Mr Chairman,
Sweden appreciates the work being done by all Special rapporteurs and we support the statements made by the Czech Republic on behalf of the European Union. These comments are regarding the report on Human rights defenders:
We would like to thank the Special Rapporteur, for submitting her first report to the Human Rights Council. The situation of human rights defenders remains a crucial element in our efforts to improve the Human Rights situation around the world.
We noted that Ms Sekkaggya’s predecessor, in her final report last year, underlined that the greatest obstacle to her work was a lack of state cooperation. In the current report , we noted with regret that there is still a long list of countries with a pending request for country visits. Given that some of the requests are long-standing and the serious human rights situation in, for example, Sri Lanka, DRC, and Zimbabwe; we would like to know if there is anything this Council could do to help ensuring that those country visits can take place as foreseen?
The report mentions that some recommendations in the UPR dealing with human rights defenders have not been supported by the State under Review. We noted in the case of Sri Lanka that the Special Rapporteur has requested a country visit and that some other Special Mandate holders have been able to visit Sri Lanka. What does the Special rapporteur believe lies behind the lack of cooperation in her specific area?
Another country mentioned in the report that has cooperated with other special mechanisms, is the Democratic Republic of Congo. We regret that the request by your mandate, which has been submitted three times, has not been granted, since we are of the view that effective measures need to be implemented in the DRC, in order to deal with threats and harassment against human rights defenders.
Finally, let me reiterate that we appreciate the important work being done by the Special Rapporteur and remain concerned about the need of better protection of human right defenders in the countries mentioned in her report.
Thank you, Mr Chairman