Human Rights Council
AFTERNOON 1 October 2010
Council Adopts Eight Texts and Closes Fifteenth Regular Session
The Human Rights Council this afternoon decided to establish a Working Group to elaborate a legally binding instrument on the regulation of the impact of the activities of private military and security companies on the enjoyment of human rights, renewed for a period of one year the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, extended the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, and adopted resolutions and decisions on human rights and unilateral coercive measures, the right to development and racism and racial discrimination. The Council also adopted statements on Ecuador and on the Strategic Framework of Programme 19 (Human Rights).
The Council decided to establish an intergovernmental open-ended Working Group with the mandate to elaborate a legally binding instrument on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the impact of the activities of private military and security companies on the enjoyment of human rights, on the basis of the principles, main elements and the draft text for a possible convention proposed by the United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the rights of peoples to self-determination.
The Council decided to renew for a period of one year the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan and called upon the international community to continue providing support and technical assistance to the Government of Sudan and the Government of Southern Sudan in accordance with assessed needs.
The Council decided to extend the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia for one year with a view to maximizing the provision and flow of technical assistance to Somalia in the field of human rights.
The President of the Council read out a statement on behalf of the Council in which it stressed that democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms were interdependent and mutually reinforcing, as stated in paragraph 8 of the Vienna Declaration. The Council strongly rejected any attempt to disrupt the democratic institutional system in Ecuador.
The President, reaffirming full support to the mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as contained in General Assembly resolution 48/141, read out a statement which invited the High Commissioner to present the Secretary-General's Proposed Strategic Framework for Programme 19 (Human Rights) to the Human Rights Council prior to its submission to the Committee for Programme and Coordination, for the purpose of the High Commissioner to compile and submit the views of the States and relevant stakeholders for transmission to the Committee for Programme and Coordination for its consideration.
In the resolution on human rights and unilateral coercive measures, the Council reaffirmed that essential goods, such as food and medicines, should not be used as tools for political coercion and that under no circumstances should people be deprived of their own means of subsistence and development. It requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a thematic study on the impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, including recommendations on actions aimed at ending such measures.
Concerning the right to development, the Council decided to continue to act to ensure that its agenda promoted and advanced sustainable development and the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and, in this regard, to lead to raising the right to development, as set out in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, to the same level and on par with all other human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Council decided to hold a high-level panel discussion during its eighteenth session to reflect on the current human rights situations worldwide in respect of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, drawing inspiration from the exemplary example of Nelson Mandela to promoting and protecting human rights without distinction to race, colour or national or ethic origin.
Speaking in introductions of texts were Egypt on behalf of the Non Aligned Movement, Egypt, Nigeria, Nigeria on behalf of the African Group, United States and South Africa.
Speaking as a concerned country were Ecuador and the Sudan.
Speaking in general comments were Saudi Arabia, Norway, Nigeria, Uruguay, China, Uganda, Cuba, Mauritania, Pakistan, Libya, United States, Cuba, Belgium on behalf of the European Union, and Nigeria on behalf of the African Group.
Speaking in an explanation of the vote before the vote were the United States, Belgium on behalf of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, Argentina and Brazil.
Speaking in an explanation of the vote after the vote were Switzerland, Japan, Thailand, Maldives and United States.
Observer States speaking after the end of the voting process were Egypt, Malta, Bolivia, Algeria, and Sudan.
Non-governmental organizations speaking were North-South XXI, Indian Council of South America, Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peoples and International Service for Human Rights.
The Council will hold its sixteenth regular session from 28 February to 25 March 2011.