OHCHR highlights human rights in the Pacific [1]
Monday, December 12, 2011 - 16:20. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
SATURDAY 10 December was International Human Rights Day. Sixty three years ago the international community, through the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the founding document for all human rights. To mark the significance of this day the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Regional Office for the Pacific is highlighting countries progress in engaging with UN human rights mechanisms, and in particular with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council.
The UPR is a global mechanism through which countries have their human rights situations reviewed by the international community. All UN member states are reviewed over a four year period. For the Pacific, the UPR has provided a unique opportunity to review and assess human rights throughout the region. Over the next week OHCHR Pacific will release a series of op-eds further detailing the human rights situations in 2011 of some of the most populace nations of the Pacific where OHCHR works: Fiji, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Matilda Bogner, Regional Representative of OHCHRs Pacific Office, said:
"2011 was a significant year for human rights in the Pacific as all remaining Pacific Island countries completed their human rights reviews under the UPR. It has been an excellent stocktaking exercise for the region and will now act as an important baseline from which to evaluate future progress over the next four years."
Relating to recommendations made during the UPR process, 2011 saw Nauru ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Vanuatu accede to the Convention against Torture (CAT), and Palau sign eight core human rights treaties. During the UPR process in 2011, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands committed to establish national human rights institutions, combat violence against women, take measures to prohibit corporal punishment, enact legislation to protect children from child labour and sexual exploitation and to ratify core human rights treaties.
"The establishment of national human rights institutions will be central to the protection of human rights in these countries. They will support monitoring, documenting and redress of concerning situations on the ground. It will also be important that civil society has the capacity and means to monitor the implementation of these commitments by governments and will be able to assist in holding them to account," Ms Bogner said.
Ms Bogner said that 2011 saw many Pacific Island countries support Secretary General Ban Ki-moons call for measures to counter discrimination and violence against those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI). In March, Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu signed onto a joint statement of over 80 countries at the UN Human Rights Council condemning violence based on sexual orientation.
"The statement expressed concern at the continuing violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including killings, rape, torture and criminal sanctions," Ms Bogner said. Palau and Nauru accepted recommendations to decriminalize homosexual acts during their appearances before the UPR, while Samoa (despite having supported the earlier joint statement), Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea rejected recommendations relating to the decriminalization of sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex citing cultural or religious grounds.
Tonga is the first Pacific Island country to come up for review in the second round of the UPR and next year is due to submit a report on progress made since its first review in 2008. Ms Bogner noted while the ratification of CEDAW was still pending in Tonga, there have been positive signs and discussions on this front. She added that her office is ready to support Tonga in the ratification of the Convention against Torture and its work on torture prevention. "Tonga is approaching its second appearance before the UPR, where it will need to report on progress achieved on the recommendations. It would be important to see Tonga progress its commitments to ratify core human rights treaties," Ms Bogner said.
2011 also saw a number of visits to the region by the Human Rights Councils Special Procedures mechanisms, independent experts who examine a range of thematic areas of human rights. The Independent Expert on foreign debt visited Australia and Solomon Islands, and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, visited Australia. In terms of future visits, 2011 saw acceptance by the Government of the Marshall Islands to a visit by the Independent Expert on toxic waste, acceptance by the Government of Kiribati to a visit by the Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation, and acceptance by the Government of Solomon Islands to a visit by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women.
Ms Bogner said these visits are an opportunity for national level actors to voice concerns and bring issues to the attention of the international community. "Each visit provides for an examination of human rights issues on particular thematic areas in a country. The resulting report is presented to the Human Rights Council and, at times, to the UN General Assembly," she said. Country visits, which generate significant media coverage locally and internationally, can only occur at the invitation of the host country.
"All in all 2011 has seen some encouraging developments in terms of human rights in the Pacific and I trust that the future will see Pacific countries work further towards ensuring the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms for their people. The UPR has provided a good framework for joint national, regional and international efforts to improve human rights and support the commitments countries have made," Ms Bogner concluded. OHCHR, 12/11/12.