The State of Kuwait has decided to run for United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) membership for 2013-2015 out of keenness on buttressing and disseminating the culture of human rights.
Kuna news agency stated that the decision was made by the country's permanent representative at the UN Mansour Al-Etebi during a UN General Assembly social, human and cultural committee meeting late Wednesday.
He reiterated his country's commitment to shoring up and fanning out the culture of human rights by means of involvement in all relevant international events with a view to developing and safeguarding human rights and dignity.
"Out of this keenness, the State of Kuwait has decided to stand for UNHRC membership for 2013-2015. Kuwait sets the question of human rights as a key development priority out of its belief in the significance of respecting such rights and their close link to the sustainable development process", he said.
The Kuwaiti legislature has been eager to ensure maximum safeguards for basic liberties through the constitution that stipulates the respect of public freedoms in various domains, primarily the freedom of expression, right of criticism as per law, freedom of press, printing and publication, freedom of thought and belief, right of litigation, right of education and health and other basic services, he added.
Kuwait did not only include human rights in its constitution and pieces of legislation, but it also sought to deepen the values of human rights by developing the culture of such rights on all levels, Al-Etebi said.
Earlier in May, Kuwait's human rights report was internationally lauded during a UN human rights review conference in Geneva, he said.
The State of Kuwait has already joined main UN conventions and agreements bearing on human, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, and child protection protocols, he said.
Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti diplomat decried Israeli practices and policies against Palestinian human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying that Israeli occupying forces commit daily violations of Palestinian human rights, impose restrictions on Palestinian human movement, usurp lands, demolish houses, besiege a city where over one million people are living, and continue settlement construction in violation of international law.