HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADOPTS NINE RESOLUTIONS ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS AND OTHER ISSUES

The Human Rights Council this morning adopted nine resolutions concerning the composition of the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights, human rights of persons with disabilities: national frameworks for the promotion and protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities, alternative care for children, arbitrary detention, enforced or involuntary disappearances, the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, the right to food, and on human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality.

On the composition of the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, adopted by a vote of 33 in favour, 12 against and two abstentions, the Council requests the High Commissioner to work on the broadest geographic diversity of her staff, by enhancing the implementation of measures to achieve a better representation of countries and regions which are unrepresented or underrepresented, particularly from developing world, while considering applying a zero growth cap on the representation of countries and regions already over-represented in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights, the Council urges all actors on the international scene to build an international order based on inclusion, justice, equality and equity, human dignity, mutual understanding and promotion of and respect for cultural diversity and universal human rights, and to reject all doctrines of exclusion based on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; and requests the High Commissioner to consult States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations on ways and means, including obstacles and challenges, as well as possible proposals to overcome them, for enhancement of international cooperation and dialogue in the United Nations human rights machinery, including the Human Rights Council, and to present a report on her findings to the Council at the relevant session in 2010.

On human rights of persons with disabilities: national frameworks for the promotion and protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities, the Council decides that its next annual interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities will be held at its thirteenth session, and that it will focus on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a study to enhance awareness on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention.

On the draft United Nations guidelines for the appropriate use and conditions of alternative care for children, the Council welcomes the progress made during consultations on the draft guidelines and decides to continue efforts to take action on them at its eleventh session.

On arbitrary detention, the Council takes note of the report of the Working Group, including recommendations contained therein; requests States concerned to take account of the Working Group’s views; also encourages all States to ensure that immigrants in an irregular situation and asylum-seekers are protected from arbitrary arrest and detention; requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the Working Group receives all necessary assistance and resources for the effective fulfilment of its mandate.

On enforced or involuntary disappearances, the Council takes note of the report submitted by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and of the recommendations contained therein; stresses the importance of the work of the Working Group; calls on the Governments that have not provided for a long period of time substantive replies concerning claims of enforced disappearances in their countries to do so and to give due consideration to relevant recommendations concerning this subject made in the reports of the Working Group; urges States to prevent the occurrence of enforced disappearances, including by guaranteeing that any person deprived of liberty is held solely in officially recognized and supervised places of detention, and to take steps to provide adequate protection to witnesses of enforced or involuntary disappearances, human rights defenders acting against enforced disappearances, and the lawyers and families of disappeared persons against any intimidation, persecution, reprisals or ill-treatment to which they might be subjected.

On the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, adopted by a vote of 32 in favour, 12 against and three abstentions, the Council requests the Office of the High Commissioner, as a matter of priority, to publicize the adverse effects of the activities of mercenaries and of private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and other military security-related services on the international market and to render advisory services to States that are affected by those activities; requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue supporting the Working Group convening regional governmental consultations on this matter, with the remaining three to be held before the end of 2010.

On the right to food, the Council considers it intolerable that more than 6 million children still die every year from hunger-related illnesses before their fifth birthday, that there are at least 963 million undernourished people in the world; expresses its concern that women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger, food insecurity and poverty; requests the Advisory Committee to undertake a study on discrimination in the context of the right to food, including identification of good practices of anti-discriminatory policies and strategies, and to report on it to the thirteenth session of the Human Rights Council; and requests the Special Rapporteur to submit a report on the implementation of the present resolution to the Council during its thirteenth session.

On human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, the Council reaffirms that the right to a nationality of every human person is a fundamental human right; calls upon all States to refrain from taking discriminatory measures and from enacting or maintaining legislation that would arbitrarily deprive persons of their nationality on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, especially if such measures and legislation render a person stateless; urges all States to adopt and implement nationality legislation with a view to avoiding statelessness.

