UN: Reviews of Finland’s periodic reports on the implementation of international human rights covenants in 2021
6.10.2020
COVID-19 pandemic to delay the review of Finland’s periodic reports by UN committees
The review of periodic reports on the implementation of the UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Finnish treaty series 6/1976, ICESCR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Finnish treaty series 7 and 8/1976, ICCPR) will be postponed until 2021. Both reports were to be reviewed at Geneva in October 2020. Due to exceptional arrangements necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, treaty bodies will not scrutinise periodic reports this year. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has announced that the review of Finland’s 7th periodic report on the ICESCR has been postponed until the 69th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which, according to an initial estimate, will be held between 15 February and 5 March 2021. The review of the 7th periodic report on the implementation of the ICCPR has been postponed until the forthcoming session of the Human Rights Committee in 2021. The more detailed session times will be announced later.
It is possible that Finland’s combined 5th and 6th periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Finnish treaty series 59 and 60/1991/; CRC) and Finland’s first report on the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (Finnish treaty series 40 and 41/2012; OPSC) will also be reviewed in 2021. Additionally, Finland’s 8th periodic report on the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Finnish treaty series 59 and 60/1989; CAT), which is due for submission in late 2020, will already be examined in 2021. No preliminary information is currently available on when Finland’s first periodic report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Finnish treaty series 26 and 27/2016, CRPD) submitted in 2019 will be reviewed. The periodic reports can be accessed on the Ministry for Foreign Affair's website at: |