Regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights.

1993/51. Regional arrangements for the Promotion and protection of human rights

The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling General Assembly resolution 32/127 of 16 December 1977 and all subsequent resolutions concerning regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular Assembly resolution 47/125 of 18 December 1992, Recalling its resolution 1992/52 of 3 March 1992, in which it requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission at its forty-ninth session a report on the state of regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights and to include therein the result of action taken in pursuance of the resolution, Recalling its relevant resolutions concerning advisory services in the field of human rights, including the most recent, resolution 1992/80 of 5 March 1992, Recalling also its resolutions 1989/50 of 7 March 1989, 1990/71 of 7 March 1990, 1991/28 of 5 March 1991 and 1992/40 of 28 February 1992 concerning regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Asian and Pacific region, Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights (E/CN.4/1993/32), Noting with satisfaction the progress achieved so far in the promotion and protection of human rights at the regional level under the auspices of the United Nations, the specialized agencies and the regional intergovernmental organizations, 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, Bearing in mind that regional instruments should complement the universally accepted human rights standards and that certain inconsistencies between provisions of regional instruments and those of international instruments might raise difficulties with regard to their implementation,

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

2. Notes with interest that various contacts between regional bodies and commissions and the United Nations have continued to be pursued and strengthened through advisory services and technical assistance activities, with a view to the exchange of information and experience in the field of human rights;

3. Welcomes, therefore, the continuing cooperation and assistance of the Centre for Human Rights in the further strengthening of the existing regional arrangements and regional machinery for the promotion and protection of human rights, particularly in the field of advisory services and technical assistance, public information and education, with a view to exchanging any information and experience in the field of human rights;

4. Also welcomes in that respect the close cooperation given by the Centre for Human Rights in the organization of regional and sub-regional training courses or workshops in the field of human rights aimed at creating greater understanding of issues relating to the promotion and protection of human rights in the regions and at improving procedures and examining various systems for the promotion and protection of the universally accepted human rights standards;

5. Invites States in areas where regional arrangements in the field of human rights do not yet exist to consider agreements with a view to the establishment within their respective regions of suitable regional machinery for the promotion and protection of human rights;

6. Welcomes in this regard the continued cooperation of the Centre for Human Rights with the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the establishment of a depositary centre for United Nations human rights materials within that Commission at Bangkok;

7. Endorses the efforts of the Centre for Human Rights to enhance cooperation between the United Nations and regional and national institutions, particularly in the field of advisory services and technical assistance, public information and education in the field of human rights;

8. Stresses the importance of the programme of advisory services in the field of human rights and renews its appeal to all Governments to consider making use of the possibilities offered by the United Nations under this programme of organizing information and/or training courses at the national level for government personnel on the application of international human rights standards and the experience of relevant international bodies;

9. Encourages States parties to the major international human rights instruments to disseminate these in appropriate languages, as widely as possible, and recognizes in this context the valuable role that local non-governmental organizations may play in ensuring awareness of the standards to which Governments have subscribed at the international level;

10. Requests the Secretary-General, as foreseen in the medium-term plan for the period 1992-1997, to continue to strengthen exchanges between the United Nations and regional intergovernmental organizations dealing with human rights, and welcomes, in this connection, the fact that the Centre for Human Rights will continue to organize national, regional and sub-regional workshops and training courses for government officials engaged in the administration of justice and in the implementation of the international human rights instruments and that more countries in all regions of the world are expected to develop forms of cooperation and assistance with the Centre for Human Rights, in keeping with their specific needs;

11. Invites the organizers of regional meetings convened in preparation for the World Conference on Human Rights to promote further ratification of and accession to United Nations human rights treaties and the implementation of universally accepted human rights standards;

12. Welcomes the recommendation of the persons chairing or representing the United Nations human rights treaty bodies concerning a possible meeting, during the World Conference on Human Rights, of the persons chairing or representing the United Nations human rights treaty bodies and those chairing or representing each of the principal regional organizations and institutions in the field of human rights, and requests the Preparatory Committee of the World Conference on Human Rights to consider the holding of such a meeting;

13. Invites the treaty bodies of the major international human rights instruments to explore ways to increase the exchange of information and cooperation with regional human rights mechanisms;

14. Stresses the importance of continuing 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;

15. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission, at its fifty-first session, a report on the state of regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, to formulate concrete proposals and recommendations on the ways and means of strengthening the cooperation between the United Nations and regional arrangements in the field of human rights and to include in his report the results of action taken in pursuance of the present resolution;

16. Decides to consider the question further at its fifty-first session under the agenda item "Further promotion and encouragement of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the question of the programme and methods of work of the Commission".

63rd meeting
9 March 1993
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. XI.]