Special Report by WFUNA: The Impact of the Global Economic and Financial Crises

The Human Rights Council held its panel discussion on the economic and financial crises. Ms. Pillay Navanethem commended the HRC for its initiatives to highlight the impact of the impact of the crises on human rights.

A year ago, the Council held its 10th Special Session on the financial crisis. Today, there is a hope that the global economy is continuing its recovery. But, the impact of the financial crisis on human rights is yet to be estimated. Unfortunately the unemployment rate is still growing and the number of people living in poverty will continue to increase.

Appalling statistics have caused the international community to look for a solution. The Council needs to address how it can prevent social stratification and protect the poor and marginalized, providing them with access to basic services and resources and should. Moreover, following the discourse of Francisco Santos Calderon, Vice-President of Colombia, countries are encouraged to avoid protectionism and should open their markets in order to promote economic growth.

Member States contributing to the discussion mentioned that full employment is not possible without providing the merited social security, which should become the absolute priority of any national policy. All countries agreed that the UN should target employment for all. In addition, the speakers of the panel agreed that the total expenses cannot be decreased by slashing social aid. Read more here.

Special Report by WFUNA: Human Rights Commission begins its 13th Session with High-Level Segment

The Human Rights Council opened its 13th Session High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in her opening statement said that in order to counter deeply-rooted and chronic human rights conditions in many countries, five years ago the UN had initiated a process of reform that proposed several innovations including the creation of the Human Rights Council to replace the Commission. The Council is a conceived forum where responses to inequality, repression and impunity can be crafted and advocated to build a world in larger freedom. The High Commissioner's view of the Council would help the international community to assess whether the fundamental principles of this body's mandate had been solidly and consistently upheld. on 1 March 2010, hearing from 17 high-level dignitaries. The

In the afternoon, the Session heard statements from six dignitaries under its High-Level Segment and then held a high-level panel discussion on the impact of the global economic and financial crisis on the effective enjoyment of all human rights.

On 2 March 2010, the Council continued its high-level segment. Statements were heard from the Philippines, Switzerland, the UK, Vietnam, Korea and Serbia. This was followed by a panel discussion on the draft declaration on Human Rights, Education and Training.

In the afternoon of 2 March, the high-level segment continued, hearing from another 14 dignitaries who raised a number of issues such as the 2011 Review of the Council and its mechanisms and what it should focus on, as well as the lack of progress on the elimination of racism around the world, and who highlighted national efforts to promote and protect human rights.

On 3 March, the Council continued with hearing addresses by 13 dignitaries who outlined a number of human rights issues that required ongoing attention from the Council, such as racism and poverty, aggravated by the financial and economic crises, continued violations of the rights of women and girls, including female genital mutilation, human rights education and training, and the interplay between freedom of expression and new media and technology. 

The afternoon of 3 March saw the conclusion of the HRC High-Level Segment, hearing addresses by countries highlighting the measures they had undertaken to improve the human rights situation at a national level. The Council then began its General Segment, during which Member States' representatives expressed their views on the Council's achievements and highlighted their priorities in the context of the upcoming five-year review of the Council's functioning.

Increasing Awareness on Trafficking: UAE

Despite the various instruments implemented to combat the international sex trade, and programs to create awareness, the number of victims trafficked has risen. In the past decade, approximately 30 million women and children have reportedly been trafficked from Southeast Asia alone for sexual exploitation and sweatshop labor.

According to The National, Dubai is attempting to crack down on trafficking. For instance, law officers are being urged to scrutinize for possible cases of sex trafficking.

A training programme run by the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT) and led by Paul Holmes on behalf of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has, over the past four days, focused on identifying, helping and protecting victims.

According to Fiona el Assiuty, the project manager of the IOM's regional multi-action programme, more awareness about trafficking for sexual exploitation is needed. She said that the UAE has taken "huge steps" in efforts to combat trafficking over the past five years, including the introduction of federal anti-trafficking legislation, as well as the establishment of the NCCHT and shelter for victims. "It is clear that the UAE is sincere in its efforts to combat the phenomenon."

According to Mrs. Gulnara Shahinian, the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, forced labor is not addressed effectively by member states. This is definitely a step in the right direction! One can hope that other countries will follow suit.

