3. Your opportunities to engage

This section is a reminder of what you need to invest in order to get the biggest impact out of the Special Procedures.

While the Special Procedures can be very responsive, accessible and flexible, they are also heavily under-resourced. So you may have to reach out to them more than once and try to build up a relationship with the mandate as a whole (not only the mandate holder but also the staff supporting the mandate) in order to get them to take the action that you seek.

The limited availability of resources for Special Procedures means that they:

• will have to elect priority areas to dedicate their limited resources
• can only respond to a limited number of cases, and often, these are only the gravest situations
• can only travel a limited number of times per year to events or countries
• find it challenging to prioritise follow-up or assess implementation of their recommendation
• will rarely inform human rights defenders that they have sent a communication or taken action on a case

Remember also that Special Procedures mandate holders are individuals with their own priorities (and biases), and sometimes, it may simply not be possible to convince them to work on issues that are priorities for you.

Ultimately, there are no mechanisms that can compel States to reply to communications, to issue or accept an invitation for a country visit, or to comply with the recommendations made by Special Procedures. Once you get the result you want from a Special Procedure, you will have to put some effort into making sure that it translates into change back home.

When planning to engage with the Special Procedures, you will need to keep in mind:

Timing of your action

Special Procedures can sometimes react within 48 hours, but often it takes several weeks for them to act, so it is important to explain why action is needed by a particular date (for instance on a communication). OCall for inputs to a report or visits are however planned in advance so you can easily plan your engagement.

For example:

• If you send information on a case that has taken place many months ago, you will need to explain why a communication now is timely and can have an impact.

• The role of Special Procedures is undertaken on a voluntary basis, meaning that Mandate holders are likely to undertake other work in addition to their role as a Special Procedure.Thus, you need to invite mandate holders as far in advance as possible to ensure that they can fit your events into their schedules.

• Mandate holders often decide on the themes of their reports at the beginning of their term, which means it is advisable to engage with them and try to influence their priorities once they take up their role.

Resources

Human rights defenders and NGOs have limited resources and need to use them as efficiently and effectively as possible. In the context of engaging with the Special Procedures, this will mean picking and choosing when and how you engage, and also maximising the resources available by, for example, building strong partnerships with Geneva-based NGOs who will be able to support you and your advocacy (e.g. by following up with OHCHR staff who support Special Procedures to find out if action has been taken).

Role of the media

Multiple major media outlets, including international news agencies, as well as freelance and individual journalists, routinely cover work at the UN. Their interests tend to be based on their geographic origins, their general thematic focus (economic, general news, regional interests, etc.), or dictated by the overarching news cycle.

Generally speaking, they will be more inclined to cover immediate, breaking news and entirely new developments, such as the publication of an Special Procedure report on State actions, or ground-breaking initiatives, like the passing of a novel HRC resolution establishing a new or consequential mandate. They will likely require more convincing in order to follow-up on recurring processes, like a mandate renewal for example.

News coverage of action taken by Special Procedures can help bring attention to the issue which can serve your advocacy, and so it’s important to show why the action is news-worthy. This will require effective selection and targeting of relevant journalists either covering the regions or themes you are focusing on, and, in the long run, it will be made easier by consistent relationship-building (staying in touch, following up when relevant, etc.), solidifying your capacity as a reliable, interesting and trustworthy source.

Continue to find out more about why it might be useful to engage with the Special Procedures, as well as our tips on how to do it most effectively.