On 28 February GATE, in collaboration with the Center for Reproductive Rights, ILGA World, The Advocates for Human Rights and Office against Discrimination, Racism and Intolerance (ODRI) submitted a report to the Call for Inputs from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in relation to the implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268 on “Strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system,”
Summary
The human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor the implementation of the core international human rights treaties. Each State party to a treaty has an obligation to take steps to ensure that everyone in the State can enjoy the rights set out in the treaty. A ratification campaign is underway to encourage broader participation in the human rights treaties.
The submission affirms that the UN treaty body system remains central to global human rights accountability, but its effectiveness depends on meaningful civil society participation. The system’s legitimacy is tested by whether Civil Society Organizations of trans and gender diverse human rights defenders can safely access and engage with it.
It also aims to raise awareness and hold UN agencies and Member States accountable for the lack of meaningful participation in treaty body processes, which also weakens transparency and accountability in State compliance with human rights obligations and contributes to the exclusion of marginalized groups, including persons with disabilities and trans human rights defenders.
What are the challenges?
Can trans and gender diverse human rights defenders safely access and engage with UN treaty body systems? What we know is that many civil society organizations’ participation remains limited by structural barriers such as:
- visa obstacles,
- high travel costs,
- language barriers, and
- insufficient digital access.
Additionally, administrative and procedural systems create barriers for trans and gender diverse participants. In particular, trans participants face barriers when UN and travel systems fail to recognize self-identified gender, creating safety risks, misgendering, and deterrence from engagement.
What is the impact on trans communities?
By not being able to fully participate and engage with UN systems in safe, meaningful and respectful ways, trans and gender diverse people continue to be disproportionately excluded from human rights participation. The submission notes that these barriers and UN administrative systems often expose them to discrimination and safety risks when engagement is possible.
It is crucial to reform the system and make it more accessible, predictable, inclusive and protective of civil society organizations and especially of trans and gender diverse human rights defenders.
Recommendations to increase full participation for all human rights defenders
The joint submission recommendations range from strengthening digital accessibility, hybrid participation options, language inclusion, and communication tools to enable broader engagement, alongside explicit gender-inclusive administrative practices to ensure safe and meaningful participation of trans and gender diverse participants.