Speaking in introduction of resolutions were Cuba, New Zealand, Brazil, France and the Russian Federation.

Speaking in explanations of the vote were Canada, Germany on behalf of the European Union, and Switzerland.

The next meeting of the Council will be at 3 p.m. this afternoon, when it will continue to take action on draft decisions and resolutions.


Action on Draft Resolutions Under the Agenda Item on the Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.21/Rev.1) on the composition of the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, adopted by a vote of 33 in favour, 12 against, and two abstentions, the Council, concerned that despite the repeated requests to correct the unbalanced geographical distribution of the staff, the situation remains that one region accounts for more than half of the posts of the Office of the High Commissioner and for more posts than the four remaining regional groups combined, requests the High Commissioner to work on the broadest geographic diversity of her staff, by enhancing the implementation of measures to achieve a better representation of countries and regions which are unrepresented or underrepresented, particularly from the developing world, while considering applying a zero growth cap on the representation of countries and regions already over-represented in the OHCHR; welcomes efforts towards the achievement of a gender balance in the composition of the staff and the decision to continue paying special attention to this issue; underlines the importance of continuing promoting geographical diversity in the recruitment of, and promotion to high-level and professional posts, including senior managers, as a principle of the staffing policies of the Office of the High Commissioner; affirms the vital importance of geographical balance in the composition of the staff of OHCHR, taking into account the significance of national and regional specificities and various historic, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as of different political, economic and legal systems, to the promotion and protection of the universality of human rights; encourages the General Assembly to consider further measures for promoting desirable ranges of geographical balance in the staff of the OHCHR; underlines the priority importance that the Assembly continue providing support and guidance to the High Commissioner in the ongoing process of improvement of the geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office; and requests the High Commissioner to submit a comprehensive and updated report to the Council in its thirteenth session in 2010, with a special focus on further measures taken to correct the imbalance in geographical composition of the staff of the Office.


The results of the vote were as follows:


In favour (33): Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Uruguay, and Zambia.

Against (12):Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.

Abstentions (2):Chile, and Republic of Korea.


MARIA DEL CARMEN HERRERA (Cuba), introducing the draft resolution on the composition of the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that Angola had joined the group of co-sponsors. The universality of human rights had to be integrated in various systems and already at the World Conference in 1993 endorsement was recognized that this diversity had to be taken into account. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had a vital role to play in the respect for this diversity worldwide. It was not a secondary matter when they took a look at the geographical composition of that Office. They needed to have an Office for all and of all. Despite the efforts made and the commitment of the High Commissioner, the situation of imbalance continued to be a matter of concern. One region accounted for more than half of the posts. The draft resolution recognized the efforts made and called for additional measures to achieve a better balance, especially measures against the under-representation of developing countries.

TERRY CORMIER (Canada), in an explanation of the vote before the vote, welcomed the important efforts and progress to address the equitable geographical composition of the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. However, Canada regretted that the resolution duplicated and contradicted the process that was underway in the General Assembly, which adopted by consensus only three months ago a resolution on the matter. The current draft resolution undermined genuine efforts already underway in appropriate fora, and Canada stressed that the organs with the jurisdiction and the expertise to solve this issue already existed and should be addressed with regard to geographical representation in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Canada supported a centralized approach rather than a piecemeal approach to human resources management, and supported strong human resource policies. Canada also regretted that its concerns were not taken on board with the draft resolution, and for that reason Canada would vote against this draft resolution.

