HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONCLUDES FIRST SESSION

The Human Rights Council has concluded its first session, which began on 19 June, adopting eight resolutions, three decisions and two statements by the President. During the two-week session, the new body addressed a range of issues, exchanging views with representatives of some special procedures, the Sub-Commission and treaty bodies, holding substantive debates on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006; the situation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine; support for the Abuja Agreement; avoiding incitement to hatred and violence for reasons of religion or race; the human rights of migrants; and the role of human rights defenders in promoting and protecting human rights.

On the last day, the President of the Council, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, said that, following a request signed by 21 Member States of the 47 Member States of the Council, a Special Session on the situation of human rights in Palestinian occupied territory would be held. It was later announced that the session would be held on Wednesday 5 July, at 3 pm in room XX.

During the session, the Council discussed the reports of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the Working Group on the Right to Development, the Working Group on the elaboration of an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Working Group on the elaboration of a Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the Working Group on a draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It also discussed how to set up the modalities of the universal periodic review mechanism, which would periodically review the situation of human rights in all countries, and the review of the
mandates and mechanisms which it inherited from the former Commission on Human Rights. Finally, the Council discussed its programme of work for its future sessions and debated the issue of dialogue and cooperation on human rights, which included human rights education and learning, advisory services, technical assistance and capacity-building.

After its deliberations, the Council decided to adopt the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Both texts were forwarded to the General Assembly for adoption. The Council also welcomed the entry into force on 22 June 2006 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which was adopted on 18 December 2002 by the General Assembly in its resolution 57/199.

With regards to the situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories, the Council adopted a resolution in which it decided to undertake substantive consideration of the human rights violations and implications of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and other occupied Arab territories at its next session and to incorporate this issue in its following sessions.

Subsequent to a discussion on whether the mandates and mechanisms which it had inherited from the former Commission on Human Rights should be extended, the Council decided to extend the mandate of the Open-ended Working Group on an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for a period of two years; decided to renew the mandate of the Working Group on the Right to Development for a period of one year; decided to extend for one year the mandates and the mandate-holders of all the Commission’s special procedures, of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights as well as the procedure established in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1503; and decided to extend the mandate of the Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action for three years.

In the context of rationalising the mandates and mechanisms of the former Commission, the Council also decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group to formulate concrete recommendations on the issue of reviewing and, where necessary, improving and rationalizing all mandates, mechanisms, functions and responsibilities in order to maintain a system of special procedures, expert advice and a complaint procedure, through open-ended, intersessional, transparent, well scheduled and inclusive consultations, with the participation of all stakeholders. It also decided to establish an intersessional open-ended intergovernmental working group to develop the modalities of the universal periodic review mechanism.

The Council also requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to select, in close consultations with the regional groups, five highly qualified experts to study the content and scope of the substantive gaps in the existing international instruments to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights were asked to report to the next session on this phenomenon.

Jan Eliasson, President of the United Nations General Assembly, speaking at the opening of the session, said they now had a Council that was built on cooperation and dialogue, yet principled and strongly anchored in human rights law. It was a Council that would review all Member States’ fulfilment of their human rights obligations, thereby ensuring equal treatment of all. In their task, the Council should be guided by a spirit of renewed cooperation and of upholding the highest standards of human rights.

In his opening statement to the Council, Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said the Council’s work should mark a clean break from the past, and that should be apparent in the way it developed and applied the universal periodic review mechanism; and in its willingness to confront hard issues and engage in difficult discussions, where these were necessary to remedy or to prevent human rights violations. The Council should never be allowed to become caught up in political point-scoring or petty manoeuvres; it should always think of those whose rights were denied.

Also at the opening meeting, Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said great hopes had been placed in the new Council, which should herald the way to a new period of affirmation of the ideals and standards of human rights, towards a period that would ensure their effective implementation. When national protection systems failed, the task of the Council was to acknowledge and respond to the despair or the outrage generated by abuse, inequity, and discrimination. It was uniquely positioned to redress the shortcomings of the past, as it was empowered to devise the means that would prevent abuses, protect the most vulnerable, and expose perpetrators.

In the high-level segment, which took place over the first four days of the session, the Council was addressed by high-ranking representatives, who, among other things, underscored the importance of the new body and its duty to become the world’s foremost human rights body without falling into the errors of the Commission on Human Rights; the need to reaffirm the indivisibility, universality and interdependence of all human rights; gender equality; and national efforts to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights. Many speakers also pointed out that the eyes of the world rested on the Council, and that many who had suffered from human rights violations were expecting the Council to help in redressing their plight.

In presenting her annual report, High Commissioner Louise Arbour said poverty continued to be the most serious, invidious and widespread human rights violation to be confronted. Next to poverty, discrimination constituted another widespread source of disempowerment and of denial of rights, freedom and dignity. The proliferation of acts and expressions contributing to the exacerbation of cultural and religious tensions was producing new cleavages within and between communities, and had recently led to unprecedented levels of violence and destruction, on the ashes of which trust and tolerance had now to be rebuilt. She also said that the willingness of Governments to include the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in their efforts to promote and protect human rights should be viewed as the most positive indicator of a Government’s serious commitment to the realization of rights.

