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Mr President
New Zealand is delighted to welcome Judge Pillay to the Human Rights Council in her capacity as the New High Commissioner for Human Rights, and to add our voice to those who have already spoken, in warmly congratulating her on her appointment.
New Zealand is of course part of the Asia Pacific region, sharing and celebrating its immense diversity and seeking to help build ways of ensuring that this same diversity does not serve to divide. Strong governance and respect for human rights is fundamental to the region’s future stability and prosperity.
In this respect, the work of the Office of the High Commissioner plays a vital role which New Zealand supports both materially and morally. The work done by the OHCHR’s Pacific regional office in often difficult circumstances is going from strength to strength, and New Zealand welcomes the recent appointment of a new regional representative to underpin this process and provide further capacity to meet the needs which so clearly exist.
The Council’s UPR process has brought into sharp focus the resourcing and capacity building challenges which face small developing states in meeting the demands placed upon them by the human rights architecture, including treaty body reporting obligations.
Mr President, New Zealand has been impressed by the response of small states such as Tonga to the UPR challenge. Others, such as Tuvalu and Vanuatu, busy working on their reports, are showing a similar level of commitment. New Zealand is holding a seminar in Auckland early next year to facilitate the sharing of experiences among Pacific states on the UPR and wider human rights endeavours. We appreciate that the High Commissioner’s Office recognises these needs and welcome the practical support provided.
In the UPR follow-up process, it will be particularly important to coordinate the provision of technical assistance, and we hope the OHCHR’s regional office in Suva will be well placed to assist in these efforts. In addition, New Zealand hopes that OHCHR will continue to provide adequate resources to help States in the region meet their treaty body reporting obligations, noting that the treaty body reporting system is one of the most effective tools in implementing human rights.
