AFTERNOON

11 March 2011

President Appoints Members of Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Alleged Violations of International Human Rights Law in Libya

The Human Rights Council this afternoon continued its general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.

Sihasak Phuangketkeow, President of the Human Rights Council, appraised the Council of his efforts in terms of implementing resolution S-15/1 on the human rights situation in Libya. The resolution had tasked the President to appoint an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya. The three distinguished members were Cherif Bassiouni, a United Nations war crimes expert; Asma Khader, a lawyer and well known human rights advocate; and Philippe Kirsch, who served as a judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2009 and was the Court's first president. Mr. Bassiouni would chair the Commission of Inquiry. The President expressed his appreciation for the contribution of the High Commissioner and her Office in this matter.

During the general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights, speakers said that intolerance and discrimination against Roma, not only in Europe but in other regions as well, was an issue of concern and that the Council should recognise the diversity within this community and, as the High Commissioner urged in her report, it should use the full range of regional, legal and financial instruments to improve the enjoyment of all human rights of Roma people. Speakers also called upon Member States to devise effective strategies to eliminate all forms of trafficking and to recognize the dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people and gender non-conforming people through repealing laws that criminalized same sex behaviour and to investigate and punish perpetrators of violence.

Speakers said that one of the biggest challenges was to overcome discrimination, which was still widespread in many sectors of society. Discrimination also led to stigmatization, which was a serious obstacle to the full enjoyment of human rights for many groups of people. Many speakers expressed gratitude to the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders for her information on women human rights defenders and called upon the Council to take immediate and effective action to prevent further abuses on the ground and to protect human rights defenders. A speaker welcomed the entry into force of the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and called on States parties to establish a fair, open and transparent national process of selection of candidates.

Many speakers raised specific human rights violations in a number of countries.

Speaking in the general debate were the following non-governmental organizations: SOS Kibderdorf International, American Association of Jurists, International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Charitable Institute for Protection of Social Victims, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Organization for Defending Victims of Violence, Conectas Direitos Humanos, Association for Women’s Rights in Development, International Educational Development, Press Emblem Campaign, United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation, Human Rights Advocates, International Federation of ACAT, Jubilee Campaign, Society of Threatened Peoples, International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, Japanese Workers’ Committee for Human Rights, Pax Romana, Reporters Without Borders, World Muslim Congress, Fundacion Para La Libertad, World Federation of Democratic Youth, Universal Peace Federation, Tchad Agir Pour L’Environemnt, Badil Resources Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), European Disability Forum, World Union for Progressive Judaism, Conscience and Peace Tax International, Organisation pour la Communication en Afrique et de Promotion de la Cooperation Economique Internationale (OCAPROCE), Al-Hakim Foundation, L’union de l’action feminine, World Federation of Trade Unions, Comité International pour le Respect et l’Application de la Charte Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Franciscans International, and Asian Legal Resource Centre.

The Council then held a closed meeting under its complaints procedure.

The next meeting of the Council will be at 9 a.m. on Monday, 14 March 2011 when it will conclude its general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights. The Council will then hold individual interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.

General Debate on the Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights

ALAN KIKUCHI-WHITE, of SOS - Kinderdorf International, in a joint statement with several NGOs1, said that in March 2010, the Human Rights Council mandated an Open-ended Working Group to draft a new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child establishing a communications procedure for children’s rights violations. After ten days of negotiations, on 16 February 2011, the Working Group adopted a draft optional protocol ad referendum with the aim to finalize what arguably constituted one of the fastest negotiation processes for an international treaty. They welcomed the efforts undertaken by States and the progress made but they were concerned that the rush to agree on a draft within 10 days seriously undermined the commitment expressed by States, as reflected in the draft Preamble to the Optional Protocol, to create a child-sensitive instrument.

VANESSA RAMOS, of American Association of Jurists, in a joint statement with Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples, and International Educational Development, said that two of their missions in Chile documented the Mapuche conflicts and the fact that the Chilean Government did not use peaceful means and they urged once again that the Chilean Government respect the rights of the Mapuche people, and measures which may be adopted to limit the rights to participation should be strictly exceptional. They repeatedly repudiated the terrorist activity and supported a peaceful solution of the situation. They urged that actions be taken against the police and any others responsible for acts of violence.

