Talking points Ms. Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Introduction of OHCHR’s Thematic Strategies in Management Plan 2014-2017

  Geneva, 10 October 2013

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning and welcome to OHCHR’s introduction of its thematic strategies for 2014-2017. 

Firstly, let me thank you all for your constructive engagement in April in Geneva and New York as well as for your written contributions thereafter. I am pleased that, one way or the other, a total of 44 States directly engaged in this series of consultations that we are holding to maximize our joint efforts in improving the human rights situation around the world during the forthcoming four years.

I would like to start by some general observations which I hope will address some of the remarks you have made in the course of this consultative process:

Many of you have welcomed the extension of our planning cycle from two to four years. In doing so, please rest assured that OHCHR’s Management Plan will remain grounded in the Strategic Framework. It will retain flexibility through an in-built mid-term review and the annual elaboration of our workplans taking into account new or evolving human rights situations as well as mandates, decisions of the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council and possible changes to the Strategic Framework.

And of course, a 4-year plan implies fewer OHCHR resources spent on planning exercises and a predictable path for you, Member States, and other stakeholders to engage with us.

Many of you have called on the bulk of our funding needing to come from the regular budget. Of course I agree with you entirely. We have come a long way over the past years with a 160% increase from our regular budget in 2004-2005. I would like to thank those countries that are supporting us in this continuous endeavor to increase the percentage of regular budget funding  .I have also taken note of the suggestion to consistently engage with members of the Fifth Committee in New York.  We are doing this, both through our New York Office as well as with expert advice from our Headquarters here.

However, as some of you have rightly pointed out, the financial crisis is impeding our chances for increased regular budget funds.  So while we will pursue that route, we will continue to seek support from voluntary contributions.

Many States have asked for increased OHCHR efforts in providing capacity building and technical assistance. I have taken note of such calls and have sought to ensure that budgets cuts are not made in this regard. OHCHR will do its best to respond to these requests. Increased capacities at the country level are indeed an important first step towards the institutional, legislative or behavioural changes which we are all seeking in order to promote and protect all human rights for all people.

With these introductory remarks, let me now turn to introducing OHCHR’s 2014-2017 thematic priorities to you.  For 2014-2017, all divisions and field presences of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will pursue the following six thematic priorities:

1. “Strengthening  international human rights mechanisms”;
2. “Integrating human rights in development and in the economic sphere”;
3. “Early warning and protection of human rights in situations of conflict, violence and insecurity”
4. “Enhancing equality and countering discrimination, in particular racial discrimination, discrimination on the grounds of sex, religion and against others who are marginalized”
5. “Combating impunity and strengthening accountability and the rule of law”
6. “Widening the democratic space”

In order to ensure that the lessons learned, challenges and future opportunities were well taken into account in defining our priorities and strategies for the next four years, OHCHR used an academic desk review of forecasting studies; held consultations with you, the Member States, and civil society both in New York and in Geneva; received written contributions from Member States; analysed responses to an on-line questionnaire distributed to OHCHR staff and United Nations human rights experts (Special Procedure, Treaty Bodies, and Board members); and organized five OHCHR office-wide regional consultations held in Guatemala City, Belgrade, Addis Ababa, Bangkok and Tunis, which also benefitted from the views of external partners.

In identifying our thematic priorities we have looked for:

a) the relevance of the themes in human rights terms;
b) the likelihood of achieving results or making a difference in those areas and
c) OHCHR’s comparative advantage and added value.

In addition, the thematic priorities have been defined in a manner which would allow us to work on all sets of rights, in all types of countries, as one Office.

As you can see, we have re-characterized the current priorities in some cases in order to achieve more streamlined focus of all of them.

1. We have “widening the democratic space”, which focuses on public freedoms (freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and prohibition of incitement to hatred), human rights education, and the work of human rights defenders and the media. This is not a new area of work, as it was previously included under the rule of law strategy, but we are now sharpening our focus on this field.
2. Two of the existing priorities were reformulated and reshaped. “Human rights in development and in the economic sphere” replaced the priority on “poverty and ESCR” and has a stronger focus on the right to development; business and human rights; land, water and sanitation and housing rights.
3. “Early warning and protection of human rights in situations of conflict, violence and insecurity” replaced the current priority on “violence and insecurity” in order to better capture our work in the context of conflict and non-conflict settings where violence is widespread. In addition, this strategy has a strong focus on SGBV, security of the person, the due diligence policy and human rights in humanitarian action.  
4. Discrimination, rule of law and impunity and human rights mechanisms remain our priorities for the next four years, but their focus sharpened. Having had “Migration” as a thematic strategy during the past four years, allowed us to make strides at the international level as the only agency trying to ensure that the human rights of migrants are respected. We will continue to do so by visibly integrating migrants as a group in focus under each of the strategies for 2014-2017.
   

As in previous programming cycles, this approach is intended to sharpen our focus on critical human rights challenges, highlight  the substantive results the Office seeks to contribute to by the end of 2014 and strengthen cooperation between the Office, the wider UN human rights system and other key stakeholders dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights.

The Thematic Strategies are an important element in OHCHR’s planning and reporting process. In terms of planning, they are the basis for OHCHR’s Country Programmes and annual work plans and a tool for the prioritization and allocation of extra-budgetary resources. The Strategies are also an important communication tool, and provide a sound framework for presenting OHCHR’s plan to staff and partners. In terms of reporting, the Thematic Strategies help OHCHR to document and gather information in a systematic manner and learn from past experiences. The six thematic priorities are indivisible and inter-dependent and therefore the Thematic Strategies should not be read in isolation, but seen as inter-related and mutually reinforcing.

Recommendations issued by human rights bodies and mechanisms have informed all of the Thematic Strategies.

I will now give the floor to colleagues who have led the development of the strategies to introduce the drafts individually. Please bear in mind that at this stage, these documents are drafts which the Office intends to continue sharpening until the end of the year. As an Office we are very conscious that we can only achieve results and make a difference in the lives of people if we now align the entire organization behind these thematic priorities. And we are very aware that it is our responsibility to ensure that the funds you invest in OHCHR are used in areas where we have a comparative advantage.  

Thank you.