As earlier reported, the UN office in Geneva started activities for the year on shaky grounds. Budgetary cuts meant that certain services were either suspended or withdrawn entirely. Attempts at upgrades to alleviate the ripple effects of the budgetary cuts ended up disrupting vital processes.
For instance, the newly launched registration portal, Events, crashed two times on the days slated for the registration process to commence. The platform’s configuration needed to be more robust for the heavy digital traffic generated by registrants on such days as in the past. As a result, people were still determining what to expect when the list of NGOs was released. However, VIVAT managed to secure two slots for its oral statement delivery and was also able to co-sponsor some statements put forward by partner NGOs, including the statements by the Holy See. Below is an abridged rundown of events at the 56th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council:
Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
The VI oral statement on the above subject was delivered on 26 June. The statement addressed the UK’s Illegal Migration Act, which imposed automatic detention on irregular arrivals before forced removal to a so-called “safe country of origin” or a “safe third country.” It exposed the risks migrants faced due to the new legislation, which ignored the ruling by both the Appeal and Supreme courts of the UK that Rwanda is not a safe third country. The delivery calls on the UK to be cautious of this move as it risks breaching the Refugee Convention, which the country is a signatory to.
Item 3 – Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.
Delivered on July 2, the statement welcomes the SR’s report and its fusion with priority areas identified by her predecessor: protection of human rights in the context of climate change mitigation, displacement, legislation, and advancement of the principle of intergenerational justice. This statement was co-signed by eight partner NGOs, including Caritas International. It argues for progressive taxation of the corporate sector, which is a major culprit of pollution and environmental degradation.
Regarding Climate Financing, which is the primary focus of COP29, it called on states to:
- set a new, ambitious, collective, and quantified goal on climate finance that meets the actual needs of developing countries on addressing losses and damages, adaptation, and mitigation;
- base climate finance on the polluter pays principle through targeted redistributive taxation, sovereign debt alleviation, and reform of the global financial architecture;
- support the forthcoming 2025 NDCs centered on the First Global Stocktake outcomes by ensuring the target 43% total emissions cuts by 2030 are met via sustainable means;
- address regulatory gaps;
- and, crucially, foster meaningful participation of impacted communities when climate change action is under consideration.
Statements co-sponsored by VIVAT International
Our network with partner NGOs is steadily going northwards. Shared vision means shared commitments in areas of collaborative concern. Statements our office in Geneva co-signed with partner organizations include:
ITEM 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants
This joint oral statement, delivered by Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII (APG23) and co-signed by 11 NGOs, contends that Migration, if well managed, benefits not only people on the move but also origin and destination countries and communities. It reiterates the need for migration policies to promote inclusion and foster mutual respect and solidarity instead of discrimination and exclusion.
ITEM 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity.
APG23 and 15 co-signing NGOs took note of Ms. Cecilia Bailliet’s report. They thanked her for organizing the online consultation on 24 February 2024 to collect input from Civil Society.
The coalition appreciated that she emphasized the growing trend of shrinking civic space in both the physical and digital arenas and provided a comprehensive list of reprisals against solidarity activists and their family members.
It noted that our world is undergoing a crisis of solidarity with the tendency to build walls instead of bridges. Examples include political prejudice and intolerance against refugees and migrants. ‘’Human needs end up being overshadowed while xenophobia speaks louder than reason. We have reached the extent that, in some countries, acting in solidarity towards migrants across borders is qualified as a “crime” against national security. This trend must stop!’’ the coalition declared.
VIVAT Co-Sponsored Holy See Permanent Mission Statements
Agenda Item I: Reports of the Chairperson of the Governing Body and the Director-General, Geneva, 12 June 2024
The statement addressed a range of issues bothering the global community: persistent and profound impact of social inequalities and lack of jobs and employment opportunities, which push the young into the destructive underworld of drugs, violence, criminal activities, and even terrorism, war, and climate change-induced migration, and social justice.
Agenda item 14(a): Exchange of views on IOM’s comprehensive approach to climate preparedness, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation, Geneva, 13 June 2024
The Holy See Delegation’s statement welcomed the integral and human-centered approach to the climate crisis through preparedness, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation adopted by the International Organizations for Migration (IOM). It reiterated its call for integral ecology to manage natural disaster risk and prevent other environmental problems. Such integral ecology is inseparable from the notion of the common good, which also includes moral obligations towards future generations, small islands and developing countries, and the most vulnerable.
Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Geneva, 24 June 2024
The Holy See Delegation appreciated the Special Rapporteur’s insightful Report on “prostitution and violence against women and girls.” It stated, “In the context of a continued and widespread growth in the commodification and exploitation of women and girls, with prostitution as one such example, my Delegation also remains concerned with the increasing prominence and use of surrogacy’’, and in this regard asked whether the Special Rapporteur ‘’might consider exploring this practice in the course of your work.’’
Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Geneva, 27 June 2024
The Holy See urged States to strive to make the roads and seas safer for migrants, refugees, and victims of trafficking. This, it said, ‘’could be done, among other things, through the criminalization of trafficking networks, indicating safer routes, expanding regular migration channels and promoting a common and co-responsible approach to governance of migration flows. It further highlighted the need to both prevent future exploitation and to provide assistance to victims.
The full statements and other statements made by the Holy See, which we co-sponsored but could not feature here due to space limitations, will be uploaded to the website.
Side Event on the Crisis in Haiti
VIVAT Geneva co-sponsored a Side Event on the current crisis in Haiti. The event was expedient and timely, given that the dire situation in that country has been swallowed up by other violent situations across the globe, especially in Gaza.
Earlier, the VIVAT office in New York engaged with other NGOs to bring greater visibility and attention to the situation. This crisis, among other negative effects, paralyzed the education system in affected areas and led to the loss of many lives and properties. The Side Event dwelt mainly on the paralysis in education occasioned by the crisis. One of the panelists, Fr Benjamin Osio, C.S.Sp., who works at Saint Martial (a newly upgraded iconic and historic secondary school run by Spiritans in Haiti), gave a first-hand account of the mayhem that characterized the Haitian crisis and how it affected schools. The panelists and participants made various suggestions on the way forward. The VI Geneva team rep, Fr Kachi Adindu, C.S.Sp., urged all participants and interested parties to have the courage to address ‘the big elephant in the room’: who are the actors behind the current crisis and why? And finally, how could the perpetrators be held accountable as part of the healing process?
Kachi Adindu CSSp, VIVAT Team, Geneva