KONRAD SCHARINGER, (Germany, speaking on behalf of the European Union in an explanation of the vote before the vote, said according to Chapter 4 of the United Nations Charter, the General Assembly was the only competent body to address issues of administration, budget and resources. The European Union respected the prerogatives and responsibilities vested in the Secretary-General by the Charter of the United Nations, which stipulated that the permanent basis for the employment of staff should be to secure the highest standards of competency, among other factors. The recent report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the issue noted the considerable progress made on improving the geographical distribution of staff in the Office. The European Union also noted the Secretary-General's efforts to improve geographical and gender distribution of staff across the United Nations. The General Assembly had the responsibility for budget analysis and adopting rules on the geographical distribution of posts, financed by the regular budget. Thus, the European Union had a problem with operative paragraph four of the present resolution, as the Human Rights Council had no competency to recommend changes in the employment procedure. The General Assembly adopted in December 2008, by consensus, a resolution in which it was emphasised that the system of geographical ranges was designed to cover countries. The position of the European Union was unchanged on this issue, and therefore the European Union wished for a vote, and would vote against the resolution.

NATALIE KOHLI (Switzerland), speaking in an explanation of the vote before the vote, said that in her report the High Commissioner outlined that clear progress had been achieved toward a geographic balance of the composition of the staff. The Office was part of the United Nations Secretariat. Issues should be treated exclusivity in the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly. Contrary to existing rules were the zero growth cap and geographical representation based on region. It was also not possible to achieve a fair geographical distribution in each unit. The concerns of Switzerland had not been taken into account during the consultations and Switzerland would vote no.

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.23) on enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights, adopted without a vote, the Council urges all actors on the international scene to build an international order based on inclusion, justice, equality and equity, human dignity, mutual understanding and promotion of and respect for cultural diversity and universal human rights, and to reject all doctrines of exclusion based on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; takes note of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights (A/HRC/10/26); calls upon Member States, specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations to continue to carry out a constructive dialogue and consultations for the enhancement of understanding and the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and encourages non-governmental organizations to contribute actively to this endeavour; and requests the High Commissioner to consult States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations on ways and means, including obstacles and challenges, as well as possible proposals to overcome them, for enhancement of international cooperation and dialogue in the United Nations human rights machinery, including the Human Rights Council, and to present a report on her findings to the Council at the relevant session in 2010.

MARIA DEL CARMEN HERRERA (Cuba), speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement to introduce the draft resolution on the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights, said that the enhancement of international cooperation was founded in both the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration, which ensured human rights for all. The Human Rights Commission and consequently the Human Rights Council adopted a number of successful draft resolutions introduced by the Non-Aligned Movement on the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights. The importance of fostering international cooperation in the promotion of human rights was an essential pillar upon which the Human Rights Council was established. Respect for the principles of universality, cooperation and constructive dialogue was key to remedying the shortcomings of the past. This text was similar to those traditionally adopted; it was action oriented and sought to collect information on ways and means to foster international cooperation in order to give a broader approach to cooperation in the field of human rights, and to face and overcome the challenges in international cooperation. The Non-Aligned Movement hoped that this draft resolution would be adopted as had past resolutions been adopted by consensus.

Action on Draft Resolutions Under the Agenda Item on the Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.13) on Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities: National Frameworks for the Promotion and Protection of the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted without a vote as orally revised, the Council decides that its next annual interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities will be held at its thirteenth session, and that it will focus on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a study to enhance awareness on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including States, regional organizations, civil society organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities, and national human rights institutions, and requests that the study be available on the website of the Office in an accessible format, prior to the thirteenth session of the Council; further requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to elaborate and disseminate training and awareness-raising material on the rights of persons with disabilities and the implementation of the Convention, and to continue to contribute, as required, to national efforts in the development of tools to mainstream the rights of persons with disabilities; and encourages organizations of persons with disabilities, national monitoring bodies and human rights institutions to participate actively in the session referred to above, as well as in regular and special sessions of the Human Rights Council and its working groups.

AMY LAURENSON (New Zealand), introducing resolution L.13, said the resolution was presented on the basis that the Council had an important role to play in ensuring the enjoyment of their human rights by persons with disabilities on a full and equal basis. The present initiative focused on the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities on a national level, including the installation of a framework for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It included a sound legislative framework, training programmes for public officials, effective access to justice, participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making, and an exchange of knowledge. The need to undertake a review of all existing legislation and repeal or abolish any that was discriminatory was also included. A report was requested from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on national monitoring mechanisms. The Council's work on persons with disabilities should continue to be focused, inclusive, and progressive.

