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18 November 2010

Sixty-fifth General AssemblyThird Committee47

& 48

Meetings (AM & PM)

THIRD COMMITTEE APPROVES RESOLUTIONS ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN MYANMAR, IRAN,DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREAAlso Approves Tests on Human Rights Council Report, Missing Person,

Protection of Migrants, Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Draft resolutions that would have the General Assembly address the human rights situations in theDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran and Myanmar were approved by the Third Committee (Social,Humanitarian and Cultural) today, but not before delegations debated the validity of such country-specific motions.By a vote of 100 in favour to 18 against, with 60 abstentions, the Committee approved a draft that wouldhave the Assembly express “very serious concern at the persistence of continuing reports of systematic,widespread and grave violations of human rights” in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, despite somerecent developments, such as a cross-border reunion of separated families and improved cooperation between theGovernment and some United Nations agencies. Its main sponsor was Belgium, on behalf of the European Unionand Japan. It was categorically rejected by the representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, PakTok Hun, who called it a “political plot” instigated by the United States and its supporters.A draft resolution whereby the General Assembly would strongly condemn “the ongoing systematicviolation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Myanmar” was approved by a vote of 96 infavour to 28 against, with 60 abstentions. With Belgium, on behalf of the European Union, as its main sponsor, ithad been revised to take into account general elections held on 7 November, as well as the release of Daw AungSan Suu Kyi, which it welcomed. The representative of Myanmar, U Than Swe, said his country would not bebound by the resolution, which had “no moral authority”.The third country-specific resolution of the day, on the human rights situation in Iran, was approved by avote of 80 in favour to 44 against, with 57 abstentions, after a procedural motion to adjourn debate — known as a“no-action motion” — was rejected. It would have the General Assembly express “deep concern at seriousongoing and recurring human rights violations”. Its main sponsor was Canada, whose Permanent RepresentativeJohn McNee noted a “very regrettable” deterioration in the human rights situation in Iran over the past year. Therepresentative of Iran, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Secretary-General of the High Council of Human Rights of Iran,noting that Israel was among the co-sponsors, said the United States was the mastermind and main provocateurbehind a text that had nothing to do with human rights. His country’s only crime was not to be a “Xerox copy” of aWestern democracy.The representatives of Egypt, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, led opposition to each of theresolutions. They said that the Human Rights Council and its Universal Periodic Review Mechanism had beenestablished “to eliminate selectivity, politicization and double standards”, and that there was no need to duplicateits work, particularly with resolutions that only targeted developing countries. During action on the resolutionconcerning Iran, the representative of Iceland, on behalf of six others countries, argued that the Third Committee — in which all 192 Member States were represented — was entrusted with the responsibility to debate humanrights issues; it would be unable to fulfil that mandate if it was prevented by a no-action motion from doing so.Among other drafts it acted upon today, the Committee approved a resolution on the report of the HumanRights Council by a recorded vote of 119 in favour to 2 against (Israel, Marshall Islands), with 55 abstaining. Israel — noting that half the statements in the report were targeted at it — requested the vote, saying the resolutiondemonstrated the Council’s failure of non-selectivity and called into question the credibility of the Geneva-basedbody.Other texts approved today, without a vote, concerned missing persons, protection of migrants, and theInternational Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

General Assembly

GA/SHC/3998

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Also making statements and explanations of vote today were representatives of Mali (on behalf of theAfrican Group), Azerbaijan, Mexico, El Salvador, United States, Belgium (on behalf of the European Union),Belarus, Japan, Cuba, Costa Rica, Sudan, Libya, Viet Nam, Venezuela, China, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Nepal, Brazil,Benin, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Russian Federation, Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, Georgia, Syria,Tajikistan (Organization of the Islamic Conference), Bolivia, Barbados, Ecuador, Morocco (on behalf of OIC),Turkey, Chile, Norway, Belize and Slovenia.The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 19 November, to take action on more draftresolutions. Another meeting has been planned for the afternoon of Monday, 22 November, as well as twoadditional meetings on Tuesday, 23 November.BackgroundThe Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met today to take action on the following draftresolutions: Report of the Human Rights Council (document A/C.3/65/L.57); International Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (document A/C.3/65/L.53/Rev.1); Missing persons (documentA/C.3/65/L.31); Protection of migrants (document A/C.3/65/L.34/Rev.1); Situation of human rights in theDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea (document A/C.3/65/L.47); Situation of human rights in Myanmar(document A/C.3/65/L.48/Rev.1, with programme budget implications contained in document A/C.3/65/L.64); andSituation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran (document A/C.3/65/L.49).Action on Draft ResolutionsThe Committee then took up the draft resolution on Report of the Human Rights Council (documentA/C.3/65/L.57).That draft would have the Assembly take note of the report of the Human Rights Council and theaddendum thereto, and acknowledge the recommendations contained therein.The Secretary, OTTO GUSTAFIK, read an oral statement of programme budget implications.The representative of Mali, the main sponsor, said the African Group would appreciate that considerationof the draft be postponed until the afternoon meeting.The Committee then took up the draft resolution on the International Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Racial Discrimination (document A/C.3/65/L.53/Rev.1).By the text, the General Assembly would take note of the reports of the Committee on the Elimination ofRacial Discrimination, and call upon States parties to fulfil their obligation under the Convention to submit theirperiodic reports on measures taken to implement the Convention in due time. It would also encourage Statesparties to include information on measures to prevent and combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia andrelated intolerance in their national reports to the universal periodic review mechanism of the Human RightsCouncil. Noting the persistent backlog of reports of States parties awaiting consideration, it would decide to extendthe authorization of the Committee to meet, on a temporary basis, starting from 2012 until the end of 2013, anadditional week per session.Regarding the financial situation of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the draftwould have the Assembly express its profound concern at the fact that a number of States parties to theConvention have still not fulfilled their financial obligations, and strongly appeal to all States parties that are inarrears to fulfil their outstanding financial obligations. It would also strongly urge States parties to the Conventionto accelerate their domestic ratification procedures with regard to the amendment to the Convention concerning thefinancing of the Committee.Concerning the status of the Convention, the Assembly would urge States parties to comply fully with theirobligations under the Convention and to take into consideration the concluding observations and generalrecommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It would also urge those that havenot yet become parties to the Convention to ratify or accede to it as a matter of urgency. Finally, it would decide toconsider, at its sixty-seventh session, under the item entitled “Elimination of racism, racial discrimination,xenophobia and related intolerance”, the reports of the Committee on its seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth and itseightieth and eighty-first sessions, the report of the Secretary-General on the financial situation of the Committeeand the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention.The Secretary said that a statement of program budget was not yet available. The Chair stated that theycould not proceed without that statement.The Committee then took action on a draft resolution on Missing persons (document A/C.3/65/L.31).By its terms, the General Assembly would urge States to strictly observe and respect and ensure respect

