Special Procedures: Opportunities for feminist engagement

Published on October 27, 2022

In between Human Rights Council sessions, there are many ways activists, movements and organisations can engage the UN human rights system to advance further their advocacy. In this special newsletter, we focus on recent calls for inputs by Special Procedures that provide avenues for feminist engagement. 

Of particular note, the Special Rapporteur on the right to health calls for inputs on digital innovations and technologies, and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls wants to hear from stakeholders on human security in the context of poverty and inequality. The Expert Mechanism on the right to development intends to link this right and international investment law. 

Special procedures mandates will be making upcoming visits to Morocco, the United Kingdom, Australia, Armenia and South Sudan. Read further to learn about the particular themes investigated in these countries. 

Finally, we relay interesting calls for applications for mandate holders in the hope that interested sexual rights and feminist activists in our network might be interested in applying for one of these positions. 

Need help in applying for a mandate, or want more information about engaging special procedures? Contact us: [email protected].

Find below our pick of the upcoming opportunities for input.

 

Video: Engaging UN special procedures

Want to learn more about how to engage the UN special procedures to advance sexual and reproductive rights? Watch this video with SRI Advocacy Advisor Pooja Badarinath.

 

Thematic Inputs

Call for inputs by the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls: Human Security of Women and Girls in the Context of Poverty and Inequality. Deadline extended to 31 October. Questions are also available in French and Spanish.

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur on the right to health: Digital innovation, technologies and the right to health. Deadline: 15 November. Questions are also available in French and Spanish.

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur on climate change: human rights implications of climate change displacement. Deadline: 11 November. Questions are also available in French and Spanish.

Call for inputs by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the rights of persons living with rare diseases and their carers. Deadline: 1 November.

Call for inputs by the High Commissioner for Human Rights: impact of climate change on the right to food. Deadline: 9 December. Questions are also available in French.

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur unilateral coercive measures for the establishment of an online research platform on sanctions and human rights. Deadline: open-ended.

Call for inputs by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Study on the impact of militarisation on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Deadline: 31 January. Information is also available in Spanish, French and Russian.

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights: Global Study on the Impact of Counter-Terrorism Measures on Civil Society and Civic Space. Deadline: 31 December.

Call for inputs by the Expert Mechanism on the right to development for its studies on the right to development in International Investment Law, and the duty to cooperate and non-state actors. Deadline: 30 December.

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights for a report on cultural rights and migration. Deadline 25 November. Information is also available in French.

Call for inputs by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of addressing inequalities in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Deadline 20 January.

Find more ongoing calls for inputs here.  

 

Call for inputs for country visits

Morocco, United Kingdom, Australia, Ghana, Philippines, Armenia, South Sudan

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty for his upcoming visit to Morocco. Deadline: 4 November. Information is also available in French.

Calls for input by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent for its upcoming visits to the United Kingdom (18-27 January; deadline: 15 November) and to Australia (12-20 December; deadline: 1 November).

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights before his visit to Ghana (30 November-13 December). Deadline: 11 November.

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children for her upcoming visit to the Philippines (28 November-8 December). Deadline: 14 November.

Call for inputs by the Working Group on mercenaries for its upcoming visit to Armenia, which was postponed to the first half of 2023. Deadline: 15 December 2022. Information is also available in Spanish.

Call for inputs by the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, for her upcoming visit to South Sudan (5-14 December). Deadline 11 November.

You can find other scheduled country visits here.

 

Call for applications for mandate holders to be appointed at HRC52

The Council will appoint the following mandate holders at its fifty-second session (27 February to 31 March 2023):

 

Applications should be submitted by 29 November 2022 at noon Geneva time. For more information: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/sp/nominations

The special procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. For more information, please visit the Special Procedures page on the UN Human Rights website: https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures-human-rights-council