JOHNSTON JADE NICOLE, of International Movement against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), said that although the situation in Libya continued, the reaction of the Human Rights Council was welcome. They called the attention of the Council to the suffering of Dalits and Buraku who were victims of discrimination. Intolerance and discrimination against Roma, not only in Europe but in other regions as well, was an issue of concern. The Council should recognise the diversity within this community and, as the High Commissioner urged in her report, it should use the full range of regional, legal and financial instruments to improve the enjoyment of all human rights of Roma people. The Council should request actors to fully implement existing programmes while exploring other possible measures in consultation with the community and individuals concerned.

MARYAM SAFARI, of Charitable Institute for Protection of Social Victims, said human trafficking affected all regions and its first victims were women and children, particularly from developing countries and from vulnerable sections of society. On the demand side, sex trade and pornography had become worldwide industries, facilitated by modern information and communications technologies. The Charitable Institute called upon Member States to devise effective strategies to eliminate all forms of trafficking; urged the media and the Internet to place clear boundaries between freedom of expression and preservation of moral principles; and called for the creation and development of a clean Internet so that suitable consequences of propaganda and media content that created problems for families and crime were eradicated.

KASHA JACQUELINE, of Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, in a joint statement said it was concerned about a range of human rights violations facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in both the global south and north. These included the death penalty, targeted arrest and arbitrary detention, torture, criminalization laws and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as a result of State sanctions that legitimized violence, homophobia and transphobia. State perpetrators such as police, government and law enforcement officials and those in the judicial system along with non State actors, including members of families, communities and religious and cultural institutions had violated the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. The Legal Network called on States to recognize the dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people and gender non-conforming people through repealing laws that criminalized same sex behaviour and to investigate and punish perpetrators of violence by supporting the current related joint statement.

FAHIMEH DORRI, of Organization for Defending Victims of Violence, said 1.2 million children were victims of trafficking each year, which made up over 30 per cent of the world’s annual human trafficking figures. The Organization for Defending Victims of Violence called for the implementation of enforcement mechanisms of international conventions such as the application of guarantees to the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s Optional Protocol and encouraged cooperation between all nations in combating document forgers, to review and amend laws to confront traffickers and to strengthen borders between countries.

CAMILA ASANO, of Conectas Direitos Humanos, drew their attention to the main conclusions of the report of the Secretary-General on the protection of human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS: that ensuring the protection, respect and fulfilling of human rights in all areas was essential for an effective response to HIV and AIDS. However, many challenges still remained. One of the biggest challenges was to overcome discrimination, which was still widespread in many sectors of society. Discrimination also led to stigmatization, which was a serious obstacle to the full enjoyment of human rights for many groups of people. They urged all Government representatives to adopt the new resolution presented by the Brazilian delegation on the protection of human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS with the explicit recognition of populations most at risk, including sexual orientation and gender identities groups.

MAYA ALVARADO CHAVEZ, of Association for Women’s Rights in Development, said that Latin America was the region where there was most risk of extreme violence against women human rights defenders. The Middle and Central America were the most insecure places. Repression against the Honduras population was on the rise. Impunity prevailed. They were grateful to the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders for the complete information on women human rights defenders and said that it was now up to the Council to ensure the respect of the rights of human rights defenders.

KAREN PARKER, of International Educational Development, said that the will of the people was the foundation of human rights and was the basis of the right to self-determination. The right to self-determination had been treated by the Human Rights Council in an inconsistent manner and the principle itself had become undervalued. International Educational Development had submitted written papers on the situation in Burma/Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Sudan, which contained examples of the inconsistent treatment of this issue by the international community. In order to help the Council gain credibility and impartiality, the non-governmental organization urged the Council to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the will of people and the right to self-determination.

CERVANTES DARIO, of Press Emblem Campaign, said that it had repeatedly called the attention of the international community to violence against journalists during the events in the Middle East and had also called for an independent inquiry into the cases of violence. The world could not sit back and observe the violations of rights of journalists, who were providing testimonies of gross human rights violations and were the conscience of the world. In addition, they requested that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights produced guidelines for the protection of journalists in armed conflict and civil unrests. Three journalists working for the BBC were arrested and beaten in Libya and Press Emblem Campaign strongly condemned this case of violence.

