Home > Make Your Voices Count! Calls for Input from Organizations of Persons with Disabilities

Make Your Voices Count! Calls for Input from Organizations of Persons with Disabilities

Photo of Indonesian OPDs and DRF's Indonesia program team gathered at a meeting room.

Women with disabilities in Indonesia advocating for an inclusive anti gender-based violence bill.

“When persons with disabilities participate in decision-making processes, it provides strong support towards ensuring that policies, strategies, programmes and operations to be more effective in addressing barriers to inclusion and more relevant in supporting their full and equal participation. Persons with disabilities have first-hand experience of the challenges they face and know better what can be done to enhance their rights and wellbeing. In addition, active participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations is a key part of shifting attitudes and dismantling stigma.”  

— Consultation Guidelines of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy 

Our views matter on all matters: Nothing without us! 

In line with Article 4(3) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), persons with disabilities and their representative organisations should be closely consulted and actively involved in matters concerning them. This includes persons with disabilities in all their diversity- children, women, older persons, persons with diverse SOGIESC, Indigenous peoples, migrants and others, as well as persons representing different disability constituencies.

Our unique perspectives draw on our own expertise and experiences and can help shape and inform programmes, policies and practices – including beyond disability-specific matters- to strengthen inclusion for everyone. 

Let’s put our participation to practice by seizing these opportunities*:

*Information on this webpage will be updated regularly. Don’t miss out: place a bookmark for easy access to check on the latest calls for contributions.

Human Rights Council adopted resolution 54/6 on the centrality of care and support from a human rights perspective on 12 October 2023. Pursuant to this resolution, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is organizing in 2024 an expert workshop to address the human rights of women, persons with disabilities, children and older persons as caregivers, as well as receivers of care and support, and for their self-care from a gender equality and human rights perspective, with the objective of evaluating experiences, good practices and main challenges regarding the effective recognition of the rights of caregivers and those receiving care and support.

Based on the discussion of the above-mentioned expert workshop and in consultation with Member States of the United Nations and other interested parties, OHCHR will also prepare a comprehensive thematic study on the human rights dimension of care and support, summarizing and compiling international standards and good practices and main challenges at the national level in care and support systems, and including recommendations on promoting and ensuring the human rights of caregivers and care and support recipients. The report will be submitted to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-eighth session in 2025.

Key inputs sought

To inform the preparation of the study and the expert workshop, OHCHR would appreciate receiving information in response to the following:

  1. In your country, regional or at the global level, how are the following rights recognized and protected under national, regional and/or international law? Please provide concrete examples, such as legal provisions, jurisprudence of courts and/or human rights mechanisms:
    • Human rights of unpaid and paid caregivers, including those who are women, persons with disabilities, children and older persons;
    • Human rights of recipients of care and support, including those who are women, persons with disabilities, children and older persons;
    • Human right relevant to self-care of caregivers and recipients of care and support, including those who are women, persons with disabilities, children and older persons. Such recognition and protection may be made in relation to, but not limited to, the rights to work, social security, adequate housing, health, education, enjoyment of scientific advancement, legal capacity, equality in marriage, independent life in the community, rest and leisure, and the rights relevant to participation. It may include the recognition of care and/or support as human right(s) under the law.
  2. Concrete policy or programmatic measures taken to promote and ensure the rights of caregivers and recipients of care and support in national care and support systems, mentioned under Question 1 above. If possible, please indicate the impacts of such measures. Such measures may include, but not limited to, social security/protection, working conditions, human support, childcare, long-term care and support, health services, education, transportation, housing, water and sanitation, assistive devices, digital technology, deinstitutionalization, access to justice, governance, financing, monitoring and evaluation, and awareness raising.
  3. Main challenges faced at the national level in creating robust, resilient and gender-responsive, disability-inclusive and age-sensitive care and support systems with full respect for human rights.
  4. As much as possible, we would appreciate receiving the following information in relation to your responses to points 1 and 2 above:
    • Data disaggregated by sex/gender, age, disability, and if possible also by other grounds, including income, race/ethnicity, geographic location, migratory status and other characteristics;
    • Information on people who are in vulnerable situations and/or who face intersecting forms of discrimination, such as single parents, widows/widowers, children deprived of family environment; persons with disabilities and older persons in care institutions; as well as those who are affected by humanitarian crises, armed conflicts, disasters; living in poverty; living in rural areas; migrants, refugees, asylum seekers; belonging to minorities or indigenous communities; and those who are deprived liberty.

