RES/34/17 Regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights

GE.17-05891(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-fourth session

27 February–24 March 2017

Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 24 March 2017

34/17. Regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of

human rights

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 32/127 of 16 December 1977 and

subsequent Assembly resolutions concerning regional arrangements for the promotion and

protection of human rights, the latest being resolution 63/170 of 18 December 2008,

Recalling also Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/51 of 9 March 1993

and subsequent Commission resolutions in this regard, and Human Rights Council

resolutions 6/20 of 28 September 2007, 12/15 of 1 October 2009, 18/14 of 29 September

2011, 24/19 of 27 September 2013 and 30/3 of 1 October 2015,

Bearing in mind paragraph 5 (h) of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15

March 2006, in which the Assembly decided that the Council should work in close

cooperation with regional organizations,

Bearing in mind also the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by

the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, which reiterates, inter alia, the

need to consider the possibility of establishing regional and subregional arrangements for

the promotion and protection of human rights where they do not already exist,

Reaffirming the fact that regional arrangements play an important role in promoting

and protecting human rights and should reinforce universal human rights standards, as

contained in international human rights instruments,

1. Welcomes the progress made by Governments in the establishment of

regional and subregional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights,

and their achievements in all regions of the world;

2. Also welcomes the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights on the workshop on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection

of human rights,1 held on 4 and 5 October 2016 in Geneva, including its conclusions and

recommendations;

3. Further welcomes the holding of the meetings of focal points for cooperation

between United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, and takes note with

appreciation of their outcomes;

4. Notes with appreciation the progress towards the implementation of its

resolution 30/3 of 1 October 2015 as described in the report of the High Commissioner, and

encourages the regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights and

other organizations, such as the International Organization of la Francophonie, to continue

to enhance their cooperation;

5. Also notes with appreciation the critical role played by the Office of the High

Commissioner in advancing cooperation between international and regional human rights

mechanisms;

6. Requests the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to provide the

resources necessary to enable the Office of the High Commissioner to support the above-

mentioned activities appropriately, in particular the annual meetings of the regional

mechanisms’ focal points for cooperation;

7. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to expand its cooperation with

regional human rights mechanisms by creating, as of 2018, a dedicated programme for the

said mechanisms to gain experience in the United Nations human rights system in order to

enhance capacity-building and cooperation among them;

8. Requests the High Commissioner to hold, in 2019, a workshop on regional

arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights to take stock of

developments since the workshop held in 2016, including a thematic discussion on the role

of regional arrangements in the combat against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia

and related intolerance and in the implementation of the commitments in the Durban

Declaration and Programme of Action, based on concrete and practical experience of

regional mechanisms, in order to share information on best practices, lessons learned and

possible new forms of cooperation, with the participation of relevant experts from

international, regional, subregional and interregional human rights mechanisms, as well as

Members States, observers, national human rights institutions and non-governmental

organizations;

9. Also requests the High Commissioner to present to the Human Rights

Council, at its forty-third session, a report containing a summary of the discussions held at

the above-mentioned workshop and the progress towards the implementation of the present

resolution.

57th meeting

24 March 2017

[Adopted without a vote.]

1 A/HRC/34/23.