Statement of Bertrand Ramcharan Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights To Arab Commission on Human Rights

Cairo, 9 October, 2003

Distinguished Secretary-General of the Arab League,
Eminent Members of the Arab Commission on Human Rights.

It is a particular pleasure to greet you and to send you very best wishes for the success of your session of the Arab Commission on Human Rights.

We, at the United Nations, are gratified that you are meeting to consider ways and means of revitalizing the Commission and to take it forward in a dynamic manner in the twenty-first century. This is of great importance for the Arab world and for the international community.

We have been pleased to share our views with you on the updating of the Arab Charter on Human Rights and you may rest assured that we shall be at your side in this historic endeavour for the Arab world and for the human rights cause generally.

In the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights we have had long-standing cooperation with the League of Arab States, which we value highly. Our recent Memorandum of Intent will help steer our cooperation in the future.

We have supported human rights information and research centres in the Arab world, and we have a regional representative, working out of Beirut, who has been maintaining contacts with Governments, human rights institutions and organizations. We are determined to intensify our efforts for human rights in the Arab world.

In the drafting of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights there were distinguished Arab contributions. Arab scholars and statesmen helped bring about the consensus on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, emphasizing issues such as the fellowship of the human family and the importance of economic, social and cultural rights alongside civil and political rights. There is thus a rich Arab intellectual tradition of human rights to build on.

Over the years, organizations such as the Union of Arab Lawyers have held historic conferences on human rights and adopted key documents that will undoubtedly guide you in your work. The United Nations has had a long tradition of partnership with these organizations in the field of human rights.

The dissemination of international human rights norms in Arabic is a matter that you will undoubtedly wish to consider. This is an issue that we, at the United Nations would like to highlight. We are discussing it with partners.

The ratification and application of international human rights treaties is an issue of fundamental importance. By ratifying an international human rights treaty a Member State begins a process of scrutinizing its constitutional, legislative and judicial spheres with a view to bringing the international norms and their ethos home. A Member State also undertakes to provide human rights education and to watch over the vulnerable parts of its population.

In his report on the Strengthening of the United Nations the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, placed particular emphasis on further developing the implementation process of human rights treaties. I should like to encourage you to stimulate ratifications of United Nations human rights treaties and to help in the preparation of reports and in the process of following up on their implementation. Faithful participation in these processes helps put down the building blocks for a culture of human rights in each country.

The United Nations Secretary-General has also accorded high emphasis to each State developing and strengthening its national human rights protection system. A national human rights protection system requires that a State update its constitution in the light of international human rights norms; that it brings its legislation in line with those norms; that its courts can have access to those norms; that there is human rights education; that there are specialized institutions, such as national human rights commissions; and that there is on-going attention to the plight of vulnerable parts of the population.

The human rights of women require special attention. This is a matter of fundamental justice. It is therefore particularly important that every State ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and work faithfully to implement it at home. I should like to make a special appeal on this issue.

The implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child is a way for each State to make sure that the coming generation will be one raised in the spirit of international human rights and with decent life-chances for full development. You will undoubtedly wish to contribute to this cause.

We, at the United Nations, are at the disposal of Member States and regional organizations to exchange experiences and to cooperate for the advancement of the implementation of human rights nationally, regionally and globally. We recently joined the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights in a retreat in Addis Ababa. We would welcome an opportunity to join you in a similar retreat to discuss ways of exchanging views and experience and to plan for future cooperation. The efforts for the implementation of human rights regionally go hand in hand with international efforts. We are, and will remain, faithful partners in the cause of human rights.

As you set about the tasks of updating the Arab Charter and revitalizing the Arab Commission on Human Rights you will certainly reflect on problems being encountered when it comes to respect for human rights and violations of human rights in some situations. You may wish to consider how your Commission can cooperate with the United Nations special rapporteurs, working groups, and other special procedures. You may also wish to consider how your Commission can cooperate with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and with the human rights treaty bodies. There is much work to be done on this front, and much room for fruitful cooperation.

Please be assured that we value our cooperation with the League of Arab States and the Arab Commission on Human Rights and that we look forward to intensifying that cooperation in the future for the cause of human rights protection in the Arab world and in the world at large.