies held at the United Nations Office at Geneva, and presented the results of the workshop on gender integration (see below). The Division facilitated the participation of the Chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women in the fifty-fifth session of the Commission on Human Rights and in the panel discussion concerning the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It also facilitated the participation of a Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the session of the Commission on Human Rights. The Division provided its training materials on the Convention to the Office of the High Commissioner, and suggested possible trainers on the human rights of women for its training activities on reporting under international human rights instruments. The Office of the High Commissioner provided suggestions to the Division of senior judges and magistrates for participation in the judicial colloquium on the application of international human rights law at the domestic level. The colloquium was convened by the Division from 27 to 29 October 1999 at the United Nations Office at Vienna to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
   
   
3. The Division and the Office of the High Commissioner updated their websites (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw, and www.unhchr.ch) to make information related to the human rights of women and to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women easily accessible. This included in particular the timely posting of States parties' reports submitted under article 18 of the Convention, as well as the Committee's concluding comments with regard to the consideration of States parties' reports on the Division's website. Information on the Optional Protocol to the Convention, its adoption by the General Assembly on 6 October and opening for signature on 10 December 1999 have also been posted on the website. The Division sent briefing notes on the Committee's twentieth and twenty-first sessions, as well as the Committee's concluding comments, to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for distribution to human rights mechanisms. It has continued to monitor the work of the human rights treaty bodies in integrating a gender perspective.

4. Cooperation between the Division and the Office of the High Commissioner has continued in exchanging information on communications in connection with the communications procedure of the Commission on the Status of Women. The Director of the Division met with staff of the Office of the High Commissioner in conjunction with the work of that Office to assess the communications procedures of the Commission on Human Rights.

5. The Division and the Office of the High Commissioner continued to support improved cooperation between the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Human Rights. Notably, they have facilitated the teleconference between the Bureaux of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Human Rights on 17 November.

6. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights participated in the activities organized by the Division at United Nations Headquarters on 10 December, Human Rights Day, to mark the opening for signature of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. A joint message on the Optional Protocol and its significance for women was issued by the Special Adviser and the High Commissioner. The Director of the New York Office of the Office of the High Commissioner participated in the signing ceremony, convened by the Office of Legal Affairs and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, as well as in a press briefing on the Optional Protocol. The High Commissioner also sent a message to the panel discussion following the signing ceremony, at which the Secretary-General of the United Nations made an opening statement, and which was moderated by the Special Adviser. Staff of the Office of the High Commissioner participated in the 1999 session of the open-ended working group of the Commission on the Status of Women during which negotiations on the optional protocol were successfully concluded.

7. The Division has continued to support the work of non-conventional human rights mechanisms. During 1999, information available in the Division was submitted to the Special Rapporteurs on education, and on violence against women. A first meeting has taken place between Division staff and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, at which modalities for exchange of information were discussed. The Division made available to the Special Rapporteur information gathered primarily in conjunction with its work on violence against women migrant workers.

8. Coordination on report preparation has continued. In particular, the Office of the High Commissioner provided input to the Division for the preparation of the report requested under General Assembly resolution 52/97 on violence against women migrant workers. The report was submitted to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session (A/54/342), and the Assembly adopted a resolution on this issue (resolution 54/138 of 17 December 1999). In accordance with the joint work plan (para. 66), this report is expected to be submitted also to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session. The Division and the Office of the High Commissioner have continued to exchange information on the question of trafficking in women and girls, and have contributed to the study on the criminal aspects of trafficking in human beings, which is being prepared by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute on behalf of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.

9. The Division, the Office of the High Commissioner, and UNIFEM jointly organized a workshop on gender integration into the human rights system. The workshop, which was a follow-up activity to a meeting held in 1995 (see E/CN.4/1996/105), took place from 26 to 28 May 1999 at the United Nations Office at Geneva. Twelve special rapporteurs/representatives/experts and four Chairpersons and one Vice-Chairperson of human rights treaty bodies participated in the workshop, as did representatives from several United Nations entities. The workshop was supported by two resource persons. In addition to the presentation of two background papers, the workshop reviewed three cross-cutting legal issues that were seen as being of major relevance in the sustained and systematic attention to women's human rights and gender issues in the general human rights framework. It also benefited from the presentation and discussion of four case studies that had been prepared by experts at the invitation of the organizers.

