The Human Rights Council has started the process of adopting the outcome of the 6th Universal Periodic Review held in late 2009. On Wednesday 17 March, the council reviewed several Countries: Eritrea, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Norway, and Albania.
The Council adopted the outcome of the Universal Periodic Review of Eritrea after a hearing statements from States and NGOs. During this discussion, speakers noted that Eritrea was the victim of an unfair international economic order and they commended the country for work on the promotion and protection of the human rights of its people within this context. Eritrea's decision to allow official visits by international human rights organisations was welcomed by the international community.
An issue of concern was the fact that the Government is seen to continue to arbitrarily arrest, detain, abuse and torture political dissidents, religious adherents and independent journalists. Some noted with concern that the criminalisation of consensual same-sex interaction is still in place in Eritrea.
Cyprus is considered to take its international commitments seriously, particularly with regard to human rights, and that among States under Review was potentially the most promising. The State has accepted the overwhelming majority of recommendations however some of them, such as those relating to migrant workers and their families, were not accepted. Cyprus was concerned that a number of recommendations were linked not to human rights but to the country's political environment. The rights of children and the issue of gender equality were of prime concern.
The international community found that efforts made by the Dominican Republic were truly outstanding ones. The Dominican Republic accepted the majority of the recommendations coming out of its review (67 out of 73). The country highlighted its plans on the issues of inequality (a plan on national equality and gender equity), education, illicit smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons. Members of the Council welcomed the measures the Dominican Republic had taken to help families in a precarious situation, to eradicate hunger and to tackle poverty.
The Council adopted the outcome of the Universal Periodic Review of Norway on Wednesday afternoon. 16 recommendations out of 39 were not accepted by the country. Norway was commended by the members of the Council for its efforts to eliminate cultural discrimination, domestic violence, human rights education. Norway's international priorities are the following: to continue to protect human rights internationally, which includes protections of human rights defenders, freedom of expression and efforts to combat capital punishment, torture and all forms of discrimination.
0 comments:
Post a Comment