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Tag: UN Human Rights Council

  • UK regrets U.S. withdrawal from UN Human Rights Council

    The United Kingdom has expressed regret over the decision of the U.S. to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council.

    UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, in a statement by the United Kingdom Mission to the UN, said Britain wants to see a reformed council but would work for it from within.

    “The United States’ decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council is regrettable.

    “We’ve made no secret of the fact that the UK wants to see reform of the Human Rights Council, but we are committed to working to strengthen the Council from within,’’ Johnson said.

    The U.S., while announcing its withdrawal, said the “Council has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy – with many of the world’s worst human rights abuses going ignored and some of the world’s most serious offenders sitting on the council itself’’.

    It also said the council’s membership includes authoritarian governments with unambiguous and abhorrent human rights records, such as China, Cuba, and Venezuela.

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    “And the council’s continued and well-documented bias against Israel is unconscionable.

    “Since its creation, the council has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than against the rest of the world combined,’’ the U.S. said.

    The UK said, however, that the council was the best tool for the international community to address global impunity.

    “Britain’s support for the Human Rights Council remains steadfast.

    “It is the best tool the international community has to address impunity in an imperfect world and to advance many of our international goals.

    “That’s why we will continue to support and champion it,’’ Johnson said.

  • Nigeria wins re-election into UN Human Rights Council

    Nigeria wins re-election into UN Human Rights Council

    Nigeria has won a re-election into the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva for the 2018 to 2020 term at an election held on Monday at the UN Headquarters in New York.

    The Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Amb. Samson Itegboje, told the Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that Ghana and Sierra Leone stepped down for Nigeria.

    Itegboje said: “There were two slots for West Africa in the election and Ghana and Sierra Leone were also contesting.

    “However, we reached an understanding that West African countries could not be antagonising themselves and that we have to reach a compromise.

    “So we got Ghana and Sierra Leone to step down for Nigeria. But even at that, there were a lot of reach out we had to do beyond West Africa.

    “So this election has once again showed that Nigeria enjoyed a lot of goodwill not only among its West African bloc countries but also in Africa and across the world”.

    The UNHRC is a UN system inter-governmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world.

    With the re-election, Nigeria, currently serving out its 2015 to 2017 term, would be among the four countries representing West Africa and the 13 countries representing Africa in the 47-seat Council.

    The other two countries on the council with Nigeria are Cote d’ Ivoire and Togo, which tenure expire in 2018.

    Ghana and Nigeria are already serving out their tenure for the 2015 to 2017 term while Ghana, which initially sought te-election like Nigeria, stepped down for Nigeria to get on board of the Council.

    Nigeria has illustriously served the global community on the UNHRC for three terms since the establishment of the Council in 2006.

    These are 2006 to 2009, 2009 to 2012 and currently, 2015 to 2017, and with the reelection, would remain on the Council till 2020.

    NAN reports that the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN hosted a reception party for envoys to launch Nigeria’s country’s re-election bid on Friday in New York to solicit countries’ “firm support” for Nigeria’s re-election bid. (NAN)

  • UN launches inquiry into Congo atrocities

    UN launches inquiry into Congo atrocities

    The UN Human Rights Council launched an international investigation on Friday into killings and other atrocities in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    The 47-member Geneva forum adopted by consensus a resolution brought by African countries which also called on the Kinshasa government to cooperate with the team of international experts.

    UN rights chief Zeid Al-Hussein has called repeatedly for the inquiry and said on Tuesday that a militia linked to government has committed a string of ethnically-motivated attacks in recent months, including cutting off toddlers’ limbs and stabbing pregnant women.

    Congo’s government has been fighting insurgents in Kasai since August 2016, triggering fears of a wider conflict in the large central African country, which is a tinderbox of ethnic rivalry and competing claims over mineral resources.

    NAN reports that the Catholic Church said on Tuesday that 3,383 people have been killed in the Kasai region since October 2016, when fighting between Congolese Security Forces and militia members began.

    The UN had previously said hundreds died in the violence.

    The church report also said Democratic Republic of Congo’s national army was responsible for destroying 10 villages.

    The army’s spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

    NAN reports that the DRC on Tuesday rejected an independent investigation into violence in its Kasai region.

    The council will investigate the murder of two UN workers in January.

    “Carrying out an investigation that excludes the Congolese authorities would be unacceptable. It would be as if we were not an independent country,” Justice Minister Alexis Mwamba told reporters in Geneva.

    Al-Hussein had called on the Council to mandate an investigation after Congo missed a deadline to agree to investigate alleged massacres jointly.

    Mwamba said: “that would be a pity, for the simple reason that if a resolution is voted for and doesn’t take us into account, implementing it will be difficult.

    “Do you want experts to go into a foreign country without reporting to the national authorities?

    “How will they get visas? How will they get access to the countryside? The best way would be to go towards a solution that is acceptable for everyone … If you think you can do the investigation without us, go ahead.

  • Congo rejects UN-led investigation into violence in Kasai region

    Congo rejects UN-led investigation into violence in Kasai region

    The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday rejected an independent investigation into violence in its Kasai region which has been called for by a top UN human rights official.

    The UN Human Rights Council is likely to vote on Thuesday on whether to authorise such an investigation into violence that has killed hundreds in central Congo since last August, including two UN experts who were murdered earlier this year.

