General Debate Under Item 2 : Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General.

Statement by Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ)

Mr President,

International-Lawyers.Org places particular importance on the struggle against racism, which requires the full and effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action or DDPA which was agreed by consensus.

We are concerned that the High Commissioner has diverted staff resources that the General Assembly had budgeted for DDPA implementation to other activities. Can the High Commissioner assure us that this has not been the case? If it is not known can the High Commissioner assure us that this matter will be investigated in an independent and transparent manner?

The recommendations of the 13th session of the Intergovernmental Working Group for DDPA implementation, which were adopted by consensus, requested the Office of the High Commissioner to provide input to the development of a multi-year outreach programme for DDPA information and mobilization. We would welcome an update from the Office on this important work for the Council, which was requested by the General Assembly.

Finally, we also look forward to the publication of the official Programme of Activities for the International Decade for People of African Descent adopted by the General Assembly in November 2014. Could the High Commissioner please indicate when this might be available in print?

Thank you.