Francisco Santos Calderon, vice-president of Colombia
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Human Rights Council has begun its 13th session in Geneva. A high-level meeting took place 1 March with the participation of the vice-presidents of Colombia and Spain, and the vice-prime ministers of Belgium and Equatorial Guinea, among other representatives.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Criticism rained down from Western governments on Iran during its periodic review by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva Monday morning 15 February. The review session was opened by Mohamad Jabad Larijani, responsible for human rights in Iran, but his country’s human rights record was immediately attacked by the United States and other Western governments.
Michael Posner, US assistant secretary for state with responsibility for human rights told the meeting that “the United States strongly condemns the recent violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens, which has resulted in detentions, injuries and deaths.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UN Human Rights Council, meeting in a special session 15 and 16 October, has approved the report into possible war crimes during the December 2008-January 2009 incursion by Israel into the Gaza Strip. The council will forward the report to the UN General Assembly for consideration. At the end of the session countries voted, 25-6, to approve the report, and 11 countries abstained.
Israel argued that the report was one-sided and ignored the attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians which precipitated the war. The US voted against approval, saying that it would hamper Mideast peace efforts.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will reopen a debate Thursday 15 October on the conduct of both sides in last winter’s brief war in Gaza, Palestine, between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza strip’s political authority. A report by former South African judge Richard Goldstone suggests both armed groups may have committed war crimes. It recommends that they conduct their own impartial investigations within six months or have the case referred to the International Criminal Court. A call by Libya for the UN in New York to take up the report by strongly rebuffed by Israel which said late Wednesday 14 October that as long as the report is “on the table” there can be no peace negotiations with Palestine.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), the nominal representative of the Palestinians, initially asked for the debate on the report to be deferred, but it came under sharp criticism from Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza strip since elections in 2007 forced out Fatah and the PA.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UN Human Rights Council is this week debating whether to take action on the 557-page report on the Gaza conflict produced for it by South African judge Richard Goldstone and published 15 September. The report has been the subject of accusations of bias from Israel and Palestine, both of which are accused, by the report, of serious crimes. The United States jumped into the fray Tuesday 29 September with Michael Posner, US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, calling the report “deeply flawed” and saying the US disagrees “sharply with its methodology and many of its recommendations.”
Asst Secretary of State, Esther Brimmer © 2009 United States Mission
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Esther Brimmer, assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, addressed the UN Human Rights Council as US representative, and announced 14 September that the US was committed to ensuring the council’s operational independence.
She pointed out that the US is already the council’s top donor, and that the US would continue to support the technical assistance programmes of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights worldwide. Brimmer added that the US record on human rights was not perfect, and that the US looked forward to its universal periodic review (UPR), a review mechanism that aims to improve the human rights situation in all 192 UN member states.
US Charge d’Affaires Mark C. Storella and Ambassador Martin Umohoibhi
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The United States Friday 19 June put in its first day of a three-year term as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the day after the US Senate formally apologized to African Americans for decades of slavery. The US House passed a similar motion in 2008.
The US was elected to the council 13 May, after years of keeping its distance. US Charge d’Affaires Mark Storella told the Geneva-based council Friday “For our part, the United States hopes to reinforce the ability of this Council to speak with one voice about situations that are an affront to human dignity.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – World headlines about endless casualties and aid organizations being kept out of Sri Lanka’s conflict area have died away, last week’s news, but the battle to find out what really happened and how many died may be only beginning, media reports 29 May show. Le Temps and Le Monde jointly carry an article by reporter Philippe Bolopion in Colombo that accuses the Sri Lankan government of hiding the real number of deaths and the UN of collusion out of fear that its ability to work in the country would be compromised. In the UK, The Times front-page story Friday 29 May says that 20,000 civilians – three times the official number – were killed.
The Times story is based on photos taken on the beaches in the conflict area, UN documents as well as “witness accounts and expert testimony.” The numbers are in fact the same as those published a day earlier by Le Monde, which also cites UN sources. The photos were taken for The Times. Le Monde refers to satellite images taken by Unosat of the conflict area, which reportedly show shelling damage, possibly after the date when the Sri Lankan government said it had stopped.
In Geneva Wednesday 28 the Human Rights Council, an independent inter-UN organization, rejected a Swiss-European draft resolution to investigate possible war crimes in Sri Lanka and instead adopted a Sri Lankan counter-resolution. Human Rights Watch condemned the UNHRC move, saying it had “passed a deeply flawed resolution on Sri Lanka that ignores calls for an international investigation into alleged abuses during recent fighting and other pressing human rights concerns.”
US gives green light and is elected to Human Rights Council in Geneva
Update 12:30 Geneva, Switzerland and New York, USA (GenevaLunch) – The US was last night elected to a three-year term on the Geneva, Switzerland-based UN Human Rights Council, by the UN General Assembly, after years of refusing to participate in what it called a flawed institution. US President George Bush’s administration claimed that some countries manipulated the Council to hide human rights offenses, pointing to a group of members that included Russia, Cuba and others which the US said had suspect human rights records.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – December 10 marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see video below) adopted by the general assembly of the United Nations. The declaration, signed in Paris, states that all human beings, regardless of race, colour, creed, age, class and gender, are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
