Special Procedures Branch Of The Human Rights Council:
Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva has responded the concerns raised by Special Procedures Branch of the Human Rights Council regarding India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
- The term ‘special procedures’ refers to the list of mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council to report and advise on human rights from a thematic and country-specific perspective.
- Special procedures cover all human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political and social as well as issues relating to specific groups.
- Special procedures mandate-holders are either an individual (called a Special Rapporteur (SR) or Independent Expert (IE)) or a Working Group (WG) of five members.
- Mandate holders serve in their personal capacities, they are not UN staff and do not receive salaries or other financial remuneration for their work.
- A mandate-holder’s tenure in a given function, whether it is a thematic or country mandate, is limited to a maximum of six years.
- They are non-paid and elected for 3-year mandates that can be reconducted for another three years.
- Mandate holders are appointed by the Human Rights Council and their work is supported by the OHCHR.
- As part of their mandates, special procedures examine, advise and publicly report on human rights issues and situations.
- Special procedures report annually to the Human Rights Council; the majority of the mandates also report annually to the General Assembly.
