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December 6, 2005
To: Permanent Representatives of UN Member States
Re: Urgency of Completing Negotiations for Human Rights Council This
Year
We,
the undersigned organizations and individuals dedicated to protecting and
promoting human rights, are watching with keen interest the discussions now
underway to create a new Human Rights Council at the United Nations. We are
writing to you now, on the eve of International Human Rights Day and in
honor of the victims of human rights violations in every corner of the
globe, to urge each of your governments to adopt a General Assembly
resolution by the end of this year establishing a Human Rights Council that
will be stronger and more effective than the Commission on Human Rights.
In the
attached letter dated November 1 to UNGA President Eliasson, human rights
organizations from around the world have presented their views on the key
elements that must be included in the resolution in order to fulfill the
commitment made by heads of state and government in September to further
strengthen the UN’s human rights machinery. We hereby reaffirm our support
for these essential points as interdependent elements critical to achieving
a credible outcome.
We
believe, based on consultations conducted thus far among UN Member States,
that there is strong consensus on these points among the vast majority of UN
delegations. We strongly urge you to take account of this consensus and
act without delay in the coming two weeks to complete negotiations on a
resolution consistent with the principles set forth in the attached letter.
Sincerely,
Helen
Darbishire, Executive Director
Access
Info Europe (Spain)
Mohsen Marzouk,
Coordinator
Al
Kawakibi Center for Democracy
Yvonne Terlingen, AI
Representative at the United Nations
Amnesty International
Roberto Saba, Executive Director
Association for Civil Rights (Argentina)
Mark
Thomson, Secretary General
Association for the Prevention of Torture
Bani Dugal,
Principal Representative
Bahá'í
International Community, UN Office
Denis Caillaux, Secretary
General
CARE International
John
Podesta, President and CEO
Center
for American Progress
Lene
Schumacher, Director of Programs
Center
for Development of International Law
Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director
Center
for Women's Global Leadership
Charles J.
Brown, President and CEO
Citizens for
Global Solutions
Vicente García-Delgado, Esq, UN Representative
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Richard C. Rowson, President
Council for a Community of Democracies
Ted
Piccone, Executive Director
Democracy Coalition Project
Ilona Mihaies, Executive
President
Euroregional
Center for Democracy (Romania)
Djingarey
Maiga, Executive Director
Femmes et
Droits Humains (Mali)
Sidiki
Kaba, President
FIDH - Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme /
International Federation for Human Rights
John
Quigley, Executive Director
Franciscans International
Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director
Freedom House
Jamils
Richard Achunji Anguaseh, Program Director
Global
Welfare Association (Cameroon)
Julianne Traylor, Chair of
the Board of Directors
Human Rights Advocates
Neil Hicks, Director of
International Programs
Human Rights First
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director
Human
Rights Watch
Hélène
Sackstein, Permanent UN Representative
International Alliance of Women
Monique McClellan, UN Representative
International Catholic Child Bureau (ICCB/BICE)
Nicholas Howen, Secretary General
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Gareth Evans,
President and CEO
International
Crisis Group
Eylah
Kadjar-Hamouda, Coordinator
International Federation Terre des Hommes
Bob
Arsenault, President
International League for Human Rights
Görel
Bogärde, UN Representative
International Save the Children Alliance
Chris
Sidoti, Director
International Service for Human Rights
Felice
D. Gaer, Director
Jacob
Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
Vanida
S. Thephsouvanh, President
Lao
Movement for Human Rights (LMHR)
Peter N. Prove, Assistant
to the General Secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights
The Lutheran World
Federation
Kok
Ksor, President
Montagnard Foundation, Inc
Robin Phillips,
Executive Director
Minnesota
Advocates for Human Rights
Morton Halperin,
Director of US Advocacy
Open
Society Institute
Andrea
Sanhueza, Executive Director
Participa (Chile)
Paul
English, Executive Director
Penal Reform International
Leonard Rubenstein, Executive Director
Physicians for
Human Rights
Vo Van Ai, President
Quê Me: Action
for Democracy in Vietnam
Ken Bacon, President
Refugees International
Carol Bower, Executive
Director
Resources Aimed at the
Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (South Africa)
Howard
Glenn, Executive Director
Rights Australia (Australia)
Jean-Louis Roy, President
Rights
and Democracy (Canada)
Anita
Sheth, Senior Analyst
Save
the Children (Canada)
Abdinasir Nur, Director
Somali Youth for Peace and
Democracy (SYPD) (Somalia)
Charlie Szrom, President
Students for Global
Democracy International
Matteo
Mecacci, UN Representative
Transnational Radical Party (Italy)
Catherine Ferguson,
Coordinator
UNANIMA International
Vina Nadjibulla, United
Nations Representative
United Methodist UN Office
Penelope Faulkner,
Vice-President
Vietnam Committee for Human
Rights
Joy Olson, Executive
Director
Washington Office on Latin
America (WOLA)
William Pace, Executive
Director
World Federalist Movement
Seng Xiong, Executive
Officer
World Hmong People's
Congress
Eric
Sottas, Director
World
Organization against Torture
Cc:
H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson, President of the U.N. General Assembly
H.E. Mr. Ricardo Alberto Arias, Co-Chair, Human Rights
Council Negotiations
H.E. Mr. Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, Co-Chair, Human Rights
Council negotiations
Mr. Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary General
Ms. Louise Arbour, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
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