See the note verbale in English (PDF) | Français (PDF) | Español (PDF)

Please send inputs of no more than 5 pages (3000 words) in Word format in English, Spanish or French to ohchr-registry@un.org with ohchr-wohchr@un.org in CC by 13 April 2024 18:00 CEST, and indicate as the Email subject line: “Input to the study on care and support, pursuant to HRC resolution 54/6.” Any enquiries may be made to Asako Hattori at asako.hattori@un.org.

For more information, visit OHCHR’s dedicated webpage.

Background and Objectives

The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, will focus his report to the 56th session of the Human Rights Council on the role of economic growth, understood as an increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in the fight against poverty. The report intends to explore “post-growth” approaches to poverty eradication that move beyond GDP, and will consider whether and how development pathways guided by human rights can support the search for such alternative approaches.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present economic growth as essential to fulfilling the promise of the 2030 Development Agenda. Under SDG 8, which relates to decent work and economic growth, target 8.1. directs national efforts to “sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries”. The associated indicator, 8.1.1, is the annual growth rate of real GDP per capita.

However, the SDGs themselves are nuanced about the contribution of economic growth to the 2030 Development Agenda. First, a number of Goals (including SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production and SDG 13 on climate action) refer to the need to take into account planetary limits in designing development strategies. Secondly, SDG 10 includes a target (10.1) to “progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average”. Together, these goals mean that if growth is to be pursued, it should be growth that contributes to sustainable development; and growth that primarily benefits low-income earners. This is also the reason why Goal 17 on the means of implementation of the SDGs and the revitalization of a global partnership for development includes a target on the development of “measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product” (target 17.18).

The report therefore intends to explore how the eradication of poverty can be delinked from the pursuit of economic growth that damages the environment, increases inequalities, and narrows down democracy. The report will also consider how human rights can guide the search for alternative development pathways as the world prepares the post-2030 Agenda.

Key questions and input sought

Against this background, the Special Rapporteur invites all interested governments, civil society organizations, academics, international organizations, activists, corporations and others, to provide written input for his thematic report on one or more of the following issues:

  1. Has your government designed measurements of social progress that complements GDP, in accordance with target 17.18 of the SDGs? If so, what alternative indicators were designed and how? Have such measurements accounted for unpaid care, reproductive, and household work and, if so, how?   Which mechanisms, if any, have been established to increase accountability towards improving the performance of the State according to such indicators? Please share any lessons learned from the use of such alternative measurements of progress and associated monitoring mechanisms.
  2. Which measures have been adopted, if any, to ensure that growth primarily benefits the bottom 40 per cent of the population, in accordance with SDG target 10.1? Have other tools to assess progress towards the reduction of inequalities been designed and implemented?
  3. Which obstacles did the State encounter in its search for development pathways not dependent on economic growth, consistent with its economic sovereignty and the prioritization of the well-being of the population? Which enabling international environment should be established in order to encourage the search for such alternative development pathways?
  4. The way societies conceive of work, relate to the environment, and finance their economies and welfare systems locks them into growth-oriented economic models. What measures should be taken to overcome such growth dependencies in each of these areas? And how can human rights guide efforts to overcome such self-reinforcement?
How and where to submit inputs/comments

Please send contributions of a maximium of 2500 words (and, if necessary, provide links to relevant documents or attach annexes) in Word format in English, French or Spanish to hrc-sr-extremepoverty@un.org by 15 January 2024. Please indicate “Submission to HRC56 report” in the email subject line. All submissions received will be published on OHCHR websites, except where confidentiality is explicitly requested.

For more information, please visit the Special Rapporteur’s dedicated webapage.

Purpose: To inform the Secretary-General’s analytical study on the impact of loss and damage from the adverse effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights, exploring equity-based approaches and solutions to addressing the same, to be presented at the Human Rights Council at its fifty-seventh session.

Background

The Human Rights Council has recognized the importance for all countries of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow-onset events. The Council has, among other things, called upon States to enhance international cooperation and reiterated the urgency of scaling up action, in particular in financing, the transfer of technology and capacity-building, for mitigation and adaptation measures and to assist developing countries in averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

Call for inputs for Secretary-General’s analytical study on loss and damage

Human Rights Council resolution 53/6 of 7 July 2023 (A/HRC/RES/53/6) entitled “Human rights and climate change” requested the Secretary-General to consult Member States and other relevant stakeholders in order to conduct and submit to the fifty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council an analytical study on the impact of loss and damage from the adverse effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights, exploring equity-based approaches and solutions to addressing the same.