ELIAS KHOURI, of United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation, said the recent uprisings in the world were a reflection of the people who had long suffered the effects of corruption in their countries and a lame economic policy due to the pressures of external markets. In order to appease these uprisings the Security Council should work to reform the economic institutions of the world to make them fairer.

JUSTIN WHITE, of Human Rights Advocates, called attention to violations of the right to vote and to the negative effects of prison privatization. They urged the Council to protect political participation and the right to vote to prevent severe human rights violations, especially against human rights defenders. The economic structure of the private prison industry was in conflict with the State’s goal of prisoner rehabilitation. Privatised prisons lacked the incentive to rehabilitate prisoners because recidivist offenders were turned into profits and lucrative future contracts. Human Rights Advocates urged the prohibition of prison privatization and in the absence of a complete ban, recommended more transparency and oversight of private facilities, additional measures to ensure accountability and an increased emphasis on prisoner rehabilitation.

NATHALIE JEANNIN, of International Federation of ACAT (Action By Christians for the Abolition of Torture), said that the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance welcomed the enter into force of the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance on 23 December 2010. Its establishment was an important step and the Convention established that the Committee should comprise 10 experts of high moral character and due account shall be taken of equitable geographical distribution, relevant legal experience and balanced gender representation. The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance called on States parties to establish a fair, open and transparent national process of selection of candidates; commit themselves to nominating a candidate for these elections and to ensure that there would be no “clean slates”; work transparency at the institutional level around the election process; States parties should elect a committee that was multi-disciplinary and vote only for candidates who met the highest standards of independence, impartiality and who had the relevant skills and expertise.

LAYLA GHADBAN ALROOMI, of Jubilee Campaign, said that the religious minorities of Iraq including the Christian, Sabian Mandaens and others had lived in Iraq for thousands of years; however since 2003 they had become the target of a sustained and a violent campaign by extremists. They asked the international community to press on the Iraqi Government to take radical and effective steps to protect religious minorities. They asked the international community to assist the Sabian Mandaeans and other minorities who were currently refugees in Syria and Jordan to resettlement in third countries. The continuous and most recent atrocities and violence against them had made their return to Iraq an unlikely option.

JANA BRANDT, of Society of Threatened Peoples, expressed concern about the Chinese Government’s ongoing economic marginalisation of the Uyghur people in the Uyghur Autonomous region, which was exceptionally economically and strategically important. Most of the employees in the region’s important oil, coal and gas industries were Han Chinese and Han-dominated companies were controlling much of the best farmland in the region. As a result of this exclusion, there was a higher unemployment rate among Uyghur then among Han-Chinese. The Society for Threatened People urged the Human Rights Council to call on the Chinese authorities to stop the systematic economic discrimination of the Uyghurs.

ALTAF WANI, of International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, said that the state of human rights in Occupied Kashmir had been under severe criticism by the national and international human rights organizations since 1989. The culture of impunity there had been responsible for the killing of over 100,000 people, forced and involuntary disappearances and cases of torture against the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Victims of abuse had remained without the advice and support that could have been offered by human rights defenders. The International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations called upon the Human Rights Council to live up to its responsibility and to ensure the rights of the people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

MAEDA AKIRA, of Japanese Workers’ Committee for Human Rights, said it would like to introduce the relevant decision of the Japanese Nagoya High Court in 17 April 2008, that found the right to live in peace was a concrete right. The High Court further stated that the integration of the Japanese Self Defense Force’s air transport activities with the use of force by coalition forces in Iraq during the military conflict constituted the use of force by the Self Defense Force in violation of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution which proclaimed the renouncement of war and abandonment of army. This was the first court case since a violation in 1973.

LAURENCE KWARK, of Pax Romana, expressed its grave concern on human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The failure of the Council to investigate human rights abuses had led to a culture of impunity to prevail even after the conflict had ended and may have sent the wrong message to the Government. The Human Rights Council should take immediate and effective action to prevent further abuses on the ground and to protect those human rights defenders who were threatened because they belonged to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and because of their work to promote and protect human rights for all.

