Mr. President,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*1, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Liechtenstein, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.
The EU fully supports the UPR mechanism, which we see as one of the most important innovations of the Human Rights Council.
We believe that the review mechanism must remain universal, transparent, objective and non-selective. We reiterate our readiness to discuss possible adjustment of modalities, in order to ensure that all States are able to participate in the dialogues and have their recommendations contained in the reports.
The interactive dialogues have revealed strong commitment on the part of most States under review. Many have undertaken serious preparations at the national level, including through wide public consultations with civil society, parliamentarians and national human rights institutions, well in time before the start of their review.
We appreciate that many States under review were represented by high-level delegations and, with openness and detail, strived to explain some of the challenges they faced and how they search for improvements in all areas of human rights.
We commend those States under review who constructively, openly and self-critically engaged in the dialogues and who responded to recommendations clearly, with detailed explanations and in advance of the adoption of their reports by the plenary. We would like to encourage others to do the same. With regards to the adoptions of reports that have taken place in this session, we note with regret that the responses from 12 reviewed states had not been circulated in writing before the adoption. According to the IB package, each State under review should clearly indicate which recommendations it accepts and note the ones it does not support, by the time the final report is adopted. We also encourage States to provide explanations as to why they decide to reject recommendations.
We call on all states to take all necessary steps to implement the recommendations and voluntary commitments expeditiously. Ideally , information on the ongoing work in this endeavour should be made available to the wider public and to civil society within a reasonable period of time.
It is our view that States reviewed should have a possibility, if they wish, to inform the Council about their follow-up measures before the end of the four-year term. That possibility could be afforded in the context of the general debate under item 6 on the agenda, which also enables all participants to express their views on how the mechanism works in light of their experience.
In order to adhere to the objectives of the mechanism, we encourage all States to refrain from making recommendations that might undermine protection of human rights. States should neither use UPR to name and shame, nor to seek to manipulate the process for a good review. It is important to keep in mind that the reviews should lead to real improvements of the situation of human rights in the reviewed States.
We welcome the decision taken in the Human Rights Council’s 11th session which concludes that all reports must be properly translated in all UN languages before their adoption by the Council and made widely available. We welcome the information that all reports from UPR4 are in the process of being translated and appreciate that a solution has been suggested to ensure the translation of the two remaining UPR5 reports, that were not available in all UN languages before this session.
Mr President,
The Universal Periodic Review is not a substitute for special procedures or the treaty bodies. On the contrary, we hope that implementation of the voluntary commitments made by States in the UPR process will lead to increased cooperation between States and all available mechanisms for promoting and protecting human rights, and the treaty bodies and special procedures in particular.
Let me conclude by expressing our thanks to the High Commissioner and her Office for the enormous amount of work they have done in preparation and support of every dialogue, every set of documentation and in assisting every troika. All the documentation created in the process remains a valuable source of information about the current human rights situation in the country concerned.
We also express our thanks to civil society and national human rights institutions whose involvement is a key component of a successful UPR process. Many states have accordingly undertaken to work more closely with NGOs and human rights defenders by involving them in national debates on human rights on a more regular basis. The participation of civil society is also crucial in the follow-up of the dialogues and to monitor to what extent the recommendations are being implemented.
Ultimately, each review is a success if it leads to the country concerned addressing those challenges and committing itself to finding solutions that will improve people’s lives in all areas of human rights.
Thank you, Mr President.
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1 * Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.