Leading human rights non-governmental organisation (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW) has praised Ireland’s record to date as a member of the UN Human Rights Council (the Council). The Council is the most important human rights body in the UN system. Following its election, Ireland took its seat at the Council in January 2013.
Click here to read a previous Bulletin article by the ICCL’s Deirdre Duffy on Ireland’s election to the Council and the launch of the ICCL’s Legacy Project. In that article, Duffy says it is “crucial that Ireland not only import human rights principles abroad during its Human Rights Council tenure, but, at the same time, takes responsibility for ensuring Irish law and policy meets international human rights standards.”
Of particular note, HRW has praised Ireland’s efforts in advancing country-specific resolutions that were voted on in 2013. In total, Ireland co-sponsored 24 country resolutions under agenda items 2, 4, 7 and 10. Ireland supported all the resolutions focussing on the human rights situations in Palestine and other disputed Arab territories, abstaining from only one resolution in relation to the human rights situation in the occupied Syrian Golan. Ireland currently has deployed a peacekeeping force to the Syrian Golan.
Ireland will remain on the Council until December 2015, during which time HRW believes its “strong reputation for impartiality and objectivity and its excellent human rights team place it in a strong position to play a more active leadership role in mobilizing the Council to respond to situations that have not yet been addressed.”
Click here to read a summary of Ireland’s voting record as an elected member of the Human Rights Council.