• Human Rights:
• Human Rights:
• Developing Best Practices

Developing Best Practices

Assist members in the adoption and implementation of major international human rights instruments.

Under the Secretary General's Human Rights Initiative, the Human Rights Unit (HRU) is working on promoting ratification of international human rights instruments in the Commonwealth. Ratification of international instruments is an indication of the importance of human rights placed by Commonwealth members. 

The Commonwealth Secretariat seeks to achieve the universalisation of the two core international human rights instruments, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) that underpin fundamental human rights.

Collective Commonwealth commitment to the protection of fundamental human rights, through the adherence, by all Commonwealth members, to the ICCPR and ICESCR, is  consistent with the Secretariat's strategic human rights objectives and Commonwealth fundamental values as set out in the Declaration of Commonwealth Principles 1971, Harare Declaration 1991, and the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Plan 1995. 

These fundamental values have been reaffirmed at every CHOGM held thereafter and have again been reiterated in the 'Aso Rock Declaration' on Development and Democracy as agreed by Heads of Government in 2003.

Caribbean Workshop on Ratification of International Human Rights Instruments

HRU has convened workshops for senior officials in the Caribbean and the Pacific regions to discuss the process and consequences of ratification of international and regional human rights instruments. Countries from these two regions make up 13 of the 19 member countries yet to ratify the core 1966 Covenants on civil and political rights, and economic social and cultural rights.

The Caribbean workshop was held in St John's, Antigua and Barbuda in April 2006 and was jointly organised with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights and the office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Antigua and Barbuda. It brought together legal and foreign office officials from both ratified and unratified Commonwealth member countries, to discuss the perceived obstacles to ratification, and to propose strategies to surmount these. The workshop focussed on broadening understanding of member countries in implementing international human rights standards and encouraging integration of international and regional human rights principles and jurisprudence into the common law and statutory legislation. The meeting also called for increased communication between member states and international and regional bodies on the specific challenges they face to ratification. The Commonwealth Secretariat and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights were encouraged to provide technical support on ratification and report writing and submission requirements. The Workshop involved senior government advisors on international law and human rights drawn from all Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean.

The Pacific workshop was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in March 2007 and was jointly organised with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of PNG. The UNDP and UNOHCHR regional centres were also represented. The workshop brought AG’s / Justice Ministry and Foreign Affairs officials from all Commonwealth Pacific members (except Fiji and Nauru) together, for the same purposes as the St John’s meeting. In the Pacific context, Initiative 12.5 of the 2005 Kalibobo Roadmap (Pacific Plan) provided the context: this Plan drawn up by Pacific leaders calls for ratification of international human rights instruments as an element of democracy and good governance in the Pacific. The concluding statement of the meeting is here.

The Commonwealth Secretariat Human Rights Unit has published the 'Handbook on Ratification of Human Rights Instruments' to simplify and explain the process and consequences of ratification for member countries which have yet to ratify one or both of the two Covenants, or any of the other significant human rights instruments discussed in the Handbook. 

To download a soft copy of the Handbook, click here

TEXTS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
• Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution
  and child pornography
•  International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
• Other International Human Rights Instruments  

The Treaty Bodies - Video

A film produced by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), Directed by Daniel Calderon, Tlaloc Films Productions, Isabelle Gattiker, 45 min. DVD PAL/NTSC © United Nations 2006

• 56K Standard Quality
• ADSL Best Quality