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This article participates on the following special index pages:
2008 harmonised elections - Index of articles
Human
rights situations that require Council's attention
Statement
from The Netherlands
March 17, 2008
Mr. President,
The Netherlands aligns
itself to the statement made by Slovenia on behalf of the European
Union.
Mr President, No country has a perfect situation of human rights.
The Netherlands therefore welcomes the establishment of the Universal
Periodic Review and is glad to be among the first nations to be
reviewed by this Council. However, there are situations of gross
and systematic violations that are urgent and should be dealt with
by this Council. The UPR cannot and will not be the only means of
dealing with human rights violations on country level and the current
agenda item 4 should continue to address legitimate concerns by
international community over situations most serious and urgent.
The human rights situation
in Sudan remains of grave concern to us. Particularly the human
rights situation in Darfur has not improved and gross and systematic
human rights violations are at the order of the day. An issue of
particular concern is sexual violence and other atrocities committed
against women. We repeat our call on the Sudanese authorities to
bring to justice the perpetrators of such actions. Furthermore,
we urge Sudan to cooperate with the ICC.
The Netherlands welcomes
the work of the Special Rapporteur on Sudan and we look forward
to discuss the Sudanese government's implementation of the
Expert Group's 40 recommendations in September. We intend
to send a mission to determine the areas in which the Netherlands
could give support and foster real improvements on the ground within
the timelines set by the Expert Group.
The Netherlands fully
associates itself with the remarks made by Slovenia on behalf of
the EU on Iran. We remain particularly concerned about the execution
of juvenile offenders, harassment of human rights defenders, restrictions
on freedom of religion or belief and restrictions on the freedom
of expression - such as the application of the death penalty
for apostasy in the new Draft Penal Code. We urge Iran to respect
its obligations under international human rights law. The Netherlands
remains committed to engage in a constructive dialogue with Iran
on human rights.
The Netherlands is very
concerned about the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian
situation in Sri Lanka. The large numbers of civilian losses and
displaced persons are alarming. We call on all parties in the conflict
to ensure the full protection of all civilians throughout the country.
It is our strong belief that there are no special circumstances
in which human rights violations can be condoned. The best defence
against terrorism is a well-functioning national and international
legal order which provides peaceful means for everyone to express
themselves and defend their own rights. In this regard, we call
on the government of Sri Lanka to fully cooperate with all relevant
UN mechanisms and to agree with the High Commissioner on Human Rights
on a monitoring and advisory human rights mission in the country.
This is especially necessary after the withdrawal of the SLMM and
the imminent departure of the International Independent Group of
Eminent Persons.
On the situation in Zimbabwe,
we believe it is of the utmost importance that civil society organisations
can play their role in the run-up to the elections. We remain worried
about reports of continued political violence and harassment of
members of the opposition and civil society.
With regard to the situation
in Kenya, we appreciate the cooperation by the Government of Kenya
with the OHCHR fact finding mission to assess the current situation.
We hope the recent agreement between parties will bring back stability
to Kenya.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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