To inform the analytical study, OHCHR transmitted a Note Verbale and Questionnaire (English / Français) to Member States, NGOs, UN Agencies, IGOs, Academic Institutions and NHRIs, inviting them to respond to the questionnaire and provide input. The inputs received will be made available on OHCHR’s webpage.

Questionnaire:

  1. Please describe through concrete examples and stories the impacts of loss and damage from the adverse effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights in your country. Please indicate whether the impact was exceptional or whether an example of many similarly situated cases. Please estimate the number of cases that may be similar in your country.
  2. Please describe any relevant quantitative and qualitative data as well as
    mechanisms and tools to measure, monitor, report on, and evaluate the impacts of loss and damage, including from extreme weather and slow-onset events, on the full enjoyment of human rights. Please take into account, inter alia, the disproportionate effects on women and girls, children, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, persons living in poverty and others in vulnerable situations.
  3. Please describe any specific measures, including public policies, legislation, practices, strategies, or institutional arrangements that your Government has undertaken or plans to undertake at a national, sectoral or sub-national level, in compliance with applicable international human rights law, to avert, minimize and address loss and damage, including equity-based approaches and solutions.
    Please also identify any relevant mechanisms for ensuring accountability, including means of implementation.
  4. Please identify and share examples of promising practices and critical challenges in the promotion, protection, and fulfilment of the full enjoyment of human rights in the context of loss and damage, including examples that highlight multilateral cooperation and approaches, at global and regional levels, including equity-based approaches and solutions.
  5. Please provide specific recommendations, if possible, on how to address the critical challenges that have been identified, including actions to be taken at country, regional, and global levels, as well as by different groups of stakeholders, Governments, development agencies, financing institutions, and others.
  6. Please provide any additional information you believe would be useful to
    support climate action and justice that promotes the full enjoyment of human rights in the context of loss and damage.

Please send inputs/comments of a maximum of 2000 words in Word or PDF, in English or French by 31 January 2024 18:00 CEST to ohchr-registry@un.org, with copy to ohchr-right2environment@un.org. Please indicate in the email subject line: “Input for analytical study on loss and damage”.

For more information, please visit OHCHR’s dedicated webpage.

Background

The Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, pursuant to resolution 53/5 of the Human Rights Council, calls on civil society organisations, National Human Rights Institutions, and other interested parties to contribute to her next report to the 56th session of the Human Rights Council in 2024 on the participation of civil society organisations pursuing expressions of international solidarity through transnational, international, and regional networks.

In his 2021 report, Our Common Agenda, the UN Secretary General envisioned a 21st century multilateralism built on networks between global and regional institutions, as well as civil society actors, businesses, academia, and others, pursuing a deeper commitment to solidarity. Civil society organizations seek to express international solidarity claims through regional, transnational, international solidarity networks but are increasingly facing challenges. Such expressions have addressed accountability for violations of women’s rights, the need for assistance in relation to climate change or natural disasters, the call for protection of civilians in armed conflict and peace, demand for equality in worker’s rights, recognition of indigenous territorial claims infringed by extractive industries, request for equal access to vaccines and medical assistance in health emergencies, and support for the rights of migrants, refugees, and minorities. 

Increasingly, these expressions of international solidarity are made vulnerable due to restrictions and limitations in law and policy.

International solidarity is a fundamental freedom and right as it is related to action, linked to freedom of expression, conscience, association, and assembly in a transnational context. Individuals, communities, and groups are often reliant on equitable access to transnational forms of expression in order to network and participate in international solidarity actions.

The Independent Expert wishes to engage with States, international and regional organizations, as well as civil society and relevant stakeholders to provide insights on how to promote and protect the participation of civil society in expressing international solidarity related to human rights, fundamental freedoms, sustainable development, and peace.

The Independent Expert welcomes as much information as possible including concrete examples relating to the issues highlighted in the questionnaire with the link below in English French and Spanish.