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.18) on draft United Nations guidelines for the appropriate use and conditions of alternative care for children, adopted without a vote, the Council welcomes the progress made during consultations on the draft United Nations guidelines for the appropriate use and conditions of alternative care for children and decides to continue efforts to take action on them at its eleventh session.

ALEXANDRE GUIDO LOPES PAROLA (Brazil), introducing the draft resolution, said that Brazil welcomed all delegations that had contributed to the discussions and had co-sponsored the resolution. Brazil would like to take action on this issue at the eleventh session of the Human Rights Council and hoped that the draft resolution would be adopted by consensus.

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.19) on arbitrary detention, adopted without a vote as orally revised, the Council stresses the importance of the work of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; takes note of the report of the Working Group (A/HRC/10/21), including recommendations contained therein; requests States concerned to take account of the Working Group’s views; encourages all States, inter alia, to respect and promote the right of anyone who is arrested or detained on a criminal charge to be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and to be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release, and to ensure that the conditions of pre-trial detention do not undermine the fairness of the trial; encourages all States concerned to ensure that any measures taken to combat terrorism comply with their obligations that ensure protection against arbitrary detention; also encourages all States to ensure that immigrants in an irregular situation and asylum-seekers are protected from arbitrary arrest and detention; notes with concern the comments made by the Working Group in its report on the effects caused by corruption on the effective protection of human rights, including arbitrary detention; notes with concern that a persistent proportion of urgent appeals of the Working Group has been left unanswered and urges the States concerned to give the necessary attention to the urgent appeals addressed to them by the Working Group; notes with satisfaction that the Working Group has been informed of the release of some of the individuals whose situation has been brought to its attention, while deploring the many cases that have not yet been resolved; and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the Working Group receives all necessary assistance and resources for the effective fulfilment of its mandate.

JEAN-BAPTISTE MATTEI (France), introducing the draft resolution on arbitrary detention, said that in reference to resolution 6/4 of the Human Rights Council which renewed the mandate of the Working Group on arbitrary detention, and the new annual report presented by the Working Group, the resolution aimed to encourage States to take the appropriate measures to protect the rights of all persons from arbitrary detention, in conformity with the obligations incumbent on States under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the relevant international instruments on civil and political rights which States were party to. The text reaffirmed the fundamental obligation incumbent on States, and the necessary measures to be taken for persons in situations or persons at risk of being exposed to forms of arbitrary detention, and to ensure that persons being held on penal grounds are tried in a reasonable time. Furthermore, on measures taken by States to combat terrorism, the draft encouraged all States to ensure the rights of persons in this context and in regard to arbitrary dentition, and to work more closely with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. France thanked all for their contributions in the drafting the current resolution, and hoped that the draft resolution would be adopted without a vote and therefore by consensus.

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.20) on Enforced or involuntary disappearances, adopted without a vote as orally amended, the Council takes note of the report submitted by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (A/HRC/10/9) and of the recommendations contained therein; stresses the importance of the work of the Working Group; calls on the Governments that have not provided for a long period of time substantive replies concerning claims of enforced disappearances in their countries to do so and to give due consideration to relevant recommendations concerning this subject made in the reports of the Working Group; urges States, inter alia, to promote and give full effect to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, to cooperate with the Working Group and help it to carry out its mandate effectively and give serious consideration to responding favourably to requests for visits, to prevent the occurrence of enforced disappearances, including by guaranteeing that any person deprived of liberty is held solely in officially recognized and supervised places of detention, and to take steps to provide adequate protection to witnesses of enforced or involuntary disappearances, human rights defenders acting against enforced disappearances, and the lawyers and families of disappeared persons against any intimidation, persecution, reprisals or ill-treatment to which they might be subjected; invites States to take legislative, administrative, legal and other steps, including when a state of emergency has been declared, to take action at the national and regional levels and in cooperation with the United Nations, if appropriate through technical assistance, and to provide the Working Group with concrete information on the measures taken and the obstacles encountered in preventing enforced or involuntary disappearances and in giving effect to the principles set forth in the Declaration; requests the Secretary-General to continue, inter alia, to ensure that the Working Group receives all the assistance and resources it requires to perform its functions, and to provide the resources needed to update the database on cases of enforced disappearance; and invites States to consider joining all efforts to share information on best practices and to work towards the early entry into force of the Convention with the aim of its universality.

