European Union or all African Group states will vote the same way. In this case, NGOs will need to lobby for the support of the group. Group or block voting is increasing. This is a serious concern because positions are becoming polarized with greater North–South divides appearing every year. When such group voting comes into play with regard to country-specific Resolutions, the seriousness of the human rights situation in that country may not play a significant role in the outcome of the Resolution. As a result, the strongest Resolutions usually concern diplomatically-isolated countries. Once adopted by the CHR, all Resolutions go to the ECOSOC for approval and then to the General Assembly. Networking The CHR provides a good opportunity for networking with experts and other NGOs. Use the coffee shop and restaurant to make informal contacts and set up meetings. Your presence in Geneva provides the opportunity to meet with officials and experts working in all the Genevabased agencies, such as the ILO, OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNHCR, etc. UN SRs (see section 4.2) present their reports to the CHR and they often hold briefings for NGOs. Every lunchtime there are meetings organized by NGOs on a variety of issues to which experts are often invited to speak. These events are useful for making contacts with people who could be helpful in your work. You may wish to organize a meeting with other NGOs working on similar areas to inform others about an issue or discuss solutions to a problem. 4.2 Special procedures The purpose of special procedures is to monitor human rights problems and report on them to the CHR. The special procedures consist of an individual (called a Special Rapporteur or Special Representative [SR] or Independent Expert [IE]) or a group of individuals (a working group).37 Some of the working groups and SRs deal with thematic mandates, that is, specific human rights problems such as disappearances, education or racism, while other working groups and SRs address country-specific situations focusing on a state where there are serious human rights violations. See Annex 6.5 for a complete list of country-specific and thematic mandates. There is no specific mandate for minorities; however, many special procedures have addressed minority issues. Minorities should use all of the special procedures relevant to their concerns. Bringing minority issues to the attention of a variety of different special procedures may contribute to mainstreaming minority protection in the UN. Unlike the treaty monitoring bodies, which can only address issues in states that have ratified the particular MINORITY RIGHTS: A GUIDE TO UNITED NATIONS PROCEDURES AND INSTITUTIONS treaty, the special procedures can examine the situation in all states. This makes them particularly useful for NGOs in states that are not a party to the main human rights treaties. Special procedures can bring situations that other human rights mechanisms cannot address to international attention. NGOs play an important role in the special procedures system. They provide information to the special procedures on both general human rights situations and on specific violations, and are often vital in advocating for the establishment of a special procedure on a specific theme or country. The effectiveness of the special procedures, and their openness to NGOs, is to a large extent dependent on the individual appointed to the position. All of these experts – whether IEs or SRs – serve in their personal capacity for a maximum of six years and are expected to be politically independent; however, they are appointed by the states of the CHR; appointment is a political process. They are not paid for their work and receive only limited research and administrative support from the OHCHR. All experts produce reports for the CHR and the GA on their work. (These reports can be found by selecting the relevant link on the thematic mandate page: http://www.unhchr.ch/ html/menu2/7/b/tm.htm or the country mandate page: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/a/cm.htm of the OHCHR website.) The CHR defines the scope of the mandate and may request IEs to include certain themes in their reports. NGOs can lobby for the CHR to request that particular attention be paid to minorities. The mandates of the different special procedures vary; however, there are a number of common elements. (The mandate of any particular special procedure can be found in the CHR Resolution that created it; see the OHCHR website.) Information gathering Most special procedures research issues relating to their mandate using information received from governments, other international institutions, NGOs and UN agencies. The procedures most obviously relating to minority issues include the SR on racism, the SR on freedom of religion, and for minorities who also identify as indigenous, the SR on indigenous peoples. However, many other special procedures address issues of concern to minorities and these procedures could also be of value. In addition, encouraging special procedures that have not as yet paid sufficient attention to minority concerns is important in order to raise the visibility of minorities within the UN system. Two examples of thematic special procedures addressing minority concerns are the SRs on health and on adequate housing. The first report, in 2003, of the SR on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, emphasized non29