HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN NOMINATES EXPERTS FOR FACT-FINDING MECHANISMS

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN NOMINATES EXPERTS FOR FACT-FINDING MECHANISMS

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 12 July (UN Information Service) -- The Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Mike Smith (Australia), has nominated 14 human rights experts to fill positions in the fact-finding mechanisms of the main international human-rights body.  The nominations, which were announced late on Friday, 9 July, were made in consultation with representatives of the different regional groups.

The experts will be charged with studying questions ranging from freedom of religion to the right to education, as well as the situation in specific countries.  Nine of them, known variously as special rapporteur or independent expert, will be serving mandates newly established at the Commission’s session last spring.  The other six experts will occupy posts that were renewed at that session.  Further consultations are needed before the nomination of an expert on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and of a member of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances can be made.

For a number of the mandates, endorsement by the Economic and Social Council is required before their appointment becomes final.

Mandate-holders are independent from any government and serve in their individual capacity.  They represent different sectors of society and have long-standing experience and a recognized record in human rights.  They report to the Commission and in some cases to the United Nations General Assembly on their work and recommendations.

The following tables list the nominations made by the Chairman of the Commission and the respective mandates:

Candidates Appointed on Mandates Renewed at Sixtieth Session of Commission

Mandate	Candidate
Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief*	Ms. Asma JAHANGIR (Pakistan)
Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries as a means of impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination*	Ms. Shaista SHAMEEM (Fiji)
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions*	Mr. Philip ALSTON (Australia)
Independent Expert on human rights and extreme poverty*	Mr. Arjun SENGUPTA (India)
Special Rapporteur on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights*	Mr. Okechkwu IBEANU (Nigeria)
Special Rapporteur on the right to education*	Mr. Vernor MUÑOZ VILLALOBOS (Costa Rica)

Candidates Appointed on New Mandates Established at Sixtieth Session

Mandate	Candidate
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea	Mr. Vitit MUNTARBHORN (Thailand)
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus	Mr. Adrian SEVERIN (Romania)
Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan	Mr. Emmanuel Akwei ADDO (Ghana)
Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo	Further consultations needed.
Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Burundi	Mr. Akich OKOLA (Kenya)
Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Chad	Ms. Mónica PINTO (Argentina)
Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Uzbekistan (1503 procedure)	Mr. Latif HUSEYNOV (Azerbaijan)
Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children	Ms. Ellen JOHNSON SIRLEAF (Liberia)
Independent Expert on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism	Mr. Robert K. GOLDMAN (USA)

Nominations for Memberships of Working Groups

Mandate	Candidate
Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances *	Further consultations needed

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*     These nominations will become final at the end of July 2004, as soon as the extension of the mandates is endorsed by ECOSOC.

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