HRC - March 23rd - AB

The meeting began with the NGO’s remarks on the report of special rapporteur J. Dugard, regarding the Israel/Palestine issue. Half of them criticized the one-sidedness and politicization of the rapporteur, the others emphasizing the fact that Israel ought to be more cooperative with the HRC resolutions.

Then Mr. Muntarbhorn presented his report on Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He said the main problems related to Human Rights were the :
• Refusal of the authorities to cooperate with the rapporteur
• Sustenance (aggravated by the decline of food aid since the international tension over DPRK’s nuclear programme at the end of 2006)
• Question of freedoms (in spite of a slight improvement over the recent years)
• Asylum
• Rights of women and children
• Responsability of the state to protect Human Rights
Korea’s delegate rejected the report and the mandate that gave birth to it, arguing that it was only the result of a conspiracy by the US, with Japan and EU’s complicity. He claimed that the socialist system guarantees the happiness of Korean people.

Then, as usual, a political scission occurred: South Korea, Germany, The Netherlands, Uk, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA congratulated the special rapporteur on his work and asked DPRK to be more cooperative, while China and Cuba denounced the pressures made by the US and EU, and the « demonization » of DPRK.
Mr Muntarbhorn reasserted his independency, saying that he only acts in interest of the victims.

Special rapporteur Mr. A. Okola then presented his report on Burundi, underlining the fact that he obtained full support of the authorities during his stay.
Burundi confirmed that the government is ready to cooperate with the HRC, and has already made efforts to fight impunity, such as implenting many reforms and allowing for an increased participation of civil society.
Most of the countries expressed their satisfaction that the situation is improving and asked how the international community could help Burundi to continue along this trend. Only Sudan said his deep concern for the famine now striking in Burundi.

The final report of the morning was about Myanmar, presented by special rapporteur S. Pinheiro. The main Human Rights issues in this country are the absence of democracy and the related problem of political prisoners. Moreover, the special rapporteur has not been granted access to the country since 2003 and the movements of the IRCR are restricted .
Myanmar’s delegate said the government is doing everything they can to improve HR but denounced the double-standard of the HRC.
Most of the delegations expressed their increasing concern regarding the degradation of HR conditions in Myanmar. In the same vein, Mr Pinheiro said we cannot continue with this drop by drop release of prisonners and that it’s time to speed up dialogue !