Special Procedures - Nomination, Selection and
Appointment of Mandate Holders

General criteria

According to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, Annex, the following general criteria will be of paramount importance while nominating, selecting and appointing mandate-holders:

(a) expertise;
(b) experience in the field of the mandate;
(c) independence;
(d) impartiality;
(e) personal integrity;
and
(f) objectivity.

Due consideration should be given to gender balance and equitable geographic representation, as well as to an appropriate representation of different legal systems. Eligible candidates are highly qualified individuals who possess established competence, relevant expertise and extensive professional experience in the field of human rights (paras. 39-41).

Public list of candidates

Further to Council decision 6/102 the Secretariat has prepared a standardized form, on the basis of the technical and objective requirements stipulated in the decision, for candidates to fill in, so as to facilitate the selection of relevant candidacies from the public list as soon as appointments for particular mandates are necessary.

As called for in Council resolution 5/1, Annex, the Secretariat will maintain a public list which shall be regularly updated. The public list of candidates is now available on the Human Rights Council Extranet.

Those entities which may nominate candidates as special procedures mandate-holders according to Council resolution 5/1, Annex, are:

(a) Governments;
(b) Regional Groups operating within the United Nations human rights system;
(c) international organizations or their offices (e.g. the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights);
(d) non-governmental organizations;
(e) other human rights bodies;
(f) individual nominations (para. 42).

Candidatures to special procedures mandates may reach the Secretariat at the following address: hrcspecialprocedures@ohchr.org or HRC Secretariat, c/o Michelle Erazo (Mailing address: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Room 4-060, Palais des Nations, 8-14 avenue de la Paix, CH-1211, Geneva 10; Tel: +41 (0)22 917 9722; Fax: +41 (0)22 917 9011). The deadline for the submission of nominations is set at 10 July 2008.

List of vacancies

The Special Procedures mandate holders lists of vacancies for March 2008, June 2008 and September 2008 are now available.

Consultative Group recommendations to the President of the Human Rights Council

The Consultative Group, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, submits to the President, ‘at least one month before the beginning of the session in which the Council would consider the selection of mandate holders, a list of candidates who possess the highest qualifications for the mandates in question and meet the general criteria and particular requirements'. The list of recommendations is available on the Human Rights Council Extranet.

List of candidates for the Special Procedures mandate holders

On the basis of the recommendations of the consultative group and following broad consultations, in particular through the regional coordinators, the President of the Council will identify an appropriate candidate for each vacancy and presents to member States and observers a list of candidates. The appointment of the special procedures mandate-holders will be completed upon the subsequent approval of the Council. Appointments of new mandate holders are scheduled for September 2008, during the ninth session of the Human Rights Council.