Date : 2019.09.11

IMADR delivered the oral statement on “High Commissioner’s oral update and Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka and migration” at the 42nd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or download here. 

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Oral Statement: 42nd session of the Human Rights Council

Item 2: General Debate – Oral update by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

11 September 2019

Speaker: Taisuke KOMATSU

Thank you Mr. President,

We share the High Commissioner’s concerns on the negative impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of human rights which are disproportionately affecting marginalised and discriminated groups such as indigenous peoples, minorities and migrants. We echo the High Commissioner that States need to tackle structural discrimination in order to reduce their vulnerability to climate change.

At the last session, we alerted this Council on racist hate speech against protesters from minority backgrounds and the lack of action from the Hong Kong government.[1] We urge the Hong Kong government to allow independent investigations into human rights violations related to the protests.

We deplore the politics of hatred employed in different parts of the world. The recent actions on Kashmir and Assam by the Government of India, initiated by the Hindu nationalist leader, further regressed the country’s record on minority rights. We are concerned that religious extremism in Sri Lanka is reaching to new heights provoked by elements of the polity who are systematically endorsing once again mono-ethnic Sinhala supremacy, undermining the rule of law and accountability, and hindering the transitional justice process. Hostile treatments of migrants in the U.S., Central America, Europe, as well as in South Africa show that there is a lack of global leadership in the fight against racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. We call on the High Commissioner to demonstrate leadership for the defence of human rights of those discriminated.

Thank you Mr. President.

[1]https://imadr.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Oral-Statement_HRC41_Item-9_GD.pdf