As UN Member States prepare to elect members of the new Human Rights Council Amnesty International urges all countries voting in the UN General Assembly on Tuesday 9 May to elect candidates with a sound human rights record and demonstrated commitment to protect and promote human rights.
Amnesty International emphasizes the importance of using this historic election to set the new Council on the right course to become a strong and effective human rights body. It urges countries to consistently apply high human rights standards in voting throughout the election procedure, regardless of the number of ballots required to fill all seats on the Council.
In the run up to the elections, Amnesty International urged candidate countries to make specific, credible and measurable pledges and commitments to promote and protect human rights at the national and international levels. Amnesty International welcomes the overwhelming response from 64 out of 65 candidate countries to make pledges and commitments consistent with the General Assembly resolution creating the Council (A/RES/60/251). Although many of the pledges lack the specific undertakings for the future that Amnesty international would have liked to have seen, they are the beginning of an important new process where human rights records and commitments play a distinct role in elections to the UN's principal human rights body.
To encourage the best possible outcome in the upcoming elections, Amnesty International made public today a summary overview of the pledges and commitments made to date, listing each country's pledge against the Suggested Elements for Voluntary Pledges and Commitments by Candidate Countries for Election to the Human Rights Council, published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The table can assist Member States in assessing each candidate's proposed contribution to the new Human Rights Council, and is available at the Amnesty International website at http://web.amnesty.org/pages/un-index-eng The overview should be read together with other specific information about each candidate's human rights record, including Amnesty International's Guide to the UN Human Rights Council candidates, also available at the above website.
Pledges and commitments made by candidate countries from all regions of the world strongly suggest that the creation of the Council is already having a positive effect on states' readiness to advance human rights, both nationally and internationally. This is evident in pledges and commitments by candidates to become a party to human rights treaties and to strengthen their cooperation with the UN's independent human rights experts, the Special Procedures, for example:
· of the six candidate countries that are not a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- the two instruments which lie at the heart of the UN's human rights system -- two candidates have specifically pledged to work for their ratification;
· no less than 17 countries have pledged to become a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (which provides for international and national mechanisms to prevent torture) and nine countries have pledged to ratify either of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
· six countries have pledged to withdraw reservations to human rights treaties; and
· two countries have, for the first time, extended an open, standing invitation to the UN's human rights experts, the Special Procedures.
Background
The election of the first members of the new UN Human Rights Council will take place on 9 May 2006. Each of the 47 members must achieve an absolute majority, of 96 votes, at the UN General Assembly in order secure a seat on the Council. The General Assembly resolution establishing the Council requires that, when casting their votes, Member States must take into account candidates countries’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments thereto. By 3 May 2006, 65 countries had put themselves forward, all but one of them had made a public pledge. Member states are under no obligation to elect a candidate that does not demonstrate the necessary commitment to protect and promote human rights, regardless of how many ballots are required to fill all seats on the Council.
Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org
Please also see:
UN Human Rights Council: New website to monitor candidates' human rights records
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGIOR400122006
In ‘historic’ vote, General Assembly creates new UN Human Rights Council
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17811&Cr=rights&Cr1=council
Member States submit election candidates for new UN Human Rights Council
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=18047&Cr=rights&Cr1=council
UPDATE
U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTS 47 MEMBERS OF NEW HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL; MARKS ‘NEW BEGINNING’ FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTION, PROTECTION
The General Assembly today, in what its President called a new beginning for the promotion and protection of human rights, elected the first 47 members of the newly-created Human Rights Council.
Following three rounds of secret voting, the following members were elected: Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.
The new Human Rights Council, created by General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 to replace the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, will seek to address violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations, and promote effective coordination and the mainstreaming of human rights within the United Nations system. In electing the Council’s first members, the 191-member Assembly followed a procedure that significantly differed from that of the often criticized Human Rights Commission, which will be abolished on 16 June.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/ga10459.doc.htm
Amnesty International emphasizes the importance of using this historic election to set the new Council on the right course to become a strong and effective human rights body. It urges countries to consistently apply high human rights standards in voting throughout the election procedure, regardless of the number of ballots required to fill all seats on the Council.
In the run up to the elections, Amnesty International urged candidate countries to make specific, credible and measurable pledges and commitments to promote and protect human rights at the national and international levels. Amnesty International welcomes the overwhelming response from 64 out of 65 candidate countries to make pledges and commitments consistent with the General Assembly resolution creating the Council (A/RES/60/251). Although many of the pledges lack the specific undertakings for the future that Amnesty international would have liked to have seen, they are the beginning of an important new process where human rights records and commitments play a distinct role in elections to the UN's principal human rights body.
To encourage the best possible outcome in the upcoming elections, Amnesty International made public today a summary overview of the pledges and commitments made to date, listing each country's pledge against the Suggested Elements for Voluntary Pledges and Commitments by Candidate Countries for Election to the Human Rights Council, published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The table can assist Member States in assessing each candidate's proposed contribution to the new Human Rights Council, and is available at the Amnesty International website at http://web.amnesty.org/pages/un-index-eng The overview should be read together with other specific information about each candidate's human rights record, including Amnesty International's Guide to the UN Human Rights Council candidates, also available at the above website.
Pledges and commitments made by candidate countries from all regions of the world strongly suggest that the creation of the Council is already having a positive effect on states' readiness to advance human rights, both nationally and internationally. This is evident in pledges and commitments by candidates to become a party to human rights treaties and to strengthen their cooperation with the UN's independent human rights experts, the Special Procedures, for example:
· of the six candidate countries that are not a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- the two instruments which lie at the heart of the UN's human rights system -- two candidates have specifically pledged to work for their ratification;
· no less than 17 countries have pledged to become a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (which provides for international and national mechanisms to prevent torture) and nine countries have pledged to ratify either of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
· six countries have pledged to withdraw reservations to human rights treaties; and
· two countries have, for the first time, extended an open, standing invitation to the UN's human rights experts, the Special Procedures.
Background
The election of the first members of the new UN Human Rights Council will take place on 9 May 2006. Each of the 47 members must achieve an absolute majority, of 96 votes, at the UN General Assembly in order secure a seat on the Council. The General Assembly resolution establishing the Council requires that, when casting their votes, Member States must take into account candidates countries’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments thereto. By 3 May 2006, 65 countries had put themselves forward, all but one of them had made a public pledge. Member states are under no obligation to elect a candidate that does not demonstrate the necessary commitment to protect and promote human rights, regardless of how many ballots are required to fill all seats on the Council.
Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org
Please also see:
UN Human Rights Council: New website to monitor candidates' human rights records
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGIOR400122006
In ‘historic’ vote, General Assembly creates new UN Human Rights Council
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17811&Cr=rights&Cr1=council
Member States submit election candidates for new UN Human Rights Council
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=18047&Cr=rights&Cr1=council
UPDATE
U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTS 47 MEMBERS OF NEW HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL; MARKS ‘NEW BEGINNING’ FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTION, PROTECTION
The General Assembly today, in what its President called a new beginning for the promotion and protection of human rights, elected the first 47 members of the newly-created Human Rights Council.
Following three rounds of secret voting, the following members were elected: Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.
The new Human Rights Council, created by General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 to replace the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, will seek to address violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations, and promote effective coordination and the mainstreaming of human rights within the United Nations system. In electing the Council’s first members, the 191-member Assembly followed a procedure that significantly differed from that of the often criticized Human Rights Commission, which will be abolished on 16 June.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/ga10459.doc.htm