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Mr President
I have the honour of addressing the Council on behalf of the delegations of Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Our delegations share the view that discussions on the Programme of Work for this first year of the Council are critical to securing its future success and credibility.
We are attracted to the approach that Norway has taken in its Draft framework, which sensibly steps through the elements for a possible program of work for the year ahead.
The program of work in this transitional year will be particularly challenging, with some .work needing to be completed immediately. For instance, we support a consensus omnibus decision extending all mandates for a period of one year.
The Universal Peer Review and review of mandates, for instance, will take some time and careful consideration. We need to set out in the program of work a clear and sensible way of proceeding.
Intersessional work will be required to take such issues forward. At this stage we should not necessarily rush to a formal approach but grant the President sufficient flexibility to determine the best way forward. We support the allocation of time at our December session for reviewing progress, including a possible decision on the Universal Peer Review.
The Special Procedures have a central role to play in an implementation-oriented Council and could be better integrated into its work, including through participation in debates on specific issues. It is pleasing to see that the draft framework provides for the reports of the Special Procedures to be a key focus for the September session of the HRC.
In September we also need to leave sufficient time to consider other outstanding reports such as those from the Sub-Commission, the 1503 procedure and various reports requested by the Commission.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights will continue to have an important ongoing role in drawing key human rights concerns to the attention of the Council. The opportunity for her to do so needs to be available at every session and in addition to the delivery or her annual report.
With the creation of’ the HRC, the Office of the HCHR retains its independent role. In that context, I underline the role that the General Assembly Fifth Committee and ACABQ have for intergovernmental budgetary oversight of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This has not changed.
General Assembly resolution 60/251 provided for the Council to address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations, and make recommendations thereon. Country specific situations should be addressed in a flexible and creative manner, focusing on dialogue, cooperation and assistance. We therefore support the setting aside of sufficient time in all future sessions for the consideration of initiatives and issues identified by delegations.
If we carefully lay the building blocks now for the future of the Human Rights Council, we will reap the rewards later.
