HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE OPENS SEVENTY-SEVENTH SESSION

Elects Officers, Adopts Programme of Work

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 17 March (UN Information Service) -- The Human Rights Committee opened this morning it seventy-seventh session by hearing an address by Alessio Bruni, a representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who reviewed proposals for further reform of the United Nations system and outlined their potential affects on human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee.

In light of the Secretary-General's report on reforms and proposals relating to treaty bodies, the second Inter-Committee meeting of treaty bodies would be brought forward a year and scheduled for June 2003, Mr. Bruni said.  He confirmed that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had requested a senior regular budget position for a coordinator of the petitions unit, following the Office of Internal Inspection and Oversight report's recommendation that the Office's support for individual complaints be strengthened. 

Mr. Bruni also praised the past work of the Committee and said it would be briefed by the Legal Expert of the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee on the Counter-Terrorism Committee's procedures and possible interactions with human rights treaty bodies. 

Also this morning, the newly elected and re-elected Experts of the Committee made the standard solemn declaration in which they undertook to discharge their duties as members of the Human Rights Committee “impartially and conscientiously”. 

The Committee elected Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia) as Chairperson; Rafael Rivas Posada (Colombia), Sir Nigel Rodley (United Kingdom) and Roman Wieruszewski (Poland) as Vice-Chairpersons; and Ivan Shearer (Australia) as Rapporteur.

The Committee then adopted its programme of work after approving a proposed amendment to its provisional agenda which acceded to Israel's request for a postponement of the Committee's consideration of its second periodic report.

During the coming three weeks, the Committee is scheduled to examine a second periodic report of Estonia, a third periodic report of Luxembourg and a

second periodic report of Mali on measures taken to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  The Committee had been scheduled to examine the second periodic report of Israel on 17 and 18 March; however, Israel's Permanent Mission had indicated that it would not be in a position to send a delegation to the Committee on the assigned dates. 

In closed meetings, the Committee will consider individual communications submitted under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant.  Two hundred and ninety-five communications are currently pending before the Committee.

After adjourning its public meeting, the Committee went into private session to hear briefings by representatives of non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations.

The Committee will reconvene in public session at 3 p.m. on Thursday,

20 March, to begin consideration of the second periodic report of Estonia.

Statement of Secretariat Representative

ALESSIO BRUNI, Representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged the Committee to discuss the Secretary-General's proposals on further reform of the United Nations system and treaty body reform in an open and constructive spirit.  He noted that the credibility and effectiveness of the treaty body system would be enhanced if the proposals were endorsed by all treaty bodies.

In reference to the Second Inter-Committee meeting of such bodies, he confirmed that in light of the Secretary-General's report on reform and proposals relating to treaty bodies, the second meeting would be brought forward a year and scheduled for June 2003.  It was expected to focus exclusively on options for implementing the Secretary-General's proposals in a meaningful way.  The Committee was to designate three representatives for this meeting.

Mr. Bruni said the current session had a charged and challenging agenda; the Committee was scheduled to be briefed by the Legal Expert of the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee on the Counter-Terrorism Committee's procedures and possible interactions with the human rights treaty bodies. 

Praising the past work of the Committee, he confirmed that the Committee's series of “Selected Decisions under the Optional Protocol” had been revived and would be brought up to date within two years.  Moreover, a recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights had referred to the Committee's jurisprudence as illustrative of a trend towards recognition of the binding nature of interim measures.

Finally, in reference to proposed structural changes recommended by the Office of Internal Inspection and Oversight and by the High Commissioner's

external expert, Mr. Bruni assured the Committee that the methodology group of the Support Services branch would endeavour to ensure that none of the recommendations worked to the disadvantage of the mandated activities of the treaty bodies.  The Office of Internal Inspection and Oversight’s report had recommended that the Office's support for the individual complaints procedure be strengthened.  Thus, the Office had requested a senior regular budget position for a coordinator of the petitions unit, while a number of project posts for the processing of complaints in Russian and Spanish had been advertised.

Statement by the Chairperson

ABDELFATTAH AMORE (Tunisia), Chairperson of the Committee, pledged to do his utmost to further the work of the Committee on the basis of consensus.  Expressing appreciation for his predecessor's work, he welcomed his new colleagues and reflected that, working together with the wealth that stemmed from their compounded diversity, they were in a position to ensure that the high quality of their work was further enriched and developed.  The Committee would also work with the Secretariat to ensure the increased relevance of their work.  Mr. Amor said he was pleased and honoured to be among those present and promised to do everything to ensure that the Committee's work would be felt to be effective around the world, so that States would become even more cooperative with the Committee. 

* *** *