Questions for Civil Society Organizations and other Stakeholders:
  1. Has your organization expressed international solidarity issues through cross border local, transnational, international, or regional solidarity networks? 
  2. To what extent and how are your international solidarity actions inclusive of diverse or intersectional perspectives and participation?
  3. Which media, digital, or other platforms do you use?  Are you limited in access to these platforms?
  4. Please share information on any laws, policies, or other type of initiatives in your country that facilitate international solidarity expressions across borders.
  5. Please share information on any laws, policies or other measures in your country that restricts international solidarity engagements across borders. Has your organization experienced cases of reprisals/penalization (including surveillance, defunding, intimidation, reprisal, closure, prosecution, punishment, restriction of right to leave or enter a country, or subject to an attack) on account of pursing international solidarity expressions?
  6. Is some form of assistance (for example, funding or legal aid) made available to your organization when pursuing international expressions of international solidarity issues?
  7. To what extent does your organization enjoy the right to communicate international solidarity across borders for the promotion of human rights, without discrimination of its members on grounds such as ethnicity, race, gender, age, political opinion, nationality, religion, disability, migrant status, LGBTQ status, etc.?
  8. To what extent are student groups in schools or universities able to engage in international solidarity expressions without penalization or surveillance?
  9. Which measures could facilitate your organization to engage more with States, regional, and international organizations (including the UN) to better express international solidarity?
  10. Recommendations to the Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity on supporting civil society in the expression of international solidarity.

Submissions may be sent in English, French or Spanish, in Word or PDF, to hrc-ie-solidarity@un.org by 15 February 2024 18:00 CEST with the email subject line: “Submission to 56th HRC session report – Civil society and international solidarity”.

Submissions may be posted on the mandate’s website. Should you wish to maintain confidentiality of your submission, kindly clearly indicate it at the moment of submission.

For more information, please visit the Independent Expert’s dedicated webpage.

Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 33/25, during its sixteenth session in 2023, the Expert Mechanism confirmed its decision to prepare a study on “Laws, legislation, policies, constitutions, judicial decisions and other mechanisms in which States had taken measures to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in accordance with article 38 of the Declaration”.

The purpose of this study is to analyze laws, legislation, policies, constitutions, judicial decisions and other mechanisms in which States had taken measures to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in accordance with article 38 of the Declaration: “States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take the appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to achieve the ends of the Declaration”. Article 38 should also be read in conjunction with paragraphs (2) in Articles 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 30, 31, and 36, and paragraph (3) in articles 14 and 26, as well as paragraphs (2) and (3) in articles 29 and 32.

To assist all parties in contributing to this seminar, the EMRIP sets out below some of the elements it intends to focus on in its study.

  • Analysis of international human rights law and jurisprudence within both regional and international bodies that will serve to gain greater awareness and understanding of compliance as well as the potential for offering solutions to either individual, discrete matters or interrelated conditions that have stifled effective implementation.
  • Measures taken by States to implement the Declaration within the context of constitutional reforms, laws, legislation, policies, as well as judicial decisions.
  • Concrete actions taken by States, consistent with Article 38, to achieve the realization of the exercise and enjoyment of the collective and individual norms affirmed in the Declaration.
  • Judicial decisions in relation to contentious issues of concern to Indigenous Peoples will serve to illuminate legally directed outcomes and responses by government and its various departments and agencies to concretely achieve the objectives of the Declaration.
  • In cases where States have initiated or concluded national inquiries, analysis of actions to respond to the final reports, conclusions, and recommendations that may yield constructive examples of implementation.
  • Analyse measures taken by States, including legislative measures, in relation to health of Indigenous Peoples, education in their own language, protection from economic exploitation, improvement of their economic and social conditions, protection against all form of violence against women, as well as just and fair redress to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social and cultural impact among others, as set out in  paragraphs (2) in Articles 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 30, 31, and 36, and paragraph (3) in articles 14 and 26, as well as paragraphs (2) and (3) in articles 29 and 32.
How inputs will be used

A draft study will be introduced by the Expert Mechanism at its 17th annual session, due to take place in July 2024, after which it will be finalized and presented to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-seventh session in September 2024. The Expert Mechanism hereby requests contributions from Indigenous Peoples, States, National Human Rights Institutions, Academics, and other Stakeholders for this report. 

Submissions should be sent by email to ohchr-expertmechanism@un.org no later than 31 January 2024, in English, French, Spanish or Russian, in WORD format and no longer than 5 pages. Submissions should focus on the theme contained as above. 

