WUNRN
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SESSION 11 RESOLUTIONS - GENDER
*Violence Against Women
*Trafficking
*Right to Peace
*Right to Education
*Maternal Mortality
_____________________________________________________________________
ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION Distr.
LIMITED
A/HRC/11/L.11
19 June 2009
Original: ENGLISH
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Eleventh session
Agenda item 1\
11/2 Accelerating
efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women
The Human Rights Council,
Reaffirming the obligation of all States to
promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and reaffirming
also that discrimination on the basis of
sex is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and other international human rights instruments,
and that its elimination is an integral part of efforts towards the elimination
of violence against women and girls,
Reaffirming also the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action, the Cairo Programme of Action, the outcome of the twenty-third special
session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality,
development and peace for the twenty-first century”, and the Declaration
adopted at the forty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of
Women,
Reaffirming further Council resolutions 6/30 of 14
December 2007 on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United
Nations system, and 7/24 of 28 March 2008 on the elimination of violence
against women, all resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights on the
elimination of violence against women, General Assembly resolution 63/155 of
30 January 2009 on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms
of violence against women and all other Assembly resolutions relevant to the
elimination of all forms of violence against women, and Security Council
resolutions 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000 and 1820 (2008) of 19 June 2008
on women, peace and security,
Deeply concerned that all forms of discrimination,
including racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and
multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination and disadvantage, can lead to
the particular targeting or vulnerability to violence of girls and some groups
of women, such as women belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee
and internally displaced women, migrant women, women living in rural or remote
communities, destitute women, women in institutions or in detention, women with
disabilities, elderly women, widows and women in situations of armed conflict,
women who are otherwise discriminated against, including on the basis of HIV
status, and victims of commercial sexual exploitation,
Recalling
the inclusion of
gender-related crimes and crimes of sexual violence in the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court, and the recognition by the ad hoc international
criminal tribunals that rape can constitute a war crime, a crime against
humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide or torture,
Stressing the importance of a comprehensive, well-coordinated, effective and adequately
resourced response by the United Nations system to all forms of violence
against women and girls,
Stressing also the need for renewed political will and
enhanced efforts to overcome obstacles and challenges faced by States in
addressing, preventing, investigating, prosecuting and punishing the
perpetrators of all forms of violence against women and girls,
Welcoming the holding of the Council’s panel
discussion on 5 June 2008 on the theme “Violence against women: identification
of priorities”,
Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General
on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against
women (A/63/214),
1. Stresses that “violence against women” means any act of
gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical,
sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such
acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public
or private life;
2. Strongly
condemns all acts
of violence against women and girls, whether they be perpetrated by the State,
private persons or non-State actors, and calls for the elimination of all forms
of gender-based violence in the family, within the general community and where
perpetrated or condoned by the State, in accordance with the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women, and stresses the need to treat all forms
of violence against women and girls as a criminal offence, punishable by law,
and the duty to provide access to just and effective remedies and specialized assistance
to victims, including medical and psychological assistance, as well as
effective counselling;
3. Stresses that States have the obligation to promote and
protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and must
exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the
perpetrators of violence against women and girls and provide protection to the
victims, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the
enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms;
4. Calls upon States to enact and, where necessary, reinforce
or amend domestic legislation, including measures to enhance the protection of
victims, to investigate, prosecute, punish and redress the wrongs done to women