JEAN-BAPTISTE MATTEI (France), introducing resolution L.20, said this was an annual initiative, and it followed up on two resolutions that renewed the mandate of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and on the entry into force of the Convention on the Protection of All Persons Against Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and appealed to all States to protect persons from this violation of their human right in this regard. The resolution had been enriched by a number of elements such as those recalled by the Working Group in its report on the right of victims to know the truth and the particular vulnerability of women. It encouraged all States to sign, ratify and accede to the Convention in order to ensure that protection was as wide as possible. There were also oral amendments to the text. The draft resolution was part of a process that went back almost thirty years in the United Nations to counter enforced disappearances, and it was hoped that the next step would be the entry into force of the Convention.

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.24) on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, adopted by a vote of 32 in favour, 12 against, and three abstentions, the Council calls upon all States that have not yet done so to consider taking the necessary action to become parties to the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries; condemns recent mercenary activities in developing countries in various parts of the world and the threat they pose to the integrity and respect for the constitutional order of these countries and the exercise of the right to self-determination of their peoples, and commends the Governments of Africa on their collaboration in thwarting these illegal actions; acknowledges with appreciation the work and contributions made by the Working Group and requests the Working Group to consult with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and experts on the content and scope of a possible draft convention on private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and other military security-related services on the international market, and an accompanying Model Law, and other legal instruments; requests the Office of the High Commissioner, as a matter of priority, to publicize the adverse effects of the activities of mercenaries and of private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and other military security-related services on the international market and to render advisory services to States that are affected by those activities; requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue supporting the Working Group convening regional governmental consultations on this matter, with the remaining three to be held before the end of 2010, bearing in mind that this process may lead to the holding of a high-level round table of States, under the auspices of the United Nations, to discuss the fundamental question of the role of the State as holder of the monopoly of the use of force; and requests the Working Group, inter alia, to report its findings on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session and to the Council at its fifteenth session.

The results of the vote were as follows


In favour (32):Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Uruguay, and Zambia.

Against (12):Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.

Abstentions (3):Chile, Mexico, and Switzerland.


RESFEL PINO ALVAREZ (Cuba), introducing the draft resolution, said that through the adoption of this resolution the Human Rights Council would be reiterating its deep concerns about the use of mercenaries which constituted a violation of the Charter. Cuba also reiterated its commitment to combat such practices. Cuba commended the Working Group for its work and, in this context, the draft requested the Working Group to continue work on this important issue and to carry out consultations with stake-holders. Cuba hoped that this initiative would enjoy the broadest possible support of Member States.

KONRAD SCHARINGER (Germany), speaking on behalf of the European Union in an explanation of the vote before the vote, said as stated last year the European Union continued to believe that the issue of the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination was an important issue. The activities of mercenaries affected the situation of armed conflict. The European Union condemned any links between the activities of mercenaries and terrorist activities. The use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination deserved to be discussed by the United Nations system; however the Human Rights Council was not the appropriate body to do that. A new legal instrument on private military and security companies was adopted, and therefore the European Union could not vote for this draft resolution, and as such would vote against this draft resolution.

