SOGIESC issues at the UN Treaty Bodies (Oct-Dec 2020)

 

Dear friends and fellow activists,
we are glad to share with you the latest issue of our UN Treaty Bodies quarterly reports, covering the period from October to December 2020.

These reports provide with main information on SOGIESC references made by UN Committees in their Lists of Issues and Concluding Observations under countries' periodic review process, as well as on the General Comments and Individual Complaints that were adopted.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this Quarterly Report or engagement with Treaty Bodies, please contact us on [email protected].
The complete list of our reports on Treaty Bodies sessions is available here.

 

Download the latest quarterly Treaty Bodies report

October - December 2020

 

SOGIESC-inclusive Concluding Observations

 

SOGIESC-inclusive Lists of Issues

Þ     Check LGBTI recommendations to your country

Þ     Organize follow-up activities to inform your community about recommendations and to encourage your government to implement the recommendations

 

Þ     See what information was requested from your country before the formulation of recommendations

Þ     Collect information and provide your comments to inform Treaty Bodies’ future recommendations

No Concluding Observations were adopted during this period due to the COVID-19 pandemic

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Egypt
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Georgia
Greece
Guatemala
Iraq

Ireland
Italy
Kyrgyzstan
Libya
Luxembourg
Maldives
Nicaragua
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Tajikistan
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

 

Country-specific questions and recommendations

This section contains information about recommendations in Concluding Observations, as well as questions in Lists of Issues to specific countries under country periodic review process. [Bold] =  SOGIESC-inclusive questions or recommendation

 

Committee session / PSWG

Countries

HRCtee

130 Session: 12 Oct–06 Nov 2020

 

Lists of Issues:

Ethiopia, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Libya, Maldives, Malta, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

CESCR

67 PSWG: 19 - Oct 2020

List of Issues:

El Salvador, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Sweden, Tajikistan, Yemen

CEDAW

79 Virtual PSWG: 09 – 13 Nov 2020

Lists of Issues:  

Brazil, Egypt, Greece, Jamaica, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

CAT

Cancelled due to Covid-19 Session: 09 Nov – 4 Dec 2020

Lists of Issues:  

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Iraq, Italy, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Republic of Moldova

 

 

General comments

This section contains information about General Comments (General Recommendations) adopted by Treaty Bodies. These documents provide the Committees’ interpretation of the content of human rights provisions regarding thematic issues or methods of work.

 

 

Committee

General Recommendation

CERD
General Comment No. 36
on preventing and combating racial profiling

 

Four references to SOGI:

●       Racial profiling is: […] (c) is based on grounds of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin or their intersection with other relevant grounds, such as religion, sex or gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability and age, migration status, or work or other status […] (para. 13).

●       For the purposes of the present general recommendation, racial profiling is understood as it is described in paragraph 72 of the Durban Programme of Action, that is, the practice of police and other law enforcement relying, to any degree, on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin as the basis for subjecting persons to investigatory activities or for determining whether an individual is engaged in criminal activity. In this context, racial discrimination often intersects with other grounds, such as sexual orientation and gender identity […] (para. 18).

●       States should ensure that law enforcement agencies regularly evaluate recruitment and promotion policies and, if necessary, undertake temporary special measures to effectively address the underrepresentation of various national or ethnic minority groups and of groups experiencing intersecting forms of discrimination based on, […] sexual orientation, disability and age. (para. 47).

●       States should ensure that algorithmic profiling systems deployed for law enforcement purposes are designed for transparency, and should allow researchers and civil society to access the code and subject it to scrutiny. […] States should take appropriate mitigation measures if risks or harms to human rights are identified. Those processes should examine potential and actual discriminatory effects of algorithmic profiling based on grounds of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin and their intersection with other grounds, including […] sexual orientation and gender identity. (para. 60).

 

 

Individual complaints

This section contains information about decisions made by the Committees on individual complaints. An individual complaint is a formal complaint - from an individual who claims that their rights under one of the treaties have been violated by a State party - which most of the Treaty Bodies are competent to consider.

Committee | Decision

Treaty’s articles | Issue | Result

 No decisions on SOGIESC were made in October - December 2020

 

Summary of sessions: country periodic reviews

This section contains more detailed information on SOGIESC questions, recommendations and follow-up reviews adopted by specific Committees under the country periodic review process. To see the summary of sessions, please download the full report.

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