RES/37/15 High-level intersessional discussion celebrating the centenary of Nelson Mandela

GE.18-05243(E)

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Human Rights Council Thirty-seventh session

26 February–23 March 2018 Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 22 March 2018

37/15. High-level intersessional discussion celebrating the centenary of Nelson

Mandela

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations,

Guided also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna

Declaration and Programme of Action, and recognizing that 2018 marks their seventieth

and twenty-fifth anniversaries respectively,

Recalling the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

Recalling also General Assembly resolution 64/13 of 10 November 2009, in which

the Assembly decided to designate 18 July as Nelson Mandela International Day,

Taking note of the Declaration on the Centenary of Nelson Mandela, made by the

Assembly of the African Union at its thirtieth ordinary session, and the decision of the

Assembly at its twenty-second ordinary session to declare 2014–2024 the Madiba Nelson Mandela Decade of Reconciliation in Africa,

Recalling Nelson Mandela’s lifelong struggle for freedom, human rights and human dignity, equality and justice, as well as his conviction and incarceration in 1963,

Recalling also that, upon his release in 1990, after serving 27 years in prison, Nelson

Mandela contributed to the transition of South Africa to democracy, and that he gave

selfless service as an international statesman to the cause of human rights,

Recognizing Nelson Mandela as the embodiment of human rights and a champion of

the global poor and their dignity, as recognized by the General Assembly and the Assembly

of the African Union,

1. Decides to convene a high-level intersessional discussion celebrating the

centenary of Nelson Mandela, on his life and legacy, in the context of promoting and

protecting human rights through social justice, reconciliation and democratic ideals, on 27

April 2018, the day that, in 1994, Mandela and millions of South Africans cast their votes

for the first time in a fully representative democratic election;

2. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to invite

to that discussion, for their participation, eminent persons who worked with Nelson

Mandela and other persons who embody his virtues on various global platforms for the

advancement of human rights;

3. Also requests the High Commissioner to provide all the resources necessary

for the effective realization of the discussion;

4. Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human

Rights to prepare a summary report on the discussion and to submit it to the Council at its

thirty-ninth session.

53rd meeting

22 March 2018

[Adopted without a vote.]