Examination of communications relating to human rights in UNESCO’s fields of competence (104 Procedure)

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Last update:11 May 2023

Introduction

Pursuant to Article I of its Constitution, UNESCO’s purpose is to “contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations”.

Mindful of the competence and role thus set for UNESCO in the field of human rights, the Executive Board decided, in 1978, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to establish a dedicated procedure for the examination of individual communications concerning alleged violations of human rights in its fields of competence. The procedure is set up in 104 EX/Decision 3.3 and is generally known as the “104 Procedure”.

The CR Committee has been entrusted with this mandate. It examines communications received by the Organization at each ordinary session of the Executive Board and adopts decisions with a view to helping to bring about a friendly solution designed to advance the promotion of the human rights falling within UNESCO’s fields of competence.

The 104 Procedure is characterized by its strict confidentiality and has greatly contributed to further UNESCO’s mandate in the area of human rights.

Purpose of the 104 procedure 

The CR Committee seeks a friendly solution to cases brought to UNESCO’s attention:

  • By establishing a dialogue with the governments concerned to examine with them in complete confidentiality what could be done to promote human rights falling within the Organization’s competence;
  • By acting “in a spirit of international cooperation, conciliation and mutual understanding, and recalling that UNESCO should not play the role of an international judicial body” (paragraph 7 of 104 EX/Decision 3.3). 

Specificities of the 104 Procedure

The 104 Procedure has certain specificities which distinguish it from other human rights procedures in the United Nations system: 

  • It is not treaty-based, as it has been defined by a decision of the Executive Board;
  • Communications may be made with respect to alleged human rights violations against any UNESCO Member State, irrespective whether it is or not a party to any specific human rights treaty; 
  • The individual nature of communications is preserved throughout the procedure, i.e. they are examined in their own merit and not as sources of information relating to any possible broader situation of flagrant and systematic human rights violations;
  • The authors of the communication and the Member State concerned are given the possibility to provide their arguments in a confidential setting and this confidentiality is maintained throughout the procedure, including its final outcome;
  • The procedure is neither judicial nor quasi-judicial in nature: it aims at helping bring about an amicable solution to the situation of the alleged victim designed to advance the promotion of human rights, avoiding any conflictual and accusatory context or condemnation of the government concerned.

Role of the Director-General in the 104 Procedure

The 104 Procedure confirms the role that the UNESCO Director-General has always played with regard to the promotion of human rights, particularly her or his right of intercession as recognized by the General Conference (resolution 19 C/12.1). On several occasions, the Director-General has personally made humanitarian representations on behalf of alleged victims of human rights in UNESCO’s fields of competence, whose cases demanded urgent examination.

Frequently asked questions

A communication under the 104 Procedure may be submitted to UNESCO by any individual, group of individual or non-governmental organization with respect to any alleged violation of human rights falling within UNESCO’s fields of competence. The author of a communication may be himself or herself the victim of the violation or be a person or organization having reliable knowledge of such violation.

Any person who is a victim of a human right violation on account of having exercised one or more rights falling within UNESCO’s competence, notably in the areas of education, science, culture or communication. These may include teachers, students, researchers, artists, writers, journalists, in short intellectuals who, by virtue of their position, come within UNESCO’s fields of competence. However, it is the activity of which the alleged victim is accused, and not necessarily his or her procession, which is decisive in determining whether a communication is admissible.

The rights falling within UNESCO’s competence are essentially the following (each article mentioned hereunder refers to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the rights concerned are also enshrined in the 1966 International Covenants on human rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations):

  • the right to education (Article 26);
  • the right to share in scientific advancement (Article 27);
  • the right to participate freely in cultural life (Article 27);
  • the right to information, including freedom of opinion and expression (Article 19).

These rights may imply the exercise of other rights, the most noteworthy of which are:

  • the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 18);
  • the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers (Article 19);
  • the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production (Article 27);
  • the right to freedom of assembly and association (Article 20) for the purposes of activities connected with education, science, culture and information.

A letter is to be addressed to the Legal Adviser and Director of the Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs of UNESCO (7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France). The letter must contain a concise statement of the allegations of human rights concerned, it must be signed and must drafted in one of the Organization’s working languages (English or French). Upon receipt of the letter, and provided that it does not manifestly fall outside the purview of the 104 Procedure, the UNESCO Secretariat will send to the author of the letter a form, which must be completed and returned to UNESCO. This constitutes the formal communication which will be considered by the CR Committee.

