As outlined in the 2017 United Nations Development Assistance Framework Guidance, country ownership and national priorities should be taken into account in the context of partnerships. While pursuing national priorities, a UNCT should help to shape those priorities in a way to reflect, inter alia, the Government’s obligations under international human rights and other instruments. With a view to making their assistance the most effective and efficient, all international partners to constitutional reforms should make efforts to cooperate with each other and to facilitate the active participation of national partners. UNCTs are also expected to engage in cooperation with regional organizations that have developed their own expertise in constitutional matters, often closely related to national approaches in their respective regions. Such partnerships are an important guarantee of both a successful drafting process and the effective implementation of a bill of rights.
SOURCES AND REFERENCES
Core international human rights treaties
1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child
1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
The core international treaties are available from www2.ohchr.org/
english/law/index.htm#core.
General comments cited in the present publication Human Rights Committee
General comment No. 18 (1989) on non-discrimination
General comment No. 22 (1993) on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (article 18)
General comment No. 24 (1994) on issues relating to reservations made upon ratification or accession to the Covenant or the optional protocols thereto, or in relation to declarations under article 41 of the Covenant
General comment No. 25 (1996) on the right to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right of equal access to public service (article 25)
General comment No. 29 (2001) on derogations during a state of emergency (article 4)
General comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the general legal obligation imposed on States parties to the Covenant
General comment No. 32 (2007) on the right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial (article 14)
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
General comment No. 3 (1990) on the nature of States parties’
obligations (article 2, paragraph 1)
General comment No. 9 (1998) on the domestic application of the Covenant
General comment No. 19 (2007) on the right to social security (article 9) General comment No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination in economic,
social and cultural rights (article 2, paragraph 2) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
General recommendation No. 32 (2009) on the meaning and scope of special measures in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
All general comments are available from www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/
Pages/HumanRightsBodies.aspx.
Guidance Notes of the Secretary-General cited in the present publication Guidance Note of the Secretary-General: United Nations Assistance to
Constitution-making Processes
Guidance Note of the Secretary-General: UN Approach to Rule of Law Assistance
Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Democracy National constitutions cited in the present publication Afghanistan – Constitution of 2004
Andorra – Constitution of 1993 Angola – Constitution of 2010 Argentina – Constitution of 1994 Azerbaijan – Constitution of 1995 Bahrain – Constitution of 1973 Benin – Constitution of 1990
Bolivia (Plurinational State of) – Constitution of 2009 Bosnia and Herzegovina – Constitution of 1995 Brazil – Constitution of 1988
Bulgaria – Constitution of 1991 Burkina Faso – Constitution of 1991 Burundi – Constitution of 2005 Cabo Verde – Constitution of 1992 Cambodia – Constitution of 1993 China – Constitution of 1982 Colombia – Constitution of 1991
Costa Rica – Constitution of 1949 (as amended in 2011) Czechia – Constitution of 1992
Ecuador – Constitution of 2008 Estonia – Constitution of 1992 Ethiopia – Constitution of 1994 Fiji – Constitution of 2013
France – Constitution of 1958 Georgia – Constitution of 1995 Germany – Basic Law of 1949 Ghana – Constitution of 1992 Guinea-Bissau – Constitution of 1984 India – Constitution of 1949
Indonesia – Constitution of 1945 Kenya – Constitution of 2010 Malaysia – Constitution of 1957
Malawi – Constitution of 1994; Constitution as amended in 2010 Maldives – Constitution of 2008
Mauritius – Constitution of 1968 Mexico – Constitution of 1917 Mongolia – Constitution of 1992 Netherlands – Constitution of 2002 Nepal – Interim Constitution of 2007 Nigeria – Constitution of 1999 Poland – Constitution of 1997 Portugal – Constitution of 1976
Russian Federation – Constitution of 1993
Rwanda – Constitution of 2003, with amendments through 2015 Serbia – Constitution of 2006
Slovakia – Constitution of 1992 Slovenia – Constitution of 1991
South Africa – Interim Constitution of 1993; Constitution of 1996 Switzerland – Constitution of 1999
Timor-Leste – Constitution of 2002 Ukraine – Constitution of 1996
United States of America – Constitution of 1787
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) – Constitution of 2009
The full texts of the constitutions cited are available either at postings by the States themselves on the Internet, or at the following websites:
Constitute
www.constituteproject.org International Constitutional Law
www.servat.unibe.ch/icl International IDEA: ConstitutionNet
www.constitutionnet.org Refworld
www.refworld.org
World Intellectual Property Organization http://wipo.int/wipolex
Examples of human rights websites offering access to international and regional instruments and jurisprudence
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights www.ohchr.org
Universal Human Rights Index http://uhri.ohchr.org Jurisprudence
http://juris.ohchr.org
Council of Europe – European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)
http://www.venice.coe.int/
European Court of Human Rights www.echr.coe.int
Inter-American Court of Human Rights www.corteidh.or.cr
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library http://hrlibrary.umn.edu
University of Pretoria – Centre for Human Rights African Human Rights Case Law Database
www.chr.up.ac.za/index.php/documents/african-human-rights-case-law-database.html
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Database www.chr.up.ac.za/chr_old/indigenous/
United Nations Human Rights treaties www.bayefsky.com