ODVV Statements at 21st Session of the Human Rights Council

Item3: Right to DevelopmentMadame President
My organization wants to use this opportunity to declare three suggestions regarding the Right to Development:

First, after the passage of 26 years since the ratification of the Declaration on the Right to Development, it seems that the time has come for the compilation and ratification of an enforceable international document, as the “Convention on the Right to Development”, so that the obligations of states are transparently clarified at the national and international levels. The Human Rights Council can be a forerunner in the drafting of this convention.

Second, in view of the improper and destructive practice of international lobbying and financial institutions, we recommend the United Nations to establish a council for the provision of global economic security. In fact it must be said that the new international economy system includes new concepts of international trade laws which require the protection of the right to development of developing countries.

Third, one of the most blatant examples of right to development violations is the imposing of economic sanctions against countries with the objective of forcing political behavioural change of the governments. Aside from whether how effective sanctions are in forcing governments to change their behaviour, the blatant violations of the most natural economic rights of the people and an increased risk in life with the reduction of food, medical, and factories raw materials supplies, unemployment and many other instances and ultimately the creation of serious obstacles to reduce or stop the development of countries, are all grave violations of the right to development. We recommend through a resolution, the Human Rights Council to deem the imposing of international economic sanctions against countries as the violation of economic and social rights of the people and disregard of the right to development.
Thank You

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Item 4. Bahrain’s UPRMadame President
The situation of human rights in Bahrain is now a compilation of continuous crackdown with an agonizing and meaningful world’s most important Medias silence. Unfortunately even during and after working group session on 2nd Bahrain’s UPR, something is still missed: A real, genuine, respectful and tolerated approach from the government towards the wishes and needs of protestors, the people who were beaten, tortured and jailed, instead of being listened to.
We are concerned about violations of human rights of Bahrainis, specially Shia minorities and human rights defenders and ask government of Bahrain to pay special attention to these four recommendations.
First, the rights of various groups that include human rights defenders and doctors that have been violated in the recent unrests must be compensated in accordance with international laws.
Second, we call upon Bahraini officials to accept the visit of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of assembly and association and also establish an open, genuine, all-inclusive and effective national dialogue among different concerned parties with the aim of effectively addressing the legitimate aspirations and concerns of all the population in a democratic manner.
Third, ODVV calls upon the government of Bahrain, as it has been endorsed by Bahrain representatives in article 113 of final report of UPR working group, to comply with its commitments regarding reconstruction of all the places of worships that had been destroyed during unrests.
Fourth, We also associate ourselves to the statement made by Switzerland in 20th session of human rights council on behalf of 27 countries, calling on Bahraini authorities to agree to the establishment of an OHCHR office in Bahrain.
Thank you
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Item6: UPR Madam President,
A more dynamic mechanism must be an objective, transparent and impartial mechanism. The biggest disease for this mechanism is politicization. If states they place their political relations in an atmosphere of tones and recommendations that they present to each other, then in the not too distant future, the Council will end up with the same problems as its predecessor the Commission on Human Rights. The UPR mechanism is for the improvement of human rights as a whole, and not a mechanism for states to settle political scores with each other.
Alongside the UPR sessions of the Council, a number of worthy side events take place by NGOs, human rights organizations and stakeholders, the outcomes of which unfortunately do not get any reflection in the country recommendations. We hope the Council designs a practical and effective mechanism to benefit from the potential knowledge and expertise of NGOs to this aim. Although views of those NGOs must be considered and utilized that for certain are reliable and provable.
The first round of the UPR, brought with itself a huge volume of recommendations in the human rights literature, for the improvement of the human rights situation for all 193 UN Member States. The presentation of over 21,000 recommendations over 4 years of the first round of the UPR shows that the road for the improvement of the human rights situation in the world is a long and windy one. The duties and responsibilities of states that have made the most participation and worked on presenting recommendations is more than others. They themselves must be human rights role models for other states, and must not create the assumption that their attention towards the human rights situation in other states is a leverage tool play, while they themselves have their own human rights issues in their own states.
Madam President,
We call upon all states to create a suitable environment for NGOs to benefit from them as active monitors in evaluation of their commitment levels to the UPR, and to create a kind of synergy alongside government activities for the improvement of their own human rights.

Thank you
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Item 7: The Situation of Palestinian prisonersMadame President
In Palestinian Occupied Territories from 1967 to-date approximately 700,000 Palestinians, 20 percent of the whole Palestinian population have been detained on Israeli Military Orders.
Imprisonment and detention has turned into a real nightmare for Palestinians, especially children, because according to reports, each year between 500 to 700 Palestinian Children from the West Bank are arrested, tried in Israeli military courts and instead of enjoying their childhood, they taste the bitter taste of torture.
In various forms such as administrative detention, solitary confinement and temporary detention, the IDF deprive Palestinian citizens from their basic rights; to an extent where according to latest statistics there are now 4423 prisoners currently in Israeli prisons, 211 of which are 211 children.
Madame President
These as well as other measures are contrary to international law standards that include, torture, physical abuse, military detentions of Palestinians, and the double standards with the civil legal system dominating in Israel. Also hidden discriminations that include difference in detention age, lack of access to legal council during interrogation and even for children, denying visits and communications with families, a sharp drop in education and medical services, have all brought about grave concerns over the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ basic rights, and despite the extensive detailed reports of relevant ngo's, it has all fallen to the deaf ears of international political circles.
Madame President
While supporting the Palestinian prisoners for their rights, we express deep concern on their health, mental and hygiene conditions, and call upon relevant international organizations to fulfil their duties for the reduction of the pains and sufferings of the Palestinian prisoners, and force Israel to observe and respect the rights of the prisoners and observe its international commitments.
Thank you
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Item 9: Islamophobia Madame President,
Efforts to understand the concept of freedom of expression the way the west interprets, for us Muslims for whom one of the most sacred concept of religion and even everyday lives is our prophet, in our view is the blatant violation of freedom of expression and belief.
When on the pretext of freedom of expression, an individual or a group targets the holies of another group, and then describe the pain and anger of this group as inhuman and uncivilised behaviours, that is the violation of all human rights for all.
We believe that one of the biggest mistakes of this Council is its driving of the Defamation of Religion Resolution to the sidelines; a resolution which was a strong obstacle against the developments of the last few days: the defamatory movie about the prophet of Islam and the disgusting cartoon drawings.
Madame President,
Efforts to create obstacles in the way of the theoretic basis of the clash of civilisations are only possible through practical measures. These practical measures require two simultaneous approaches, first the promotion and strengthening of a basis for dialogue among cultures and civilizations in an atmosphere filled with mutual respect and secondly, a serious and legal confrontation with individuals and movements which through insulting the beliefs and religions of others cause the spread of hatred and animosity.
The showings of movies or cartoon drawings that create hatred are no different from hate speech. If the use of hate speech in the mass media was deemed a crime by the ICTR in December 2003, then the examples of the recent Islamophobia must also be deemed criminal and seriously investigated.
Thank you
. http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/B950EF51E193EFDCC1257A410037742E?OpenDocument
. http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/B956DE74EF2940E0C1257A41004AA7D9?OpenDocument