Institute attends UN Human rights Council
FMSI, an NGO of the Marist Institute, attended the Human rights council from Feb. 27 – March 24 in Geneva, Switzerland, to hear about issues on children’s rights among other issues.
The discussion on the rights of the child on March 6 reports on the sales of children, violence against children and children in armed conflicts.
The 47 Member states and observers reflected on improving children rights as part of the ‘2030 Agenda,’ stressing the need to treat all children equally.
Participants also discussed women’s rights and the Universal Periodic Review outcomes of 11 countries, including Venezuela, Syria and Zimbabwe.
Other topics focused on racial profiling, the rights of persons with disabilities and panel discussions on access to medicine, maternal mortality, climate change, human rights in Syria and the death penalty.
During the topic of racial profiling and incitement to hatred on March 17, reports were analysed on police and immigration officials targeting people based on ethnicity, religion or race.
The Human rights council declared that police identity checks motivated by physical or ethnic characteristics are contrary to the international human rights on equality and non-discrimination.
On March 16 and 17, the final Universal Periodic Review reports of the countries reviewed at the last session were adopted: Togo, Syria, Venezuela, Iceland, Zimbabwe, Lithuania, Uganda, Timor-Leste, Republic of Moldova, Haiti, South Sudan.
For more Information about the topics and documents on the outcome of the sessions, visit the United Nations website: www.ohchr.org