The Consultation continues to find appalling human tragedies caused by deportation and exclusion policies which separated fathers or mothers from each other and from their children in Canada, US and Mexico. The emotional, psychological and financial hardship wrought on those left behind was enormous. This brief has already called for special attention to the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in the work of all human rights mechanisms. This extends from UN mechanisms to national institutions. Treaty bodies, national institutions and regional arrangements should pay special attention to the situation of the human rights of groups of particular concern to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, the UN Commission and Sub-Commission.
National institutions can play an important role in promoting international rights.
ICCR encourages Canada to ratify the Convention. ICCR welcomes the increased coordination of the UN treaty complaints mechanisms. However, serious implementation of the existing human rights treaties means making sure the UN has the resources to do the job. For example, ICCR understands from informal discussions that the concerns of Australia to ensure timely functioning of the treaty complaints mechanisms could be accomplished by a five fold increase in resources. The capacity of the UN human rights treaty bodies to do their work is the most fundamental concern.