and girls subjected to any form of violence, whether in the home, the
workplace, the community or society, in custody or in situations of armed
conflict, to ensure that such legislation conforms with relevant international
human rights instruments and international humanitarian law, to abolish
existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute
discrimination against women, to remove gender bias in the administration of
justice, and to take action to investigate and punish persons who perpetrate
acts of violence against women and girls;
5. Also
calls
upon States to
support initiatives undertaken by women’s organizations and non‑governmental
organizations on the elimination of violence against women and girls and to
establish and/or strengthen, at the national level, collaborative relationships
with relevant non‑governmental and community‑based organizations,
and public and private sector institutions, aimed at the development and
effective implementation of provisions and policies relating to violence
against women and girls, including in the area of support services, assistance
redress and empowerment of victims;
6. Urges States and the United Nations
system to give attention to, and encourages greater international
cooperation in, systematic research and the collection, analysis and
dissemination of data, including data disaggregated by sex, age and other
relevant information, on the extent, nature and consequences of violence
against women and girls, and on the impact and effectiveness of policies
and programmes for combating this violence, and, in this context, welcomes
the establishment of the Secretary-General’s coordinated database on violence
against women, and urges States and the United Nations system to regularly
provide information for inclusion in the database;
7. Encourages States to supply information on all forms of
violence against women and girls in their reports submitted to the Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and other relevant treaty
bodies;
8. Also
encourages States to implement Security
Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) to contribute to their
efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls;
9. Notes
with appreciation
the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and
consequences, including her latest report (A/HRC/11/6) on the political economy
of women’s human rights;
10. Encourages the Special Rapporteur to consider in future
reporting the needs of women who experience multiple forms of discrimination,
and to examine effective measures to respond to those situations;
11. Stresses
the importance of accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence
against women and girls, its causes and consequences throughout its work, and
in this regard:
(a) Encourages
States to ensure that eliminating violence against women and girls is given due
attention in the work of the Council, including relevant Council processes and
debates, including the universal periodic review;
(b) Requests
that special procedures of the
Council ensure that due consideration is given to violence against women and
girls within their respective mandates;
(c) Encourages
all relevant stakeholders to give due attention to all forms of violence
against women and girls in their work with the Council and its mechanisms;
(d) Requests the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to convene in 2010, within
existing resources, in cooperation with other relevant entities of the United
Nations system, an expert workshop open to the
participation of governments, regional organizations and experts from different
legal systems, that would discuss specific measures for overcoming obstacles
and challenges States may face in preventing, investigating, prosecuting and
punishing the perpetrators of violence against women and girls, as well as
measures for providing protection, support, assistance and redress for victims,
and requests the Office to prepare, within existing resources, a summary report to be submitted
to the Council;
(e) Invites the Office of the High Commissioner to
include violence against women and girls in its reporting on integrating the
human rights of women throughout the United Nations system.
12. Requests
United Nations organs and bodies, specialized agencies and
intergovernmental organizations, and encourages the human rights treaty bodies,
to continue to give consideration to violence against women and girls within
their respective mandates;
13. Calls upon relevant United Nations entities
within their respective mandates to support, upon request, the follow-up by
States to relevant recommendations of special procedures, concluding
observations of treaty bodies and outcomes of the universal periodic review to
prevent violence against women and girls, protect victims of such violence and
prosecute the perpetrators;
14. Stresses
that challenges and obstacles remain in the implementation of international
standards and norms to address the inequality between men and women, and
violence against women in particular, and pledges to intensify action to ensure
their full and accelerated implementation;
15. Decides to continue consideration of the issue of the
elimination of all forms of violence against women, its causes and
consequences, as a matter of high priority, in conformity with its annual
programme of work.
27th
meeting
17 June 2009
[Adopted without a
vote.]
