Marrakech, 16 and 17 July 2009
II – Conventional Committees
8. The practice of these committees can be examined from two perspectives. First, to what degree do they take HRE into account in their directives to States for the drafting of periodic reports? This is an important question, for it has, or should have, a direct impact on the content of those reports. Second, what importance does the Committee itself grant HRE in examining the reports and formulating its recommendations and observations?
9. The first question gets a nuanced reply. Two of the committees concerned (the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Rights of the Child) have developed directives that delve deeply into the matter, showing a willingness to comply with the letter and spirit of the treaty. The two other committees (the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) have produced somewhat terse directives. They are content to refer back to the treaty in question, thereby giving States considerable room for manoeuvre.
10. An exhaustive reply to the second question would require systematic analysis of the various committees' recommendations on HRE, which is outside the scope of this document. Nevertheless, a study conducted by the World Association for the School as an Instrument of Peace (EIP) on the Committee on the Rights of the Child for 2006 and 2007 shows: 1) that the Committee bases its assessments exclusively on reports submitted by States and only under exceptional circumstances draws on other sources ; 2) that it does not systematically note the frequent conflation of HRE with civic or even religious education; and 3) that when it comes to the organisation of education its attention to HRE wavers.
11. Yet many of the documents on which the UPC is based form part of the High Commission compilation, which is drawn from the reports of conventional bodies. It is worth mentioning that the UPC is nowhere to be found in the compilations for the first two sessions. Through this interaction we see the importance of the work of committees in the assessment of the application of treaties.
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