The importance of human rights communication procedures

23 March 2023 - 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. 

Hybrid format (Webex link below) English-French interpretation 

Room XXII
Palais des Nations, Geneva 

The Permanent Missions of Switzerland and Paraguay will host a Side-Event during the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) to discuss the importance of human rights communication procedures including the UNESCO confidential 104 Procedure. 

Background 

Paraguay and Switzerland are members of the UNESCO Committee on Conventions and Recommendations, one of the permanent subsidiary bodies of the Executive Board. This Committee is also dealing with the examination of communications relating to individual cases in UNESCO’s human rights fields of competence (confidential 104 Procedure). 

Objectives 

The first objective is to shed light on the importance of Human Rights communication procedures overall, and the UNESCO 104 Procedure in particular. The second objective is to think more in terms of networking and to include UNESCO in the perception of the human rights ecosystem. It is addressed to Member States (11 States members of the Committee are also members of the HRC), NGOs, but also to the Secretariats of the Special Procedures, the Treaty Bodies and Working Groups. 

Main questions 

- What are the specificities of the different Human Rights communication procedures? 

- What are their advantages and disadvantages? 

- What is the UNESCO 104 Procedure? How does it work? 

o Who may submit a communication? 

o Which human rights fall within UNESCO’s competence? 

o What are the conditions of admissibility of a communication?