The Human Rights
Council,
Reaffirming all previous resolutions on the
problem of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in particular
General Assembly resolutions 63/156 and 63/194 of 18 December 2008, and
also its resolution 8/12 of 18 June 2008, in which the Council extended the
mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women
and children,
Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
Reaffirming the principles set forth in relevant
human rights instruments and declarations, including the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol thereto on the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography, the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto,
Recalling the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime and the protocols thereto, and
reaffirming in particular the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
Convention, and recalling the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in
Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,
Recognizing that victims of trafficking are
particularly exposed to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, and that women and girl victims are often subject to multiple
forms of discrimination and violence, including on the grounds of their gender,
age, ethnicity, culture and religion, as well as their origins, and that these
forms of discrimination themselves may fuel trafficking in persons,
Recognizing also
that trafficking in persons violates human rights and impairs the enjoyment of
them, continues to pose a serious challenge to humanity and requires a
concerted international assessment and response and genuine multilateral
cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination for it to be
eradicated,
Bearing in mind that all States have an obligation
to exercise due diligence to prevent trafficking in persons, to investigate and
punish perpetrators, to rescue victims and to provide for their protection, and
that not doing so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of the human
rights and fundamental freedoms of victims,
Recognizing the need to address the impact of
globalization on the particular problem of trafficking in women and children,
Recognizing also the challenges to combating
trafficking in persons, especially women and children, owing to the lack of
adequate legislation and implementation of existing legislation, the lack of
availability of reliable sex- and age-disaggregated data and statistics and the
lack of resources,
Noting that some of the demand for
prostitution and forced labour is met by trafficking in persons in some parts
of the world,
Recognizing that policies and programmes for
prevention, rehabilitation, return and reintegration should be developed
through a gender- and age-sensitive, comprehensive and multidisciplinary
approach, with concern for the security of the victims and respect for the full
enjoyment of their human rights and with the involvement of all actors in
countries of origin, transit and destination,
Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially
women and children, presented to the Council at its tenth session,
Taking note with
appreciation also of
the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights on the latest developments within the United Nations relating to
combating trafficking in persons and on the relevant activities of the Office,
and taking note of the
Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking,
presented to the Council at its tenth session,
Taking note of the Conference of the Parties to
the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Open-ended
Interim Working Group on Trafficking in Persons, held in Vienna on 14 and 15
April 2009, and the recommendations resulting therefrom, and the interactive
dialogue on the theme “Taking collective action to end human trafficking” of
the General Assembly, held on 13 May 2009, which included a discussion on the
advisability of a global plan of action against human trafficking,
Welcoming especially the efforts of Governments, United
Nations bodies and agencies and intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations to address the problem of trafficking in persons, especially
women and children,
Recognizing the concern expressed by the Human
Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee against
Torture at the persistence of trafficking and the vulnerability of victims to
human rights violations,
1. Affirms that it is
essential to place the protection of human rights at the centre of measures
taken to prevent and end trafficking in persons, and to protect, assist and
provide access to adequate redress to victims, including the possibility of
obtaining compensation from the perpetrators;
2. Reiterates its concern at:
(a) The
high number of people, especially women and children, in particular from
developing countries and countries with economies in transition, who are being
trafficked to developed countries, as well as within and between regions and
States;
(b) The
increasing activities of transnational and national organized crime and others
who profit from trafficking in persons, especially women and children, without
regard for dangerous and inhumane conditions and in flagrant violation of
domestic laws and international law and contrary to international standards;
I The use of new information
technologies, including the Internet, for the purposes of exploitation of the
prostitution of others and other forms of sexual exploitation, for trafficking
in women as brides and for sex tourism, for child pornography, paedophilia and
any other forms of sexual exploitation of children;
(d) The
high level of impunity enjoyed by traffickers and their accomplices and the
denial of rights and justice to victims of trafficking;
3. Urges Governments:
(a) To
take appropriate measures to address the root factors, including external
factors, that encourage trafficking in persons for prostitution and other forms
of commercialized sex, forced marriages and forced labour, slavery or practices
similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs, including by
strengthening existing legislation or by considering the enactment of
anti-trafficking legislation and the adoption of national plans of action;
(b) To
