For this post a few explanations and background informations are required:
IHRLS: International Human Rights Society, headquartered at Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. This university has a special program to the International Human Rights (PIHRL) and a Comitee that is working on a so-called Shadow Report on Human Rights in Cape Verde.
ICCPR: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Together with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it forms the basic human rights treaties of the United Nations.
All countries in the world are reviewed periodically by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for compliance with the various human rights. In the case of political and civil rights, the Human Rights Comittee is responsible for the examination.
In a first step of the examination, the respective government is invited to deliver a written report on the human rights situation in the country. NGOs are also invited to deliver an initial list of topics they felt should be treated by the Human Rights Committee and further on deliver a so-called shadow report on these topics.
At a meeting of the Human Rights Committee to which representatives of the government and NGO’s are invited, the proposed topics are being discussed. After this meeting the Human Rights Committee publishes a report and urges the government to appropriate measures to improve the human rights situation in their country.
2012 Cabo Verde is examined for compliance of the political and civil rights. The Cape Verdean government has failed to send a report to the Comitee by the end of November 2011.
Delta Cultura Cabo Verde, together with the International Human Rights Law Society, submitted a list of relevant topics that we find the Comittee should examine. The list can be seen as a pdf and is also published on the UN website.
Also due to time constraints, we focused on two issues on this list: first, the corporal punishment still used in many Cape Verdean schools and secondly the widespread custom of sexual relationships between teachers and students.
We are currently working on the Shadow Report. Deadline is mid of Febuary. Our foremost assignment are the affidavits of victims of the two issues of our list of relevant topics.
More on this topic and of course the publication of the report will follow soon!