The UN Human Right Council concludes the work of the 21st Ordinary Session

On 28th of September the Human Rights Council concluded the 21^st regular session adopting 33 resolutions on a wide range of issues of undeniable social, judicial and political relevance.

Under the Agenda Item 3 (on the Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including the Right to Development) the Council adopted 20 Resolutions, among which the most important are on the protection of human rights of indigenous peoples, on the fight against maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights, on the implementation of the right to truth, on regulation of the use of mercenaries, on the dissemination of the Guiding Principles on transnational enterprises, on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, and human rights and international solidarity. 

Moreover, the Council adopted other texts on very significant issues such as safety of journalists, who often are victims of serious human rights violati

ons when doing their job; the adoption of the world program for human rights education, considered now a crucial asset to implement and develop a society based on mutual respect; a text on human rights and transitional justice, topic of primary importance for some countries, as well as another equally relevant text on freedom of assembly and association.

The Council also adopted the Guiding Principles on human rights and extreme poverty and requested the Advisory Committee to conclude the study on traditional values and human rights, while other resolutions focused on the right to drinking safe water and sanitation, involuntary disappearances and human rights of older people.

In relation to Item 4 of the Agenda (Human rights situations that require the Council's attention), the Member States, with 41 votes in favour and 3 against, extended the mandate of the International Commission of inquiry on Syria, given the worsening situation of the human rights in the country. Several delegations, including India, United States and European Union, have called on Syrian authorities to work together with the Commission. On the contrary, the Syrian delegation openly condemned the text of the resolution, emphasizing the lack of objectivity and non-adherence to the reality of the situation.

Among the issues related to Item 5 (Human rights bodies and mechanisms for the protection of human rights), the Council decided to establish an intergovernmental working group to negotiate and finalize a draft of UN Convention on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. Several delegations took the floor and, despite the lack of unanimity, the text has been approved by the voting procedure with 23 votes in favour, 9 against and 15 abstentions.

Under Agenda Item 9 (Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance), the Council appointed an ad hoc Committee for dealing with identification of complementary standards to the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination and adopted a text which provides for an appeal to all the States for concrete and effective actions against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Finally, in relation to Agenda Item 10 (Technical assistance and capacity building), the Council renewed the mandate of the Independent Experts on Somalia and Sudan; in particular, regarding Sudan, the Council urged the Sudanese Government to cooperate in ensuring access to all areas of the country, including the regions of Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, which were previously closed down to the expert investigation.

In the same context two other resolutions have been adopted in order to provide technical assistance and capacity building in Yemen and Southern Sudan for the promotion and development of human rights in these countries as well as the resolution on the intensification of technical cooperation in the field of the protection of human rights in order to achieve the strengthening of judicial system and administration of justice at the global level in pursuance of ensuring the full enjoyment of human rights and the rule of law.

For further information: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session21/Pages/ResDecStat.aspx