Ireland applies to be elected to UN human rights body for three-year term

IRELAND HAS formally applied for election to the United Nations Human Rights Council for a three-year term from 2013 to 2015.

In January this year Taoiseach Enda Kenny signalled the Government’s intention to seek election to the intergovernmental body, although the State first planned in 2006 to apply this year.

Ireland’s permanent representative to the UN, Anne Anderson, has now formally written to the president of the UN General Assembly seeking election and setting out, in an eight-page document, “voluntary pledges and commitments made by the Government of Ireland with regard to the promotion and protection of human rights”.

These include commitments on combating all forms of discrimination including racism and xenophobia; pledges on gender equality; and pledges on the ratification “as soon as possible” of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the implementation of its provisions.

Ireland was in the first group of countries to sign the convention on disabilities.

The 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council are elected by the 192 member states of the General Assembly. The Government, its agencies and ambassadors have begun lobbying other UN member states in the run-up to the election, which takes place during the 67th session of the assembly later this year.

Eighteen countries will be elected for the next three-year term. The 47 seats are distributed on a geographical basis, with seven allocated to the western European group of members.

In the application, Ms Anderson said Ireland’s “historical experience informs our approach to human rights and our Constitution, through its recognition of fundamental rights, guarantees the individual citizen’s freedom, equality and justice”. She said Ireland’s commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights “is an underlying principle of our foreign policy”.

The pledges include commitments to a target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for overseas development aid, to the fight against global hunger, and to the allocation of 20 per cent of Irish Aid’s budget to hunger-related activities.

Last year the council reviewed Ireland’s human rights record and made 127 recommendations in areas such as mental health, detention and children’s rights.

The State has pledged to provide a voluntary interim report on the implementation of the 91 recommendations fully accepted and the further 17 partially accepted.