Please use as the email subject line: Call for inputs on establishing effective mechanisms at the national and regional levels for implementation of United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Please note whether the submission is confidential and should not be shared publicly.

For more information, please visit OHCHR’s dedicated webapage.

Background

Pursuant to resolution 54/19, adopted by the Human Rights Council on 12 October 2023, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is preparing “a report on how climate change can have an impact on the realization of the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl, highlighting how the realization of the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl can contribute to the climate change agenda and making recommendations”. The report will be submitted to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-seventh session.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

In this connection, we would like to kindly request your cooperation to provide information in response to the following, which will help prepare the report:

  1. The most important barriers for girls to their equal enjoyment of the right to education, in relation to:
    • Potentially harmful impacts of climate change, including those on environmental degradation, and/or;
    • Root causes of their unequal enjoyment of the right, exacerbated by climate change.
    • Please explain, as much as possible, how such barriers affect the following four elements of the right to education:
      • Availability (including an adequate infrastructure to meet the needs of girls);
      • Accessibility (including physical accessibility, affordability, and access without discrimination);
      • Acceptability (including quality of education);
      • Adaptability (adapted to the needs of students and of societies).
    • Concrete measures taken to respond to the barriers faced by girls indicated above, in relation to the four elements of the right to education. Particular attention to those who are marginalized and excluded due to the additional layers of discrimination would be most welcome.
    • The most important existing gaps and challenges in education to empower all girls to contribute to the climate change agenda, including in their adulthood, such as in the context of:
      • Developing the understanding on the right to healthy environment and the issues relevant to the impacts of climate change, including those on environmental degradation, through the integration of climate and environmental education into curricula;
      • Direct response to climate change, through their leadership and participation;
      • Building their resilience and capacity to adapt in the context of climate change, including access to skills development and technical and vocational education and training.
      • Please explain, if relevant, how such gaps and challenge affect the four elements of the right to education.
    • Concrete measures taken to empower all girls through education to contribute to addressing climate change, including in their adulthood, and if relevant, in relation to the four elements of the right to education.
    • As much as possible, we would appreciate to receive the following information in relation to your responses to the points 1-4 above:
      • Data disaggregated by sex/gender, age, disability, and if possible, also by other grounds, including income, race/ethnicity, geographic location and migratory status;
      • Information on girls who are in vulnerable situations and/or who face intersecting forms of discrimination, such as those who are affected by humanitarian crises, armed conflicts and disasters; living in poverty; married, pregnant or have children, with disability, and/or belonging to minorities or indigenous communities.

See the note verbale in English (PDF/Word) | Français (PDF/Word) | Español (PDF/Word)

Next Steps

Please send inputs/comments with a maximum of 5 pages in Word, in English, Spanish or French by e-mail to ohchr-registry@un.org with aydan.figaroa@un.org in CC, by 1 March 2024 18:00 CEST, with the email subject line: “Input to HRC report on equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl, pursuant to HRC resolution 54/19”. Appendices or attachments can be added to the document.

Any enquiries may be made to Aydan Figaroa at aydan.figaroa@un.org and for more information, visit OHCHR’s dedicated webpage.

Purpose: To provide guidance to the CERD and CMW Committees for the development of their joint general comment by receiving contributions from all stakeholders, including States, United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, United Nations entities and specialized agencies, national human rights institutions, civil society and grassroot organizations, research institutions, academia and other relevant stakeholders

Background

The UN Committee Against Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the UN Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families (CMW), have been gradually witnessing the negative impact of xenophobia on the rights of migrants and their families, as well as on the societies in general. Through their review of periodic reports submitted by States parties of the respective Convention their mandates is based on, as well as from the information received from all other key stakeholders, both Committees are extremely aware, and concerned, about this major global challenge: the influence of xenophobia on policies and practices that leads to the opposite direction of what the international community committed by the adoption of the Universal Declaration and all the treaties that are at the core of International Human Rights Law.

Therefore, the Committees agreed to develop a Joint General Comment/Recommendation on State Parties Obligations on Public Policies for Addressing and Eradicating Xenophobia and its impact on the rights of migrants, their families, and other non-citizens affected by racial discrimination.

The submissions received will be taken into account as key inputs for the elaboration of the first Draft of this Joint General Comment/Recommendation.

Documentation

This first call for submissions is aimed at receiving contributions from all stakeholders, including States, United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, United Nations entities and specialised agencies, national human rights institutions, civil society and grassroot organisations, research institutions, academia and other relevant stakeholders. The submissions received will be taken into account as key inputs for the elaboration of the first Draft of this Joint General Comment/Recommendation.

