UAE announces candidacy for Human Rights Council

The UAE has announced its candidacy for a seat at the United Nations Human Rights Council from 2012 to 2015.

The announcement was made by Ambassador Obaid Salim Al-Za'abi, the UAE Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) in a speech before at the High Level Segment of the 16th session of the Human Rights Council which runs between February 28th and March 25th, 2011 in Geneva.

The UAE representative said the UAE government's decision on its candidacy for a seat at the Human Rights Council is based on its strong belief in human rights causes as well as its interest in further promoting its relevant national policy.

He expressed hopes the UAE's candidacy will be fully backed by the council's members.

Al Za'abi also reiterated the UAE's preparedness to cooperate with the Council and its mechanisms.

He noted that the UAE, in preparation for the candidacy and as part of its keen efforts to bolster human rights, set up the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, chaired by Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for the Federal National Council Affairs.

Members of the UAE's National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking include representatives from federal ministries and NGOs.

He also noted that the UN Higher Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, during her visit to the UAE in 2010 and meetings with senior officials and civil society members, viewed the country's achievements in protecting expatriate workers' rights, children's rights, women's rights as well as in its relentless fight against human trafficking and judicial, health and educational reforms.

On the developments in Libya, Al Za'abi said the UAE government is closely following the tragic situation and the suffering of the Libyan people.

He urged the international community "to rush humanitarian assistance and support to Libyans in this critical juncture of time." "The domestic shifts in the Arab region should not eclipse what is going on in Palestine and other occupied Arab lands where Arab people still suffer from the ongoing Israeli crimes which violate all human rights charters. We have great concern towards the continuing inability of the international community to enforce peace in the Middle East as Israel should not continue its repeated violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people, namely their right to self-determination and the establishment of their own independent State," Al Za'abi said.

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system made up of 47 States responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe. The Council was created by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 with the main purpose of addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.

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