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SL
in bid for place in UNHRC Sri Lanka will vie for one of 13 places allocated to Asia in the Council, which replaces the much criticized and now defunct United Nations Human Rights Commission. The newly constituted Council will consist of 47 members as compared to the former 53 member Commission set up on March 15, by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly. Foreign Ministry sources in Colombo said they were confident that Sri Lanka had a very good chance of being elected to the new body. They told the Sunday Times that ‘we are getting a very positive response to our candidature and we expect positive results in Tuesday’s election. Sri Lanka’s excellent relations with other countries would also do a great deal in obtaining the necessary support,’ these sources claim. The 17 other countries vying for Asia’s 13 places in the Council are Bangladesh, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. The Council is deemed responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner. The Human Rights Council will have a higher status and greater accountability than the former Commission. Since
Council members must be elected ‘directly and individually
by secret ballot by the majority of the members of the General Assembly’,
observers believe that countries will not get on the Council, as
they did on the Commission, simply because there is no rival candidate
from their own region. The
nations vying for election to the Council have also submitted pledges
and commitments with regard to the promotion and protection of human
rights. It was also noted in this document that Sri Lanka was a party to all major human rights instruments and to the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Optional Protocol to the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Optional Protocol to the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, on the involvement of children in armed conflict. It also notes how the Government of Sri Lanka has at different points of time invited treaty related working bodies to undertake missions in Sri Lanka. It also makes mention of how the President of Sri Lanka has now appointed a Cabinet Minister in charge of human rights as a manifestation of the Government’s deep commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. In pursuit of its commitment, the document highlights some activities which it says that Sri Lanka will soon undertake. These include strengthening the Ministry of Human Rights, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and other independent statutory bodies as a part of the national human rights protection system and introducing a Human Rights Charter in line with the policy statement made by the President of Sri Lanka soon after assuming office. The Aide Memoir also recognizes that development, peace and security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, the document pledges that if, elected to the Council, it will participate actively and constructively. Among the other features of the new Council are that while the former Commission was entirely reactive, the Council is mandated to contribute to preventing human rights violations. Equally
important is the fact that the Council will regularly review the
human rights record of all countries, starting with its own members.
The Council will have greater authority than the Commission since
it is being chosen by the entire U.N. membership and not indirectly
like the former Commission. |
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