The UN Human Rights Accountability Mechanisms: The Special Procedures

The Diplomacy Training Program (DTP) and the Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) are organising a special series of webinars to build awareness of human rights. This webinar is the third in a series to introduce participants to the key accountability mechanisms established through the UN to hold states accountable to their human rights commitments. It introduced participants to the UN Special Procedures, what they do and how to submit cases and information, and engage with them as part of advocacy strategies on human rights.

Special rapporteurs act on individual cases of alleged violations and concerns of a broader, structural nature by sending communications to States. Once a complaint is verified as legitimate, an urgent letter or appeal is sent to the government that has allegedly committed the violation. The Rapporteurs also undertake country visits, conduct thematic studies and convene expert consultations, contributing to the development of international human rights standards, engage in advocacy and raise public awareness, and provide advice for technical cooperation.

The webinar featured two experts who have been appointed as Special Rapporteurs and who provided concrete examples of the work of the UN Special Procedures, and how communities and advocates can interact with them to protect and promote human rights.

Speakers

Clément Voule, a national of Togo, was UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association until 2024. Prior to his appointment, he was the Advocacy Director at the International Service for Human Rights based in Geneva. Mr. Voule has also worked for the Togolese Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, for the Togolese Coalition for the International Criminal Court and as Secretary-General of the Amnesty International section in Togo. He is an Expert Member of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Professor Ben Saul is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism. He is Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney, and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. He has taught at Harvard, Oxford, The Hague Academy of International Law and Italy, India, Nepal, and Cambodia, and been a visitor at the Max Planck Institute for International Law and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights.