RES/23/16 Promotion of the right to peace

GE.A/HRC/WG.13/1/2. 3-15056

Human Rights Council Twenty-third session Agenda item 5 Human rights bodies and mechanisms

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council∗

23/16. Promotion of the right to peace

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling all previous resolutions on the promotion of the right of peoples to peace adopted by the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, in particular Council resolution 20/15 of 5 July 2012, in which the Council decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group with the mandate of progressively negotiating a draft United Nations declaration on the right to peace, on the basis of the draft submitted by the Advisory Committee, and without prejudging relevant past, present and future views and proposals,

Recalling also General Assembly resolution 39/11 of 12 November 1984, entitled “Declaration of the Right of Peoples to Peace”, and the United Nations Millennium Declaration,

Determined to foster strict respect for the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,

Welcoming the important work being carried out by civil society organizations for the promotion of the right to peace and their contribution to the development of this issue,

Taking note of the report of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on its first session,1 held from 18 to 21 February 2013, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 20/15, and in particular of the inputs from Governments, regional and political groups, civil society and relevant stakeholders,

Bearing in mind the progressive development of this issue,

1. Decides that the working group shall hold its second session for five working days in 2014, before the twenty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council;

∗ The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of the Council on its twenty-third session (A/HRC/23/2), chap. I.

2. Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide the working group with the assistance necessary for it to fulfil its mandate;

3. Requests the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the working group to conduct informal consultations with Governments, regional groups and relevant stakeholders before the second session of the working group;

4. Also requests the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the working group to prepare a new text on the basis of the discussions held during the first session of the working group and on the basis of the intersessional informal consultations to be held, and to present it prior to the second session of the working group for consideration and further discussion thereat;

5. Invites States, civil society and all relevant stakeholders to contribute actively and constructively to the work of the working group;

6. Requests the working group to prepare a report on progress made, and to submit it to the Human Rights Council as a pre-session document, to be made available in all official languages of the United Nations, for consideration at its twenty-sixth session.

38th meeting 13 June 2013

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 30 to 9, with 8 abstentions. The voting was as follows: In favour: Angola, Argentina, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Against:

Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Montenegro, Republic of Korea, Spain, United States of America

Abstaining:

India, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Switzerland]