Highlights of results
This section highlights the results to which the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights)
made a meaningful contribution in 2017. The results are organized according to the Office’s thematic priorities set
out in the OHCHR Management Plan 2014-2017 (OMP). The Office’s work is grounded in its theory of change and
the thematic expected accomplishments (see Annex I) that define the intermediate results to which the Office contributes in the pursuit of its long-term goal – all human rights for all.
The Office’s four-year planning cycle ended in 2017 and Annex II provides an overview of the extent to which – over
those four years – the expected accomplishments and targets set have been achieved, as well as some lessons
learned over the cycle.
For a general overview of UN Human Rights’ role in the developments listed below, please refer to the end of this
chapter. For a more detailed description of its specific role in these results, please refer to the chapters on field
presences and headquarter divisions that can be found on the USB key that is annexed to this report or on the Office’s website.
Strengthening
international human rights
mechanisms
A total of 72 per cent of national expected accomplishments were fully or partially achieved over the last
four years, with varying levels of progress achieved in
those that are remaining.
Ratification
(ICCPR); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the Convention on
the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families (ICRMW); the International Convention on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD); and the
Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the
death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
In the Americas, Panama ratified OP-CRC-AC, while
in the Asia Pacific region, Fiji ratified the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and
Myanmar ratified ICESCR. In Europe, the Government
of the Republic of Moldova launched internal procedures for ratifying the Optional Protocol to CRPD.
In 2017, a total of 42 new ratifications of or accessions
to the international human rights treaties were deposited with the Secretary-General. The examples listed
below illustrate this achievement.
Engagement of Member States with
international human rights mechanisms
In the Africa region, Cape Verde ratified the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) as well as
the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR); the
Central African Republic ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict (OP-CRC-AC);
Comoros acceded to CAT; Malawi and Seychelles
acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
(ICPPED); and Sao Tomé and Principe ratified the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Member States engaged with international human
rights mechanisms and undertook efforts to comply
with their findings and recommendations. In relation to
the Human Rights Council (HRC), during 2017, Member
States were actively involved in three regular sessions,
one special session and more than 140 meetings to all
of which UN Human Rights provided support services.
Furthermore, as a result of assistance received from
the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to Support the Participation of Least Developed Countries
(LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in
the work of the Human Rights Council, 27 delegates
from 26 LDCs and SIDS (13 from Africa, four from the
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UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2017