UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : OHCHR Press conference : CCPR

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for attending the press conference this afternoon.

Hosted by the UN Human Rights Committee

today, the committee is going to present its findings on Iran, Kuwait, Korea,

Trinidad and Tobacco,

the United States of America and Venezuela.

These are the Six states parties that

the committee reviewed in the current session.

Joining us today we have Mr Santos Pais,

Vice Chair of the committee,

Mr Gomez and Ms

Tigua, members of the committee.

As we have a very heavy programme today,

without further delay, I'll pass the floor to Mr Central Pa

and then we will take your question after the presentation.

Mr Vice Chair, please.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon to you all.

We have conducted quite an intense session that it's closing today

and we have reviewed six periodic reports

and adopted the concluding observations for which we'll be talking now.

Uh, the countries covered with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait,

the Republic of Korea, Trinidad and Tobago,

the United States of America and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The review of Haiti was postponed by the Committee

upon the request of the State Party due to

the human rights and humanitarian crisis in the country

In all reviews in which the delegations

generally engaged with frankness and the desire

to achieve a meaningful dialogue,

we have noted positive developments since the last

reviews of the states being before us,

while at the same time

identifying areas of concern and making recommendations to the state bodies.

The concluding observations will be

and published

later today.

We also adopted,

following the eight

year predictable cycle for the review of State parties,

one list of issues on Pakistan

and a list of issues prior to reporting on San Marino and Slovakia

regarding individual communications, we dealt with 55 communications.

25 were decided on the merits. So called views,

16 were declared inadmissible

and 14 were discontinued.

Regarding the communications decided on the merits,

we found violations in 22 of them

on the follow up procedures, which is a procedure that we undertake not only

following up concluding observations on state parties reports,

but also on views that you have issued.

We have prepared a follow up report on

concluding observations and a follow up report on views

going directly

to

the

countries analyse that will begin with Korea.

While acknowledging the various measures taken by the State party

to prevent suicides,

The committee remained concerned that suicide rates remain high

among the elderly, youth

and particularly within the military.

The committee was concerned by claims that large numbers of military personnel

suffer from mental illness linked to the high levels of pressure

in their service.

It called on the state party to address the social root causes of suicide,

including the very high level of pressure

in educational, working

and military environments

and with regard to individuals in particularly vulnerable situations.

It's stated that the republic care

should also increase financial resources and allocate

appropriate budgets

to strengthen the suicide prevention centres network

and provide psychological support at the local level.

The committee was also concerned about restrictions

on the rights of peaceful assembly,

noting that the banning of a significant number of

gets

to ensure smooth traffic flow

particular near the president's office

did not comply with the principles of necessity and proportionality.

It also flagged its concern at reports of heavy handed policing

protests staged by disability rights activists in CO subway,

including using excessive use of force to block

and remove protesters

and applying criminal law

to arrest and prosecute protest organisers and participants.

The committee called on the Republic of Korea to guarantee

the right of peaceful assembly and ensure that limitations on that right

comply with the covenant

and the principles of

necessity and proportionality

coming to the United States.

The committee was disturbed

by the increase of state level legislation and barriers

that impede women's access to safe and legal abortion,

notably the criminalization of health care providers,

family members and pregnant women themselves.

It was also deeply concerned with restrictions

to interstate travel bans on medication, abortion

and digital surveillance of abortion seekers

for prosecution purposes.

The committee highlighted the disproportionate impact of these

measures on women and girls with low incomes

from vulnerable groups and ethnic and racial minorities,

and it called on the state party to provide legal,

safe and confidential access to abortion throughout its territory.

It further asked the states

the United States to end the criminalization of abortion

to remove and refrain from introducing

new barriers impeding access to abortion care

and to protect women seeking abortion care from digital surveillance.

The committee also raised concerns about the increase of legislative initiatives

and practises that limit the exercise of the right to vote.

These include partisan gerrymandering,

restrictions on voting by mail and ballot collection,

and burdensome voter identification requirements.

The committee highlighted the disproportionate impact of these measures

on low income voters, people with disabilities and racial and ethnic minorities,

and expressed concern at harassment

and attacks against election officials.

It recommended that the state party ensure that all voters

can exercise their rights

and that polling stations are accessible

particular in states

with weak election infrastructure

and for people with restricted

accessibility.

It further asked the state party to ensure

that the electoral districts are designed by nonpartisan commissions

subject to checks and balances,

and do not have the purpose or effect of denying

or abridging the right to vote on racially discriminatory grounds

and to conduct effective investigation on

harassment and attacks against election officials

and to punish those responsible.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr uh

Santo Pais.

Now we have Mr Gomez for another two countries.

Thank you.

Thank you very much And good afternoon, everybody.

I am going to inform you about our concluding observations first

about the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The first kind of concern refers to violence against women and

especially,

we are worried about the law to support the

family by promoting the culture of custody and hijab.

This law has already been passed in the parliament and

the spending of the approval of The Guardian's Council,

and it foresees a severe punishment for the women who breach the dress code

that amount until 10 years of prison and flogging.

And, of course, we recommend the state party to repeal this, uh,

new law and avoiding its coming into force.

Uh, consequently,

we also recommend the State Party to disband the morality police,

which in fact is in charge of the implementation of this law by monitoring

the dress code in public.

And our recommendation is

purely to disband these morality police

and finally, on this issue of violence against women.

We are worried also about the lack of investigation of violence against women,

including the so called honour crimes that

are partially enabled by the Islamic penal code.

And we ask the state party to, uh,

undertake a duty investigation impartial, independent on these crimes

on death penalty, which is another main issue of concern,

we have find that there has been an increase in executions since 2021.

Then there is a large number of of offences eligible

for death sentences that do not qualify as most serious crimes

for instance, drug trafficking,

crime against God or spreading corruption on Earth.

We are also concerned because of the disproportionate application of

the death penalty to members of minorities such as Baluch

Awai,

Arabs and Kurdish minorities,

and for the absence of fair trials in

this process that finish with the death penalty.

Uh and uh,

normally or very often in close proceedings before the revolutionary courts.

We are also concerned that families and

lawyers are not informed about the execution.

Therefore,

our recommendations on this issue is to

consider establishing a de facto and immediate moratorium

so that no death penalties are executed.

Second,

to ensure that no person under 18 years

is subjected to death penalty under any circumstance,

I assure a fair trial for procedures

and revise the list of criminal offences qualified for the death penalty.

The third main issue

we've been dealing with is the excessive use of force.

Our concern

is that after Gina Masha

Amini

death

excuse me, 550 protesters died have been murdered,

including at least 68 Children,

and there had been lack of investigation of all these deaths.

Our recommendation is to ensure that the use of

force is in line with international standards in these cases

and in accordance with that, with our general comment 36 on right of life,

we recommend the state party to investigate all

the allegation of excessive use of force thoroughly,

independently and within

and with impartiality.

And, uh, we, uh, recommend also, to ensure a prompt,

impartial and independent investigation on the death of masham

manyi. Because we've known that there have been

six investigations that have been undertaken,

but none one of of them has been transparent.

Nor,

uh, the the there were the participation of the family of masham

mini in those procedures,

uh, also on Iran. Uh, we, uh are, um

no,

Uh, yes, we we have been, uh,

excuse me.

I'm going to pass to Trinidad and Tobago,

which was another other country that we have revising.

And there, uh, the main challenge has been the pro

Well, the, uh, the treatment of all, including refugees and asylum seekers.

Because we we must remember that, uh,

Trinidad and tobacco is very close to Venezuela.

In fact, it's only

uh, 10 kilometres uh from one coast to the other.

And, uh,

we are worried because there is a lack of a comprehensive legislative

and institutional framework for the protection of refugees as asylum seekers.

The migrants coming from Venezuela are directly classified

as economic migrants and therefore they can be,

uh, deported at any time.

The migrants, including Children, are often held

in a detention centre for, uh, for

for extended periods

and sometimes, uh uh with other person, uh, which are, uh, convicted persons.

And, uh,

we are also worried because of reports of migrant women

sexually abused in the so called Eli Airport immigration Facility.

Therefore,

our recommendation is to strictly adhere to the

principle of non refoulement in the treatment of refugees

and asylum seekers

and to provide them with an independent judicial appeal mechanism

and to ensure that the conditions and treatment of

the accommodation of these migrants

fulfil also are in conformity with international standards.

