HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE CONCLUDES EIGHTH SESSION

The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee today concluded its eighth session during which it adopted seven recommendations to the Human Rights Council and adopted both its annual programme of work including new priorities, and its report to the Council.

During the session the Committee, a body of 18 independent experts serving as a think-tank to the Human Rights Council, worked on requests addressed to it by the Human Rights Council, issues which included the right to food, promotion of the right of peoples to peace, international cooperation and international solidarity, traditional values of humankind, and terrorist hostage-taking.

In concluding remarks Latif Hüseynov, Advisory Committee Chairperson, said that regardless of the full and challenging week, Committee members could be proud to submit to the forthcoming session of the Human Rights Council the finalized study on advancement of the rights of peasants, the finalized study on severe malnutrition and childhood diseases with children affected by Noma as an example, and the final study on the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights.

Chung Chinsung, Rapporteur, said the Committee had addressed a variety of interesting topics during its eighth session, with the active participation of observers, including representatives of Governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil society. Tangible progress was being made on some of the requests stemming from Human Rights Council resolutions and three final reports were adopted.

In its recommendations to the Human Rights Council, the Committee submitted to the Council the final study on the advancement of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. On human rights and international solidarity, the Committee designated two of its members to participate in a workshop. Concerning the promotion of the right of peoples to peace, the Committee asked the Council to request the drafting group to finalize its work on the draft declaration on the right of peoples to peace. On the right to food, the Committee submitted to the Human Rights Council the study on severe malnutrition and childhood diseases with children affected by Noma as an example. The Committee also recommended that the Council ask it to complete the study on the promotion of human rights of the urban poor: strategies and best practices, and that it prepare a preliminary study on rural women and their enjoyment of the right to food.

Concerning human rights and issues related to terrorist hostage-taking, the Committee recommended that the Human Rights Council take note of the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on the progress of work on terrorist hostage-taking, and that it request the Advisory Committee to submit an interim report to the Council. On the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind, the Committee recommended that the Council request the drafting group to submit the revised preliminary study on this issue to the Advisory Committee. With regard to the enhancement of international cooperation, the Committee recommended that the Council approve the final report on the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights.

All recommendations are available on the Advisory Committee’s website under its documentation page.

The Advisory Committee will hold its ninth session from 6 to 10 August 2012.

Recommendations

In the recommendation on the rights of peasants, the Committee submits to the Human Rights Council the final study on the advancement of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, and asks it to consider the recommendations made in the study, in particular the creation of a new special procedures mandate and development of a new human rights instrument on the right of peasants and other people working in rural areas.

In the recommendation on human rights and international solidarity, the Committee designates two of its members to participation in the workshop convened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on gender implications of international solidarity, the impact of a right to international solidarity and the role of international solidarity in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

In the recommendation on the promotion of the right of peoples to peace, the Committee asks the Council to request the drafting group to finalize its work on the draft declaration on the right of peoples to peace in the light of the discussions held by the Advisory Committee at its eighth session and to submit it to the Human Rights Council at its twentieth session.

In the recommendation on the right to food, the Committee submits to the Human Rights Council the study on severe malnutrition and childhood diseases with children affected by Noma as an example. The Committee also recommends that the Council welcome the preliminary study on the promotion of human rights of the urban poor: strategies and best practices, and that it assign the completion of the study to the drafting group on the right to food to be presented to the Advisory committee at its ninth session. The Committee recommended that the Council welcome the concept note for the preliminary study on rural women and the right to food and that it assign the preparation of a preliminary study on rural women and their enjoyment of the right to food to the drafting group on the right to food to be presented to the Advisory Committee at its ninth session.

In the recommendation on human rights and issues related to terrorist hostage-taking, the Committee decides to establish a drafting group and recommends that the Human Rights Council take note of the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on the progress of work on terrorist hostage-taking, and that it request the Advisory Committee to submit an interim report to the Council at its twenty-second session, and a final report at its twenty-fourth session.

In the recommendation on promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind, the Committee recommends that the Council take note of the comments and suggestions made during the discussions on the preliminary study prepared by Mr. Kartashkin and that it request the drafting group to submit the revised preliminary study to the Advisory Committee at its ninth session for further consideration.

In the recommendation on enhancement of international cooperation, the Committee recommends that the Council approve the final report on the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights and submits the final report.


For use of the information media; not an official record

AC12/007E