10. The workshop adopted a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening attention to the human rights of women and to gender equality under general human rights instruments and mechanisms. The recommendations are addressed to the work of country-specific and thematic mechanisms and of human rights treaty bodies, and also cover normative aspects, and cooperation and coordination issues. The report of the workshop is annexed to this joint work plan.

    B. Joint work plan for 2000

11. The Division and the Office of the High Commissioner will continue the targeted approach to joint activities that has been consolidated in the course of the implementation of the 1999 work plan. Major emphasis will be placed on supporting the work of human rights treaty bodies and selected special mechanisms; and on cooperation between national machinery for the advancement of women and national human rights institutions. Particular efforts will be made to address constraints encountered in the implementation of ongoing and new activities, as well as in activities carried over from the 1999 joint work plan.

12. During 2000, the cooperation between the Division and the Office of the High Commissioner on the work of treaty bodies will continue. This will include exchange of documents and reports, as well as of the outcome of the work of the treaty bodies, and regular circulation of these documents to the Chairpersons and members of the treaty bodies. A particular effort will be made to eliminate remaining technical difficulties and complete the work on the electronic database covering all six treaty bodies with a view to making the database fully operational and accessible for both offices. The use of the Web sites of the Division (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw) and of the Office of the High Commissioner (www.unhchr.ch) for exchange of information will be further improved. In order to address in a comprehensive manner issues concerning the operation of the data base, information exchange on the human rights of women and gender mainstreaming, and Secretariat working methods in servicing the treaty bodies, a meeting of staff servicing these bodies will be convened in the second half of 2000. Other issues to be addressed during this first meeting of staff servicing all six treaty bodies will include a review of servicing implications for the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women under the Optional Protocol; and follow-up to relevant recommendations emanating from the gender integration workshop.

13. The Division will continue to monitor progress in the work of treaty bodies in integrating a gender perspective and provide gender-specific input into their work. The Division will update the study on integrating a gender perspective into the work of the human rights treaty bodies (HRI/MC/1998/6) to serve as input into the 13th meeting of the persons chairing the human rights treaty bodies. The Office of the High Commissioner will be supportive of an effective implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
    
    
14. The Division will provide targeted input into the work of non-conventional human rights mechanisms. During 2000, particular emphasis will be placed on supporting the work of the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, and on the human rights migrants, as well as the work of the experts of the Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights on affirmative action, and on reservations. Cooperation will continue to exchange information concerning communications submitted to the Commission on the Status of Women, as well as in the work of the Office of the High Commissioner on a review of the communications procedures of the Commission on Human Rights.

15. The Division and the Office of the High Commissioner will support and facilitate cooperation between the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Human Rights. This will include participation of Chairpersons, as well as of senior staff of the Division and the Office of the High Commissioner, respectively, in Commission sessions, meetings of the Bureaux and exchange of information on working methods, and on actions taken by the Commissions.

16. The Division and the Office of the High Commissioner will seek opportunities for cooperation in the area of national machineries for the advancement of women and national human rights institutions. In order to identify common interests, concerns and strategies, and to assess opportunities for cooperation between national machinery for the advancement of women and national human rights institutions, the Division and the Office will organize a workshop with the participation of representatives from some 10 national machineries for the advancement of women and ten national human rights institutions (2 from each of the five geographical regions of the United Nations). The workshop would elaborate recommendations to be brought to the attention of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Human Rights. It is envisaged that the workshop will take place in the Fall of 2000, at a location to be determined.

17. The Office of the High Commissioner will continue to seek the Division's comments on all training materials under production, with a view to ensuring adequate inclusion of issues related to the human rights of women and gender mainstreaming. The Office of the High Commissioner, in organizing training courses on reporting under human rights treaties, as well as other ad hoc activities, will continue to invite the Division for the Advancement of Women to participate. The Office will also continue to participate actively in selected meetings organized by the Division. The Division will contribute to, and participate in, selected meetings of human rights bodies, in particular the meeting of persons chairing treaty bodies, and meetings organized by the Office of the High Commissioner. Both the Division and the Office will continue to cooperate also in the framework of the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality of the Administrative Committee on Coordination.
    
    

    See also:

    Annex. Report of the workshop: Gender integration into the human rights system, 26-28 May 1999