Regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly

 

Regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights

  The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 32/127 of 16 December 1977, 33/167 of 20 December 1978, 34/171 of 17 December 1979, 35/197 of 15 December 1980, 36/154 of 16 December 1981, 37/171 and 37/172 of 17 December 1982, 38/97 of 16 December 1983 and 39/115 and 39/116 of 14 December 1984 concerning regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, Recalling that in its resolution 39/115 it invited the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-first session a report on the state of regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights and to include therein the results of action taken in pursuance of that resolution, Taking note of Commission on Human Rights resolutions 1985/26 of 11 March 1985 and 1986/52 of 13 March 1986 concerning advisory services in the field of human rights, Taking note also of Commission on Human Rights resolutions 1985/48 of 14 March 1985 and 1986/57 of 13 March 1986 concerning regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Asian-Pacific region, Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as the addendum thereto on the state of signatures and ratifications of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Protocols thereto, or accessions to those instruments, Noting with satisfaction the progress achieved in the promotion and protection of human rights at the regional level and, in particular, the recent entry into force, on 21 October 1986, of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, Reaffirming that regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights may make a major contribution to the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms and that the exchange of information and experience in this field among the regions, within the United Nations system, may be improved,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

2. Notes with interest that contacts, of various kinds, between representatives of regional bodies and United Nations bodies entrusted with the promotion of human rights, with a view to exchanging information and experience in this field, have become a regular practice and have been further strengthened through advisory services and technical assistance activities;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to consider the possibility of encouraging these developments;

4. Endorses the recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1986/52 that Governments in need of technical assistance in the field of human rights should be encouraged:

(a) To make use of the possibility offered by the United Nations of organizing, under the programme of advisory services in the field of human rights, information and/or training courses at the national level for appropriate government personnel on the application of international human rights standards and the experience of relevant international organs;

(b) To avail themselves of the advisory services of experts in the field of human rights, for example for drafting basic legal texts in conformity with international conventions on human rights;

5. Requests the Commission on Human Rights to continue to pay special attention to the most appropriate ways of assisting, at their request, countries of the different regions under the programme of advisory services and to make, where necessary, the relevant recommendations;

6. Invites the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-third session a report on the state of regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights and to include therein the results of action taken in pursuance of the present resolution;

7. Decides to consider this question further at its forty-third session.