Part 3: How can Human Rights Treaty Bodies and other Special Procedures Contribute to Development Programming and Public Policy?

Dear Colleagues,

We have approached the concluding phase of the e-Discussion on ‘How to Strengthen the Engagement with the International Human Rights Machinery’. Having focused on engaging with Human Rights Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures in Part 1 and 2 of the e-discussion, we are now moving on to the third and final part of the discussion. In this part we will be focusing on how UN agencies and UN Country Teams (UNCT) can use the recommendations of Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures in development programming and in influencing national policy , as well as how UN and UNCTs can suppor t national effor ts to implement these recommendations.
We would like to invite our colleagues to share their experience on the issues raised by the following questions:

1.Using recommendations in UN country programme design:

a)Please share your examples of how UN Agencies and UNCTs have used the recommendations of Treaty Bodies, and Special Procedures in the development of country programmes. This can include, in situation assessment and analysis (e.g. CCAs) and for mulation of results (e.g. in UNDAFs, Country Programme Action Plan etc.)

b)Could Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures make their recommendations mor e applicable to country programming? And if so, how?

2.Using recommendations for influencing national policy:

a)To what extent has the use of recommendations from Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures affected the UN's capacity to influence laws or policies at the national level?

b) Are there any challenges in using these recommendations?

3. Suppor ting national efforts to implement these recommendations:

a)How have UN agencies and UNCTs been able to provide suppor t to national effor ts (by governments and civil society) to implement the recommendations of Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures?

We look for ward to your contributions.
Your Guest Moderator s,

Suki Beavers
Human Rights Specialist, UNDP Pacific Centre , Fiji Islands
Alfonso Barragues
Human Rights Officer, MDG Unit, OHCHR, Geneva
Wan-Hea Lee
Secretary, United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, OHCHR, Geneva
Daniel Seymour
Head of Gender Equality and Human Rights Unit, UNICEF New Yor k