Morocco, Switzerland Co-chair in Geneva Consultations on Human Rights Treaty Bodies

30 August 2020 Printable Version

Geneva - Ambassador Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, and Ambassador of Switzerland, Pascale Baeriswyl, co-facilitators of the process of strengthening the Human Rights Treaty Bodies, organized Friday in Geneva a series of consultation meetings with UN member states and other stakeholders concerned by this issue, including civil society and national human rights institutions.

During these meetings, the ambassadors of Morocco and Switzerland gave a briefing on the progress of the consultations carried out as part of this process, which began last April, and presented a detailed summary and analysis of the various positions expressed by the stakeholders involved in this issue.

During these meetings, which took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, and which were also broadcast online through a dedicated platform, the interventions were substantial and touched on several issues requiring revision in order to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of the Treaty Bodies and facilitate their work.

Thus, nearly 70 delegations and 40 NGO’s and National Human Rights Institutions took the floor.

The speakers were unanimous in expressing their confidence in the Moroccan-Swiss co-facilitation and their full satisfaction with the approach adopted by the two ambassadors to lead this process. Several speakers, in particular States and NGOs, praised the inclusiveness and transparency of this process.

Discussions with member states were so deep and substantial that the two ambassadors have decided to hold a new meeting next week to discuss all the remaining issues on the agenda of these consultations. This decision was greatly appreciated by all participants.

In addition, the meeting with civil society and national human rights institutions was marked by a large participation of representatives from all regions of the world, particularly from Asia, Latin America, North America, the Middle East and Africa.

In this regard, the representative of the National Human Rights Council of Morocco made a detailed contribution online to the discussions.

The ambassadors of Morocco and Switzerland were appointed, last April, by the President of the United Nations General Assembly, as facilitators of the process of strengthening the Human Rights Treaty Bodies.

The two co-facilitators will submit, by next September, a report to the President of the UN General Assembly, setting out recommendations to be examined, in order to take the appropriate measures to strengthen and improve the effective functioning of the human rights treaty bodies.