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.25) on the right to food, adopted by consensus as orally revised, the Council considers it intolerable that more than 6 million children still die every year from hunger-related illnesses before their fifth birthday, that there are at least 963 million undernourished people in the world; expresses its concern that women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger, food insecurity and poverty; stresses the need to guarantee a fair and non-discriminatory access to land rights for smallholders, traditional farmers and their organizations, including in particular rural women and vulnerable groups; encourages the Special Rapporteur on the right to food to ensure mainstreaming a gender perspective in the fulfilment of his mandate; encourages all States to take steps with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right to food and to adopt national strategies for the realization of the right to adequate food and to consider establishing appropriate institutional mechanisms, in order to, inter alia, identify emerging threats to the right to adequate food; stresses the importance of fighting hunger in rural areas, including through efforts to stop desertification; calls upon States to take special actions to combat the root causes of the disproportionately high level of hunger and malnutrition among indigenous peoples; stresses that all States should make every effort to ensure that their international policies of a political and economic nature, including international trade agreements, do not have a negative impact on the right to food in other countries; takes note of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food on his mission to the World Trade Organization (A/HRC/10/5/Add.2), and encourages the Special Rapporteur to continue to engage with the WTO to follow up on issues of concern; recognizes that the promises made at the World Food Summit in 1996 to halve the number of persons who are undernourished are not being fulfilled; urges States to give adequate priority in their development strategies and expenditures to the realization of the right to food; encourages the Special Rapporteur on the right to food and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises to cooperate on the subject of the contribution of the private sector to the realization of the right to food; requests the Advisory Committee to undertake a study on discrimination in the context of the right to food, including identification of good practices of anti-discriminatory policies and strategies, and to report on it to the thirteenth session of the Human Rights Council; and requests the Special Rapporteur to submit a report on the implementation of the present resolution to the Council during its thirteenth session.

RESFEL PINO ALVAREZ (Cuba), introducing resolution L.25, said the text which was before the Council took up the analysis of the right to food in general terms, without focusing on the current world food crisis, as this was the subject of the seventh special session. Appropriate follow-up to that session was being carried out in an appropriate and separate manner. Cooperation and food aid could contribute to the realisation of the right to food. The resolution also took note of the report of the Special Rapporteur and the impact of the World Trade Organisation. The full realisation of the right to food was still a dream today - it was deplorable that every year more than 6 million children died as a result of hunger-related illnesses. There were at least 168 million under-nourished people in the world, and yet it produced enough food to feed the entire population. The adoption of the resolution should provide a contribution to generating the necessary political will to address the structural causes of hunger worldwide. The draft resolution should be adopted by consensus.

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.35) on human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, adopted without a vote as orally amended, the Council reaffirms that the right to a nationality of every human person is a fundamental human right; calls upon all States to refrain from taking discriminatory measures and from enacting or maintaining legislation that would arbitrarily deprive persons of their nationality on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, especially if such measures and legislation render a person stateless; urges all States to adopt and implement nationality legislation with a view to avoiding statelessness, consistent with fundamental principles of international law, in particular by preventing arbitrary deprivation of nationality and statelessness as a result of State succession; encourages States that have not done so to consider acceding to the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons; notes that the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of an individual might be impeded as a result of arbitrary deprivation of nationality; expresses its concern that persons arbitrarily deprived of nationality may be affected by poverty, social exclusion and legal incapacity; recognizes the special needs of children for protection against arbitrary deprivation of nationality; also recognizes that arbitrary deprivation of nationality disproportionately affects persons belonging to minorities; calls upon States to ensure access of persons arbitrarily deprived of their nationality to effective remedies, including, but not limited to, restoration of nationality; and requests the Secretary-General to prepare a report on the right to nationality with emphasis on the issue of arbitrary deprivation of nationality including in cases of States succession and to present it to the Council at its thirteenth session.

ALEXEY GOLTYAEV (Russian Federation), introducing the resolution, said that the draft was drawn up in close cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and civil society. The Russian Federation thanked the Secretary-General for his report on this theme. It noted the research that had been done on lack of nationality of minorities. The draft had been updated, also in regard of the need of particular protection of children of such a phenomenon.


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