HUMAN
RIGHTS COUNCIL - 10TH SESSION
Item 2: High Commissioner's first annual report to the Human Rights
Council.
Ambassador Carlos Portales, Permanent Representative of Chile
5
March 2009
Mr. President,
We
thank the High Commissioner, Mrs. Navanethem Pillay, for the annual
report she presented, which appropriately apprises us of her Office's
activities in fulfilling the task of protecting and promoting the
human rights of all, in particular of the most vulnerable. I wish
to refer to some elements of her statement. I will refer, on behalf
of my country, to some items of her report.
1.
We appreciate her intention to hold regular briefing sessions with
the delegations, which will enrich our work and facilitate the relations
between her Office and this Council.
2.
UPR: The experience of the four sessions of the Universal Periodic
Review Mechanism (UPR) shows positive elements and reflects the importance
States attribute to it. The UPR constitutes an innovative mechanism,
as mentioned in the report, which submits States to a reciprocal scrutiny
by its peers on an equal footing. We certainly agree that the UPR
should be gradually improved and it is the responsibility of this
Council to advance in this direction, with the support of the High
Commissioner's Office.
Mr.
President:
3.
Women: The discrimination against women and girls should be actively
addressed by this Council. We thank the Office of the High Commissioner
for its support, which deserves our acknowledgement and encouragement.
One of the most harmful aspects of discrimination, according to the
report, is the violence it engenders and of which women and girls
are the victims, in all regions and cultures. Therefore, we fully
coincide on the necessity of urgently tackling sexual violence in
conflict situations, topic dealt with specifically by the Panel on
Women's Rights which was held as a side-event of the Council. As we
already pointed out in this Council, the right to equality does not
tolerate any discrimination and therefore women should be enabled
to enjoy effectively not only their civil and political rights, but
also their economic, social and cultural rights. We hope that the
HC Office will continue extending its resolute support in this area.
4.
Poverty: Poverty reduction and, in particular, the elimination of
extreme poverty constitutes a permanent challenge. Poverty is multi-faced
and presents forms that vary from one country to another, but everywhere
it affects specially women. Therefore we value the efforts made to
include a human rights-based approach in the pursuit of the Millennium
Development Goals, with due emphasis on the gender aspect.
5.
Disability. For the sake of a better functioning of the universal
human rights protection system, the role played by the Office in support
of the harmonization of the treaty bodies' working methods is fundamental.
Particularly now that a new body started its work, the Committee of
the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, first human
rights convention of this century, whose first session was just successfully
completed.
6.
Durban. Only consensus and extensive participation will ensure the
successful outcome of the Durban Review Conference in next April.
We should manage to send a joint message to the international community
with regard to the importance of carrying on the fight against racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related form of intolerance.
We thank the High Commissioner for her important contribution of 20
February to the attainment of this objective and for the permanent
attention she is paying to the process, in her quality of the Conference's
General Secretary.
7.
And finally, we wish to reiterate our confidence that under the direction
of Mrs. Navanethem Pillay, the Office of the High Commissioner will
be successful in finding the appropriate responses to the huge challenges
it faces. Particularly relevant are the Regional Offices and national
programs which are the materialization of the international technical
cooperation in these matters. This is a common task, Mrs Pillay, and
you may count on Chile's full support.
Thank you very much.