criminalize trafficking in persons in all its forms and to condemn and penalize
traffickers, facilitators and intermediaries, including, where applicable, by
imposing sanctions against legal entities involved in the process of
trafficking, without making accusations by, or the participation of, the
victims of trafficking a precondition to the prosecution of trafficking;
I To ensure protection and assistance
to the victims of trafficking with full respect for their human rights,
including, where appropriate, through legislation;
(d) To
provide resources, as appropriate, for the comprehensive protection and
assistance to victims of trafficking, including access to adequate social,
necessary medical and psychological care and services, including those related
to HIV/AIDS, as well as shelter, legal assistance in a language that they can
understand and helplines, and to cooperate in this regard, as appropriate, with
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations;
(e) To
take all appropriate measures to ensure that victims of trafficking are not
penalized for being trafficked and that they do not suffer from revictimization
as a result of actions taken by Government authorities, bearing in mind that
they are victims of exploitation, and encourages Governments to provide
trafficked persons with access to specialized support and assistance,
regardless of their immigration status;
(f) To
devise, enforce and strengthen effective gender- and age-sensitive measures to
combat and eliminate all forms of trafficking, especially in women and
children, including for sexual and labour exploitation, as part of a
comprehensive anti-trafficking strategy that integrates a human rights
perspective, and to draw up, as appropriate, national plans of action in this
regard;
(g) To
adopt or strengthen legislative or other measures to discourage the demand that
fosters all forms of exploitation of persons and leads to trafficking in
persons, including the demand created by sex tourism, especially in children,
and forced labour, and to enhance, in this regard, preventive measures, including
legislative measures, to deter exploiters of trafficked persons and to ensure
their accountability;
(h) To
establish mechanisms, where appropriate, in cooperation with the international
community, to combat the use of the Internet to facilitate trafficking in
persons and crimes related to sexual or other forms of exploitation, and to
strengthen international cooperation to investigate and prosecute trafficking
facilitated by the use of the Internet;
(i) To
provide or strengthen training for law enforcement, immigration, criminal
justice and other relevant officials, including personnel participating in
peacekeeping operations, in preventing and responding effectively to
trafficking in persons, including the identification and treatment of victims
with full respect for their human rights;
(j) To
conduct information campaigns for the general public, including children, aimed
at promoting awareness of the dangers associated with all forms of trafficking
and at encouraging the public, including the victims of trafficking themselves,
to report on instances of trafficking;
(k) To
support allocation of the necessary resources, as appropriate, in cooperation
with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to strengthen
preventive action, in particular education for women and men, as well as for
girls and boys, on the human rights of women and children, gender equality,
self-respect and mutual respect;
(l) To
consider setting up or strengthening a national coordinating mechanism, for
example, a national rapporteur or an inter-agency body, with the participation
of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to encourage the
exchange of information and to report on data, root causes, factors and trends
in trafficking;
(m) To
enhance information-sharing and data-collection capacities as a way of
promoting cooperation to combat trafficking in persons, including through the
systematic collection of sex- and age-disaggregated data;
(n) To
enhance cooperation with each other and with relevant intergovernmental and non‑governmental
organizations to ensure effective prevention and countering of trafficking in
people, and to consider strengthening existing regional cooperation and
mechanisms aimed at combating trafficking in persons or to establish such
mechanisms where they do not exist;
(o) To
consider signing and ratifying, as a matter of priority, in the case of
Governments that have not yet done so, and for States parties to implement
relevant United Nations legal instruments, such as the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto, in
particular the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children supplementing the Convention, and to take
immediate steps to incorporate provisions of the Protocol into domestic legal
systems;
4. Calls
upon all Governments to continue to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur
on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and to consider
responding favourably to requests to visit their countries, and to provide all
necessary information related to the mandate to enable the mandate holder to
fulfil the duties of the mandate effectively and, in this regard, expresses its
appreciation to the large number of Governments that provided responses to the
initial questionnaire on trafficking developed by the Special Rapporteur;
5. Invites
Governments to include information on measures and best practices to combat
trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in their national
reports submitted for the universal periodic review;
6. Encourages
Governments to take into account, as a useful tool to integrate a human
rights-based approach, the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human
Rights and Human Trafficking (E/2002/68/Add.1) developed by the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including, as
appropriate, in the formulation, review and implementation of legislation,
policies and programmes aimed at preventing and eradicating trafficking in
persons, especially women and children, and providing assistance to victims;
7. Encourages
the Office of the High Commissioner to provide or to support, within existing
resources, training at the national level for all stakeholders on the