It is important to note that a 2nd round of consultations will take place once the first draft is released and discussed by the two Committees. In such opportunity, stakeholders will have the opportunity for making concrete, technical comments on the draft, either written or through the participation on the consultations that both Committees will carry out in September-October 2024 in different regions (exact dates/paces to be confirmed according to Committees and their partners’ agendas, as well as budgetary and other factors).

Content & Questions

Submissions are expected to provide inputs on the goals, scope, and topics described by the CERD and the CMW in the outline of the Joint General Comment. The following non-exhaustive questions could guide the elaboration of the Submissions:

  1. How xenophobia should be defined nowadays, in a social and political meaning that could lead to developing public policies directed to address its impact on the rights of migrants -within the scope of this General Comment/Recommendation, their families, and other non-citizens affected by racial discrimination?
  2. What elements should a comprehensive and holistic public policy have aimed at preventing and eradicating xenophobia in migrant-receiving societies? Which ministries, secretaries, and other public bodies should be involved in the design, implementation, and periodic evaluation of such policy?
  3. How to measure the impact of this policies? Should indicators be needed? Which practices could better assess the progress, challenges, setbacks, and other outcomes?
  4. Which follow-up mechanisms should be put in place? Which stakeholders should have a role on these mechanisms?
  5. How xenophobia should be addressed through an intersectionality lens? How this policy should be reciprocally complemented with policies directed to prevent and eradicate racism? Which measures should be put in place for ensuring a gender approach within a comprehensive policy against xenophobia and gender-based discrimination? Which measures should be implemented for intersecting xenophobia with other factors forbidden by the principle of non-discrimination, including age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, racial and ethnic origin, among others?
  6. Which should be the role of media, both public and private actors, including digital, for preventing xenophobia and building cohesive societies? Which policies could be put in place, promoting social responsibility of media, within the scope of the protection of the right to freedom of expression? Please provide good practices on media initiatives for a responsible approach to migration, as well as on communication policies toward such goal.
  7. How xenophobia could be addressed in the field of education, in order to: a) eradicate xenophobia at schools, and b) prevent xenophobia in the mid and long term, through education practices and subjects directed to build inclusive and cohesive societies?
  8. How policies against xenophobia could be framed within child welfare and youth policies? And within policies for older persons?
  9. How policies for preventing xenophobia could be mainstreamed within policies directed to achieve Sustainable Human development?
  10. Which standards should be added to those already existing for preventing, eradicating and prosecuting hate speech, including through digital technologies?
  11. Which practices could be included in the comprehensive policy against xenophobia in order to prevent the use of xenophobic narratives and strategies with election processes?
  12. Which could be the role of local governments within a comprehensive policy directed to prevent and eradicate xenophobia and its impact on the rights of migrants, their families and local community?
  13. Which concrete role should play the justice administration system for addressing expressions -narrative, measures, policies- of xenophobia? How xenophobia could be eradicated from within the justice administration system?
  14. Which practices States should promote at bilateral and regional level for preventing and eradicating xenophobia?
Next Steps

Input should be sent with a maximum of 2500 words in English, Spanish or French in Word format to ohchr-cmw@un.org by 31 March 2024 with the email subject line: “CERD CMW Joint General Comment/Recommendation – Submissions”. Unless requested otherwise, the written submissions received may be made publicly available.

For more information, visit the CERD & CMW Committee’s dedicated webpage.

Background

The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 45/6, welcomed the first report of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development (A/HRC/45/29), and requested it to implement the recommendations contained therein, including the preparation and submission to the Council of one to two thematic studies per year in the discharge of Expert Mechanism’s mandate.

During its first 3-year mandate, the Expert Mechanism completed five thematic studies. For its second 3-year tenure the Expert Mechanism will elaborate on six studies, that it intends to submit to the Human Rights Council.

In the above context and at the request of the Expert Mechanism, OHCHR would like to invite Member States and other stakeholders, including international organizations, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions to provide inputs to the study on “Mainstreaming the Right to Development in International Development Cooperation.”

Inputs should be guided by the relevant questionnaire.

