{"id":530,"date":"2005-11-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/en\/ngo-coalition-urges-creation-of-credible-un-human-rights-council\/"},"modified":"2016-09-09T13:49:45","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T13:49:45","slug":"ngo-coalition-urges-creation-of-credible-un-human-rights-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/ngo-coalition-urges-creation-of-credible-un-human-rights-council\/","title":{"rendered":"NGO Coalition Urges Creation of Credible UN Human Rights Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights and 41 personalities and NGOs send the following letter to the President of the UN General Assembly to urge that the UN Human Rights Council will significantly enhance the UN\u2019s existing capacity to protect and promote human rights\u00a0:<\/i><\/p>\n

November 1, 2005<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson
\nPresident of the 60th Session of the U.N. General Assembly
\nOffice of the President of the General Assembly
\nUnited Nations
\nNew York, N.Y. 10017<\/p>\n

Dear President Eliasson,<\/p>\n

At the September 2005 World Summit, heads of state and government took a historic step towards strengthening the protection of human rights worldwide by agreeing to establish a Human Rights Council. The challenging task of implementing that decision through negotiations at this year\u2019s General Assembly was placed in your capable hands. At this crucial moment in the negotiations process, the undersigned organizations and individuals, all deeply committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, would like to emphasize our shared view regarding the key elements of a new Human Rights Council that we would consider indispensable to a credible outcome.<\/p>\n

We start from the premise that the result of this reform must be substantially more than a change in name. The Human Rights Council must significantly enhance the U.N.\u2019s existing capacity to protect and promote human rights. We would also stress that the key elements of the council should be adopted by the end of this year in order to allow it to begin its work in early 2006.<\/p>\n

We believe that the following essential points must be included in the resolution creating the Human Rights Council\u00a0:<\/p>\n

Status\u00a0:<\/b> The HRC should be elevated to principal organ status within five years and should have transitional status as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly in the meantime.<\/p>\n

Mandate\u00a0:<\/b> The HRC should address any matters relating to the protection and promotion of all human rights in any country, including specific situations of gross, systematic, continuing or urgent violations. The HRC should be empowered to make recommendations and report on all such matters to member states and bodies within the United Nations system, including to the Security Council and the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Composition\u00a0:<\/b> At a minimum, states seeking election to the Human Rights Council must commit to abide by the highest standards of human rights and to cooperate fully with the HRC and its mechanisms, and should put forward a platform that describes what they seek to accomplish during their term of membership.<\/p>\n

Elections and Voting\u00a0:<\/b> Members of the HRC should be elected by an individual and direct vote of two-thirds of the General Assembly. Regional groups should be required to put forward more candidates than the number of seats allocated to their region. When voting, member states should give due regard to the positive contribution which the member state seeking election has made to the protection and promotion of human rights, as well as to the pledges it makes.<\/p>\n

Working Methods\u00a0:<\/b> The HRC should be a standing body which meets regularly throughout the year and is able to respond in a timely fashion to any matters involving the protection and promotion of human rights. Meetings of the HRC in addition to the regular sessions could be called by one-third of HRC members, the HRC chair, the Secretary-General, or the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.<\/p>\n

Special Procedures\u00a0:<\/b> The system of special procedures should be transferred to the HRC with enhanced coherence and support, as well as greater participation in HRC meetings.<\/p>\n

NGO Participation\u00a0:<\/b> The HRC should ensure a level of participation by NGOs at least as high as that at the Commission on Human Rights by retaining the existing rules and practices for participation by NGOs.<\/p>\n

We believe that by incorporating each of the above elements the Human Rights Council will be able to fulfill the promise that engendered this reform. Given the inter-relationship of many of these issues, failure to secure any of these key points would compromise the entire effort.<\/p>\n

We look forward to continuing to work with you and the co-chairs to support the establishment of an effective, credible, and authoritative Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Yvonne Terlingen<\/b>
\nAI Representative at the United Nations Amnesty International<\/p>\n

Bani Dugal<\/b>
\nPrincipal Representative Baha\u2019i International Community, UN Office<\/p>\n

