« We have witnessed for the first time a contest of pledges related to human rights » declared Sidiki Kaba, President of the FIDH, refering to countries’ obligation to make pledges to strengthen their human rights record as part of their candidature. « As part of their pledges, a vast number of States have announced their intention to ratify international human rights instruments and cooperate with Special procedures. For this only, this election is a relative success, it has boosted the adherence to international instruments that ensure protection against Human rights violations. »
FIDH also noted that a number of States authors of grave human rights violations have avoided running for the election. « Burma, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Tchad, Togo, Belarus, North Korea, Colombia, Nepal, Libya, were frequent flyers on the Commission. They have had to renounce to present their candidature at this election. » said President Kaba.
Further, the election process has enabled to filter out Iran, where massive and severe human rights violations are committed on a daily basis.
FIDH however noted with disappointment the election of a group of countries with severe records of human rights violations, such as China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia in the Asia group, Algeria, Cameroon or Tunisia in Africa, Cuba or the Russian Federation « This is due to a combination of the absence of alternative candidates (for African countries) with a well established regional influence (for the other groups) », declared President Kaba, « but with the universal peer review, they will however have to open their territory to international scrutiny, some of them for the first time. Time has now come for the effective implementation of the Council’s mandate.»
FIDH announced its intention to contribute to the evaluation of each of the Council’s member States’ human rights record as part of the monitoring mechanisms established under the Council.
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