The next ordinary session of the Council will be held from 18 September to 6 October, when it will take up the reports of the special procedures, the reports, studies and other documents prepared by the Secretariat, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or the United Nations Secretary-General that were requested by the Commission on Human Rights, the report of the Sub-Commission, and the report of the 1503 procedure. It will also hear progress reports of intersessional mechanisms on the universal periodic review, and the review of mandates, mechanisms, functions and responsibilities. Other substantive issues will include an update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on her report, and other issues related to the promotion and protection of human rights, including initiatives, issues, decisions and resolutions by delegations.

The Special Session on the situation of human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories will be held on Wednesday 5 July, at 3 pm in room XX.


Resolutions

Adoption of the Agenda and Organisation of Work:

Under this agenda item, the Council:

-- on Hostage-Taking, reaffirmed that all acts of hostage-taking, wherever and by whomever committed, were a serious crime aimed at the destruction of human rights and were, under any circumstances, unjustifiable; strongly condemned all acts of hostage-taking anywhere in the world; and reaffirmed that hostage-taking calls for concerted efforts on the part of all States and the international community, acting in full compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights standards, in order to bring such abhorrent practices to an end.

Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 Entitled “Human Rights Council”

Under this agenda item, the Council:

-- on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; and recommended to the General Assembly the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

-- on the Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights to elaborate a draft declaration in accordance with paragraph 5 of the General Assembly resolution 49/214 of 23 December 1994, adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as proposed by the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights to elaborate a draft declaration in accordance with paragraph 5 of the General Assembly resolution 49/214 of 23 December 1994 in annex I to the report of the Working Group on its eleventh session (E/CN.4/2006/79); and recommended to the General Assembly that it adopt the proposed resolution.

-- on the Open-ended Working Group on an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, welcomed the report of the Open-ended Working Group with a view to considering options regarding the elaboration of an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/CN.4/2006/47); decided to extend the mandate of the Working Group for a period of two years in order to elaborate an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

-- on the Right to Development, endorsed the conclusions and recommendations adopted by consensus by the Working Group on the Right to Development at its seventh session in January 2006; decided to renew the mandate of the Working Group on the Right to Development for a period of one year; requested the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, or its successor expert-advice mechanism, to pursue its ongoing work on the right to development in accordance with the relevant provisions of General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights resolutions, and in compliance with decisions to be taken by the Human Rights Council.

-- on Extension by the Human Rights Council of all mandates, mechanisms, functions and responsibilities of the Commission on Human Rights, decided to extend exceptionally for one year, subject to the review to be undertaken by the Council in conformity with General Assembly resolution 60/251, the mandates and the mandate-holders of all the Commission’s special procedures, of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights as well as the procedure established in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1503.

-- on the Universal Periodic Review, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an intersessional open-ended intergovernmental working group to develop the modalities of the universal periodic review mechanism.

-- on implementation of paragraph 6 of General Assembly Resolution 60/251, decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group to formulate concrete recommendations on the issue of reviewing and, where necessary, improving and rationalizing all mandates, mechanisms, functions and responsibilities in order to maintain a system of special procedures, expert advice and a complaint procedure, through open-ended, intersessional, transparent, well scheduled and inclusive consultations, with the participation of all stakeholders.

-- in a statement by the President on the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, welcomed the entry into force, on 22 June 2006, of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, following ratification by 20 States.

-- on the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, endorsed the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action on its fourth session; and requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to select, in close consultations with the regional groups, five highly qualified experts to study the content and scope of the substantive gaps in the existing international instruments to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The mandate of the Working Group was extended for three years.

-- on the Human Rights Situation in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab territories, requested the relevant Special Rapporteurs to report to the next session of the Council on the Israeli human rights violations in occupied Palestine; and decided to undertake substantive consideration of the human rights violations and implications of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and other occupied Arab territories at its next session and to incorporate this issue in its following sessions.

-- on Incitement to Racial and Religious Hatred and the Promotion of Tolerance, the Council on Human Rights decided to request the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report to the next session on this phenomenon.

Programme of Work for the First Year

Under this agenda item, the Council:

-- on the Draft Framework for a Programme of Work of the Human Rights Council for the First Year, adopted a framework for a programme of work of the Human Rights Council for the first year. The next session of the Council will be held from 18 September to 6 October.

Report to the General Assembly on the First Session of the Council

Under this agenda item, the Council:

-- adopted the Report to the General Assembly on the first session of the Council ad referendum.

Texts of Conventions and Declarations Adopted

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance affirms the right of any victim to know the truth about the circumstances of an enforced disappearance, and the fate of the disappeared person, and the right to freedom to seek, receive and impart information to this end. No one should be subjected to enforced disappearance. Each State party should take appropriate measures to ensure that enforced disappearance constituted an offence under its criminal law. The widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance constituted a crime against humanity as defined in applicable international law and shall attract the consequences provided for under such applicable international law. Each State party shall make the offence of enforced disappearance punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account its extreme seriousness.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples says indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law. Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity. Indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

For use of information media; not an official record