HELENE SACKSTEIN, of Reporters Without Borders, said that more and more women had been joining the ranks of journalists in the past 20 years but they still tended to occupy the lowliest jobs within the profession, with executive and editorial positions usually continuing to be the preserved for men. This clearly had an effect on the vision of the world reflected by the media. In many countries, women journalists and human rights activists were the victims of violence, imprisonment, intimidation and censorship, just as men were. The vulnerability of women journalists varied considerably from one geographic region to another.

Mr. SARDAR AMJAD, of World Muslim Congress, said that the resistance for the right to self-determination in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir as enshrined in the United Nations Security Council resolutions was met with brutal use of forces. Human rights defenders were denied the freedom of assembly and harmed because of the peaceful exercise of this freedom in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The right to protest and react in response to violations of human rights was an essential element of the right to participation in all democratic dispensation. Restrictions imposed on this right had to receive the strictest scrutiny with respect to their necessity and reasonableness. They requested this forum to take note of the human rights situation in the Indian occupied Kashmir and appoint a special representative to assess the human rights violations.

PUELLES GARCIA CARLOS JESUS, of Fundación para la Libertad, said that it noted with great satisfaction the findings in the report of the High Commissioner on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the fight against terrorism and the recognition of the important role of civil society in the resolution of the Security Council. The basic source of aggression against human rights in Spain was carried out by the terrorist group ETA and Fundacion Para La Libertad requested that the Human Rights Council articulate international tools for evaluation and response.

MALAININ MOHAMED, of World Federation of Democratic Youth, drew the attention of the Council to the human rights situation in the non-self governing territory of Western Sahara, a territory still pending a process of decolonisation. The Sahrawi human rights defenders were one of the main targets of oppression, and violence against women was an issue of concern. Torture against Sahrawi detainees and peaceful demonstrators was systematic and prisoners claimed to have been beaten, raped or sexually harassed. After more than 35 years, Western Sahara seemed to be the only conflict zone that had never been the subject of the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

SILLITOE ALON, of Universal Peace Federation, said it would like to bring to the attention of the Council a little known phenomenon in Japan where members of religious minorities were on a regular basis kidnapped and confined in secret prisons, sometimes for years. These activities were committed by non state actors, paid professional gangsters with the purpose of breaking the faith of followers of religious minorities. The local police and law enforcement agencies turned a blind eye on these outrageous criminal acts to a point that kidnapping of members of minority religions had become a lucrative business. The Federation urged the Human Rights Council to strongly advise Japan to abide by the principle of the rule of law and prosecute such hideous crimes against the Unification Church and other unpopular religious minorities in Japan.

ABDOULAYE YAYA ALI, of Tchad Agir Pour L’Environemnt, expressed its concern with the implications of climate change and called for the reforestation of arid zones to protect the planet. They encouraged the investment in renewable energies and following recent awareness missions carried out in Sudan and the east of Chad had witnessed the alarming situation of desertification. There should be an immediate reforestation in these areas and the Human Rights Council should focus attention on efforts to combat desertification.

SAMAR KHAMIS, of Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, drew the Special Rapporteur’s attention to the special case of Palestinian women in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. Badil wished to bring the Council’s attention to the excessive and illegal use of force by Israeli police and army personnel in suppressing women-led demonstrations both in Araqib Bedouin village in the Negev as well as in different parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Badil asked the Council to urge Israel to cease immediately from its policy and practice of harassing and persecuting women human rights defenders in both the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel; and to urge Israel to investigate all human rights violations committed during women-led demonstrations in the view of bringing perpetrators to justice and remedy victims.

LI LIQING, of China NGO Network for International Exchanges, said with respect to the report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, they wished to point out the importance of protecting human rights defenders. However, the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, when visiting China or drawing up reports, should have contacts with Chinese non-governmental organizations and know their voices. Society in China had evolved and there were about 100 non-governmental organizations registered and they had the right to criticize the activity of the Government in the field of human rights.

ELLEN WALKER, of European Disability Forum, speaking on behalf of the International Disability Alliance, said that it must be ensured that persons with disabilities could benefit from human rights education. The rights of persons with disabilities must be considered an integral part of any mainstream human rights education. Human rights education and training was crucial to the full realisation of full human rights and required education of self and others. The right to human rights education and training appeared throughout the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which contained a number of obligations of States, such as the right to access to services open to the public. Persons with disabilities must be taken into account into all initiatives concerning life-long learning.

