Author ORCID Identifier
Craig Scott: 0000-0002-1661-7932
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2001
Source Publication
Valerie Oosterveld and Isfahan Merali, eds., Giving Meaning to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), chapter 1 (pp 7-38, endnotes: 213-225)
Abstract
In late March 1998, the author was present, as an observer, at a Human Rights Committee meeting at the United Nations in New York during which attention was drawn to an unofficial written statement drafted by the 1997- 1998 Chairperson of the Chairpersons (Philip Alston, then-Chairperson of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). The Human Rights Committee members understood the statement had been delivered verbatim the day before to the Commission on Human Rights by Alston on behalf of the Chairpersons. That statement was intended to inform the Commission of the Chairpersons’ latest views as contained in their two reports produced since the last session of the Commission. Alston was acting in furtherance of his continuing mandate as Chairperson of the Chairpersons between meetings.
This short 3000-word piece narrates, and comments on, the reactions of some members of the Human Rights Committee to the statement. The concern of certain HRC members focused on those sections of the statement dealing with the Chairpersons’ views on denunciations, on reservations, and on consideration of situations in the absence of state reports – in other words, on three of the four positions taken by the Chairpersons on matters of general treaty law. At the end of the discussion, a long UN press release was issued that included detailed, albeit selective, accounts (in UN summary-record style) of some of the concerns expressed by various members. Confusion was rife in that some HRC members persisted in misreading both the report and Alston’s draft statement as purporting to speak not on behalf of the Chairpersons but on behalf of the six committees themselves.
Apart from its relevance as an anecdotal (while not insignificant) slice of legal history in the international human rights sphere, the comment was specifically prepared as an appendix to endnote 47 (page 218) of Craig Scott, “Towards the Institutional Integration of the Core Human Rights Treaties” in Valerie Oosterveld and Isfahan Merali, eds., Reaching Beyond Words: Giving Meaning to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), chapter 1 (pp 7-38, endnotes at pp. 213-225). The comment was uploaded to the Internet simultaneously with the publication of the book.
Endnote 47 appears in a sub-section of the chapter called “The Chairpersons as a Coordinating and Catalyzing Body”. That sub-section starts with the following paragraphs: “It would seem apparent enough that the meeting of the chairpersons is slowly developing and pushing for a role as the coordinating, and to some extent catalyzing, mechanism for the institutional integration of relations among the committees. A good example of the chairpersons serving as institutional catalyst, in a way that combines attention to common substantive concerns and the development of its implied jurisdiction, is the following 1995 recommendation regarding the need for a pan-treaty approach to responding to gross violations of human rights: ‘The chairpersons encourage treaty bodies to continue their efforts to develop mechanisms for the prevention of gross human rights violations, including early warning and urgent procedures. They consider that coordinated action by the human rights treaty bodies in this regard would increase their effectiveness. To this end, they suggest that any action undertaken by one of the treaty bodies be immediately brought to the attention of the other treaty bodies.’”
A couple pages later in the sub-section appears the following passage, which ends with endnote 47: “All this being said, there are reasons to be pessimistic about the likelihood that the chairpersons will evolve to any great extent in this direction without a change in outlook in several quarters. Quite apart from the lack of enthusiasm of some of the chairpersons, any move toward consolidation in the near future is likely to be politically resisted, for reasons that include the opposition of some states to the promotion of more effective UN human rights structures as well as legalistic concerns about treating the six treaties as an “objective” legal order (even an evolving one) in a situation where some states have ratified fewer than all six treaties. In this respect, it is worth noting that, while the Commission on Human Rights did respond favorably to the chairpersons’ recommendation on cross-treaty integration of gender perspectives, it also added the caveat that “the enjoyment of the human rights of women should be closely monitored by each treaty body within the competence of its mandate.” [emphasis added to “within the competence of its mandate”] This passage can easily be read as a shot across the bows of the committees.47”
Endnote 47 of the chapter then reads: “47. It is also not an encouraging sign that certain members of the Human Rights Committee have reacted with no small degree of pique and lack of grace to what they see as the evolving jurisdictional encroachment of the chairpersons. To substantiate the preceding sentence, some context must be set out in more detail than can be justified in the present context. See Craig Scott, “Turf: An Eye[-]Witness Account of die Sovereign Sensitivities UN Human Rights Committee,” [URL provided].”
The URL indicated in endnote 47 has since disappeared. The piece has now been shifted to Osgoode Digital Commons, as well has uploaded to SSRN and ResearchGate. While it may appear in later work, it may be quoted or cited as is. The citation should be to either the SSRN or the Digital Commons version. For all references in this comment to be fully intelligible, the comment should be read in tandem with the just-cited book chapter.
Repository Citation
Scott, Craig M., "Turf: An Eye-Witness Account of the Sovereign Sensitivities of the UN Human Rights Committee" (2001). Articles & Book Chapters. 3173.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/3173