integration of a human rights approach into the prevention and response to
trafficking in persons, including the identification and treatment of victims
with full respect for their human rights;
8. Requests the Office of the High
Commissioner to enhance its efforts within the Inter‑Agency Coordination
Group against Trafficking to promote
and integrate a human rights‑based approach into efforts to combat human
trafficking;
9. Also requests the Office of the High
Commissioner to organize, within existing resources, and in close coordination
with the Special Rapporteur, a two-day seminar aimed at identifying
opportunities and challenges in the development of rights-based responses to
trafficking in persons with a view to acknowledging emerging good practices and
further promoting the practical application of the Recommended Principles and
Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, with the participation of
Governments, the Special Rapporteur and other relevant special procedures,
treaty bodies, United Nations specialized agencies and programmes, regional,
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, national human rights
institutions, academics, medical experts and representatives of victims, and to
submit a report on the proceedings of the seminar to the Council;
10. Further requests the Office of the High Commissioner to disseminate the Recommended
Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, and to collect
the views of stakeholders, including Governments, observers of the United
Nations, relevant United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and programmes,
regional bodies, non‑governmental organizations and national human rights
institutions, on the Recommended Principles and Guidelines, as well as on
experiences and emerging good practices while applying them, and to make
available to the Council a compilation of these views as an addendum to the
above-mentioned report;
11. Requests the
Secretary-General to provide the
Office of the High Commissioner with sufficient resources to fulfil its mandate
in relation to combating trafficking in persons, especially women and children;
12. Decides to
continue consideration of this matter under the same agenda item according to
its annual programme of work.
27th
meeting
17 June 2009
[Adopted without a
vote.]
The
Human Rights Council,
Recalling
all previous
resolutions on the promotion of the right of peoples to peace adopted by the
General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council,
Taking
note of General
Assembly resolution 39/11 of 12 November 1984, entitled “Declaration of the
Right of Peoples to Peace”, and the United Nations Millennium Declaration,
Determined
to foster strict
respect for the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations,
Bearing in mind that one of the purposes of the
United Nations is to achieve international cooperation in solving international
problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and to
promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion,
Underlining, in accordance with the purposes
and principles of the United Nations, its full and active support for the
Organization and the enhancement of its role and effectiveness in strengthening
international peace, security and justice and in promoting the solution of
international problems, and the development of friendly relations and
cooperation among States,
Reaffirming
the obligation of
all States to settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a
manner that international peace, security, human rights and justice are not
endangered,
Emphasizing its objective of promoting better
relations among all States and contributing to creating conditions in which
their people can live in true and lasting peace, free from any threat to or
attack against their security,
Reaffirming the obligation of all States to
refrain, in their international relations, from the threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or
from acting in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United
Nations,
Reaffirming also
its commitment to peace, security and justice, respect for human rights and the
continuing development of friendly relations and cooperation among States,
Rejecting the use of violence in the pursuit
of political aims, and stressing that only peaceful political solutions can
assure a stable and democratic future for all peoples around the world,
Reaffirming the importance of ensuring respect
for the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of the United Nations and
international law, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and political
independence of States,
Reaffirming also
that all peoples have the right to self-determination, by virtue of which they
freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development,
Reaffirming further
the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly
Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations,
Recognizing that peace and security,
development and human rights are mutually interlinked and reinforcing,
Affirming that human rights include social, economic
and cultural rights and the right to peace, a healthy environment and
development, and that development is, in fact, the realization of these rights,
Underlining that the subjection of peoples to
alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of
fundamental rights, is contrary to the Charter and an impediment to the
promotion of world peace and cooperation,
Recalling that everyone is entitled to a
social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be fully realized,
Convinced of the aim of creating conditions
of stability and well-being, which are necessary for peaceful and friendly
relations among nations based on respect for the principle of the equal rights
and self-determination of peoples,
Convinced also
that life without war is the primary international prerequisite for the
material well-being, development and progress of countries and for the full
implementation of the rights and fundamental human freedoms proclaimed by the
United Nations,
Convinced further
that international cooperation in the field of human rights contributes to the
creation of an international environment of peace and stability,
1. Reaffirms that the peoples of
our planet have a sacred right to peace;
2.
