Human Rights Council concludes general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights

Human Rights Council 
AFTERNOON

18 September 2015 

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

In the general debate, speakers raised their concerns about the worsening incidences of violence against women, the resumed executions of death penalties in some countries, the plight of indigenous peoples in some countries, the global refugee crisis, arbitrary detention, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of association and religion, among others.

In concluding remarks, Abdul Samad Minty, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the international regulatory framework on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies, said that the Council had to clarify ways to move forward on the mandate.  There was a perception that real progress in the mandate’s implementation could not be achieved when those who opposed it continued to undermine its work. 

Zamir Akram, Chair-Rapporteur of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development, said that the Working Group faced the challenge of moving forward.  The Convention on the Right to Development was adopted almost 30 years ago, but the Working Group had achieved little tangible achievements in this respect.  All stakeholders concerned had to engage on this.

The beginning of the general debate, including the presentation of reports, can be found here and here.

Speaking in the general debate this afternoon were World Environment and Resources Council, Amnesty International, Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association, Pasumai Thaayagam Foundation, Centre for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy, Liberation, Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, Human Rights Watch, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, Agence Internationale pour le Développement, Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace, Africa Speaks, International Humanist and Ethical Union, Centre for Inquiry, World Jewish Congress, International Lawyers Org, British Humanist Association, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, Save the Children International, Alliance Defending Freedom International, Victorious Youths Movement, Russian Public Institute of Public Law, Verein Sudwind Entwicklungspolitik, Association Dunenyo, Action internationale pour la paix et le développement dans la région des Grands Lacs, Comite internationale pour le Respect et l’Application de la Charte Africaine, International Service for Human Rights,  Commission Africaine des Promoteurs de la Santé et des Droits de l’Homme , Colombian Commission of Jurists, African Development Association, Association of World Citizens, Women’s Human Rights Institutional Association, Sikh Human Rights Group,  The International Organization of Least Developed Countries, World Muslim Congress, American Civil Liberties Union, and Russian Peace Foundation. 

At the end of the meeting, India, Myanmar, Chile, Malaysia and Pakistan spoke in right of reply.

At 5 p.m., the Council will meet behind closed doors to take up its Complaint Procedure.  The Human Rights Council will next meet in public on Monday, 21 September at 9 a.m., when it will hold an interactive dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.

General Debate on the Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right to Development

World Environment and Resources Council was deeply concerned at the worsening incidences of violence against women, and said ensuring equal rights for women was a condition for achieving poverty reduction.  It regretted that many women in Pakistan were not aware of their human rights, and noted that women in the disputed region of Gilgit Baltistan faced an alarming situation, due to the lack of rule of law and legislative autonomy there. 

Amnesty International said the global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty was encouraging, and welcomed steps taken in this regard by Madagascar, Fiji, Burkina Faso, Mongolia, Guinea and the Republic of Korea.  Concerns remained however as some countries had resumed executions, including Chad, Jordan, Indonesia, and Pakistan, or applied the death penalty at an alarming rate, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, and including for drug-related crimes.  Amnesty urged all States to establish a moratorium with a view to abolishing the death penalty. 

Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association said the caste system in India led to systemic racial discrimination, and was concerned at the imposition of martial law in north east India, which granted special powers to authorities to forfeit anybody’s right to life with impunity and rendered meaningless all human rights provisions in the Indian Constitution.  Armed groups in mainland India posed much more serious challenges to national security and were tackled by central police forces using ordinary criminal law.  The Human Rights Council should urge India to repeal its martial law. 

Pasumai Thaayagam Foundation welcomed strong recommendations for Sri Lanka to achieve sustainable peace.  The Government of Sri Lanka lacked the basic trust of the Tamil population and without that trust any reconciliation initiative would lack credibility.  It called on the Council to pass a resolution to guarantee strict deadlines for the progress of such a strategy and for Sri Lanka to remain on the Council’s agenda.

Centre for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy raised the issue of the rights of indigenous women in northern India, who did not have access to land and forests.  India did not have uniform civil courts.  Instead they were regulated by different religious precepts, which impeded the access of indigenous women to land and forests.  The so-called customary law provided for consensual communal authority on which all land ownership was based.  The Centre asked the Council to impress on the Indian Government to respect the rights of indigenous women.