DAVID LITTMAN, of World Union for Progressive Judaism, said that the grave tragedy of Middle East Christians was worsening weekly. In Asia, two months ago Punjab’s governor who had been opposed to blasphemy laws had been killed and only 10 days ago Pakistani Christian Minority Minister had been killed too. The non-governmental organization requested Pakistan to explain what it planned to do to end the blasphemy laws, targeting Christians and other minorities, which clashed with the international covenants.

DEREK BRETT, of Conscience and Peace Tax International, drew attention to the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief’s comments on the urgent appeal forwarded to Turkmenistan concerning the imprisonment of five persons from the Jehovah’s Witness community following their refusal, on grounds of conscientious objection, to perform armed military service. They expressed concern that no reply was received from the Government of Turkmenistan. The non-governmental organization encouraged all Special Procedures to continue to help protect conscientious objectors to military service wherever they were unable to freely exercise this right.

MAKOU DJOUMA MICHELINE, of Organisation pour la communication en Afrique et de promotion de la coopération économique internationale (Ocaproce International), said it would like to express its concern at the violations of the rights of women in conflict, especially in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire. In Libya there were reports of mass rapes of Libyan women. The use of this method as a weapon was a violation of human rights. If the Council remained silent regarding the difficult situation for women where rape had become a weapon of war this Council would lose its legitimacy. States should work with non-governmental organizations that were on the ground to protect women and to put an end to the hostilities.

ABDUL AMIER HASHOM, of Al-Hakim Foundation, said that this year the International Day of Women was celebrated in a climate of financial crisis. A study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reflected the impact of regression of the situation of women and the study showed that restructuring was necessary for national economies to improve the status of women. The Al-Hakim Foundation had submitted a written statement to the Human Rights Council with regard to the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism and they called on the Council to start discussion for an international day for combating terrorist.

HAJBOUHA ZOUBEIR, of Union de l'action féminine, welcomed the efforts of the Council to protect human rights around the world. Displaced persons needed to be protected by United Nations competent bodies. The United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights said that anyone was free to move, however, they noted that this had not been respected in all parts of the world and displaced people were kept in camps and deprived of their most fundamental rights. Massive sequestrations were occurring and they were daily in contact with ex detainees of the camps who came to Morocco and they could provide testimony on these violations.

OSIRIS OVIEDO, of World Federation of Trade Unions, in a joint statement with Federation of Cuban Women, repeated the appeal for the release of five Cubans detained in the United States. In Miami, the five Cubans were seeking information for use of the right to life and their arbitrary detention had been reported to the Working Group on arbitrary detention. They were denied the right to trial and the United States authorities had incited hatred and incitement because of their failure to break the spirit of Cuba. The Council could not remain silent in the face of such serious injustice.

FERNANDO CARMELO GADEA, of International Committee for the Respect and the Application of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, said that human rights as known today were based on principles of equality, freedom and solidarity and included freedom of expression, without danger of being judged. Civilian populations were demanding that States not only maintained public order but also ensured that human rights were protected and guaranteed for all. In many regions those rights were not respected and people did not enjoy their fundamental freedoms. The situation was even more dramatic in areas controlled by rebels and separatists. They expressed concern over the situation in Tinduf camp and called for the Council to address this situation.

CRISTINA ELLAZAR PALABAY, of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, said it would like to bring to the attention of the Council the culture of impunity that pervaded under the Philippine’s President Aquino, under whose new administration there had been documented 40 extra-judicial killings, 5 disappearances and illegal arrests and the detention of 27 individuals. Attacks against human rights defenders continued. The Forum called on the Council to monitor the Philippine Government to respect its commitments and obligations under major human rights instruments and to call on the Government of the Philippines to stop the practice of vilification and filing of fabricated charges against human rights defenders.

RESTIFO FRANCESCA, of Franciscans International, in a joint statement, said it was concerned about the killing of human rights defenders in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. In the Philippines, enforced or involuntary disappearances were practices that often went hand in hand with extrajudicial killings and torture, the main targets were political and community activists who had criticised government policies. In Sri Lanka little had been done to curb enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and summary executions. Franciscans International urged the two Governments to cease these detentions and killings and to bring the perpetrators to justice, to abide by the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Optional Protocol on the Convention Against Torture and to implement the Universal Periodic Review’s recommendations in respect to enforced disappearances.