Progress on the right to sanitation: the Peepoo!

Sanitation is a fundamental human right. It is a human right and of human dignity.

In addressing what Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, calls a sanitation crisis, a Swedish entrepreneur is "trying to market and sell a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet for the urban slums in the developing world". According to The New York Times, the bag, called the Peepoo, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm. According to Mr. Wilhelmson, "Not only is it sanitary, they can reuse this to grow crops." 

After successfully testing it for a year in Kenya and India, he said he plans to mass produce the bag this summer. He reportedly plans to sell it for about 2 to 3 cents - comparable to the cost of an ordinary bag.

13th Session of the Human Rights Council Opens!

On Monday, 1 March, the Human Rights Council opened its 13th Regular Session at the Palais des Nations (UN) in Geneva. The session will be held for four weeks during which 20 mandate holders will report on their thematic areas and a number of studies and reports will be presented. Read more here.

I will be posting on topics under discussion and updates on events during the council as reported by interns at WFUNA at the UN in Geneva. Stay tuned!

UN rights experts urge Uganda to redouble efforts to shelve anti-homosexuality bill

In November 2009, I reported on a new bill that was being presented before the Ugandan Parliament proposing a death penalty for homosexuality and "serial offenders" and a life sentence for "touching a person with homosexual intent".

Today, at the United Nations in Geneva, a media statement, entitled Uganda: last chance to shelve Anti-Homosexuality Bill should not be missed, warn UN human rights experts, was released. "With its third and final reading imminent before the Ugandan Parliament, two UN Special Rapporteurs voiced their deep concerns about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which, if adopted, would have an extremely damaging impact on the important and legitimate work of human rights defenders in the country, and would curtail fundamental freedoms."

Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, stressed, "The Bill would not only violate the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandan people, but would also criminalize the legitimate activities of men and women, as well as national and international organizations, who strive for the respect for equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The independent experts, UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, and the UN Special Rapporteur on health, Anand Grover, "urge Parliamentarians to refrain from adopting this draconian Bill". Read more here. 

Update on the Goldstone Report!

On Friday (26 February), the United Nations' General Assembly passed, by 98 to 7, a resolution "put forward by Muslim countries that once again urges the two sides to undertake independent investigations into allegations of war crimes raised by the Goldstone Report last year". Ban Ki-Moon, the UN's secretary general, has been asked to report back to the assembly "within a period of five months on the implementation of the present resolution, with a view to the consideration of further action".

According to The National, the previous deadline for independent investigations passed in February with Mr. Ban acknowledging that he could not determine whether each side had fulfilled its obligations.

While many have sharply criticized Mr. Ban's 'inaction' - I can agree that I am disappointed that the deadline was not met, though I will decline to comment about Mr. Ban - some progress is better than no progress at all!

Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, said on Thursday that further delay would only lessen the likelihood of any war criminals being held accountable. "The delays remove the reality of what happened in Gaza from the collective memory of world society".

Riyad Mansour, the PLO's representative to the UN, however, rejected this criticism and said that the process was a long one. "The Goldstone report is like a bulldozer and it is moving. Sometimes it is moving fast, sometimes is is moving slow."

According to Geroge Giacaman, a Ramallah-based analyst, the next five months will thus probably prove "crucial", though not necessarily for any outcome of investigations. He said, "Israel will use this time to lobby governments against taking any action on the Goldstone report. This, is much better equipped to do than the Palestinian side. It is nevertheless an open contest because the Palestinian side, in urging that action be taken, will be joined by human rights organizations from across the world."

The Goldstone report is not yet "dead and buried", he said, but the next five months will determine is faith.

Iran attempts to defends its human rights records at the UN

I am a little behind in reporting this 'tid bit', but I wanted to put it out there before it was completely old news. Also, withe the Human Rights Council's March session starting tomorrow (March 1st-26th), it is very relevant.

On February 15th, Iran "brushed aside allegations that it has resorted to torture, executions and mass detentions to crush political opposition" and "made a defiant appearance" before the UN Human Rights Council, saying that it promoted and defended human rights and that Western critics were "exploiting the issue for political ends". Mohammad Larijani, secretary general of Iran's High council for Human Rights, told the Council, when it was conducting its first review of the country (Universal Periodic Review (UPR)), that Iran is "in full compliance with the relevant international commitments it has taken on in a genuine and long-term approach to safeguard human rights".