Liberation reminded that Western Sahara had been a self-governing territory since 1963 and was thus eligible for self-determination.  In different resolutions the United Nations had called on stakeholders to reach a fair and long-lasting solution for the people of Western Sahara.  However, such a solution could not be achieved due to constant impediments posed by the Moroccan Government.  Since the occupation in 1975 the population had suffered a series of human rights violations.

Commission to Study the Organization of Peace said that the magnitude of the problem of enforced disappearances in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was severe, and these were carried out systematically and on a massive scale.  The Commission called upon all present at the Council to take steps to recover all missing persons and sign and ratify the United Nations Convention against Enforced Disappearance.  This crime was also catastrophic in Pakistan, and rising at an alarming pace without accountability. 

Human Rights Watch said the global refugee crisis was less a crisis of capacity than of political will.  It was disappointed that European Union Interior Ministers had failed to reach consensus at their September meeting on a proposal for mandatory distribution of asylum seekers.  Human Rights Watch called upon all to ensure more humane treatment for all migrants.  Increased resettlement commitments by all countries were needed. 

Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain raised concern over Saudi Arabia which continued to detain lawyers and human rights activists.  Daughters of the late King Abdulla remained imprisoned and were subjected to treatment that could amount to torture.  When their detention became public, they were allegedly subjected to more torture, including drugs.  Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain called upon the international community to call for their immediate release.

Agence Internationale pour le Développement drew the Council’s attention to the situation of Mauritanian citizens who were subjected to arbitrary detention and torture by the Polisario Front during the 1970s.  Survivors and victims deserved to know the truth about the atrocities of this political police, however, no justice had been provided so far.  Many of the perpetrators now occupied high-level jobs within the Polisario administration, enjoying impunity.  The Algerian Government was responsible for this situation. 

Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace was deeply worried by recent actions of the Norwegian Government against migrant children, in flagrant breach of their fundamental rights.  It condemned unjustified acts such as placing children in foster families without monitoring whether their living conditions were harmful. 

Africa Speaks said fighting impunity was essential, and expressed concerns that the Norwegian police had invaded the office of the GNRD non-governmental organization outside of standard procedures, and had damaged the image and reputation of its staff.  Norway had to offer remedies to the members of the organization, issue an apology to GNRD and stand up by its reputation as a human rights leader. 

International Humanist and Ethical Union suggested that alongside education, a further component for the enhancement of participation in the decision-making process was secular democracy.  It created space for dialogue and the recognition of diversity.  The Union asked that arguments were presented in universal terms so as to ensure mutual understanding.  It was on those universal principles that all rights were founded.

Center for Inquiry stated that in order to improve gender parity within the United Nations and international bodies, constituent nations had to address their own gender imbalances and to be committed at home as they presented themselves to be at the Council.  Many countries experienced the horror of femicides, including the United States, and countries across Latin America, Africa and Asia.  Its cause lay in a discriminatory misconception of women’s honour and dignity.

World Jewish Congress drew attention to the fact that the right to freedom of opinion and expression was still widely used to spread racist ideas by States and individuals.  A recent example was a publication that said that the State of Israel would be destroyed soon.  While freedom of speech should be protected, so should the freedom of religion.  Words of hatred could ultimately lead to destruction and death.  The organization thus called on the Council to find the right balance between the freedom of speech and other freedoms.

International-Lawyers.Org said it remained troubled by the attempts of some States to reverse well-settled international law that confirmed the right to development.  It did not understand how this right could be questioned and called on the States to urgently reconsider their views.  It hoped that these States would not be allowed to prevent progress in achieving greater respect for the right to development.

British Humanist Association said that human rights activists were increasingly subjected to arbitrary arrest and torture.  In Saudi Arabia Raif Badawi continued to be imprisoned.  In Bangladesh authorities outlawed the defamation of religion.  These were examples of the violation of human rights, including freedom of speech.  In 19 countries apostasy was a crime.  Religious non-conformists were continuously denied their freedoms.  The British Humanist Association called on countries to adequately promote the rights of all their groups.

Asian Legal Resource Centre said that without the re-engineering of justice institutions, modern day slavery would flourish in Asia.  In Bangladesh journalists were arbitrarily detained and some were shot in their limbs.  In Indonesia minors fell victim to arbitrary detention.  Investigators of the anti-corruption bodies were under arrest.  Modern day slavery was institutionalized in Malaysia.  A proactive response from Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council was expected, in order to rebuild the justice systems needed to protect the lives and dignity of all persons.

Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos was concerned about the ongoing circle of violence in Colombia, and the lack of inquiry into violence and other human rights abuses.  It denounced the application of an authoritarian model that prevented victims from enjoying their right to justice and remedy. 

Save the Children International was concerned about the death of migrant children in the Mediterranean, and the violence, exploitation and abuses they faced upon arrival in Europe.  European States had to do much more, including maintaining search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, opening safe migration routes, and strengthening their refugee procedures.  A strong message from the international community was needed, and the Council should hold a special session on this issue. 

Alliance Defending Freedom drew the Council’s attention to the continuing executions by extremist groups of persons belonging to religious minorities, and referred specifically to executions of Christians by ISIL.  No adequate steps had been taken to stop these abuses and unlawful executions, and to allow religious minorities to freely exercise their religion.  All States should protect religious minorities from persecution and especially from atrocities by ISIL and other extremist groups. 

Victorious Youths Movement said that all norms and principles of international law and humanitarian standards were violated in the Tindouf refugee camps.  There was a climate of fear and intimidation, and the international community had completely failed to deal with the situation.   The population of the camps had no freedom of movement, they were without identity papers and were denied the right to work.  The United Nations Refugee Agency and humanitarian organizations kept silent on this.

All-Russian public organization "Russian Public Intstitute of Electoral Law" deplored the situation of human rights in some areas where such rights had never existed.  They had led to disaster in the Middle East.  As a result now there was ISIL, whose actions had led to the flow of migrants.  Human rights had become a tool of political activity, which undermined any faith in the human rights projects.  In human rights activities, European values and standards should not be imposed, as was the case in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine.

Verein Sudwind Entwicklungspolitik noted that there was a large scope of arbitrary deprivation of liberty in Iran, with the number of cases continuously rising.  Many of the prisoners of conscience who were held captive in Iran due to their stated criticism against the Iranian authorities, or who participated in peaceful protests, were charged with similar accusations as they continued to actively criticize human rights violations in jail. 

Association Dunenyo observed with regret that the region of Tindouf in the south of Algeria continued to be the object of arbitrary detention and illegal sequestration.  Association Dunenyo called the attention of the Council and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to the case of Rabih Ahmed Mahmoud Adda, a refugee in the Tindouf camps in Algeria, arrested by the Algerian secret services in 2014 before being handed over to the Polisario Front which detained and tortured him for 64 days.

Action internationale pour la paix et le développement dans la région des Grands Lacs, drew the attention of the Council to the situation in Tindouf Camps in Algeria and the need for the right to freedom of expression and association there.  There was a system of indoctrination by official statements.  The control of inhabitants of Tindouf Camps was from birth.  Children grew with only one orientation, they studied propaganda.  How could harmonious growth be ensured in this context?

Comité international pour le respect et l'application de la charte africaine des droits de l'homme et des peuples said that there were flagrant violations by the Polisario in camps on Algerian territory.  The human right to life was violated. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provided the right to live without degrading and inhuman treatment.  But the Polisario chiefs had carried out massive violations.  Many had been subjected to massive executions after barbaric torture.  Men were brutally tortured and women were raped.  Freedom of speech was also obstructed. 

International Service for Human Rights said human rights defenders had to be at the core of human rights policies.  States had to further their efforts to ensure a safe environment for civil society, and repeal laws that hindered civil society space.  Vast national policies on human rights were also needed and States should tackle widespread impunity for violence and harassment of human rights defenders. 

Commission africaine des promoteurs de la santé et des droits de l'homme regretted that most States had not ratified the Convention on the Protection of All Persons From Enforced Disappearances.  Along with extrajudicial killings, rape and other human rights violations, enforced disappearances had been employed in Jammu Kashmir to suppress the people’s will to fight for their right to self-determination.  The Council should urge India to investigate these allegations. 

Colombian Commission of Jurists referred to the ongoing negotiations between Bogota and the insurgent movement of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC ), which agreed on August 26 to create a commission for the establishment of the truth, coexistence and non-repetition, and stressed that this body was likely to face extreme difficulty in accessing the archives of the country.  It invited the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, and the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances to follow closely the developments and recommend that Colombia ensure access to archives and ensure the right to information and truth.

African Development Association called for the end of early and forced marriages.  There were millions of children who were victims of early and forced marriage, in particular children in the Tindouf refugee camps, as well as migrant women.  Prevention and surveillance were needed, and literacy for women should be part of the prevention strategy. 

