The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) assists the work of all mandate holders, effectively acting as a secretariat for Special Procedures.
It provides support in several areas, such as legal expertise, research and analytical assistance and processes communications sent by mandate holders.
The Special Procedures are directly supported by teams of staff from OHCHR (generally known as ‘human rights officers’). Based in Geneva – and usually consisting of only one or two people – they help to perform research for reports, draft communications and press releases, and meet with civil society in Geneva when the mandate holder is not present. They also assist in the organisation of country visits and all other aspects of the work of mandate holders.
The team’s resources are usually very limited, and this is something to take into consideration when working with Special Procedures.
Now it's time to reflect again on the strengths and weaknesses of the Special Procedures, in the next section.