Dr. Wajeeha S. Albaharna<\/b>
\nPresident Bahrain Women\u2019s Society<\/p>\n

Emma Bonino<\/b>
\nMember of the European Parliament (Italy)<\/p>\n

Karin D. Ryan<\/b>
\nSenior Advisor for Human Rights The Carter Center<\/p>\n

Denis Caillaux<\/b>
\nSecretary General CARE International<\/p>\n

Lene Schumacher<\/b>
\nDirector of Programs Center for Development of International Law<\/p>\n

Charlotte Bunch<\/b>
\nExecutive Director Center for Women\u2019s Global Leadership<\/p>\n

Charles J. Brown<\/b>
\nPresident and CEO Citizens for Global Solutions<\/p>\n

Richard C. Rowson<\/b>
\nPresident, Council for a Community of Democracies<\/p>\n

Ted Piccone<\/b>
\nExecutive Director Democracy Coalition Project<\/p>\n

Sidiki Kaba<\/b>
\nPresident, F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale des Ligues des Droits de 1\u2019Homme (FIDH)<\/p>\n

John Quigley<\/b>
\nExecutive Director, Franciscans International<\/p>\n

Jennifer Windsor<\/b>
\nExecutive Director, Freedom House<\/p>\n

Gay McDougall<\/b>
\nExecutive Director, Global Rights<\/p>\n

Sergio D\u2019elia<\/b>
\nSecretary General, Hands Off Cain (Italy)<\/p>\n

Neil Hicks<\/b>
\nDirector of International Programs Human Rights First<\/p>\n

Kenneth Roth<\/b>
\nExecutive Director Human Rights Watch<\/p>\n

Nicholas Howen<\/b>
\nSecretary-General, International Commission of Jurists<\/p>\n

Gareth Evans<\/b>
\nPresident and CEO, International Crisis Group<\/p>\n

Bob Arsenault<\/b>
\nPresident, International League for Human Rights<\/p>\n

Gorel Bogarde<\/b>
\nUN Representative International, Save the Children Alliance<\/p>\n

Chris Sidoti<\/b>
\nDirector, International Service for Human Rights<\/p>\n

Hussain Sinjari<\/b>
\nPresident, Iraq Institute for Democracy<\/p>\n

Daniela Colombo<\/b>
\nPresident, Italian Association for Women in Development, AIDOS<\/p>\n

Felice D. Gaer<\/b>
\nDirector, Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights<\/p>\n

Thach Thach<\/b>
\nPresident, Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, Vietnam<\/p>\n

Walid Salem<\/b>
\nCoordinator, MECA (Middle East Citizen Assembly)<\/p>\n

Kok Ksor<\/b>
\nPresident, Montagnard Foundation, Vietnam<\/p>\n

Robin Phillips<\/b>
\nExecutive Director, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights<\/p>\n

Nader Nadery<\/b>
\nCommissioner, Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission<\/p>\n

Sergio Stanzani<\/b>
\nNo Peace Without Justice (Italy)<\/p>\n

Morton H. Halperin<\/b>
\nDirector of U.S. Advocacy Open Society Institute<\/p>\n

Marco Pannella<\/b>
\nMember of the European Parliament (Italy)<\/p>\n

Leonard Rubenstein<\/b>
\nExecutive Director, Physicians for Human Rights<\/p>\n

Kenneth H. Bacon<\/b>
\nPresident, Refugees International<\/p>\n

Matteo Mecacci<\/b>
\nUN Representative Transnational Radical Party<\/p>\n

Vina Nadjibulla<\/b>
\nUN Representative United Methodist UN Office<\/p>\n

Marino Busdachin<\/b>
\nUNPO General Secretary, The Netherlands<\/p>\n

Vo Van Ai, President<\/b>
\nVietnam Committee on Human Rights, Vietnam<\/p>\n

William R. Pace<\/b>
\nExecutive Director, World Federalist Movement<\/p>\n

Eric Sottas<\/b>
\nDirector, World Organisation Against Torture<\/p>\n

\ncc\u00a0: H.E. Mr. Ricardo Alberto Arias, Co-Chair, Human Rights Council negotiations
\nH.E. Mr. Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, Co-Chair, Human Rights Council negotiations
\nMr. Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary-General
\nMs. Louise Arbour, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights and 41 personalities and NGOs send the following letter to the President of the UN General Assembly to urge that the UN Human Rights Council will significantly enhance the UN\u2019s existing capacity to protect and promote human rights\u00a0: November 1, 2005 H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson President of the 60th …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-vchr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}