The UN Human Rights Council's Advisory Committee was held from 3-7 August 2009. The following is a brief report on human rights education and training dealt with at this session.

This report would be useful particularly for civil society actors for updating the information on the drafting process of a UN declaration on human rights education and training.

On the first day, the Advisory Committee elected and appointed by consensus the new bureau members as follows:

Chairperson: Ms. Halima Embarek Warzazi (Morocco -2012)
Rapporteur: Mr. Latif Huseynovn (Azerbaijan, -2011)

Vice-Chairpersons:
- Mr. José Antonio Bengoa Cabello (Chile, -2010)
- Ms Purificacion V. Quisumbing (Philippines, -2011)
- Mr. Jean Ziegler (Switzerland, 2012)

( ) = Nationality and the Advisory Committee membership term (The Advisory Committee members are individual experts in personal capacity and independent from the government of their nationality.)

Human rights education and training was listed on Agenda Item 3 (a) of the third session. Its discussion started in the late afternoon of the first day, 3 August, by the Drafting Group on human rights education and training of the Advisory Committee. This Drafting Group is comprised by six Advisory Committee members (Mr. Seetulsingh has joined recently):

- Mr. Emmanuel Decaux (France, -2011)
- Mr. Hèctor Felipe Fix Fierro (Mexico, -2011)
- Mr. Vladimir Kartashkin (Russian Federation, -2010)
- Ms Purificacion V. Quisumbing (Philippines, -2011)
- Mr. Dheerujlall Seetulsingh (Mauritius, -2011)
- Ms. Halima Embarek Warzazi (Morocco -2012) (Ms. Warzazi is the Chair and Mr. Décaux is the Rapporteur of this Drafting Group.)

The Drafting Group took 1 hour (5-6 p.m.) for the initial discussion on the subject on 3 August open to the public, while the Advisory Committee plenary was closed at 5 p.m. On the following day, the whole morning meeting of the plenary focused on this subject and concluded this Agenda Item 3 (a).

During the discussion on this subject, which was intensive, the level of participation was much higher than the 1st and 2nd sessions of the Advisory Committee.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION IN SUMMARY:

- Responses from various stakeholders to the questionnaires on the draft declaration were well considered and referred in the discussion.

- A number of concrete elements on this subject gathered at the Expert Seminar in Marrakech, Morocco, held for 15-17 July, were highlighted in the feedback debriefing presented by the Rapporteur of the Drafting Group, Mr. Decaux and in the discussion.

- A preliminary framework with basic elements of the first draft of the declaration was presented as was contained in the "working document" A/HRC/AC/3/CRP.4. This document also contains general analysis of the responses received by the Advisory Committee to the questionnaires on the draft declaration. The NGO joint written statement submitted to the March session of the Human Rights Council with 365 signatories of civil society organizations was specifically remarked in the footnote within this working document.

- While the official version of the working paper was only in French, the preliminary framework of the first draft was extracted into an informal English translation and distributed to the participants on site at the session of the Advisory Committee. However, so far only the French version is officially available for other stakeholders and general public.

- This working document (French for the time being) and other documents relevant to the drafting of a declaration on human rights education and training dealt at the Advisory Committee can be found at the Advisory Committee website:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/advisorycommittee/session3/documentation.htm 
(Documents include written statements submitted by HREA, Amnesty International and ICC respectively.) and http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/advisorycommittee/HR_education_training.htm 

- The working document received many comments during the discussion. Above all, it was wished that an official English translation of the entire document be available as soon as possible so that all stakeholders (including the Advisory Committee members, governments and civil society actors) will be able to study it.

- The right to HRE approach was generally welcomed but duty bearers and rights holders were still in question.

- Regarding the definition, relevant references are collected at this stage based on which the definition will be formulated at a later stage, including relation with the right to education

- If human rights education and training is relevant enough with the entire criminal justice system including domains of international humanitarian law, this aspect may need to be integrated in the draft declaration.

