HRC- March 27th (afternoon)- LR

At the beginning of the meeting, the Council concluded discussion on the reports of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ms. Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on the right of freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo and the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Ms Leïla Zerrougui.

Ms. Asma Jahangir said that violent acts perpetrated in the name of religion should not be given impunity. She added that there was a need for dialogue between the different religion. She concluded by saying that religion should not be used for political ends. Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo said that filtering systems are a form of prior-censorship and cannot be justified. Ms. Leïla Zerrougui spoke about the problem of arbitrary detention in the context of the international transfer of detainees, particularly in efforts to counter terrorism. Moreover, Ms. Zerrougui spoke about the insufficiency of resources allocated to the penitentiary system and the resulting failure to protect prisoners’ rights.


The HRC then heard the presentation of reports by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr. Philip Alston, of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, Mr. Peter Kasanda and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racisms, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mr. Doudou Diène.

Mr. Alston said that the question of the death penalty was an issue that divides the membership of the Council. His mandates was to engages States in dialogue concerning the application of norms regulating the death penalty. Some norms, such as the prohibition on sentencing juvenile offenders to death are however clear. The Rapporteur then mentioned specific country situation: Iran, Guatemala and the Philippines. Mr. Kasanda said that racial profiling is a serious human rights problem affecting many people. The use of criteria such as race, religion or skin color in police procedures leads to the stigmatization of people of African descent and other groups. Mr. Diène said that the upsurge of phenomena such as racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia constitute today one of the biggest threat against democracy. The Rapporteur then mentioned specific country situation: Switzerland and Italy.

Speaking as concerned countries in response to the reports were Guatemala, Philippines, Switzerland and Italy.

Finally, two draft resolutions (resolution A/HRC/4/L.2 on the OPT and A/HRC/4/L.6) were adopted without a vote by the HRC.