Finally,

we ask the state party on this

issue to guarantee that allegations of discrimination and

violence against asylum seekers and refugees are duly investigated.

The second big issue in this country refers to the administration of justice.

We are concerned about excessive delays in trials

resulting in lengthy periods of pretrial detention.

We are concerned also the limited resources for legal aid and for

the lack of objective criteria for the appointment of judges and prosecutors.

This results in a mistrust on justice administration

and a lack of cans for accountability for judicial misconduct.

Therefore, our recommendations on this issue are to take measures to reduce

the backlog, to

take measures also to prevent and investigate judicial corruption

and, uh to, uh,

ensure that the appointment of judges is in line with the basic principles

on the independence of the judiciary and the guidelines for the prosecutors.

Finally,

the last issue on on Trinidad and tobacco refers to

juvenile justice because we are very much concerned for the fact

that there is a very low wage for criminal responsibility.

In fact,

legal responsibility. Criminal responsibility begins at seven years.

So our recommendation on this point

is to significantly significantly raise the age

of criminal responsibility and to promote alternatives

to deprivation of liberty for Children.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you, Mr Gomez.

And now we will have Mr

Gru

to walk us through the findings on Venezuela and Kuwait.

Good afternoon, everyone.

That's my pleasure indeed, to present our findings on Venezuela and, uh,

and Kuwait.

So in its

concluded

observation on the fifth periodic Report of

the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,

major human rights issues and concerns are raised,

such as the fight against corruption and forced disappearances,

arbitrary killings, women's rights,

states of emergency administration of justice and

the need to fight against impunity.

Uh, among some of the grave concerns expressed by the Human Rights Committee.

Some focused, uh, on the allegation of the restriction

of the democratic space through

poli political disqualification,

to prevent opposition party members from running,

uh,

public office in general and from participation

in the 2024 presidential election in particular.

Therefore,

uh, the Human Rights Committee uh U

urged Venezuela to ensure that all individuals, including the youth,

have full and effective enjoyment

of their right to political participation by securing

their registration in the National Electoral Register.

And the Human Rights Committee further called on the State Party to ensure fair,

transparent, inclusive and pluralistic elections

at all levels, uh,

securing due process and transparency in the administration procedures.

The committee, in the same concrete observations,

also expressed concern on the closure of civic space,

harassment of human rights defenders,

whistle blowers and public officials who had

talked and denounced corruption cases.

Also, closure of media companies, intimidation of journalists

and arbitrary arrest of journalists. And

also these concerns also apply to trade union leaders, indigenous leaders, among

other social worker. And in this regard, the Human Rights Committee in the CONGRE

observation

urged Venezuela to end harassment,

intimidation and violence against journalists, human rights defenders,

trade union, trade union leaders, indigenous activists and politicians

regarding UH Kuwait and especially, the con

concluded observations on the fourth, uh, periodic report of Kuwait.

Uh, significant human rights issues are also discussed,

such as anti corruption measures, a speech,

uh, violence against women and, uh, the use of death penalty.

Uh, the Human Rights Committee specifically raised, uh,

the question of the situation, uh, of the, uh, Beos uh,

people and their structural discriminatory trade treatment by the state party,

uh, as stateless persons.

In this regard,

the Human Rights Committee called upon Kuwait to

ensure that no one becomes or remains a stateless

person and provide full protection against discrimination in

all spheres to be done and other stateless people

in the country.

The Human Rights Committee also

expressed concern

and formulated some recommendations on the treatment of migrant workers

and especially regarding the very high rate of death among migrant workers.

And, uh,

the Human Rights Committee also raised the important issue

of gender based discrimination and make made specific recommendation

to, uh, fight against, uh,

type especially patriarchal attitude and stereotypes. Uh, in the country.

Uh, And in this regard, the Human Rights Committee, uh, rec

recommended to, uh,

Kuwait to develop strategies to combat

this patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes about the

roles and responsibilities and W of women and men in the family,

in the family, but also in the society as a whole.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you. The three of you.

Now we can open the floor for question.

First of all, let's see whether we have question in the room first.