- Formal, non-formal and informal education should be envisaged and people of all ages as well.

- Monitoring system by a declaration is an uncertain element. Procedure and a monitoring body may be involved. Treaty bodies may be linked. This is to be further considered.

- Marginalised and vulnerable groups of people should be part of it.

- The level of imposing obligations upon States by a declaration needs to be carefully considered.

- The role of National Human Rights Institutions is clearly important. Relevant provisions should be further elaborated. (On 4 August, a parallel meeting by ICC and OHCHR was held on the role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and the draft declaration. Speakers included representatives from NHRIs from Morocco and South Korea to present their relevance to human rights education and training.)

- At the end of the third session, a revised version of the working document became available (5th version), A/HRC/AC/3/CRP.4/Corr.1, in French only and to be translated into other UN official language(s) later.

NGOs TOOK THE FLOOR:

During the plenary on this subject in the morning of 4 August, in addition to the Advisory Committee members and governments, the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC) made an oral statement (by Advisory Council on Human Rights of Morocco).

From NGOs, 5 oral statements were made including one jointly presented by Soka Gakkai International (SGI), International Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education (OIDEL) and Human Rights Education Associates (HREA). This statement reflects the discussions facilitated by the NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education and Learning in Geneva and the discussions of HREA network, which emphasized the need for ensuring reflection of the views of civil society, particularly with regard to the preliminary framework of the first draft contained in the working document and provided a list of non-exhaustive/minimum comments on the working document of the French version.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

The Advisory Committee adopted proposals/ recommendations on several subjects of the agenda items, including the drafting process of the declaration, for submission to the Human Rights Council. They will be added to the final version of the Report of the Advisory Committee on its Third Session (A/HRC/AC/3/L.7) which is not completed yet as of today.

The relevant recommendations in the adopted document read as follows:


(...)
6. Requests the drafting group to continue its consultations with all stakeholders regarding the preliminary text with a view to submitting a draft version of the declaration to the Advisory Committee at its fourth session; 7. Considers it essential that a meeting between the Special Rapporteur on the right to education and the members of the drafting group be hosted by the High Commissioner at, financial resources permitting, the earliest possible opportunity; 8. Also desires that a representative of the drafting group be invited to participate, in an appropriate manner and within available financial resources, in the meeting of treaty bodies to be held in December 2009 so that formal consultations on this project may be undertaken;
(...)

THE DRAFTING PROCESS - AUGUST 2009- March 2010 and CIVIL SOCIETY

The drafting process to follow must be understood by all stakeholders.

- The 5th revised version of the working document A/HRC/AC/3/CRP.4/Corr.1 is expected to be translated into English at least in due course and be available for public access on the Advisory Committee website.

- According to the concluding remarks of the third session of the Advisory Committee and the Drafting Group, all stakeholders are counted on to provide further comments on the basic framework of the first draft contained in the working document. Such comments can be communicated directly to both:
Advisory Committee secretariat (hrcadvisorycommittee@ohchr.org) and
Rapporteur Mr. Decaux (emm.decaux@wanadoo.fr)

- According to the Rapporteur, the comments communicated will be considered for further progress in preparation of the first draft toward March 2010, but there are no specific procedural modalities apart from the information above.

- The first draft of the declaration is expected to be prepared at the 4th session of the Advisory Committee scheduled for 1 week in January 2010.

- The first draft, after that, will be submitted to the Human Rights Council March session in 2010 for further consideration.

- For the time being, the Agenda Items of the 12th session of the Human Rights Council in September 2009 has no specific item to deal with the draft declaration process. Next important step, if not Human Rights Council September session (unclear yet), is the Advisory Committee session in January 2010. Through the whole process, communications of views and comments from all stakeholders on the above-mentioned working document of the Advisory Committee will be very important contributions in order to make the content of the first draft truly meaningful.

Kazunari Fujii
Soka Gakkai International
Chair, NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education and Learning of the CoNGO (Conference of NGOs with Consultative Relationship with the UN)
Geneva