Also reaffirms that the
preservation of the right of peoples to peace and the promotion of its
implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of all States;
3.
Stresses the importance of
peace for the promotion and protection of all human rights for all;
4.
Also stresses that the deep
fault line that divides human society between the rich and the poor and the
ever-increasing gap between the developed and developing worlds pose a major
threat to global prosperity, peace, human rights, security and stability;
5.
Further stresses
that peace and security, development and human rights are the pillars of the
United Nations system and the foundations for collective security and
well-being;
6.
Emphasizes that ensuring
the exercise of the right of peoples to peace and its promotion demand that the
policies of States be directed towards the elimination of the threat of war,
particularly nuclear war, the renunciation of the use or threat of use of force
in international relations and the settlement of international disputes by
peaceful means on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations;
7.
Affirms that all States
should promote the establishment, maintenance and strengthening of
international peace and security and an international system based on respect
for the Principles enshrined in the Charter and the promotion of all human
rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development and the
right of peoples to self-determination;
8.
Urges all States to respect
and to put into practice the Principles and Purposes of the Charter in their
relations with all other States, irrespective of their political, economic or
social systems, or of their size, geographical location or level of economic
development;
9.
Reaffirms the duty of all
States, in accordance with the Principles of the Charter, to use peaceful means
to settle any dispute to which they are parties and the continuance of which is
likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, and
encourages States to settle their disputes as early as possible, as an
important contribution to the promotion and protection of all human rights of
everyone and all peoples;
10. Underlines the vital importance of
education for peace as a tool to foster the realization of the right of peoples
to peace, and encourages States, United Nations specialized agencies and
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to contribute actively to
this endeavour;
11.
Reiterates its request to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights to convene, before February 2010, and taking into
account previous practices, a workshop on the right of peoples to peace, with
the participation of experts from all regions of the world, in order to:
(a) Further clarify the content and scope
of this right;
(b) Propose measures that raise awareness
of the importance of realizing this right;
(c) Suggest concrete actions to mobilize
States, intergovernmental and non‑governmental organizations in the
promotion of the right of peoples to peace;
12.
Requests the High
Commissioner to report on the outcome of the workshop to the Council at its
fourteenth session;
13.
Invites States and relevant
United Nations human rights mechanisms and procedures to continue to pay
attention to the importance of mutual cooperation, understanding and dialogue
in ensuring the promotion and protection of all human rights;
14.
Decides to continue considering
the issue at its fourteenth session under the same agenda item.
27th
meeting
17 June 2009
[Adopted by a recorded vote of
32 to 13, with 1 abstention. The voting was as follows:
In favour: Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil,
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana,
Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal,
South Africa, Uruguay, Zambia;
Against: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland,
Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;
Abstaining:
The Human Rights Council,
Reaffirming its resolution 8/4 of 12 June 2008,
and recalling the resolutions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights on the
right to education,
Reaffirming also that everyone should enjoy the
human right to education, which is enshrined in, inter alia, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other relevant international
instruments,
Mindful of recent significant developments
and remaining challenges in the promotion and protection of economic, social
and cultural rights at the national, regional and international levels,
Deeply concerned that, on current trends, some key
goals of the Education for All initiative agreed upon at the World Education
Forum, held in Dakar in April 2000, will not be achieved by 2015, including the
goal of universal primary education, despite progress made in recent years
towards achieving such goals,
1. Calls
upon all States to take all measures to implement Council resolution 8/4
with a view to ensuring the full realization of the right to education for all;
2. Welcomes
the work of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, in particular his
