Third Committee

Recent actions by the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council recognizing a human right to water and sanitation were a “breakthrough” and the challenge now was to turn that right into a reality for the billions of people throughout the world who still lacked access, a United Nations expert told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

United Nations experts charged with examining the human rights of migrants told the Third Committee today that over the past two years the trend towards the “increasing criminalization” of irregular migration had continued, with migrants facing racist attacks, abuse and “appalling” housing conditions throughout the world.

The world was witnessing a situation in which pressures on land and water were increasing at “unprecedented speed,” with dramatic consequences for millions of farmers, fishermen and indigenous people and their right to food, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) was told today.

Human rights were too often discussed in the abstract and, despite all the changes in the past 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, the collective challenge remained the same — bringing the vision closer to the ground, so it could “touch the lives of real people”, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

More than a quarter century after its adoption, the objectives of the Convention against Torture had yet to be achieved, and the entire human rights treaty body system was slowed under a backlog of reports from Member States, the Third Committee was told today. The Committee began its discussion on human rights by focusing on international efforts to prevent the use of torture, in the absence of the Special Rapporteur on the issue, who was unable to be present due to other commitments.

The implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should not be obscured by a discussion about whether or not it is a legally binding document and should be regarded as a “political, moral and legal imperative” without qualification, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it began its discussion of indigenous issues and the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.

From the reintegration of child soldiers to rural schools-on-wheels and the daily recital of a national pledge, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today of the many ways in which Member States have been promoting and protecting the rights of children, in light of their respective socio-economic and cultural situations.

Taking action for the first time during its current session, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved a text recommending to the General Assembly the adoption of a resolution setting out United Nations standards for the treatment of women prisoners and non-custodial measures for women offenders, also known as the “Bangkok Rules”.

To “truly universalize child rights,” the world community must reach the neediest children in their early years, with critical nutrition, nurturing, education and child protection, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

Delegations in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) lined up today to welcome the establishment of UN Women and the appointment of Michelle Bachelet as its Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General, while underlining the many challenges that remain on the road to women’s empowerment, gender equality and the struggle against gender-based violence throughout the world.