HRC@20 - Roundtable Standard Setting: From the ICED to the Right to Environment

The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) inherited its core standard-setting mandate from the Commission on Human Rights. In its first ever resolution on 29 June 2006, the Council adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, followed by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Over the past two decades, the HRC has played an instrumental role in developing both treaty and non-treaty standards, contributing to major normative achievements such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

This 20th anniversary provides a timely opportunity to take stock of the standard-setting achievements of the HRC and to reflect on its future contribution to the development of international human rights law.

Scope

This event addresses standard-setting as normative development, which includes:

• Legally binding instruments (international treaties).
• Declarative non-treaty instruments.
• Resolutions with innovative normative content.
• More informal processes that provide practical guidance to states.

Objectives

Designed as an interactive discussion among engaged actors, this roundtable aims to:

• Assess the contribution of the HRC to the development of international human rights standards since its inception.
• Identify critical normative gaps in the UN human rights corpus that call for attention.
• Identify key lessons from its first two decades in terms of achievements, impact and challenges.
• Explore future prospects to strengthen its standard-setting role and enhance human rights protection globally

Programme

The three-hour roundtable will combine short framing interventions with a moderated discussion, divided into two substantive segments:

• Segment 1: Achievements, Processes and Impact (09:30 – 10:20) This segment will examine the Council’s standard-setting achievements and the role of the various stakeholders, successful processes, examples of concrete impact in terms of human rights protection and lessons learned for future processes.
• Segment 2: Looking forward: Future Normative Priorities and Challenges (10:30 – 11:45) Looking ahead, the discussion will move to normative gaps that the HRC should focus on, challenges in the current context and recommendations for ongoing and future standard-setting processes to be successful.

Participants and speakers

The discussion will bring together representatives of states, the UN Secretariat, independent experts, civil society, academia and technical experts. The discussion will be moderated by Felix Kirchmeier (Geneva Human Rights Hub) and Eric Tistounet (the Lake Room Initiative).

Organisers

Geneva Human Rights Hub (GHRH) in collaboration with International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), FIAN Switzerland, Earthjustice, Convention against Enforced Disappearances Initiative (CEDI), Lake Room Initiative, Amnesty International and the Permanent Missions of France, Costa Rica, Slovenia and Dominican Republic.