GENEVA, 2nd March / WAM/ His Excellency Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to His Highness the President of the State and Chairman of the National Human Rights Committee, delivered the UAE’s speech before the high-level segment of the work of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council currently being held in Geneva.
His Excellency reviewed, via the council’s virtual network, the UAE’s achievements in the field of human rights and the prospects for enhancing them within the framework of the state’s current membership in the council.
At the beginning of his speech, Gargash expressed his gratitude for the trust that the United Nations General Assembly granted to the UAE last October when it was elected as a member of the Human Rights Council for the third time for the period 2022-2024, stressing that the UAE will continue to focus on building bridges through dialogue and cooperation with Partners and support for the work of OHCHR and its office.
His Excellency said that in line with the commitments made by the UAE in the latest comprehensive periodic review of its national report, the National Human Rights Commission was established, which began its work last December, noting that the commission is an independent entity, in accordance with the Paris Principles.
In parallel, His Excellency Dr. Gargash noted that the UAE has undertaken extensive reviews of its national laws in line with its aspirations in the field of human rights.
He expressed the UAE’s aspiration to adopt the National Human Rights Plan later this year, while continuing to study ways to achieve further progress in the field of human rights.
His Excellency Dr. Gargash stressed that there are a number of challenges that require a coordinated global political response, which illustrate the need to make more efforts to promote human rights in the context of the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He pointed out that during the pandemic period, the UAE had closely cooperated with other countries by providing protective equipment for health care workers and supporting global vaccination efforts, noting what the “Coalition of Hope” had done in its first year of operations in facilitating the delivery of More than 250 million doses of vaccine have been delivered to a number of countries around the world, and it is of great importance to strengthen cooperation efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that assistance reaches those who need it most.
In the field of women’s empowerment, His Excellency Dr. Gargash stressed that there is no way to achieve commitment to human rights unless women are empowered at all levels of society and in all sectors.. He said: “The UAE is proud of achieving continuous progress in all indicators related to the field of women’s empowerment, being the state. The highest ranked Arab region in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2021 and as evidence of the leading role of Emirati women in STEM subjects, women make up 80 percent of the science team that launched the Emirates Mars Exploration Project.
With regard to climate, His Excellency considered that the issue of climate change is an issue of great concern to young people and poses a very real threat, and young people will be the most affected group, which places a responsibility on everyone to take measures to mitigate the risks it poses to their future and their rights, which called the state recently to commit to achieving a net Zero emissions by 2050, which requires continuing to support the human rights mandates on climate change recently adopted by the Council.
In this regard, His Excellency noted that at the end of last year, the UAE was chosen to host the COP28 Climate Summit to be held in November 2023, which indicates the country’s dedication to pioneering global efforts to combat climate change.
In order to make progress on these and other issues related to human rights, His Excellency Dr. Gargash stressed the need for states to also strive to promote peace and security, stressing that unless this is achieved, this will make the task of protecting and promoting human rights more difficult as the new year witnessed an escalation. Due to tensions in the region, in the past month there have been many terrorist attacks with ballistic missiles and drones launched by the Houthis that have claimed the lives of innocent civilians in the UAE.
In this context, His Excellency expressed the UAE’s gratitude for the Security Council’s condemnation of these terrorist attacks and for the support expressed by more than 120 countries, urging the international community to take decisive and tangible steps to pressure the Houthi militias to end this aggressive behavior and to engage in serious efforts to implement the ceasefire. And reach a political solution in Yemen.
In addition to the clear violation of international law represented by these terrorist attacks, His Excellency pointed out that these attacks are an attempt to undermine the efforts made by the UAE to promote peace and security throughout the region.
His Excellency stressed that the UAE remains steadfast in its quest to build a Middle East of prosperity, peace and human rights for all. It is working hard to build bridges by extending channels and bridges of multilateral cooperation, in addition to taking strides towards strengthening diplomatic relations with other countries in the region.
As evidence of this trend, His Excellency pointed out that the UAE signed the Abrahamic Peace Agreement with its desire to reduce tensions and build a common platform to promote a better life for people throughout the region, which is part of the efforts made by the UAE on a large scale to promote the agenda of tolerance in the region, stressing On the need for all nations to unite to confront ideologies that threaten peace between societies and violate the rights of others.
At the conclusion of the UAE’s statement before the Human Rights Council, His Excellency Dr. Gargash said: “In this spirit, we look forward to cooperating with you to advance human rights for the benefit of all people everywhere.”
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