NORMAN VOSS, of Asian Legal Resource Centre, raised grave concerns about the increasing insecurity, threats and obstacles faced by human rights defenders in Asia. In extreme cases, defenders were being subjected to torture, disappearance or murder by State agents, with impunity. The lack of effective legal safeguards and protection mechanisms in the region had to be addressed. In reality, in a number of States legislation was being used to punish, silence and detain defenders. In India, defenders faced charges under the National Security Act and Public Security Act, as seen in the case of Dr. Binayak Sen. A recent opinion produced by a Special Court against Teesta Setelwad claimed that the defender’s communication with the United Nations concerning violence in Gujarat “infringed upon the morale of the country and that of its people”. The Asian Legal Resource Centre deplored the Council’s incapacity to react effectively to the many accounts of widespread human rights abuses that it received, including those against persons on the front line of the fight to defend these rights.

Right of Reply

BADRIDDIN OBIDOV (Uzbekistan), speaking in a right of reply, said that the allegations by a non-governmental organization on the use of torture in Uzbekistan were not based on facts. Uzbekistan deeply regretted that those politicised statements undermined the authority of Human Rights Council. Uzbekistan had been consistently working on the implementation of its obligations under the Convention against Torture and it regularly provided replies and information to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The Special Rapporteur had visited the country in 2002 and the national plan of action had been drawn based on his recommendations which contained over 60 measures designed to ensure that torture did not take place. The legal enshrinement of habeas corpus and the abolition of the death penalty in Uzbekistan were further evidence of the commitment of Uzbekistan to implement recommendations received under its Universal Periodic Review process.

OSMAN TAT (United States), speaking in a right of reply, said the United States wished to respond to a comment made to the panel this morning. The United States did not sponsor terrorism and was committed to rooting out terrorism wherever it existed. These suggestions were a distraction from the work that the Council was attempting to achieve.

MARIA TODD (United Kingdom), speaking in a right of reply, responded to the Iranian delegation and said that the United Kingdom refuted all responsibility for criminal and terrorist activities in Iran. They had always condemned violations in Iran and in general all terrorist attacks.

Statement by the President of the Council

SIHASAK PHUANGKETKEOW, President of the Human Rights Council, updated the Council on the consultations concerning the establishment and the composition of the Commission of Inquiry in Libya. The Commission would be composed of Cherif Bassiouni, a United Nations war crimes expert; Asma Khader, a well known human rights advocate; and Philippe Kirsch, who served as a judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2009 and was the Court's first president. Mr. Bassiouni would chair the Commission of Inquiry. The President expressed his appreciation for the contribution of the High Commissioner and her Office in this matter. Turning to the recommendation of the consultative group, the President said he would proceed with the selection of mandate holders, who would be appointed at the end of this sixteenth session of the Council. The list would shortly be circulated among delegations.
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1. Joint statement on behalf of: SOS - Kinderdorf International, International Federation Terre des Hommes, Defence for Children International, World Organization against Torture, Plan International, International Save the Children Alliance, ECPAT International and World Vision International.

CORRIGENDUM

In press release HRC/11/28 of 10 March 2011, the statement by the delegation of Uzbekistan should read as follows:

BADRIDDIN OBIDOV (Uzbekistan) said concerning the report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Uzbekistan regularly provided updates and reports and the report did not reflect the real situation on the alleged issues. The Special Rapporteur should take a balanced approach and avoid selectivity in the preparation of documents. The substance on the report itself should not lack in-depth analysis of communication from States and Uzbekistan hoped that the Special Rapporteur would give in the future more space for identification of concrete and effective strategies to better fulfill major tasks in accordance with her mandate. Uzbekistan then updated the Special Rapporteur on steps taken in the country since her last report. In November 2010, the President of Uzbekistan presented the Concept of further deepening the democratic reforms in the country. One of the major six directions of this Concept was dedicated to establishing and developing civil society institutions. The past years were the time of dynamic formation and development of various institutions in civil society and non-state and non-profit organizations. At present, there were over 5,100 non-governmental organizations in Uzbekistan, functioning in various spheres of life.

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For use of the information media; not an official record