United Nations Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights - Call for Applications

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) informs that Ms. Farida Shaheed will end her mandate as United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights at the end of October 2015. A new mandate holder will be appointed at the end of the 30th session of the Human Rights Council, scheduled to take place on 14 September – 2 October 2015.

All relevant information on the selection, appointment and nomination of special procedures mandate holders may be found at:

www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Nominations.aspx

Please note that "special procedures" of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. Their specific functions are defined in the HRC resolutions creating or extending their mandate. Please see:

www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/MandateInfo.aspx

Eligible candidates are highly qualified individuals who possess established competence, relevant expertise and extensive professional experience in the field of human rights. For more information about the criteria, please see resolution 5/1 of the Human Rights Council. The position of special procedures mandate holder involves substantial time commitment, approximately three months per year, and includes examining, monitoring, advising and publicly reporting on either specific country situations (country mandates), or on thematic issues in all parts of the world (thematic mandates). Activities of special procedures also include: undertaking country visits, acting on individual cases and concerns of a broader, structural nature, conducting studies, and engaging in general advocacy activities. All special procedures report annually to the HRC. The cultural rights mandate also reports to the General Assembly. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) provides support to special procedures mandate holders.

Those appointed serve in their personal capacity. They are not United Nations (UN) staff members, they are not based in UN offices in Geneva or at another UN location, and they do not receive salary or other financial compensation, except for travel expenses and daily subsistence allowance of "experts on mission".

For more information about the specific mandate on cultural rights, please consult:

www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/SRCulturalRightsIndex.aspx