United Nations Special Rapporteur Visiting so-called Canada in April: Looking For Insight
From April 8 - 20, 2024 a Special Rapporteur (SF) from the United Nations (UN), specializing in human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, will be taking an official visit to so-called Canada to better understand and assess Canada's efforts to implement the human rights to water and sanitation and is calling for input submissions.
Types of input/comments wanted:
Concerns related to the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, regarding but not limited to availability, accessibility, quality and safety, affordability, and acceptability of water for drinking and personal/domestic usage and sanitation. (examples: documents of interest could include summaries of judicial rulings, administrative decisions, independent technical opinions, academic and research papers, and audio-visual materials).
Issues of interest connected to the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, including environmental issues, use of surface or groundwater sources, and water pollution, with particular attention to toxic contamination.
Potential areas to visit, such as regions, towns or communities and the justification for these suggestions.
Issues related to actions of Canadian mining companies in Canada and globally relating to the rights to water and sanitation.
How to Submit:
Send your contributions in English, French or Spanish in Word format to hrc-sr-watersanitation@un.org and to maria.acostalazo@un.org
Indicate “Country visit to Canada” in the email subject line; and
Limit your contributions to a maximum of 2,000 words and provide links to relevant documents or attach annexes if necessary.
Deadline to submit: 15 March 2024.
Your contributions will be kept confidential. Neither you nor your organization will be identified, and your submission will not be attributed to you or your organization.
What do Special Rapporteurs do?
The functions of Special Rapporteurs (SRs) include responding to individual complaints, conducting studies, providing advice on technical cooperation and undertaking country visits to assess specific human rights situations. Most Special Rapporteurs also receive information on specific allegations of human rights violations and send urgent appeals or letters of allegation to governments asking for clarification and concrete measures to end rights violations.
What is the Special Rapporteur’s relationship to the United Nations?
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations provides the Special Rapporteurs with the personnel and logistical assistance necessary for them to carry out their mandates.
Special Rapporteurs serve in their personal capacity/expertise, and do not receive salaries or any other financial retribution for their work. Special Rapporteurs are prominent human rights experts from various walks of life. They include academics, lawyers, economists, and former and current members of Non-governmental Organization (NGOs) and come from all regions of the world.
What can be achieved through visits by Special Rapporteurs?
Amongst their activities, SRs carry out country visits at their request and at the invitation of the country concerned. Country visits are considered a particularly important means by which to highlight human rights violations in a particular country and in placing pressure on the government to remedy the situation. During visits, SRs interact with both governmental and non-governmental actors, including human rights and civil liberties organizations, victims of human rights violations, affected communities, the concerned government officials and agencies at both the national and local level. These visits usually require freedom of inquiry, including access to relevant facilities, such as prisons and detention centers. The SRs then submit a report of their visit to the Human Rights Council, presenting their findings, conclusions and recommendations.