INFO NOTE ON UN SPECIAL PROCEDURES – OCTOBER 2018
This is the 12th monthly info note by ILGA on UN Special Procedures and sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).
This issue includes:
Call for inputs: Cultural rights; Development; Environment; Freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Human rights defenders; Privacy; Torture; Trafficking; Violence against women
❗ Special Rapporteur on violence against women:
Call for femicide-related data and information –
by 15 November 2018
Upcoming country visits: Armenia; Bhutan; Canada; Cape Verde; Ecuador; Egypt; France; Germany; Honduras; Hungary; Kuwait; Laos; Lesotho; Malaysia; Morocco; Nepal; Norway; Poland; United Kingdom, Ukraine
Download the October 2018 info note on Special Procedures
as a PDF file
Call for inputs
| Mandate | Call | Deadline | Additional Info |
| Special Rapporteur on torture | Call for inputs – The relationship between torture and corruption (thematic report to be presented at the 40th HRC session in Feb/Mar 2019) | 24 Oct 2018 | Read more |
| NEW! Special Rapporteur on the rights of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association | Call for submissions – Country visit to Armenia (7-16 Nov 2018) | 25 Oct 2018 | Read more |
| NEW! Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights | Call for submissions for upcoming report: 10th anniversary of the mandate in cultural rights | 26 Oct 2018 | Read more (EN, FR, ES) |
| Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy | Call for inputs – Country visit to Germany (29 Oct-9 Nov 2018) | 26 Oct 2018 | Read more |
| NEW! Special Rapporteur on violence against women, it’s causes and consequences | Call for femicide related data and information – Support in accelerating efforts to prevent gender related killings of women | 15 Nov 2018 | Read more EN / ES |
| Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children | Call for submissions – Innovative and transformative models of social inclusion for victims of trafficking (thematic report to be presented at the 41st HRC session in Jun 2019) | 15 Nov 2018 | Read more |
| NEW! Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment | Call for Inputs: Air Pollution and Human Rights (thematic report to be presented at the 40th HRC session in Feb/Mar 2019) | NA | Read more |
| Special Rapporteur on the right to development | Discussions on human rights compliant development policies (for the Americas – Oct 2018, Panama; for Asia – Dec 2018, Bangkok) | NA | Read more
|
| Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders | Comments on the Special Rapporteur’s Concept Note on the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration on human rights defenders (to be sent to [email protected]) | NA | Concept Note EN / FR / ES |
Country visits by the Independent Expert on SOGI
The UN Independent Expert on SOGI, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, undertakes 1 to 3 fact-finding country visits per year as part of his mandate.
His predecessor, Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn, visited Argentina in March 2017. Check his report on this visit here: EN / FR / ES / AR / RU / ZH
In March 2018, Victor Madrigal-Borloz made 12 country visit requests, and in this section you may find information about current status of the requests. Additionally, on 4 July 2018 Malta invited the Independent Expert to visit their country.
Up-to-date information about country visits may be found here.
If you wish to engage with ILGA with regard to the Independent Expert’s fact-finding visit to your country, please contact us ([email protected]).
| Country | Current Status |
| Argentina* | Visit conducted on 1-10 Mar 2017 |
| Armenia* | Request to postpone (17 April 2018) |
| Burkina Faso | Visit request (26 Mar 2018) |
| Cambodia | Visit request (26 Mar 2018) |
| Georgia* | NEW! Visit conducted on 25 Sep to 5 Oct 2018. End of Mission Statement: English – Georgian Press Release: English – Georgian |
| Ghana* | Visit request (26 Mar 2018) |
| Kenya* | Visit request (26 Mar 2018) |
| Malta* | Invitation Country Visit (4 Jul 2018) |
| Nepal | Visit request (26 Mar 2018) |
| Mozambique* | Acceptance of visit request for December 2018 (12 Apr 2018) |
| Poland* | Request to postpone (15 May 2018) |
| Sri Lanka* | Proposal of dates – June 2019 (7 Aug 2018) |
| Thailand* | Visit request (26 Mar 2018) |
| Ukraine* | Visit to be conducted from 30 Apr to 10 May 2019 (22 Aug 2018) |
* Countries with standing invitations. A standing invitation is an open invitation extended by a Government to all thematic special procedures.
By extending a standing invitation States announce that they will always accept requests to visit from all special procedures.
Upcoming country visits by other mandates
This information is regularly updated by the OHCHR here. To find out how you can support the visits, please contact the respective mandate-holder at their email, found in the OHCHR directory.
| Country | Mandate | Dates |
| Morocco | Independence of judges and lawyers | 24 Oct-1 Nov 2018 |
| Germany | Privacy | 29 Oct-9 Nov 2018 |
| Honduras |  Discrimination against women |
1-14 Nov 2018 |
| NEW! Canada | Health |
5-16 Nov 2018 |
| United Kingdom | Extreme poverty |
6-16 Nov 2018 |
| NEW! Armenia | Freedom of peaceful assembly and association |
7-16 Nov 2018 |
| NEW! Hungary | Arbitrary detention | 12-16 Nov 2018 |
| Cape Verde | Development | 12-21 Nov 2018 |
| NEW! Malaysia | Water and sanitation |
14-27 Nov 2018 |
| Ecuador | Indigenous people | 19-29 Nov 2018 |
| Nepal | Violence against women |
19-29 Nov 2018 |
| Kuwait | Disability | 27 Nov-6 Dec 2018 |
| Egypt | Foreign debt | 3-12 Dec 2018 |
| Poland | Discrimination against women |
3-14 Dec 2018 |
| Bhutan | Arbitrary detention | 14-25 Jan 2019 |
| France | Housing |
28 Jan-6 Feb 2019 |
| Lesotho | Water and sanitation |
4-15 Feb 2019 |
| NEW! Laos | Extreme poverty |
18-29 March 2019 |
| Malaysia | Extreme poverty |
12-22 Aug 2019 |
| Norway | Disability | 2-11 Oct 2019 |