An Oral Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Madam President:
The protection and promotion of all human rights – the civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and the right to development – rest on the foundation a State’s capacity to enforce the law for safeguarding these rights. Many international instruments enshrine these rights yet the realisation remains unsatisfactory. Inadequately developed law-enforcement mechanisms with poor education and absence of instructions to implement are key reasons. States’ failure to enforce the rights let the people consider human rights as empty promises devoid of any real value. Existence of rights must become visible to the people at large, especially to those, who are the most vulnerable.
The test of the combined impact of all the above-mentioned rights affect the low-income groups in any society. In developing countries, the low-income groups consist the majority. For them, absence of the means to live their lives is combined with the assaults on civil and political rights. Poverty, thus, is a deprivation of all the rights. The investments made to strengthen the civil rights by way of proper and competent law-enforcement systems also strengthen the economic social and cultural rights. Thus, it is essential to develop a perspective taking into account the inseparable nature of civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights.
Thank you, Madam President.
UN Web TV Video Link: (For watching the Statement at the UN Web TV, please click the video link at 01:16:14 to find Asian Legal Resource Centre)
