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Human Rights Committee 95th session opens in New York with protracted debate to elect Chair |
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The opening of the 95th session of the Human Rights
Committee in New York on 16 March 2009 was marred by over two hours of debate
as to who should be the appointed Chairperson for the next two years. In a very
public display of division amongst its members, several Committee members
supported the candidacy of Sir Nigel Rodley (United Kingdom) largely on the basis
of his standing as a pre-eminent expert on international human rights law and
his years of experience as a member of the Committee. Others supported the
election of Mr. Iwasawa (Japan), arguing that the Committee should adhere to its
practice of rotating the Chair on the basis of regional representation, and it
was time for an Asian representative to be elected.
Several members
participated in the debate, including one newly appointed member (Mr. Thelin of
Sweden), and all openly declared their support for one or the other nominee.
The exception here was Ms Motoc (Romania) who appeared to nominate herself on
the basis that no representative of the Eastern European region had held the
Chair. Eventually it was agreed that the matter should be determined by a
secret ballot, and Mr. Iwasawa won by 11 votes to 5. The election of the Bureau
was a comparative swift process and achieved by consensus. The
Vice-Chairpersons elected were Ms Majodina (South Africa), Sir Nigel Rodely and
Mr. Sanchez-Cerro (Peru). Ms Motoc was elected Rapporteur.
Over the course of the next three weeks, the 95th
session of the Human Rights Committee will review the reports of Australia, Chad,
Rwanda and Sweden. Country report task forces will examine and adopt lists of
issues on the reports of the Republic of Moldova, Croatia, the Russian Federation,
Switzerland and the United Republic of Tanzania. The Committee will also consider
a number of individual communications in closed meetings during the session. In
the coming weeks, ISHR will report on the four country reports under review, as
well as developments in relation to the Committee’s methods of work.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 09 April 2009 05:32 |
