{"id":470,"date":"2007-07-25T12:23:07","date_gmt":"2007-07-25T03:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=470"},"modified":"2008-06-06T01:00:32","modified_gmt":"2008-06-05T16:00:32","slug":"unorg-on-pushes-to-make-sure-hrc-holds-all-countries-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=470","title":{"rendered":"UN.ORG on pushes to make sure HRC holds all countries accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Blog. The UN News has been issuing press releases to make sure the Human Rights Council doesn’t become as emasculated as the former Human Rights Commission–by holding all countries accountable with periodic reviews of their human rights records.<\/p>\n

Good. Japan in particular is particularly remiss, given its quest for a seat on the UNSC without upholding its treaty obligations, particularly regarding Japan’s refusal to pass a law against racial discrimination<\/a>, and file reports in a timely manner (last report was due the HRC all the way in 2002!). The UN is quite well aware of this, and has been highly critical of Japan’s unfettered racism in recent years.<\/a> UN Special Rapporteur Doudou Diene has been well recorded on the Debito.org Blog<\/a> as well. Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

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From: UNNews@un.org
\nSubject: SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES AGREEMENT ON DETAILS OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW
\nDate: June 21, 2007 7:00:24 AM JST
\nTo: news5@secint00.un.org
\nReply-To: UNNews@un.org<\/p>\n

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES AGREEMENT ON DETAILS OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW
\nNew York, Jun 20 2007 6:00PM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the Human Rights Council\u2019s agreement setting out how its universal periodic review mechanism will work, saying it \u201csends a clear message\u201d that the rights record of every country faces serious and meaningful examination.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo country \u2013 big or small \u2013 will be immune from scrutiny,\u201d Mr. Ban\u2019s spokesperson said in a statement<\/a>, adding that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society groups need to play an active role in the review to ensure the process works.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe periodic review holds great promise for opening a new chapter in human rights promotion and underscores the universality of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council members agreed yesterday on the modalities for universal periodic review after several days of marathon discussions. Each year 48 nations, comprising a mixture of Council members and observer States, will be reviewed to assess whether they have fulfilled their human rights obligations.<\/p>\n

The modalities were decided as part of a package of new measures and decisions that includes the continuation of the work of Special Rapporteurs and other independent human rights experts.<\/p>\n

But in today\u2019s statement, Mr. Ban voiced disappointment at the Council decision to single out Israel as the only specific regional item on its agenda, \u201cgiven the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 47-member Council also agreed to end the mandate of the Special Rapporteurs on the situations in Belarus and Cuba, while retaining the other 39 mandates under the so-called \u201cspecial procedures\u201d system.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ban noted \u201cthat not having a Special Rapporteur assigned to a particular country does not absolve that country from its obligations under the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and every other human rights treaty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement from his spokesperson added that the Secretary-General \u201ctrusts that members of the Council will take seriously their responsibilities and continue to seek out ways to improve the Council\u2019s work in the months and years ahead.\u201d He also noted that Council members \u201cworked hard to reach consensus on a number of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meeting today in Geneva, the Council also adopted resolutions on the situation in Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory and Darfur.
\n2007-06-20 00:00:00.000<\/p>\n

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From: \t UNNews@un.org
\nSubject: \tUN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL URGED TO KEEP SYSTEM OF INDEPENDENT EXPERTS
\nDate: \tJune 12, 2007 6:00:23 AM JST
\nTo: \t news5@secint00.un.org
\nReply-To: \t UNNews@un.org<\/p>\n

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL URGED TO KEEP SYSTEM OF INDEPENDENT EXPERTS
\nNew York, Jun 11 2007 5:00PM<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today urged the Human Rights Council to maintain its system of independent experts<\/a> and others who shine a spotlight on troubling situations around the world.<\/p>\n

Louise Arbour told the Council, meeting in Geneva for the start of its fifth session, that the special procedures system \u2013 or the mechanisms, from rapporteurs and experts to working groups, which the Council can use to explore either specific country situations or thematic issues \u2013 \u201crepresents a critical component in the protection and promotion of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also underscored the importance of the system known as \u201cuniversal periodic review,\u201d which allows the Council to scrutinize the human rights records of all countries in a regular, rotating manner, predicting it \u201cwill develop into a leading instrument\u201d for upholding human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cReaching an agreement on its framework was not an easy task, but the Council is set to achieve that goal,\u201d she said, urging members to \u201cbring your institution-building efforts to completion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The General Assembly resolution that set up the Council last year to replace the discredited Commission on Human Rights agreed that the universal periodic review mechanism must be created by June this year and the special procedures system \u2013 kept on from the Commission \u2013 must undergo a review during the same period.<\/p>\n

Over the course of its current session, Council members will hear from a number of its special rapporteurs and independent experts on country-specific situations and thematic issues, including Belarus, Cambodia, Somalia, adequate housing, judicial independence and the right to food. In addition, the Council\u2019s Expert Group on Darfur is expected to present its report.
\n2007-06-11 00:00:00.000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

he UN News has been issuing press releases to make sure the Human Rights Council doesn’t become as emasculated as the former Human Rights Commission–by holding all countries accountable with periodic reviews of their human rights records.<\/p>\n

Good. Japan in particular is particularly remiss, given its quest for a seat on the UNSC without upholding its treaty obligations, particularly regarding Japan’s refusal to pass a law against racial discrimination, and file reports in a timely manner (last report was due the HRC all the way in 2002!). The UN is quite well aware of this, and has been highly critical of Japan’s unfettered racism in recent years. UN Special Rapporteur Doudou Diene has been well recorded on the Debito.org Blog as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-japanese-government","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}