mardi 4 mars 2008

HLS, 4 March

7th Session of the Human Rights Council
High Level Segment
Geneva, 4th March 2008



Morning

This morning Ghana, Mauritania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yemen, Tanzania, the Maldives, Ecuador, Nigeria, Indonesia, Zambia, Iraq, Kenya, Poland, Iran and the Council of Europe took the floor.

Ambros Dery, Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice of Ghana
Mr Dery said that, besides the universality and indivisibility of human rights, it was also important to envisage a new international order where economic, social and cultural rights were ultimately placed on par with civil and political rights.

Limam Ould Teguedi, Minister of Justice of Mauritania
The democratic process that the country had undergone recently had had a big effect on the development of the relations of Mauritania with international organizations in the field of human rights. In this perspective, the governement took important initiatives to foster the return of refugees.

Abdulla Shahid, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives
During his speech, Mr Shahid stressed the impact of the climate change and human rights and presented the resolution that will be discussed during the session. He explained that the resolution would simply ask the Human Rights Council to consider, in a considered, non-politicized and non-condemnatory manner, the implications of climate change for the full enjoyment of human rights.

Ojo Maduekwe, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria
Mr Maduekwe said that Nigeria wellcomed the recent statement made by the Deputy high Commissioner fro Human Rights highlighting that climate change now constitutes a direct threat to the enjoyment of human rights. He added that no time had to be lost in addressing this issue, particularly in supporting the process in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reach a global agreement on the post 2010 Kyoto commitments.

Hassan Wirajuda, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia
Mr Wirajuda stressed the importance of the political will of the member States of the Council to meet the expectations of the 7th session of the HRC. He said that Regional and sub-regional arrangements could complete and reinforce national and international human rights promotion. Mr. Wirajuda noted that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should establish an ASEAN human rights body. Moreover, the intimate link between human rights issues and climate change was also noted. Mr Wirajuda said that the Council should now take a carefully measured approach on this issue.

Hussein Jasim Nasser Al-Zuhairi, Vice-Minister for Human Rights of Iraq
Mr Al-Zuhairi said that Iraq had made several security improvements since last March, with the exception of certain hot spots like Baghdad. The implementation of the rule of law plan since February 2007 was one of the reasons for this security improvement. The Iraqi Government, with the help of international organizations, had tried to address the worsening situation of refugees and internally displaced persons.

Dorothy Angote, Vice-Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs of Kenya
This session came at a time when Kenya was emerging from a major political challenge, arising from the post-election violence that erupted following the announcement of the Presidential results. Over 1,000 Kenyans lost their lives, about 350,000 Kenyans were internally displaced and property worth billions of shillings was destroyed. Kenya had subsequently put in place effective mechanisms aimed at bringing these acts of violence to an end and had also provided coordinated humanitarian assistance to the displaced people. The agreement of 28 February 2008, signed between President Mwai Kibaki and Radila Odinga, was a triumph for dialogue and diplomacy and also for peace and reconciliation.

Witold Waszczykowski, Under–Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland
Concerning the establishment of a system of Special Procedures, both thematic and country specific, Poland believed that this system should be reinforced; the Universal Periodic Review should not be viewed as an alternative to country mandates, these two mechanisms should be considered as complementary. He hoped that the review of all remaining country mandates would take place according to the rules set out in adequate documents and in the spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation.

Manouchehr Mottaki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran
Mrt Mottaki strongly criticized Israel for the situation in Gaza. The world was also experiencing new forms of xenophobia, which endangered peace and coexistence. Iran would actively participate in the Durban Review Conference. The growing tendency toward Ismalmophobia was also a critical issue. Freedom of speech was important, but the protection of the religion was also important. The European Union should adopt measures rules and regulations to forbid the offence of one’s religion.

Pierre-Etienne



Afternoon

This afternoon dignitaries from Burkina Faso, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Belgium, Turkey, Guatemala, Belarus, Viet Nam, Ukraine and Nicaragua took the floor.

Marat Tazhin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan strongly supported the creation of the HCR and hopes that it will be strengthened. In recent years, the world has gone through fundamental changes that have negative effects on international security and stability, Mr. Tahzin said. He referred to the “global threat of terrorism, discrimination, xenophobia, natural disasters, internal conflicts, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, problems of refugees and displaced persons, trafficking in women and children who affected the protection of human rights and freedoms”.

Akmal Saidov, Director of the National Centre for Human Rights of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan took significant steps in the field of human rights: the abolishment of death penalty since January 1st, the introduction of the democratic institute of justice known as habeas corpus, the entry into force of the law on guarantees of the rights of child and an increase of the role of political parties in democratization of society through the constitutional law. State policy of Uzbekistan in the field of human rights is being carried out in a lot of areas, among others: the system of legislation on human rights has been established; the institutional system of protection of human rights, freedoms and legitimate interests has been created; a national monitoring of observance and protection of human rights and freedoms is being carried out; a continuous system of education in the field of human rights is functioning.

Bechir Tekkari, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Tunisia
The Minister said that Tunisia is worried about the escalation of violence in Palestine. He stated that extreme poverty is affecting the today’s world. Tunisia is also combating a lot of issues in its territory like exclusion, marginalisation, xenophobia and terrorism.

Pierre Chevalier, Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium
HRC has to focus on its obligation to protect and promote liberties of individuals and human rights. All people have the right to be protected without any distinction. States should respect the absolute prohibition of torture, inhuman punishment and ill-treatment. Nobody should be arbitrarily detained or should be the victim of forced disappearances. The fight against terrorism should not excuse the violation of human rights and of the international law. It is unacceptable that women, children and people with different sexual orientation are harassed, tortures or killed, Mr. Chevalier said.

Rafet Akgunay, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
Respect of human rights is universal, indivisible, interrelated, interdependent, said Mr. Akgunay. The Minister stated that we cannot think of Human Rights without democracy and vice versa.

Miguel Angel Ibarra Gonzalez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala
The Government of Guatemala has enjoyed the establishment of the HRC and is pleased of the work of Mrs. Arbour. As member of the HRC, Guatemala is honoured to be submitted to the UPR, in order to improve the situation of Human Rights in the country. Guatemala wants to improve the issue of racial discrimination, and hopes to involve indigenous people in the political life of the country.

Viktor Gaisenok, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus
Belarus is taking part of the high level segment for the first time in the last five years. The Minister supported the HRC in order to protect human rights and freedoms around the world. He greeted the abolishment of the politicized Special Rapporteurs on Cuba and Belarus. Mr. Gaisenok said that an important issue is the trafficking of people and he condemned it. He urged that the UN should solve this problem at a global level.

Pham Binh Minh, Standing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam
Mr. Pham stressed important issues like extreme poverty (“over one billion people were still living in extreme poverty”), education for all children over the world and women’s discrimination.
He also recommended a non politicization of the HRC. He affirmed that Vietnam is doing its best to improve its human rights situation and living standards. Moreover, Vietnam has been recognized by the UN as one of the first countries to achieve the poverty reduction for the Millennium Development Goals.

Valdrack Jaentschke, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua
As a Member-State of the HRC, Nicaragua hopes that the Universal Periodic Review will be an impartial tool to the protection of HR. The Minister focused his attention on two issues: the asymmetric distribution of health access in the world and the free access to education. He stated also that women and poor peasants were supported by the government by providing them micro-businesses.

Rights to reply
Speaking in right of reply were Uzbekistan, Greece, Albania, Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Algeria, Macedonia, Japan and the Netherlands.

Marco and Meriam

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