    “Carrying out an investigation that excludes the Congolese authorities would be unacceptable. It would be as if we were not an independent country,” Justice Minister Alexis Mwamba told reporters in Geneva.

    UN human rights chief Zeid Al-Hussein called on the Council to mandate an investigation after Congo missed a deadline to agree to investigate alleged massacres jointly.

    Mwamba said: “that would be a pity, for the simple reason that if a resolution is voted for and doesn’t take us into account, implementing it will be difficult.

    “Do you want experts to go into a foreign country without reporting to the national authorities?

    “How will they get visas? How will they get access to the countryside? The best way would be to go towards a solution that is acceptable for everyone … If you think you can do the investigation without us, go ahead.”

    He said it was baseless to suggest that Congo had not met a June 8 deadline set by Zeid, since it had presented its roadmap for investigating on May 24 in Kinshasa. Zeid has said the government’s response “falls short”.

    Some legal proceedings had already begun, Mwamba said, including the trial of people suspected of killing UN sanctions monitors Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan, an American and a Swede who disappeared in March and whose bodies were found two weeks later in a shallow grave.

    Mwamba said about a dozen suspects were identified from a video of the murders, and the four principal suspects have been arrested.

    The others are still being sought.

    In May, a military prosecutor said two militia men had been arrested, and denied that Congolese forces were involved.

    “We have deployed the whole arsenal to establish responsibility – who committed the act, who ordered it, are there politicians at the provincial or national level who could have played any sort of role?,” Mwamba said.

    The minister also said Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi, who has been abroad since he was accused of plotting against the state a year ago, was free to come back to Congo whenever he wants, although he would have to face justice.

    Mwamba added that Katumbi could be barred from standing for election because Congo’s constitution does not permit dual nationalities.

    He also commented on a lawsuit against him in Belgium, which accuses him of involvement in the downing of an airliner in 1998, with the loss of 40 lives.

    He said he was unfazed by the lawsuit, and was very happy to respond to the court through his lawyer, and would not invoke diplomatic immunity.

  • UN rights chief calls out uncooperative council members

    UN rights chief calls out uncooperative council members

    A number of countries that sit on the UN Human Rights Council are not cooperating with international experts who want to shed light on abuses, UN rights chief Zeid Al-Hussein said Tuesday in Geneva.

    Zeid’s unusual finger-pointing at the start of a UN Human Rights Council session came shortly before a highly anticipated address by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, to the 47-member body.

    The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has been reviewing its future engagement with the council, and Haley was expected to lay out Washington’s criticism and reform demands.

    Zeid called out members such as Venezuela, Egypt, Nigeria and the Philippines for blocking multiple UN expert visits to these human rights hot spots.

    “Most astonishingly, in spite of having been elected to this council in 2015, Burundi continues to commit some of the most serious human rights violations dealt with by this council,” Al-Hussein said.

    Al-Hussein said China has let in rights monitors but they have not been able to move freely.

    Washington has questioned the legitimacy of the UN rights council, pointing not only at serious violations committed by some members, but also at the council’s strong focus on Israel and its occupation of Palestinian territory.

    In his speech, the human rights chief made a point of highlighting the suffering that both Palestinians and Israelis have had to endure in their conflict.

    “Maintain the occupation, and for both peoples there will only be a prolongation of immense pain,” he said.

    NAN reports that the U.S. threatened to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council unless reforms are ushered in including the removal of what it sees as an “anti-Israel bias”, diplomats and activists said.

    U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who holds cabinet rank in President Donald Trump’s administration, said on Friday that Washington would decide on whether to withdraw from the Council after its three-week session in Geneva ends this month.

    Under Trump, Washington has broken with decades of U.S. foreign policy by turning away from multilateralism.

    His decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement last week drew criticism from governments around the world.

    The Council’s critical stance of Israel has been a major sticking point for its ally the U.S.
    Washington boycotted the body for three years under President George W. Bush before rejoining under Barack Obama in 2009.

  • Women are Africa’s active agents of change – UN report

    Women are Africa’s active agents of change – UN report

    The UN Human Rights Council launched a joint report with the African Union and UN Women on Tuesday, describing women as active agents of change.

    The report, ‘Women’s Rights in Africa’, explained the progress and challenges to women’s struggle for human rights in Africa.

    “When African women, as around the globe, exercise their rights to access education, skills, and jobs, there will be a surge in prosperity, positive health outcomes, and greater freedom and well-being, not only of women but of the whole society.

    “When all women are empowered to make their own choices and share resources, opportunities and decisions as equal partners, every society in Africa will be transformed,” the report said.

    It, however, regretted that in most countries in Africa, women continue to be denied their rights to full enjoyment.

    “Statistics show that some African countries have no legal protection for women against domestic violence, are forced to undergo female genital mutilation, and forced to marry while still children.”

    Among other recommendations, the report called on African governments to encourage women’s full and productive employment, to recognize the importance of unpaid care and domestic work, and to ensure women can access and control their own economic and financial resources.

    The report stressed that women should not be seen only as victims but as active agents in formal and informal peace building processes.

    “Human rights are not a utopian fairy-tale-they are a recipe for sound institutions, more sustainable development and greater peace,” Mr. Zeid Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, wrote in the Foreword to the report.