5 February 2018, Geneva It has been almost seventy years since the nations of the world adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the preamble of which reminds all of us that the ‘recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace …
There is a growing recognition that as the Human Rights Council approaches its twelfth anniversary there is a need to undertake an inclusive, cross regional and structured dialogue to review how States might strengthen the fulfilment of the Council’s mandate and purpose, as set down in GA resolution 60/251 . Following an important event organised by the Netherlands, UK, Latvia, Rwanda and Mexico on …
On Tuesday 5th December, the Human Rights Council (Council) held a special session on the ‘human rights situation of the minority Rohingya Muslim population and other minorities in the Rakhine State of Myanmar’. The special Session was requested on 28 November 2017, via two official letters written by H.E Mr Shameem Ahsan, Ambassador of Bangladesh; and H.E Dr Abdulaziz Alwasil, Ambassador of Saudi …
On 20th October 2017, the President of the Human Rights Council, H.E. Mr Joaquín Alexander Maza Martelli, Ambassador of El Salvador, called an extraordinary organisational meeting to try to agree a series of modest changes to the Council’s methods of work and, in turn, to agree on a request to the General Assembly (GA) for more resources and meeting time. This …
The UN Human Rights Council falls seriously short in its mandate to ensure effective enjoyment by all of all human rights. It needs real reform—not another reform process. With the close of the UN Human Rights Council’s 36th session—the third consecutive session without substantive engagement by the US—an air of unease continues to hang over the body. The US threat to withdraw from …
16 February 2017 In 2015, on the occasion of its 35th anniversary, the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances traveled to our country to hold periodic meetings. It held meetings with human rights organisations and various State bodies working on the ground to prevent and guarantee justice in each case of enforced disappearances. The expert group concluded that Argentina is …
The ongoing process of strengthening the UN Treaty Body system provides a welcome opportunity to reflect on some of our hidden assumptions. The Treaty Bodies have over time gravitated towards Geneva, and it now appears to be the assumption that this is simply the way things should be done. Notwithstanding, we want to argue that reform of the human rights Treaty …
When UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, addressed the Human Rights Council for the first time earlier this year, he did not mince his words: ‘Disregard for human rights is a disease, and it’s a disease that is spreading.’ He appealed to the Council to be ‘part of the cure,’ especially through being ‘pivotal for prevention – sounding early warnings of crises.’ …
The central importance of the Council’s mandate, as set down in GA resolution 60/251, to provide ‘advisory services, technical assistance and capacity-building … in consultation with and with the consent of Member States concerned,’ is, I believe, self-evident. For many developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the task of engaging, in a meaningful …
Wednesday 7th June 2017, Geneva As expected, all the talk on day one of the 35th session of the UN Human Rights Council was on the visit of America’s Ambassador to the United Nations, H.E. Ms Nikki Haley, and the message she brought about the Trump Administration’s views and position on the Council and the US’s role therein. In the end, Ambassador Haley’s …