for the rules of international humanitarian law, as set out in the Geneva Conventions. It would also callupon States that are parties to an armed conflict to take all appropriate measures to prevent persons from goingmissing, account for persons reported missing and ensure the effective investigation and prosecution of offenceslinked to missing persons. The right of families to know the fate of their relatives reported missing in connectionwith armed conflicts would be reaffirmed.The Assembly would also reaffirm that each party to an armed conflict, as soon as circumstances permitand, at the latest, from the end of active hostilities, shall search for the persons who have been reported missing byan adverse party. It would call upon States that are parties to an armed conflict to take all necessary measures, ina timely manner, to determine the identity and fate of persons reported missing and, to the greatest possibleextent, to provide their family members with all relevant information they have on their fate. In that regard, theneed for the collection, protection and management of data on missing persons would be recognized, and Statesurged to cooperate with each other and with other concerned actors, by providing all relevant and appropriateinformation related to missing persons.The representative of Azerbaijan, the main sponsor, said the draft was based on previous resolutions ofthe General Assembly and relevant decisions by the Commission on Human Rights and the Human RightsCouncil. Those had had broad support from Member States and contributed to international understanding of theissue. The draft noted that the issue of persons reported missing in armed conflicts still had a negative impact onending those conflicts and inflicted grievous suffering on relatives of the missing. The right of families to know thefate of missing persons, and the importance of ending impunity, was reaffirmed, and the need to address the issuefrom a human rights perspective stressed. It was hoped that, as in the past, the draft would be adopted byconsensus.The Committee then approved the draft without a vote.The Committee then took action on a draft resolution on the Protection of migrants (documentA/C.3/65/L.34/Rev.1).The draft would have the Assembly express concern about the large and growing number of migrants,especially women, youth and children, who place themselves in a vulnerable situation by attempting to crossinternational borders without the required travel documents, and recognize the obligation of States to respect thehuman rights of those migrants. The Assembly would underline the importance for States, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders, to undertake information campaigns aimed atclarifying opportunities, limitations and rights in the event of migration, so as to enable informed decision-making.Further, it would call upon States to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardlessof their migration status, and to address international migration through international, regional or bilateralcooperation, recognizing the roles and responsibilities of countries of origin, transit and destination in promotingand protecting the human rights of all migrants.The Assembly would also call upon States to ensure that their laws and policies, including in the areas ofcounter-terrorism and combating transnational organized crime, such as trafficking in persons and smuggling ofmigrants, fully respect the human rights of migrants; to consider signing and ratifying or acceding to theInternational Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, forthose that have not done so; and to put an end to arbitrary arrest and detention, reviewing detention periods, inorder to avoid excessive detention of irregular migrants and adopting alternative measures to detention, whereapplicable.The representative of Mexico, the main sponsor, said that his country was convinced of the importance ofcooperation regarding migrants and that it was necessary to recognize the challenges concerning the issue,including protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of migrants. There were trends, such as xenophobia,that were unacceptable. The issue of human rights for migrants was tied to other rights. There was an ongoingdialogue about that in the recent Fourth World Congress in Mexico. The text reaffirmed the anniversary of theassembly’s adoption of the convention concerning migrant workers and their families, and the way in which theconvention had impacted migrants. He expressed appreciation for those who had added to their names to the listof co-sponsors, which showed confidence in, and solidarity with, the resolution. He informed the Committee thatGuyana and Portugal had also added their names to the list, and expressed hope that that spirit would prevail inthe coming years.Making a statement in connection with the draft resolution, the representative of El Salvador said that theresolution was very important, and that the impact of migration on society was seen in the makeup of families,consumption patterns, and the marketing and commercialization of goods. The ongoing presence of migrants wasseen through cultural links, and had made El Salvador a transnational society. In the world, there were 200 millionmigrants. Some 150 million of those migrants sent assistance to their countries of origin. Migrants fromEl Salvador who went abroad maintained links with their place of origin, and there was a constant flow ofremittances from migrants abroad. That was just the high point of the pyramid, as below was a huge movement ofgoods and services. Remittances played a big role for many migrant workers and their families, as they helped liftfamilies above poverty and realize the dreams of parents, spouses and children. That was one of the reasons thatEl Salvador wished to support the resolution.

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