Upon receipt of the completed form, the Secretariat acknowledges receipt of the communication, which is transmitted to the government concerned which may provide any reply it wishes to make. The communication, together with the reply of the government concerned and any additional information the author of the communication may provide, are transmitted to the CR Committee for its examination.

The CR Committee examines communications in private session, usually twice a year during the Spring and Autumn sessions of the Executive Board.

The CR Committee first considers the admissibility of the communication. If even one of these conditions is not met, the CR Committee will take no further action on the communication. Thereafter, the CR Committee turns to the examination of the merits of the communication. The CR Committee takes decisions by which it seeks to bring about an amicable solution to the situation of the alleged victim designed to advance the promotion of human rights. Since the Committee is not in any way an international tribunal, it endeavours to resolve the problem in a spirit of international cooperation, dialogue, conciliation and mutual understanding.

In its examination of the communication, the CR Committee considers all the documentation before it. The representatives of the government concerned are also invited to provide information and answer questions asked by members of the Committee on either the admissibility or the merits of the communication.

At each session, the CR Committee submits confidential reports to the Executive Board on its examination of communications, which are considered by the Executive Board in private session.

If needed, the CR Committee may decide to continue its examination of a communication at a later session, asking the author of the communication and the government concerned to provide additional information.

Following the session during which a communication has been examined by the Committee, its author and the government concerned by it are informed of the Committee’s decisions, which are not subject to appeal. However, the Committee may agree to re-examine a communication if it receives additional information or new facts.

Paragraph 14(a) of 104 EX/Decision 3.3 identifies ten conditions, all of which need to be met for the communication to be considered admissible, namely:

(i) The communication must not be anonymous;

(ii) The communication must originate from a person or a group of persons who, it can be reasonably presumed, are victims of an alleged violation of any of the human rights referred to in paragraph (iii) below. It may also originate from any person, group of persons or organization having reliable knowledge of those violations;

(iii) The communication must concern violations of human rights falling within UNESCO's competence in the fields of education, science, culture and information and must not be motivated exclusively by other considerations;

(iv) The communication must be compatible with the principles of the Organization, the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international covenants on human rights and other international instruments in the field of human rights;

(v) The communication must not be manifestly ill-founded and must appear to contain relevant evidence;

(vi) The communication must be neither offensive nor an abuse of the right to submit communications. However, such a communication may be considered if it meets all other criteria or admissibility, after the exclusion of the offensive or abusive parts;

(vii) The communication must not be based exclusively on information disseminated through the mass media;

(viii) The communication must be submitted within a reasonable time-limit following the facts which constitute its subject-matter or within a reasonable time-limit after the facts have become known;

(ix) The communication must indicate whether an attempt has been made to exhaust available domestic remedies with regard to the facts which constitute the subject-matter of the communication and the result of such an attempt, if any;

(x) Communications relating to matters already settled by the States concerned in accordance with the human rights principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international covenants on human rights shall not be considered.

Confidentiality is considered to be essential for the success of the action of the CR Committee under the 104 Procedure. For this reason, the author of the communication is required to maintain the strictest confidentiality of the entire procedure, including of all communications sent to UNESCO and received from it regarding the work of the CR Committee. Failure by the author to observe the confidentiality of the procedure may lead the Committee to decide that there is an abuse of the right to submit communications under the terms of paragraph 14(a)(vi) of 104 EX/Decision 3.3 and to strike the communication from its list.

For more information about the 104 Procedure, you may consult the official publication on the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations here.

Some statistics about the 104 Procedure

From 1978 to October 2021, 615 communications have been considered by the CR Committee under the 104 Procedure, with the following results:

  • In 240 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) released or acquitted
  • In 27 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) released after completion of sentence
  • In 21 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) authorized to leave the country concerned
  • In 35 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) authorized to return to the country concerned
  • In 31 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) able to resume their employment or activity
  • In 14 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) able to resume a banned publication or broadcast programme
  • In 5 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) able to resume normal life following a cessation of threats
  • In 16 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) able to benefit from changes in certain education laws which were discriminatory towards ethnic or religious minorities
  • In 12 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) were members of a religious minorities able to obtain passports and/or grants, or receive diplomas
  • In 12 instances, the alleged victim(s) was (were) able to resume studies

In total, 413 communications have been settled by the CR Committee. The 202 other communications were found inadmissible, their examination was suspended or are still pending before the Committee.