General Assembly

Fifteen years had passed since peace accords had been signed in Guatemala to bring to an end a 36-year-long internal armed conflict that left behind serious socio-economic consequences and human rights violations, Gert Rosenthal, Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations, told the Human Rights Committee today, as he presented the country’s third periodic report.

Wrapping up its second day of discussion on the initial report of Turkmenistan, the Human Rights Committee acknowledged that, while the Central Asian country had shown a new willingness to improve its “troubling” human rightsrecord, there was still a broad gap between the legislative framework and its practical implementation, including in the prohibition of torture, degrading treatment, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association.

Following national elections in February, Turkmenistan was poised to move forward with a package of newly implemented laws and legal codes to protect human rights in a broad range of areas, the Human Rights Committee was told as it began its review of that country’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it acceded in 1997.

Yemen was ready to start a transparent, positive dialogue about improving its human rights record, after mass uprisings against unemployment, corruption and deteriorating economic prospects had pushed President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign after 33 years of power, the Human Rights Committee was told today, as it considered the country’s fifth periodic report.

Taking note of the new Constitution of the Dominican Republic and impressed by “the level of humility the delegation had shown in acknowledging the problems” as it worked towards stronger human rights protections, the Human Rights Committee today expressed concern about abuses in law enforcement and racial discrimination towards migrants in that country.

There was a real will to strengthen democratic institutions in the Dominican Republic so that they fully guaranteed the rule of law and genuinely defended fundamental human rights and freedoms, Héctor Virgilio Alcántara Mejía, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, told the Human Rights Committee today, as it opened its 104th session.

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People issued the following statement today, 24 February:

In a message to the first meeting of the 2012 substantive session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for “constructive involvement” between the Committee, the administering Powers and the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Praise and criticism over perceived triumphs and failures peppered demands for clearly defined mandates, sustained funding, entry and exit strategies and strict compliance with core principles as the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations concluded its general debate today.

The overall structure and systems on which United Nations peacekeeping relied were “not always optimal” and it was a common duty among all stakeholders — Headquarters, regional organizations, United Nations agencies and Member States alike — to determine which components could be improved in the coming years, Under-Secretary-General Hervé Ladsous told the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations today.