Association of World Citizens warned that an enormous number of people gave their lives for the lives of others.  Entire societies were stripped of their human dignity.  The world needed professionals to work with them, in particular with victims of rape.  Armed groups were increasingly used by States, and were involved in human trafficking and people smuggling.

Women's Human Rights International Association drew attention to the killing by Iraqi forces of 52 defenceless Iranian dissidents, residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, who were protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and were guaranteed protection by the United Nations.  Authorities had to start cooperating and an international investigation was essential.

Sikh Human Rights Group drew the Human Rights Council’s attention to the rights of Sikh children in France.  It was embarrassing for a Sikh to go out without a turban.  This right was respected everywhere except France.  Children as old as 6 were forced to sit outside class because of their turbans, psychologically harming the children.  The Group called on France to observe its international obligations and the Human Rights Council to see the impact of this policy on children.

Organisation internationale pour les pays les moins avancés said it was aware of more than 800 million persons living in underdeveloped countries.  It expressed its deep concern about extreme poverty, environmental degradation, violent extremism, and other issues in least developed countries, and reiterated its support to the work of the United Nations Development Programme in this respect.  The Organization attached great importance to the protection of all human rights.

World Muslim Congress said that human rights abuses had been a part of a campaign by the Indian army against people of Indian-occupied Kashmir, particularly since 1990.  The abuse manifested in the following types of violations: enforced disappearances, torture, rape, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings.  Over the years, the Indian Government had failed to fulfil its international obligations.  The use of excessive force on peaceful assemblies continued.

American Civil Liberties Union said the United States was the worst jailing State, and condemned racial inequalities relating to imprisonment.  The jailing system in the United States did little to reduce criminality.  Prevention and rehabilitation measures had to be strengthened, and a human rights based approach to over-incarceration had to be adopted and could serve as a blueprint for implementing meaningful criminal justice reform in the United States. 

Russian Peace Foundation said freedom of speech was a universal value and should be applied to all.  It voiced concerns over the status of Russian journalists in Ukraine.  


Concluding Remarks

ABDUL SAMAD MINTY, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the international regulatory framework on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies, responded to comments by some delegations that the convergence of views had not been reflected in the report.  He stressed that the Council had to clarify ways to move forward on the mandate because those who had voted against it now worked against the Working Group.  For four years the delegations had tried to move towards a consensus.  There was a perception that real progress in the mandate’s implementation could not be achieved when those who opposed it continued to undermine its work, Mr. Minty concluded. 

ZAMIR AKRAM, Chair-Rapporteur of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development, expressed appreciation for delegations’ comments and feedback.  The Working Group faced the challenge of moving forward on the basis of consensus and reconciling contentious positions.  That could be only done if all sides showed compromise and constructive attitude.  It has been 30 years since the Declaration on the Right to Development was adopted.  However, little development on its achievement could be shown.  Mr. Akram thus urged all stakeholders to help him move forward with the mandate.

Right of Reply

India, speaking in a right of reply in response to the statement made by Pakistan regarding Kashmir, said that Pakistan’s occupation and discriminatory policies in this area, and its selective approach tackling terrorist groups, were unfortunate and led to violations of human rights, including the massacre in Peshawar.

Myanmar, speaking in a right of reply, stated that Myanmar was a multi-faith and multicultural country, and it did not allow discrimination.  The State guaranteed the right to freedom of religion, but one could not see the rainbow if they were looking down.

Chile, speaking in a right of reply, said it was a multicultural country, and proud of the social legacy it had received from the diverse indigenous groups.  Easter Island was an integral part of Chile and its inhabitants were subject to the law.  The incident that had been pointed out by the non-governmental organization was being investigated. 

Malaysia, speaking in a right of reply, went back to the case of Mr. Ibrahim referred to by a non-governmental organization, and rejected allegations that his case was politically motivated.  Furthermore, the rights of victims should not be forgotten. 

Pakistan, speaking in a right of reply, was surprised that India replied to its statement as it was not even named in it.  Pakistan stood by its statement on Jammu and Kashmir and human rights violations occurring there, and reiterated its view that the people’s struggle for their right to self-determination should not be considered as terrorism.  It regretted India’s unfortunate remarks regarding Pakistan’s internal issues, and then referred to India’s internal human rights situation. 

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