Parliaments and parliamentarians can contribute significantly to international human rights protection and promotion efforts. As discussed earlier, respect for human rights is a legitimate concern of the international community and, under international law, States Parties to human rights treaties have a legal interest in the fulfilment
of human rights obligations by other States Parties. The inter-State complaints procedure provided for in some of the core human rights treaties (see Chapter 5) and the Universal Periodic Review enable States to call attention to acts committed by another State in breach of a treaty. Parliaments, through their human rights bodies, may raise human rights issues involving such possible breaches and thereby promote compliance with human rights norms worldwide.
Parliaments and parliamentarians can support international human rights organizations by securing the funding that they require. They should participate actively in the work of the UN Human Rights Council and in drawing up new international human rights instruments that they will eventually be called upon to ratify.
In our increasingly globalized world, decisions taken at the international level have a significant impact on national politics and limit the scope of national decision-making.
Major economic decisions affecting citizens’ lives are increasingly being taken outside their country’s borders by international bodies that are not accountable, but that have an impact on the ability of the State to ensure the exercise of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.
There is consequently a need to “democratize” these institutions if individual countries are to maintain their capacity to ensure human rights, especially economic, social and cultural rights. Parliaments and their members must therefore take a more active part in the deliberations of these institutions so as to make their voices heard.
Box 39 International trade agreements, human rights and the obligations of States
At the request of the former UN Commission on Human Rights, OHCHR issued several reports on human rights and trade, in particular on the human rights implications of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as the TRIPS Agreement,2 the WTO Agreement on Agriculture3 and the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).4 The reports point out that all WTO Members have ratified at least one human rights instrument, most of them have ratified ICESCR and all but one have ratified CRC. They also affirm that WTO Members should therefore ensure that international rules on trade liberalization do not run counter to their human rights obligations under those treaties. Trade law and policy should therefore “focus not only on economic growth, markets or economic development, but also on health systems, education, water supply, food security, labour, political processes and so on”. States have a responsibility to ensure that the loss of autonomy which they incur when they enter into trade agreements
“does not disproportionately reduce their capacity to set and implement national development policy”. All this requires “constant examination of trade law and policy as it affects the enjoyment of human rights. Assessing the potential and real impact of trade policy and law on the enjoyment of human rights is perhaps
2 E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/13.
3 E/CN.4/2002/54.
4 E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/9.
the principal means of avoiding the implementation of any retrogressive measure that reduces the enjoyment of human rights”.5
In the same vein, CESCR-Committee general comment No. 14 on the right to health stipulates that States Parties should ensure that the right to health is given due consideration in international agreements and take steps “to ensure that these instruments do not adversely impact upon the right to health.
Similarly, States Parties have an obligation to ensure that their actions as
members of international organizations take due account of the right to health…”
(paragraph 39).
The Human Rights Council has held Special Sessions on the impact of the world food crisis (A/HRC/S-7/2) and the economic and financial crisis (A/HRC/S-10/1) on the universal realization and effective enjoyment of human rights. The Council called upon States to take all necessary measures to guarantee human rights and emphasized that economic and financial crises do “not diminish the responsibility of national authorities and the international community” (A/HRC/2-10/1, paragraph 5).
Moreover, in June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council endorsed the
“Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” which address corporate responsibility to respect human rights.
In this context, IPU has embarked on a process of bringing parliaments closer to institutions such as the WTO.
The conclusions of the annual 2015 session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, organized jointly by IPU and the European Parliament, stated that “The challenges facing the WTO show the need for the continued involvement of parliamentarians with this uniquely important world trade body. Parliamentarians not only ratify the results of negotiations, but they are a crucial point of contact between the WTO and the people they aim to serve. We urge the WTO to make full use of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, ensuring that parliamentarians have access to all the information they need to carry out their oversight role effectively and contribute meaningfully to trade policies.”
Resolution adopted unanimously by the 128th IPU Assembly, Quito, 2013 on “Fair Trade and Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Sustainable Development’, paragraph 1.
5 E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/9, paragraphs 7, 9 and 12.
What you can do as a parliamentarian
Parliaments and parliamentarians should contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights at the international level and make their voices heard.
To this end, you may wish to do the following:
5 Establish contacts with parliamentarians in other countries in order to (a) share experiences, success stories and lessons learned, and (b) discuss possibilities of bilateral or multilateral cooperation, particularly regarding human rights violations that require cross-border cooperation (such as trafficking, migration and health issues).
5 Ensure that your parliament participates (through the competent committees) in the work of the UN Human Rights Council, or at least is kept abreast of your government’s positions on the various issues debated in the Council. If appropriate, you may address questions to your government regarding the grounds for its positions.
5 Ensure that your parliament is informed of any ongoing negotiations on new human rights treaties, and that it has the opportunity to contribute to such negotiations.
5 Ensure that your parliament (through the competent committees) draws attention to breaches of human rights treaties in other countries and, if appropriate, invite your government to lodge an inter-State complaint (see Chapter 5).
5 Participate in electoral observer missions and other international human rights missions.
5 Ensure that your parliament is informed of any international negotiations whose outcome may negatively impact on your country’s ability to comply with its human rights obligations and, if appropriate, ask your government how it intends to safeguard such compliance.
Further reading
– Parliamentary Oversight of International Loan Agreements & Related Processes, Geneva and Washington, DC, IPU, 2013
– Tools for Parliamentary Oversight, Geneva, IPU, 2008