Or we can also go to the online platform. We have Isabel from EFE.

Yes. Uh, good. Good afternoon. Thank you very much.

Isabel

Saco

with FA, the Spanish news agency.

I would like, uh My question is on Venezuela.

Uh uh, And I would like to ask, uh, about the engagement of the

of the government of the state of Venezuela with the review, um,

made by the by the committee.

What kind of exchange? Uh, you had with, uh,

representative officials, uh, from Venezuela.

And if you have observed an attitude that allows you

to think that the government has an intention to implement,

uh, your recommendations

Thank you.

Thank you for,

uh,

sorry. Thank you for for your question. On on on Venezuela.

Um, as Mr Santos pais said, uh, the exchange with the with all the delegations,

but especially with the delegation of Venezuela, was really frank and direct.

So we expressed our concern. They disagreed,

uh, with, uh, some concerns we we expressed.

But they were given the opportunity to reply to

the information we received and to provide more information.

And that's, um,

what we used then to issue our conclusive observation.

So it was really, I would say, a front dialogue.

Uh, the the positive element is that we we we had, uh,

this dialogue during the the two days, and, uh, during the first day,

we we didn't get, uh, the replies to our question, but, uh,

during the second part of the meeting, we we got more information,

and then we received also, uh,

uh, replies in, in in return. So we were able, I would say, to assess the quality of, uh

of the information, uh, receive.

Uh, now, it's, uh, on your second question,

it's a bit I would say too early to to say anything about the implementation, because

in general, uh, we, uh the rule is to to leave a space, uh,

and and a period of time to to the state party to implement.

So now the state has three years to implement what we call in our con.

The observation, Priority recommendations.

Uh, and, uh, we will see, I would say in the coming weeks,

in the coming months and in the coming years, the type of positive,

hopefully positive measures the state is ready

to adopt to implement our recommendations.

And the very short I would say

period where we will be able to to see whether or not, uh,

Venezuela is is willing to engage with the Human

Rights Committee Is the the the next uh,

the next election.

I mean, the 2024 election we may we we have made in our

conclusion observation, specific recommendation on political participation

and and hopefully, uh, it will be considered by the state of Venezuela.

Thank you. Um, the next question we have. Great. Gabriella.

Yes, Thank you very much.

Uh, Gabriella Sotomayor for Mexican, uh, newspaper processor.

three questions. May I, uh, on Iran?

Uh, do you do you, uh, spoke with the with the state

about how many women are in jail

right now? I mean, you you mentioned death.

Uh, women. But but how many are in jail? That is my first question.

Then on about USA,

I. I didn't read the conclusions.

I'm sorry, but, uh, the situation of migrants on the country, uh,

on the country's southern border,

Uh, the new laws that allow for walls and other measures to prevent

passage of migrants and their right to asylum. If you spoke about that issue,

uh, with the state. If you can, uh, tell us about that.

And the last one about Venezuela.

Uh,

after your review and your concerns regarding the democratic space in Venezuela,

do you think there are strong possibilities of the country failing into

a

dictatorship.

Uh, thank you so much.

We have three questions from Gabriela. The first one is on Iran.

Um, Mr Gomez, would you like to take a question now?

Thank you for your question.

No, unfortunately, we don't have exact figures about the,

uh, the the women in jail. We we don't know.

We know that the what the situation is we know that I have referring myself to the

violence against women and to the dress code and all the problems with the morality.

Uh

uh, police.

But really, we don't have exact figures of of the women in prison now currently in

in

in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

And the second question is on the US about migrants in the south.

Thank you very much for the question that you have raised. Yes,

we expressed our concern

with recent measures adopted by the State party

in particular the administrative rule for convention lawful pathways,

the CBP one mobile application, and then hence expedited removal procedure,

which excessively restrict the effective protection of the rights to seek

and enjoy and sell them as they compromise the quality of the assessment.

The individual protection needs and

increases the risk of breaches of the principle of non.

We are also concerned about reports that continued

use of mandatory and prolonged detention of immigrants,

the lack of adequate access to legal counsel,

poor conditions of detention, including overcrowding

and inadequate access to food, water and medical care

leading to deaths of numerous detained persons, including Children

and instances of violence,

ill treatment and abuse in public and private migrant detention facilities,

including sexual violence and use of a long solitary confinement.

