International law, Sixth edition
parties to the convention in question. In 1978 the Executive Board of
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International Law MALCOLM N. SHAW
parties to the convention in question. In 1978 the Executive Board of UNESCO adopted decision 104 EX/3.3, by which it established a proce- dure to handle individual communications alleging violations of human rights. Ten conditions for admissibility are laid down, including the re- quirement that the human rights violated must fall within UNESCO’s competence in the fields of education, science, culture and information, and the need for the communication to be compatible with international human rights interests. The condition with regard to domestic remedies is rather different than is the case with other human rights organs, in that all the communication needs to do is to ‘indicate whether an attempt has been made to exhaust domestic remedies . . . and the result of such an at- tempt, if any’. The investigating body is the Executive Board’s Committee on Conventions and Recommendations, which is composed of twenty- four members and normally meets twice a year in private session. 417 The examination of communications is confidential. The Committee decides whether a communication is admissible and then makes a decision on the merits. The task of the Committee is to reach a ‘friendly solution designed to advance the promotion of the human rights falling within UNESCO’s fields of competence’. 418 Confidential reports are submitted to the Executive Board each session, which contain appropriate information 416 See, for example, the obligation to submit reports under article 7 of the 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education. See also UN Action, p. 163. 417 Formerly the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations in Education, ibid., pp. 321–2. See also A/CONF.157/PC/61/Add.6, 1993. 418 Decision 104.EX/3.3, para. 14(k). t h e p r o t e c t i o n o f h u m a n r i g h t s 343 plus recommendations. 419 It is also to be noted that under this procedure the Director-General generally has a role in seeking to strengthen the action of UNESCO in promoting human rights and initiating consulta- tions in confidence to help reach solutions to particular human rights problems. 420 UNESCO published a report in 1993 concerning the oper- ations of the procedure, noting that the Committee had examined 414 cases between 1978 and 1993, of which it settled 241 individual cases. 421 It is unclear how successful the procedure has been, in view of the strict con- fidentiality which binds it, 422 the length of time taken to produce results and the high proportion of cases declared inadmissible. 423 A special procedure to deal with disappeared persons has been estab- lished by the Committee. Communications dealing with such persons are placed on a Special List, if insufficient information is forthcoming from the government in question, and examined by the Committee. 424 In addi- tion to cases concerning violations of human rights which are individual and specific, UNESCO may also examine questions of massive, system- atic or flagrant violations of human rights resulting either from a policy contrary to human rights applied by a state or from an accumulation of individual cases forming a consistent pattern. 425 In the instance of such questions, the issue is to be discussed by the Executive Board of the General Conference in public. 426 419 In the April 1980 session, for example, forty-five communications were examined as to admissibility, of which five were declared inadmissible, thirteen admissible, twenty suspended and seven deleted from the agenda. Ten communications were examined on the merits, UNESCO Doc. 21 C/13, para. 65. Between 1978 and September 2003 508 communications were examined: see Marks, ‘UNESCO Complaints Procedure’, p. 120. 420 Ibid., paras. 8 and 9. 421 See UNESCO Doc. 141/EX/6 and Weissbrodt and Farley, ‘UNESCO Human Rights Pro- cedure’, p. 391. It was noted that during this period, 129 individuals were either released or acquitted, 20 authorised to leave and 34 to return to the state concerned, 24 were able to resume banned employment or activity, and 11 were able to resume a banned publication or broadcast, ibid. 422 See G. H. Dumont, ‘UNESCO’s Practical Action on Human Rights’, 122 International Social Sciences Journal, 1989, p. 585, and K. Partsch, ‘La Mise en Oeuvre des Droit de l’Homme par l’UNESCO’, 36 AFDI, 1990, p. 482. 423 Weissbrodt and Farley note that of sixty-four cases studied only five were declared admissi- ble, ‘UNESCO Human Rights Procedure’, p. 399. Of these, three concerned one particular country in Latin America. One case was considered over a nine-and-a-half-year period and another was considered over eight-and-a-half years. 424 UNESCO Doc. 108 EX/CR/HR/PROC/2 Rev. (1979). 425 Decision 104. EX/3.3, para. 10. 426 Ibid., para. 18. |
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