{"id":1885,"date":"2013-11-06T11:41:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T09:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=1885"},"modified":"2013-11-06T11:53:33","modified_gmt":"2013-11-06T09:53:33","slug":"human-rights-abusers-must-not-be-elected-to-human-rights-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2013\/11\/human-rights-abusers-must-not-be-elected-to-human-rights-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Human rights abusers must not be elected to Human Rights Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Services for Human Rights\u00a0ISHR<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The international community should ensure that States responsible for gross human rights violations and that fail to protect human rights defenders or cooperate with the UN are not elected to the UN’s top human rights body.<\/p>\n

A coalition of over 40 leading non-governmental organisations has today called for States that are candidates for membership to the UN Human Rights Council to do more to respect human rights at home and at the international level.<\/p>\n

On 12 November, the United Nations General Assembly will elect 14 new members<\/a> to the Human Rights Council; it\u2019s top human rights body.<\/p>\n

\u201cElections to the Human Rights Council are a critical moment for the international community to hold States to account for their human rights records, and to deny membership to the most flagrant abusers\u201d, said Phil Lynch, Director of the International Service for Human Rights.<\/p>\n

In a joint letter delivered by International Service for Human Rights on behalf of 40 signatories from all regions of the world, NGOs expressed concern about the clear failure of some candidates to fully comply with the criteria of upholding the highest human rights standards, and cooperating with the Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cFailure by Council members to take effective measures to address violations of human rights for which they are responsible, particularly of a gross or systematic nature, or to fully cooperate with the Council and its mechanisms undermines the ability of the Council to promote and protect human rights and to demand full state cooperation with its mechanisms\u201d, the letter says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unwillingness of candidates such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia to respect and support the important role played by civil society, non-governmental organisations and human rights defenders is deeply concerning\u201d said Mr Lynch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are particularly outraged about a disturbing pattern of attacks, intimidation and violence against those who seek to cooperate with the UN human rights mechanisms, occurring in some candidate States as part of a worldwide trend,\u201d said Mr Lynch.<\/p>\n

In the joint letter, global civil society called on candidates to clearly commit to cooperate with the Human Rights Council\u2019s human rights experts \u2013 the \u2018special procedures\u2019 \u2013 and with the newly established senior and UN wide focal point to improve the safety of those cooperating with the United Nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UN depends heavily on the free and safe cooperation of human rights defenders for its effective functioning,\u201d Mr Lynch said. \u201cIt\u2019s therefore imperative that each candidate ensure that domestic legal provisions, promote and protect an independent, diverse and pluralistic civil society,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability of the Council in protecting human rights is undermined if its members do not take effective measures to address violations of human rights for which they are responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The joint NGO letter<\/a> was sent to all candidates to the Human Rights Council and copied to members of the UN General Assembly. It was initiated by ISHR and supported by leading NGOs.<\/p>\n

Contacts:<\/strong> Phil Lynch \u2013 +41 76 708 47 38 \u2013 p.lynch@ishr.ch; Michael Ineichen (Geneva) – +41 78 827 77 86 \u2013 m.ineichen@ishr.ch; Madeleine Sinclair (New York) – +1 (917) 5446148 \u2013 m.sinclair@ishr.ch<\/em><\/p>\n

Individual letters were sent to every candidate, and are avaible here<\/a>:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Algeria
\nChina
\nCuba
\nFrance
\nJordan
\nMacedonia
\nMaldives
\nMexico
\nMorocco
\nNamibia
\nRussian Federation
\nSaudi Arabia
\nSouth Africa
\nSouth Sudan
\nUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
\nUruguay
\nViet Nam<\/p>\n

List of signatory organisations:<\/h3>\n

Action Canada for Population and Development
\nAmman Center for Human Rights Studies
\nAmnesty International
\nARC International
\nAsian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
\nCairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
\nCanadian HIV\/AIDS Legal Network
\nCenter for Reproductive Rights
\nCIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
\nCommonwealth Human Rights Initiative
\nEast and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project
\nEgyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
\nFondazione Marista per la Solidarieta Internazionale ONLUS
\nFranciscans International
\nFront Line Defenders
\nGAYa NUSANTARA
\nGlobal Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
\nHuman Rights House Foundation (HRHF)
\nHuman Rights Watch
\nInternational Association for Catholic Education
\nInternational Catholic Child Bureau
\nInternational Commission of Jurists
\nInternational Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
\nInternational Federation of University Women (IFUW)
\nInternational Lesbian and Gay Association
\nInternational Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR)
\nInternational Service for Human Rights
\nKIFKIF LGBT GROUP
\nLutheran World Federation
\nMatrix Support Group
\nNetwork of Chinese Human Rights Defenders
\nPax Christi International
\nPublic Information and Need of Knowledge NGO
\nPublic Union of Democracy and Human Rights Resource Centre
\nRainbow-Ethiopia HIV and Media Initiative (REHMI)
\nRed Nacional de Promoci\u00f3n de la Mujer, RNPM-Per\u00fa
\nRussian Research Center for Human Rights
\nVietnam Committee on Human Rights
\nWorld Federation of United Nations Associations
\nWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)<\/p>\n

Additional signatories (as of 5 November 2013):<\/h3>\n

Article 19
\nConectas Direitos Humanos
\nAl-Haq<\/p>\n

See more\u00a0here\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The int. community should ensure that States responsible for gross human rights violations & that fail to protect human rights defenders or cooperate with the UN are not elected to the UN’s top human rights body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,89,85,58,65,10],"tags":[134,180],"class_list":["post-1885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia","category-events","category-human-rights","category-international-and-intergovernmental-institutions","category-others","category-world","tag-human-rights-council","tag-un-general-assembly","Documents-conventions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1885"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1890,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions\/1890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}