report on the right to education of persons in detention in the criminal
justice system;
3. Also
welcomes the work of the United Nations treaty bodies in the promotion of
the right to education, and notes with interest the holding, by the Committee
on the Rights of the Child, of a general discussion day on the theme “The right
of the child to education in emergency situations”;
4. Further
welcomes the contribution of the United Nations Children’s Fund and that of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization towards
attaining the Millennium Development Goals of achieving universal primary
education and eliminating gender disparity in education and the goals of the
Education for All initiative, agreed upon at the World Education Forum;
5. Welcomes
the convening, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, of four major conferences on education in 2008 and 2009,
including the 48th International Conference on Education, held from 25 to 28
November 2008, in Geneva, the World Conference on Education for Sustainable
Development, held from 31 March to 2 April 2009, in Bonn, the Sixth
International Conference on Adult Education, held in 2009 in Belém, Brazil, and
the World Conference on Higher Education, held from 5 to 8 July 2009, in Paris;
6. Notes
with interest the activities of the joint expert group of the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on Conventions and
Recommendations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, on the monitoring of the right to education;
7. Welcomes
the work undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights in the promotion of the right to education at the country,
regional and headquarters levels;
8. Urges
all relevant stakeholders to increase their efforts so that the goals of the
Education for All initiative can be achieved by 2015, including by tackling
persistent inequalities based on income, gender, location, ethnicity, language,
disability and other factors, and notes the role that good governance can play
in this regard;
9. Stresses
the need for cultural and educational programmes to be developed with a view to
raise awareness on human rights, and urges States to intensify their efforts in
this regard;
10. Urges
all States to ensure the right to education, an imperative in its own right, of
persons in detention in the criminal justice system, and to provide appropriate
education to foster reintegration into society and help reduce recidivism,
including by making every effort:
(a) To
ensure equal access to education for all female and male detainees;
(b) To
develop a coherent policy for education in detention;
(c) To
remove barriers to education in detention, including its possible negative
impact on opportunities for remuneration in prison;
(d) To
make available to all detainees comprehensive education programmes aimed at the
development of the full potential of each detainee;
(e) To
incorporate human rights education in the programmes;
(f) To
develop individual education plans with the full participation of the detainee,
taking into account the diverse backgrounds and needs of persons in detention,
including women, persons belonging to minority and indigenous groups, persons
of foreign origin and persons with physical,
learning and psychosocial disabilities, while recalling that a detainee may
belong to more than one of these groups;
(g) To
integrate education programmes into the public school system, in order to allow
for the continuation of education upon release;
(h) To
ensure appropriate professional training and working conditions and a safe
working environment for teachers in places of detention;
(i) To
evaluate and monitor all education programmes in places of detention, and to
undertake multidisciplinary and detailed research in this regard;
(j) To
share best practices concerning education programmes in detention;
(k) To
produce and deliver adequate pedagogical materials for persons in detention,
including appropriate opportunities to receive education and training in the
use of new information technologies;
(l) To
ensure that primary education is compulsory, accessible and available free to
all, including to all children in detention or living in prisons;
(m) To
ensure curricula and educational practices that are gender-sensitive but not
gender‑stereotypical in places of detention, in order to fulfil the right
to education of women and girls;
11. Encourages the Office of the High
Commissioner, the treaty bodies, the special procedures of the Council and
other relevant United Nations bodies and mechanisms, specialized agencies or
programmes, within their respective mandates, to continue their efforts to
promote the realization of the right to education worldwide, and to enhance
their cooperation in this regard;
12. Notes with appreciation the Special Rapporteur’s intention to focus his
2010 annual report on the right to education of migrants, refugees and
asylum-seekers;
13. Decides to remain seized of the
matter.
27th meeting
17 June 2009
[Adopted without a vote.]
