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Mr President,
New Zealand joins in celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year is a milestone for this seminal document, which has catalysed so much action and achievement in the promotion and protection of human rights around the world.
When the Declaration was drawn up, New Zealand fought vigorously to include language that reflected the universality and indivisibility of human rights, and we continue to uphold this tradition.
As “a common standard of achievement for all people and all nations”, the Universal Declaration is the bedrock for the international human rights framework because it affirms that all persons have the same rights and fundamental freedoms and that all States are subject to the same essential and unrelenting scrutiny of their commitment to uphold the inherent dignity, equal and inalienable rights of all persons. We recognise there are many challenges in this regard; some are easier to overcome than others but our enduring objective must be the universal realisation of these common standards.
As our different societies and cultures are brought into closer contact, for example through globalisation, these differences can feel threatening to those who do not understand them. There is a risk that diversity becomes a source of fear and uncertainty, possibly even a source of conflict.
Our challenge, therefore, is to celebrate diversity whilst respecting and implementing the human rights standards embodied in the Universal Declaration which are common to all.
Many actors are essential to this task. We take this opportunity to reiterate our firm support for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose independence is critical to the advancement and universal respect for human rights. We also recognise the contributions of national human rights institutions and civil society, amongst others, to the promotion and protection of human rights in all its forms.
New Zealand played a prominent role during the establishment of the Human Rights Council. We will continue to play a role in shaping its important substantive work so as to ensure that this fledgling organisation realises it potential as the pre-eminent global human rights body. With this objective, New Zealand is standing for election to the Human Rights Council next year for the period 2009-2012.
Looking ahead, if we are, globally, to realise fully the ambitions of those who crafted the Universal Declaration, we must look at what ‘effective and full enjoyment’ of human rights means for all categories of rights holders. For example, what does full and effective enjoyment of human rights mean for women, for children and for persons with disabilities? How can the Council assist rights – holders to overcome multiple forms of discrimination and unequal levels of enjoyment of human rights? A core feature of New Zealand’s engagement in the UN human rights machinery is therefore finding ways to overcome barriers which rights-holders may face in the enjoyment of their human rights, as embodied in our core human rights instruments, including through the mainstreaming of human rights standards.
