XIX Session of the Human Rights Council

29 February to 23 March 2012

 IARF has two involvements in this 2012 session:

1     Written & Oral Statements 

Written Statements to the  Human Rights Council (HRC) exist as a means for NGOs to directly lobby the HRC’s member states. The Statements are intended to highlight specific thematic issues or country situations. They are also one of the best ways to show support for the work of specific Special Rapporteurs (in fact, the Special Rapporteurs’ reports rely much on information received from NGOs).

• Joint written Statement to Human Rights Council on religious minorities in India

• Joint Written Statement to Human Rights Council on religious minorities in Pakistan

The HRC also provides for a specific interactive dialogues (around 2-3 hours) involving NGOs giving also 2-minute Oral Statements highlighting key issues of their greatest concern, directly after a Special Rapporteur has presented her/his report. 
This year the Report was given on 6th March. IARF joined with Civicus in the following statements:

• Oral Intervention on violence against children, Philippines

• Oral Intervention on arbitrary detention, Philippines

In the September session, IARF also joined other NGOs in the following:

• Joint NGO Statement on Human Rights Education

2     NGO Panel Series on Human Rights Education in Practice     1-page flyer, PDF
        In parallel with the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council 
        Palais des Nations, 15th March 2012

Co-sponsored by the Platform for Human Rights Education & Training in the Human Rights Council with the following member States: Costa Rica, Italy, Morocco, Philippines, Senegal, Slovenia & Switzerland.

This panel series is one of the key activities of the NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education & Learning of which IARF is one of the key members.

Panel 2: “Human Rights Education in Formal Settings”   1-page flyer, PDF 
Organised by IARF in conjunction with the Kennedy Centre for International Studies 

This topic focuses on our experience in providing HRE training in universities & colleges primarily in India.

September 2012 session:

1

Consolidated Report of NGO panel series on Human Rights Education during the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council in March 2012, organized by IARF in collaboration with 5 other international NGOs based in Geneva. (PDF, 17 pages)

2

IARF also participated in the interactive dialogue following the report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 
Please see our Representative’s short write-up Indigenous Peoples and Access to Justice (PDF, 1 page).