Peter Gooderham, Britain's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, called on Iran to invite Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to investigate post-election violence and assess the state of human rights and accept a visit by Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights

In his statement to the Council, Mr. Larijani said that Iran had fully cooperated with the United Nations' human rights mechanisms and had invited Ms. Pillay to visit the country. Ms. Pillay's spokesman, Rupert Colville, confirmed this issuance and that stated that Ms. Pillay had responded that she would be unable to visit before 2011 and suggested that a team from her office be allowed to visit Iran first. Mr. Larijani has reportedly not yet responded to the suggestion. (Note that no Human Rights Council official has visited the country since 2005 and numerous requests from special investigators have remained unanswered.)

Grim News from Burma

On Friday, Burma's Supreme Court rejected pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal to overturn her house arrest. 

Last August, following an incident in which an uninvited American, John Yettaw, stayed at her house, Aung San Suu Kyi was accused by Burma's ruling military junta of breaching the terms of her house arrest and thus extended it by 18 months.

According to CNN, Suu Kyi, 64, has one final avenue for appeal to a special court. However, not to be pessimistic or anything, but I am somewhat doubting that this road will be met with success. Perhaps, if it is actually held, after the elections, there might be hope for her then. And I do hope! 

Suu Kyi has spent more than 11 of the past 19 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime.

Iraq, Can a true democracy exist without freedom of the press?

According to The Washington Post, Iraqi lawmakers have not yet passed legislation to enforce freedom of the press guaranteed by the 2005 constitution, while a commission the report to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently unveiled guidelines that present "an alarming return to authoritarian" - last month Iraq's Communications and Media Commission prohibit journalists from withholding the names of sources and threaten action against those who publish information that incites violence.

Before the war, journalists were able to publish controversial stories if they could provide evidence. However now, in more recent years, as political competition has intensified, litigation against journalists has amplified. Violence has been reverted to in attempts to hinder journalists. For instance, journalist Imad Abadi was shot at in the head after publishing articles about government corruption. In a nutshell, there is no freedom of the press.

If the world was already concerned about Iraq's future, given Iraq's election campaign delay (Iraq's electoral commission delayed the start of campaigning for next month's parliamentary elections following a court decision to overturn a ban on candidates barred because of alleged affiliations with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party.), a definite blow to election credibility, what do you think now? 

Also note the withdrawal of Saleh al Mutlaq and his party from Iraq's election, and his call to boycott the Iraq election. 

Can a true democracy (assuming that is the goal) exist without freedom of the press? Personally I think not.

New Release! Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela

On Wednesday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a report entitled Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela. The report effectively charges Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government with various human rights abuses, including penalizing opposition media, politicians and protesters and wielding powerful influence over the country's judiciary.

Another notch on the 'bedpost' against human rights in China

China's Ministry of Education has "ordered colleagues to cut ties with Oxfam and prevent it form recruiting on campuses, accusing Oxfam's Hong Kong branch of a hidden political agenda - seeking to infiltrate the mainland". 

According to The Guardian, the notice appears to refer to an internship programme started in 2006 that has placed 40 students working at the NGOs into sectors such as supporting migrant workers. Charlotte Kong, communications manager of Oxfam Hong Kong, said the project was part of its broader attempts to contribute to the development of civil society. Kong said in a statement, "We believe it is in line with the central government's policies encouraging more students to enter the field of social work. In the past four years we never received any warning that this programme was sensitive."  

Although some officials have reportedly sought to encourage the development of NGOs and welcomed their potential to complement the work of the state, Beijing remains wary of the country's emerging civil society and its potential to challenge the government. Domestic groups often register themselves as companies because of the difficulties in establishing themselves legally. Foreign organizations also operate under tight restrictions. 

As civil society continues to develop independently of the state, Beijing remains distrustful, suspicious and largely apprehensive. While this action on the part of the Chinese government may seem like an overreaction, its logic is comprehensible. Beijing fears any potential challenge to the government. Another notich on the 'bedpost' against human rights in China.