UNIOGBIS

January 2018

Draft concept note on the training on reporting to the international human rights mechanisms

1. Situation

Guinea Bissau is a state party to almost all human rights treaties and conventions. Being a
state party to these conventions and treaties the country has a main obligation to implement,
adopt the articles of the conventions into the domestic level and also periodically report to the
respective treaty bodies reflecting the improvement of the human rights situation in the country
also mentioning the challenges and obstacles of the government to fulfil its obligation to respect,
promote and fulfill. Guinea-Bissau currently has pending human rights reporting obligations
before the Committee on Human Rights (State party report due since 1 November 2011); the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (State party’s report due since 30 June
1994); the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (follow-up State
Party Report due since 08 August 2011); the Committee against Torture (State party’s report
due since 24 October 2014); and The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (State Party’s report due since 1 February 2011). Further the next report of
Guinea-Bissau to the Committee on the Rights of the Child is due on 18 March 2019 and the
human rights reports under the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution
and Child Pornography are due by Guinea-Bissau respectively since 24 October 2014 and 1
December 2012.

While the government has a primary responsibility to report to the international human rights
treaty bodies, the treaty bodies also receive information on a country’s human rights situation
from other sources, including national human rights institutions (NHRIs), civil society
organizations (CSOs), both international and national, United Nations entities, other
intergovernmental organizations, and professional groups and academic institutions. Most
committees allocate specific plenary time to hearing submissions from CSOs and UN entities.

2. Rationale of the training

The Human Rights Section of the UNIOGBIS in the pursuit of its mandate has supported the
government authorities and other stakeholders in reporting to the human rights bodies. From
2010-2016, the HRS provided technical support to the Government in drafting the UPR report
and also to the civil society in the drafting and submission of the UPR to the Human Rights
Council in 2010 and 2015. Recommendations were made by the HRC on the key areas of
human rights which were advocated by the human rights defenders which was as an outcome
of the HRS engagement with the human rights defenders. In 2017, the HRS had a new level of
partnership with its stakeholders mainly the national commission on human rights and the
formalization of the national human rights defenders network among others. Through an
enhanced partnership with the National Commission on Human Rights, which in its 2017
strategic retreat, committed, with the support of UNIOGBIS to submit pending reports to human
rights mechanisms. OHCHR supported the participation of the Chair of the National
Commission on Human Rights and of a national human rights officer to participate in a training
on the draft of reports to treaty bodies, organized by the Dakar-RO. This training falls under the
one of the Thematic Result-An increased number of countries have set up structures to facilitate
an integrated and participatory approach to reporting to the human rights mechanisms and the
implementation of their recommendations (6.1) of the OHCHR Country Programme 2018-2021.

3. Expected results
 Human rights commission and the human rights NGOs recognize the importance of
the timely reporting to the international human rights mechanisms and treaty bodies
 Human rights commission and human rights NGOs develop an action plan for the
reporting to the international human rights mechanisms
 Coordination among the human rights entities in Guinea Bissau is developed for the
treaty body reporting

4. Goal

To build the capacity of human rights institutions, NGOs to report to the human rights treaty
bodies.

5. Objectives of the training

Increase capacities of Government officials with a role in reporting to the Treaty Bodies
and engagement with other international (UPR and Special Procedures) and regional
human rights mechanisms; and also enable civil society stakeholders on submission of
additional information to the Treaty Body by those stakeholders
6. At the end of the training, learners should be able to:
a) Identify and appraise existing governmental structures for engagement with the
international human rights mechanisms, in particular the Treaty Bodies;
b) Distinguish the functions of the Treaty Bodies and explain how to report to a Treaty
Body;
c) Explain the reporting procedure of the Treaty Bodies;
d) Prepare/Finalize the (outline of a) report of the State party to any Committee
e) Describe the benefits of holding meaningful consultations with stakeholders along the
preparation of the State party report.
f) Identify the key features of a National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow-up.

7. Methodology of the training

Before the training, criteria for the selection of the participants (from sectoral and thematic
areas) will be developed and a careful selection of the participants will be conducted from the
commission of the Human Rights, human rights NGOs, human rights defenders network and
other relevant groups. Training modules will be developed and adopted after the training need
assessment of the potential participants of the training. A participatory method and interactive
sessions with a clear session plan will be used during the training. A pre requisite for the
participation of the participants in the training should a commitment from the both the
inistitutional and individual level to be available for the coordination of the development of the
report to the relevant treaty bodies. Fact sheet on the reporting to the treaty bodies will be used
as main reference materials, including others will be used in the training, The training material,
including copies of the presentations made will be distributed during each session. All the
documentation used by the trainers during the training will be made available on a USB stick
which will be distributed to the participants at the end of the training

8. Coordination

A technical and relevant coordination will be sought with the OHCHR and the other UN
Agencies as well as the external partners. While the capacity building unit has an expertise and
resource to conduct the training, an attempt will be made to bring the OHCHR Geneva expertise
or from the Dakkar Regional office, whereas possible for the training as a technical expertise for
the training.

9. Participants

Thirty five (35 ), The training is mainly aimed at 35 participants amongst government officials,
National Commission for Human Rights and other civil society organization stakeholders able to
provide additional information to the Treaty Body.
50 percent of the participants will be selected from gender and other groups to ensure inclusive
and representation of other groups.