Statement by H.E. Mr. Maurizio Enrico SERRA Vice-President of the Human Rights Council to the Opening of the 12th session of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee

Geneva, 11 August 2014

Mr. Chairperson,
Mr. Ndiaye, Director of the Human Rights Council and Special Procedures Division in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Distinguished members of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to this thirteenth session of the Advisory Committee.

The Human Rights Council, as you all know, has always given particular importance to the work of your Committee, as it has proved to be a valuable provider of expertise and research-based advice.

Studies prepared in the past by your Committee continue to serve the Council in discussions on different issues. In this respect, in follow-up to one of the studies prepared by your Committee, notably the draft declaration on the right to peace, let me give you some insights in recent developments. I wish to draw your attention to the activities of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace, which held its second session from 30 June to 4 July 2014.

As a result of deliberations during the first session of the Working Group, the Human Rights Council at its twenty-sixth session in June, adopted resolution 23/16, requesting the Chairpersons-Rapporteur to prepare a new text on the basis of previous discussions and inter-sessional informal consultations.

Many efforts have been made in the past few months by the Chairperson-Rapporteur to actively engage with states, civil society and academia, while trying to find a way to reconcile the strong opinions and different views that exist with regard to the right to peace. During the past second session of the Working Group, all these actors constructively engaged in the discussions. They expressed their willingness and commitment to continue further work on the subject, which requires further deliberations, and it was therefore recommended that a third session of the Working Group should be convened in 2015.

Let me also briefly highlight a few of the debates that took place during the past two sessions of the Council and some of the upcoming topics of discussion at the September session, which may be of interest to the work of the Committee.

Your Committee has also in the past conducted a study on the urban poor and their enjoyment of the right to food. In this regard, you would be pleased to note that following the presentation of the Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor by the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, at its twenty-fifth session in March, the Council endorsed these principles and encouraged States to take them into account when planning and implementing measures to improve the security of tenure for the urban poor.

On the issue of integrating a gender perspective, and in the same vein as its request to your Committee to regularly and systematically integrate a gender perspective into the implementation of your mandate, the Council for its part has endeavoured to also continually conduct a qualitative analysis of human rights of women and girls in its debates. Furthermore, in September, the Council will be holding its annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective.

Equally important to your Committee is the issue of integration of the perspective of persons with disabilities, which it rightly continues to place on its agenda. Of note are the various actions taken by the Council at different levels in order to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are fully taken into account by one and all.  The Council has thus constantly considered the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly through its annual discussion in March, which this year focused on the right to education of persons with disabilities. The discussions highlighted, inter alia, that the main obstacles arose from prejudice and misconceptions that demanded consistent and systematic actions by Governments and that the issues affecting the most marginalized children and youth with disabilities have to be taken into account in the post-2015 development process. Additionally in June, in the context of its annual discussion on technical cooperation and capacity-building, the Council held a panel discussion which focused on advancing the rights of persons of disabilities through legal and institutional frameworks. The Council, also at the same session, established the mandate of a special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities.

Furthermore, in addition to the considerable progress made through the efforts of the Council’s Task Force to improve the accessibility for persons with disabilities to its work, the Council is also continuing with its commitment to make at least one panel per session accessible. At the coming session in September, the Council will make the panel on the protection of the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty accessible for persons with disabilities.

The Council is also continuing to look at emerging issues and taking action to address the human rights implications of such issues. For instance, in March it adopted two resolutions on new initiatives, namely two panel discussions on the use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones in counter-terrorism and military operations and on the right to privacy in the in the context of domestic and extraterritorial surveillance and/or the interception of digital communications and the collection of personal data, both to be held at the coming September session.

Distinguished Experts,

As your Committee would embark on another series of discussions during this week, inter alia, on your study on local government and human rights, I would like to inform you that in March, the Council adopted a resolution on the role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights. It also requested the High Commissioner to organize a panel discussion on a human rights-based approach to good governance in the public service at the thirtieth session of the Council in September 2015.

Your Committee is further requested to submit to the upcoming September session the Council, the progress report on best practices and main challenges in the promotion and protection of human rights in post-disaster and post-conflict situations, the progress report on promoting human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal, as well as the progress report on role of local government in the promotion and protection of human rights.

The final report on the negative impact of corruption on human rights, as well as a report on the situation of human rights of persons living with albinism, and a progress report on human rights and unilateral coercive measures, will be presented at the twenty- eighth session of the Council in March 2015.
The Human Rights Council looks forward to the presentation of these reports, and stands ready to engage in further dialogue with the Committee on all these subjects.

With this, I wish you a fruitful session, and thank you for your participation, for your commitment and for your active engagement in the discussions.

I thank you.
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