Strengthening the Centre for Human Rights.

1994/55. Strengthening the Centre for Human Rights

The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling all relevant General Assembly resolutions as well as its own resolutions on this question, Considering that the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms is one of the basic purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and one of the main priorities of the organization, Recalling that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (A/CONF.157/23), adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights stresses the importance of strengthening the Centre for Human Rights, Recalling also that the Secretary-General, in his reports on the work of the organization for 1992 (A/47/1) and 1993 (A/48/1), stated that "the Charter of the United Nations places the promotion of human rights as one of our priority objectives, along with promoting development and preserving international peace and security", and that "in the course of 1993, the activities of the Centre for Human Rights at Geneva underwent a significant expansion in the five main areas of its work", Recalling further that the Commission, in paragraph 30 of its report (E/CN.4/1988/85 and Corr.1) to the Special Commission of the Economic and Social Council, reaffirmed that "the paramount consideration in the employment of staff at every level is the need for the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, and is convinced that this is compatible with the principle of equitable geographical distribution" and, bearing in mind Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, emphasizing the desirability of paying particular attention to the recruitment to the Centre for Human Rights of persons from under-represented countries, Recalling, in this context, the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly on the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat urging the Secretary-General to accord greater priority to the recruitment and promotion of women, Welcoming the decision by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993 to establish the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as the mandate for the post, including its overall coordinating role and its supervisory function in relation to the Centre for Human Rights, as well as the request by the General Assembly for appropriate staff and resources for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Emphasizing the important role of the Centre for Human Rights as the coordinating unit within the United Nations system in the promotion, protection and implementation of human rights and the need to provide it with sufficient human and financial resources, particularly in view of the fact that its workload has dramatically increased while resources have failed to keep pace with the expansion of its responsibilities, Noting that the activities envisaged in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action will add further to the workload and the responsibilities of the Centre for Human Rights, Noting also that the difficult financial situation of the Centre for Human Rights has created considerable obstacles in implementing the various procedures and mechanisms and negatively influenced the servicing by the secretariat of the human rights machinery, Acknowledging that further improvement of the functioning and efficiency of the Centre for Human Rights, together with a strong emphasis on good management practice, is needed in order to enable the Centre to cope with the constantly increasing workload, Noting with appreciation the measures already taken by the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights aimed at improving the administration and management of the Centre for Human Rights, Noting also that, to improve the functioning and efficiency of the Centre for Human Rights, good management practice needs to be complemented by additional resources commensurate with the additional mandates,

1. Requests the Secretary-General to enhance further the role and importance of the Centre for Human Rights, under the overall supervision of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the coordinating unit within the United Nations system with respect to human rights;

2. Welcomes the endorsement by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/129 of 20 December 1993 of the recommendations of the World Conference on Human Rights concerning the strengthening of the Centre for Human Rights, as contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (A/CONF.157/23);

3. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General (E/CN.4/1994/74) on the measures taken to implement the resolution referred to in paragraph 2 above;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that sufficient resources from within the regular budget of the United Nations are accorded, as a matter of urgency, to the Centre for Human Rights to enable it to undertake all its functions, in full and on time;

5. Requests in particular the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to ensure that appropriate additional staff and resources from within the existing and future regular budgets of the United Nations are accorded to the Centre for Human Rights to enable it to carry out, in full and on time, the mandates contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action without diverting resources from development programmes and activities of the United Nations;

6. Emphasizes the need to provide appropriate staff and resources from within the existing and future regular budgets of the United Nations to enable the High Commissioner for Human Rights to carry out his mandate with the assistance of the Centre for Human Rights;

7. Emphasizes also that further steps should be undertaken to analyse the present and future utilization of available human and financial resources and, while noting with appreciation the measures recently taken by the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights aimed at improving the management of the Centre, that additional measures should be taken to improve further the administrative efficiency and effectiveness of the Centre for Human Rights, if required with appropriate technical assistance;

8. Decides to consider the question of strengthening the Centre for Human Rights, including measures taken in furtherance of the present resolution, at its fifty-first session.

56th meeting
4 March 1994
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. XI.]