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Draft guidelines on the effective implementation of the right to participate in public affairs

Through the adoption of resolution 33/22, the Human Rights Council requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights “to prepare concise and action-oriented draft guidelines as a set of orientations for States on the effective implementation of the right to participate in public affairs…” and “to present the draft guidelines to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-ninth session in order to allow the Council to take a decision on the way forward”. An advance, unedited version of the draft guidelines is now available (English only) Word - PDF.

The resolution further requested OHCHR “to facilitate open, transparent and inclusive elaboration of the draft guidelines through consultations with States and with the participation of relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, intergovernmental organizations, the Human Rights Committee and other treaty bodies, special procedures, regional human rights mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, academia and other relevant stakeholders, including through informal consultations with States and other stakeholders at the regional level.”

In order to implement resolution 33/22, OHCHR organized five regional consultations for two days in each of the following regions:

i. The Americas
ii. Africa
iii. Asia Pacific
iv. Middle East and North Africa
v. Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Others

All regional consultations were open to the participation of all interested stakeholders

Further to the initial call for inputs circulated during March 2017 (see further down this page) seeking the views of all relevant stakeholders on information to be taken into account during the preparation of the draft guidelines and/or which could assist it in the informal consultation process on the draft guidelines, OHCHR invites all stakeholders to submit (further) inputs for consideration in the formulation of the draft guidelines.

OHCHR would be grateful if any suggestions could be limited to five (5) pages and sent by 12 February 2018 to registry@ohchr.org (cc. Ms. Federica Morvay at fmorvay@ohchr.org)

Please note that all submissions will be made available on this webpage in the language in which they are received.

Regional consultation for the Americas, Santiago, Chile, 13 and 14 June 2017

Requests for registration should be made through the registration form and sent to fmorvay@ohchr.org by 2 June 2017.

Regional consultation for Sub-Saharan Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 6 and 7 September 2017

Requests for registration should be made through the registration form and sent to fmorvay@ohchr.org by 22 August 2017.

Regional consultation for the Asia and Pacific region, Bangkok, Thailand, 2 and 3 October 2017

Requests for registration should be made through the registration form and sent to fmorvay@ohchr.org by 26 September 2017

Regional consultation for the Middle East and North Africa region, Beirut, Lebanon, 21 and 22 December 2017

Requests for registration should be made through the registration form and sent to fmorvay@ohchr.org by 16 November 2017

The deadline for registration has been extended until 12 December 2017.

  • Concept note [English] [Arabic]
  • Background paper by Mr Fateh Azzam, Human Rights consultant [English] Annexe: Compilation of jurisprudence from United Nations human rights mechanisms [English]
  • Registration form [English] [Arabic]
  • Logistics note for participants [English]
  • Provisional Agenda [English]
  • Final list of participants [English]
  • Summary of the discussions [English]

Regional consultation for Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Others, Geneva, Switzerland, 9 and 10 April 2018.

Requests for registration should be made through the following link https://reg.unog.ch/event/23498/ by 30 March 2018

More information will be available soon on this webpage

OHCHR seeks the views of all relevant stakeholders, including States, United Nations mechanisms, bodies and specialized agencies, funds and programmes, intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations and mechanisms in the field of human rights, national human rights institutions and other relevant national bodies, academics and experts and non-governmental organizations on information to be taken into account during the preparation of the draft guidelines and/or which could assist OHCHR in the informal consultation process on the draft guidelines. OHCHR would be grateful if any suggestions could be limited to five (5) pages and sent by 11 May 2017 to Mr. Hernán Vales at hvales[at]ohchr.org, and Ms. Federica Morvay at fmorvay[at]ohchr.org

Please note that all submissions will be made available on this webpage in the language in which they are received.

Written Submissions:

Member States

Intergovernmental organizations

Regional human rights mechanisms

United Nations mechanisms, bodies and specialized agencies, funds and programmes

National Human Rights Institutions

NGOs

Academics and experts

INFORMATION MEETING

As part of the initial phase of the consultation process, OHCHR invited Member States and all relevant stakeholders to an informal information session about the draft guidelines and the planned consultation process, which was held on Thursday, 20 April 2017 at 3 p.m. in conference room XXIII of Palais des Nations, Geneva.

The power point presentation delivered by OHCHR at the informal information meeting is accessible here.
See also

Equal participation in political and public affairs

Expert Workshop on the right to participate in public affairs, 18 May 2016

Study on the right to participate in public affairs

Report on factors that impede equal political participation and steps to overcome those challenges A/HRC/27/29

Draft guidelines on the effective implementation of the right to participate in public affairs

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