Statementby of Mr. Muhammad Anshor, Representative the IndonesianDelegation Before the Third Committee 60th Sessionof the United Nations General Assembly on Item 67 (b) and (c) Promotion and Protection of Human Rights New York.30 October 2007

Mr. Chairman, My delegation attachesgreat importance to the discussion of the promotion and protection of human rights in this forum. Indonesia has always believed in upholding the importance of the commitment to the protection and promotion of these rights, and we continue to update our domesticlaws and institutional structurein this regard. It is important, in our view, to remember that human rights promotion and protection must be a collective and persistentpursuit of all of us. In this direction Mr. Chairman, my delegationis pleasedto observecertain positive developments in recent times. We are extremely gratified by the creationof the Human Rights Council this year the which has strengthened human rights machinery of the United Nations in taking forward the protection and promotion of human rights. Similarly, in the area of standardsetting, severalimportant stepshave been taken in recent times. These include the adoption by the Human Rights Council, during its first session, of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Agreement was also reachedon the draft Convention on the Rights of Personswith Disabilities. and looks forward to the formal adoptionof My delegationwarmly welcomesthesedevelopments, the GeneralAssembly. by thoseinstruments Mr. Chairman, My delegation is also quite pleased by developmentsin the area of monitoring, including the preservation of the system of special proceduresin the Human Rights Council. Of particular importancehere is the proposal last March by the United Nations High Commissionerfor Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, to createa Unified StandingTreaty Body.
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This proposal has led to some debateby Member States. We welcome ideas which simplify the reporting mechanism, enhance efficiency and save resources,thereby reducing the burden of reportingobligations for stateparties,especiallythe developingcountries.We note with interestthe draft harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international legal framework, including guidelineson the common core documentsand treaty-specificdocumentsfor reporting.We believe that focus should also be given to the efforts to addressproblems of duplication, backlogs, nonreporting and visibility of human rights treaty bodies under the current legal framework. My delegationis ready to continue to participatein the processin order to make progressin this regard. of While continuing discussionson the strengthening the international human rights system, we should not lose sight of the need to addressone of the main challengesbefore us, namely how to implement international human rights instruments in the most effective way at both national and international levels. Numerous problems of non-implementation of the existing human rights instrumentshave been identified by mandate holders of special procedureswho presentedtheir reports to this Committee. We even found ourselvesdealing with the same issuesyear after year without tangible progress registered:pervasivehuman rights violations resulting from continued foreign occupation;country situationswhich raise seriousconcems;people being deprivedof food, shelter, accessto healthcare,educationand employment; sextremepoverty which violate human dignity; practices of discrimination on the ground of religion or ethnicity or gender; and lack of respectand intoleranceamong different culturesand religions. Tackling these problems is mostly beyond the questionsof creating or codifying human rights nonns and standardsas well as of strengthening monitoring mechanismsfor their implementation, especiallyin the context of developingcountries.We really need to review the current approaches employed in global human rights promotion and protection. We also need to continue to explore innovative ways of addressingvarious human rights problems, cognizant of the significance of national and regional particularities,varioushistorical,cultural and religious backgrounds well as as is clearly important is to give practical meaningsof the principles of levels of development.What internationalcooperationand a holistic approachin human rights promotion and protection,in full appreciation of the fact that security, development and respect for human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. We should take this into accountwhen we work on variousdraft resolutionsand decisions here. My delegation supports the current efforts which put emphasis on respect for human rights as an approach and an end in itself in addressinghuman rights problems resulting from foreign occupationand armedconflicts, while taking fully into accounttheir root causes. In dealing with human rights problems resulting from intolerance, discrimination on various grounds and xenophobia, we support the on-going campaigns in various quarters to confront the different problems. We, however, believe that we need to step up our efforts by strengthening existing mechanisms, within and outsidethe United Nations, to promote mutual understanding and respectamong various religions, cultures and civilizations. In addition, continued specialattention must be given to the protectionof human rights of r,ulnerable groupsof people. The lack of national capacity in the field of human rights is a common problem in the developing world, as it affects their capability to fulfill their obligationsunder internationalhuman rights lau's. provision which enjoys their confidence and respondsto their A system of technical assistance

DemocracyFund (UNDEF) needsshould be developed.A schemesimilar to the newly established is worth considering. Established last year, UNDEF is charged with financing projects that build and strengthen democratic institutions, promote human rights, and ensure the participation of all groups in democraticprocesses. Indeed,only last August, Mr. Chairman,UNDEF awardedits first round of grants,a total of US$ 36 million, to 125 projects selectedfrom over 1300 proposalsreceived from all over the world. The projects cover such areas as the promotion of civic education, voter registration, democratic diutogrr. and accessto information. It is difficult to argue that over time, thesegrants and projects will not have a major impact on the ground. within the Human This is why my delegationis convincedthat a schemeof this nature, established the Office of High unit of Rights Council and supportedby the capacitybuilding and field presence Human Rights, could take us beyond the perennialpoliticization of human rights Commissionerfor issues.This is in line with the founding resolution of the Human Rights Council which stipulates to Universal Periodic Review should give due consideration the capacitybuilding that the envisaged needsof membercountries. This system will be far more accommodatingof home-grown human rights initiatives in various developing countries, and would bring the promotion of human rights into the mainstream by enhancing the active participation of local non-governmental organizations, human rights institutions, universities and national human rights bodies. A human rights fund will therefore becomea tremendousforce the world over in promoting and protectinghumanrights. My delegationbelievesthat it is important for us to continue to discusstheseissuesin order to find more effective ways to confront the human rights problems before us. It is the failure to do so that has left us in a situation where we find ourselvesdealing with the sameissuesyear after year. Finally, Mr. Chairman, we are of the view that renewed consideration should be given to the revitalization of the Third Committee. Given the universal nature of its membership and its role in assistingthe General Assembly on social and human rights issues,we need to examine ways and means of maintaining its substantiverole in the General Assembly in the field of human rights, while at the sametime recognizingthe leadingrole of the Human Rights Council in this field. Thank you.

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