Questionnaire:

  1. Name (Member State/UN entity/IGO/CSO)
  2. Has your State or organization been involved with North-South, South-South, triangular or other sui generis forms of international development cooperation? Please provide an overview of your role as a cooperation provider, recipient, or both, or as an implementation or facilitation agency/organization.
  3. If you are a cooperation provider, kindly share the following, where necessary, by indicating any differences based on whether the cooperation provided is part of NorthSouth, South-South, triangular or other sui generis forms of cooperation:
    a) How do you determine the sector or projects to which cooperation will be provided to the recipient?
    b) What are the principles on effectiveness of development cooperation that you mainstream or adhere to and what systems are incorporated to ensure their implementation?
    c) Do you incorporate any conditionalities applicable to the recipient? If so, what are the factors you take into account in designing those conditionalities and how do you ensure their transparency (kindly include contractual or financial conditionalities as well)? Please share examples.
    d) In general, do you conduct assessments of the impacts of your cooperation practices? Kindly elaborate on which tools or frameworks do you employ. e) Specifically, do you conduct assessments of the impacts on individuals and people in the recipient country of any conditionalities you may apply? Kindly share illustrations. f) What are the obstacles you face in discharging any commitments you may have undertaken related to international cooperation? g) Kindly share what you consider are good practices in international development cooperation to ensure its effectiveness. If possible, provide illustrations.
  1. If you are a cooperation recipient, kindly share the following, where necessary, by indicating any differences based on whether the cooperation received is part of NorthSouth, South-South, triangular or other sui generis forms of cooperation:
    a) How are the sectors or projects to which cooperation is received determined? What is the space available for your self-determined development priorities to be reflected in the cooperation you receive?

b) What are the principles on effectiveness of development cooperation that are mainstreamed or adhered to in the cooperation you receive and what systems are incorporated to ensure their implementation?
c) What are the conditionalities that are generally applied by cooperation providers? (kindly include contractual and financial conditionalities as well)
d) In general, do you conduct assessments of the impacts of the cooperation you receive? Kindly elaborate on which tools or frameworks do you employ.
e) Specifically, are there assessments conducted of the impacts on individuals and peoples under your jurisdiction of any conditionalities that may be applied to you as a recipient? Kindly share illustrations.
f) What are the obstacles you face in receiving international cooperation to promote your self-determined development priorities?

g) Kindly share what you consider are good practices in international development cooperation to ensure its effectiveness. If possible, provide illustrations.

  1. If you are a development cooperation agency, entity, or organization (whether governmental, partly governmental, or entirely non-governmental), involved in implementation or facilitation of cooperation practices or projects, kindly share the following, where necessary, by indicating any differences based on whether the cooperation you are involved in is part of North-South, South-South, triangular or other
    sui generis forms of cooperation:
    a) How are the sectors or projects in which cooperation is facilitated or implemented by you determined?
    b) What are the principles on effectiveness of development cooperation that are mainstreamed or adhered to in the cooperation you facilitate and what systems are incorporated to ensure their implementation?
    c) What are the conditionalities that are generally applied by cooperation providers and how is their transparency ensured? (kindly include contractual and financial conditionalities as well).
    d) In general, are assessments conducted of the impacts of the cooperation you facilitate? Kindly elaborate on which tools or frameworks are employed.
    e) Specifically, are there assessments conducted of the impacts on individuals and peoples of any conditionalities that may be applied to the recipient? Kindly share illustrations.
    f) What are the main obstacles, according to you, in ensuring effective international development cooperation?

g) Kindly share what you consider are good practices in international development cooperation to ensure its effectiveness. If possible, provide illustrations.

  1. If you are a civil society organization working closely with individuals and peoples who are beneficiaries of international development cooperation, kindly share what you consider are the obstacles to their effectiveness and the best practices involved. Kindly indicate any differences based on whether the cooperation practices you are addressing are part of North-South, South-South, triangular or other sui generis forms of cooperation. If possible, please provide illustrations.
  1. If you are a policy research and analysis organization, centre, or a think tank, kindly share what you consider are the obstacles to the effectiveness of international development cooperation and the best practices involved. Kindly indicate any differences based on whether the cooperation practices you are addressing are part of North-South, SouthSouth, triangular or other sui generis forms of cooperation. If possible, please provide illustrations, as well as resources you may have published.
Next Steps

Please send your contributions to OHCHR-emrtd@un.org, preferably in English or accompanied by a translation to English, in Word no later than 24 February 2024.

For more information, please visit the EMRTD’s dedicated webpage.