Reaffirming the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development and their Review
Conferences and the targets and commitments regarding the reduction of maternal
mortality and universal access to reproductive health, including those
contained in the 2000 Millennium Declaration (General Assembly resolution
55/2) and the 2005 World Summit Outcome (General Assembly resolution 60/1),
Reaffirming also the Millennium Development Goals,
in particular the Goals on improving maternal health, promoting gender equality
and empowering women, reducing child and infant mortality and the development
of a global partnership,[1][1]
Recalling the
obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families,
Convinced that
increased political will and commitment, cooperation and technical assistance
at the international and national levels are urgently required to reduce the
unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,
Recognizing
the leading role of the World Health Organization in maternal health and
the work under the annual World Health Assembly agenda item on the monitoring
of the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals,
Recognizing
also that the unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal
mortality and morbidity is a health, development and human rights challenge,
and that a human rights analysis of preventable maternal mortality and
morbidity and the integration of a human rights perspective in international
and national responses to maternal mortality and morbidity could contribute
positively to the common goal of reducing this rate, with a view to eliminating
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,
Welcoming the
ongoing efforts of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies to highlight the human rights aspects of
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, including those of the Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Human Rights Committee,
the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, and of the special procedures, in particular those described
in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
(A/61/338),
Recognizing that the
Council has a constructive role to play in raising awareness of the human
rights aspects of the unacceptably high global rate of maternal mortality and
morbidity and in supporting, promoting and enhancing existing national and
international efforts to reduce this rate,
Welcoming its
initiative to hold an interactive dialogue at its eighth regular session on
maternal mortality and the human rights of women, on 5 June 2008,
Recognizing that
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity affects women and their families
in all regions and cultures, and that it is exacerbated by factors such as
poverty, gender inequality, age and multiple forms of discrimination, as well
as factors such as lack of access to adequate health facilities and technology,
and lack of infrastructure,
1. Expresses grave concern at the
unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,
noting in this regard that the World Health Organization has assessed that over
1,500 women and girls die every day as a result of preventable complications
occurring before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth, and that, globally,
maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women and of girls of
reproductive age;
2. Recognizes that most instances of
maternal mortality and morbidity are preventable, and that preventable maternal
mortality and morbidity is a health, development and human rights challenge
that also requires the effective promotion and protection of the human
rights of women and girls, in particular their rights to life, to be equal in
dignity, to education, to be free to seek, receive and impart information, to
enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, to freedom from discrimination, and
to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,
including sexual and reproductive health;
3. Requests all States
to renew their political commitment to eliminating preventable maternal
mortality and morbidity at the local, national, regional and international
levels, and to redouble their efforts to ensure the full and effective
implementation of their human rights obligations, the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, the International Conference for Population Development
Programme of Action and their review conferences, and the Millennium
Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the Goals on
improving maternal health and promoting gender equality and empowering women,[2][2] including through
the allocation of necessary domestic resources to health systems;
4. Also requests States to give renewed emphasis
to maternal mortality and morbidity initiatives in their development
partnerships and cooperation arrangements, including through honouring existing
commitments and considering new commitments, and the exchange of effective
practices and technical assistance to strengthen national capacities, as well
as to integrate a human rights perspective into such initiatives, addressing
the impact that discrimination against women has on maternal mortality and
morbidity;
5. Encourages States and other relevant
stakeholders, including national human rights institutions and non-governmental
organizations, to give increased attention and resources to preventable
maternal mortality and morbidity in their engagement with the United Nations
human rights system, including with the human rights treaty bodies, the
universal periodic review and special procedures;
6. Requests the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a thematic study on
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights, in consultation
with States, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund,
the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Bank, and all other
relevant stakeholders, and requests that
the study include identification of the human rights dimensions of preventable
maternal mortality and morbidity in the existing international legal framework;
an overview of initiatives and activities within the United Nations system to
address all causes of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity;
identification of how the Council can add value to existing initiatives through
a human rights analysis, including efforts to achieve the Millennium
Development Goal on improving maternal health[3][3], and recommended options for better
addressing the human rights dimension of preventable maternal mortality and
morbidity throughout the United Nations system;
7. Decides
to address the thematic study requested in paragraph 6 above within the
programme of work of its fourteenth session, and to consider taking further
possible action on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human
rights at that session, and invites the Office of the High Commissioner, the
World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and the Special
Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health to participate in an interactive
dialogue on the study in the Council.
27th
meeting
17 June
2009
[Adopted
without a vote.]
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.