§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will seek to persuade the United Nations to introduce a rule requiring any prospective member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to demonstrate at least a minimum respect for human rights and further requiring all candidate governments to extend a standing invitation to the commission's various investigators, allowing them to visit their countries whenever they want; and, if not, why not. [HL1919]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalAll UN member states are eligible to seek election to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for a three-year term. We take our CHR membership very seriously. We expect other governments to do the same. All UN member states have promised to uphold human rights by virtue of their signature of the UN Charter. Unfortunately, we do not believe it would be feasible to persuade UN member states that a further condition for CHR membership should be introduced. It is, however, Her Majesty's Government's policy to encourage all governments to ratify the core UN human rights treaties, implement them and to co-operate with UN mechanisms.
In my honourable friend John Battle's speech to the CHR in Geneva on 22 March, he reiterated that it is this Government's policy always to agree to requests for visits by Special Rapporteurs and other mechanisms of the CHR. We encourage other governments to do the same.