-Published: Thursday, December 5, 2019-
Government supports Bachelet's campaign on women's rights
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The government announced Tuesday support for the campaign on women's human rights, which is being developed by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet.
According to the government, the support is to guarantee access to all women's rights in the region without discrimination.
Bachelet met with Vice President Epsy Campbell Tuesday, because President Carlos Alvarado continued at The U.N. climate meeting that took place in Madrid, Spain through Wednesday.
"This is a very constructive, very positive and comprehensive visit that will allow us to be clear about all the advances in human rights that are up to date, but also the challenges ahead," said Bachelet.
Campbell and Bachelet also addressed the commitments made by the countries, with the proclamation of the International Decade of People of African Descent.
The African-descendant term refers to people born outside of Africa who have ancestors from that continent.
Bachelet, the former president of Chile, visited Costa Rica, at the invitation of the government.
The Office of the U. N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has the mandate to promote and protect all the rights contemplated in the Charter of the United Nations, as well as in international human rights laws and treaties.
The mandate includes preventing cases of human rights violations, promoting international cooperation to protect human rights, coordinating related activities throughout the United Nations organization and strengthening the United Nations system in the field of human rights.
In an ongoing human rights issue in Central America, hemispheric officials who studied the crisis in Nicaragua now want the full General Assembly of the Organization of American States to address the issue in a special session.
As expected, the high-level committee set up Aug. 29 determined that Nicaragua is experiencing a critical human rights situation that urgently demands the attention of the Inter-American community and the world at large. In addition the lack of freedoms in the country has become desperate, creating a critical situation with regards to civil and political liberties, which must be reestablished in order to restore the rule of law in the country, the commission said, adding that the restoration of freedoms in the country, including its suppressed civil and political liberties, is a matter of urgency, and that it calls on Nicaragua to act accordingly, particularly with respect to the freedoms of expression, of assembly, and of demonstration and the right of protest.
The commission urged the General Assembly to consider the matter in light of Article 20 which provides for expulsion of a member country where the constitutional regime has broken down. The Organization of American States has 34 participating members of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. Article 20 is infrequently applied.
The commission said the government of Nicaragua refused to meet the commission which was created as a diplomatic effort by the General Assembly and prohibited its members from entering Nicaragua. Still, the commission said it conducted its study, in part, with interviews with important witnesses permitted by the governments of Argentina, Canada, Jamaica, Paraguay, the United States and El Salvador.
The commission was set up to make diplomatic efforts to seek a peaceful and effective solution to the political and social crisis in Nicaragua and to submit its report within a maximum of 75 days, a short deadline in diplomatic circles. A handful of ambassador-level diplomats headed the commission.
Basically, the report said that the government of Nicaragua was ignoring its own constitution and has shown a pattern of efforts designed to curtail the rights of its citizens, including ongoing harassment and intimidation, restrictions of political rights, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, the right to personal liberty and human treatment.
The commission said that an effort should be made to make electoral reform a priority in Nicaragua. That appears to mean easing the tense situation with new elections that meet international standards for fairness.
The report of the high-level commission on Nicaragua can be reached at the Organization of American States site.
----------------------------------
Should Bachelet take action on the violation of human rights in Latin American countries such as Nicaragua, Venezuela or Cuba? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
|
|