So we asked the state party to ensure

that immigration detention is used only as a measure of last resort

and for the shortest possible period of time

regarding Children in

migration.

We were profoundly concerned about

the consequences of the State Party zero tolerance policy,

where more than 5000 Children were forcibly separated from their parents

at its southern border.

And while welcoming the racism

of such policy in January 2021

the establishment of the Interagency Task Force on the Unification of Families

in Favour of that year,

the committee's concern at reports that hundreds of Children

remain separated from their families.

Thank you

and we have the third question on Venezuela, Miss

please.

Uh, thank you, Gabriela, for your question on on on Venezuela, it's It's of course,

a very important question,

and and what we said at the beginning of the dialogue with Venezuela

is precisely that it was

the perfect moment to have this dialogue with the Human Rights Committee pre

precisely because it was before the election before

we are in this pre electoral situation.

So, for for the Human Rights Committee, it was the right moment

to have this conversation on, uh, civic space.

And to have this conversation on the need to,

uh, to reinforce the Democratic, uh,

the Democratic Society and to to to make sure precisely that we are not, uh,

turning into, uh uh,

an authoritarian regime or a dictatorship as you as you mentioned,

uh, so in in the dialogue and in the concluding observations, uh, you you will see

that, actually, um, the

the

the concerns and the recommendations uh,

we we made are not only focused on political participation,

but we have actually interrelated

aspect

of, um of safeguard of the Democrat of a democratic regime.

So we have a big part of the recommendations and a big part of the concrete

observations are about the role of the judiciary and the need to have a strong,

independent and impartial judiciary.

We have also, of course,

uh,

very strong paragraphs and recommendation on freedom of expression

because a state cannot be democratic without free press.

Of course, it's obvious.

Uh, we have a strong paragraph on peaceful protest.

We have strong paragraph on freedom of association,

plus a strong paragraph on political participation.

So,

um, for the Human Rights Committee, it was really important to

first express different types of concerns,

but also to make a precise and detailed recommendation precisely to,

um to to avoid, uh, this, uh, turn,

uh,

into a non democratic regime and to preserve

the the democracy and and the civic space.

Uh,

one of the things that we observed in the discussion

with Venezuela is that the state party is particularly concerned at

the international sanctions it has been subjected to.

He's willing to

at least try that these sanctions

could be lifted.

And we hope that in this

bargaining between the lifting and the sections and the

need to abide by the provisions of the Covenant,

the state party will find the right way

to, uh, abide by the provisions of the covenant and in the end,

that the population under the jurisdiction of the

state party would benefit from this review.

Thank you.

And the next question goes to, uh Yuri.

Yes. Thank you for taking my question. You

prade from R?

No,

I have two questions about the USA

for the USA.

You have noticed any discrimination against, uh,

have you noticed any discrimination against the population

of Russian or Russian descent after February 24?

As it was the case in many European countries, I mean with the closing of banks and

at school.

And my second question is,

do you have a record of civilians killed in

drone strikes outside the territory of the USA?

As we are talking in your report, are we talking about hundreds of thousands?

If you have any idea Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr

Sander Pa.

You want to take the question now?

So thank you very much for the question.

I'll begin, perhaps with the answer to the second question.

I, I suppose that you're talking about the targeted killing using

human operated a RL, uh, devices called drones.

We, uh, of course, have been concerned.

The question has been raised during the dialogue.

It seems that, uh, the USA has been conducting drone attacks outside its borders

at least 56

with eventually

provoking casualties of more than 1500 people, most of them civilians.

And of course, we seriously consider

that this entails a violation of the obligations under the cabinet.

we are concerned particularly by the lack of accountability

of those that have been conducting these hairs strikes.

And, of course, when we're talking about the violation of the right to life,

which is the supreme life and the government,

which we should be concerned. So

the state party has

answered as a as a policy that he's acting under the laws of war

is attacking. Um

uh uh,

particular Al Qaeda groups Hezbollah. And so it's just

defending itself. But

one thing is to attack, uh, warriors in the battlefield.

Another thing is to strike civilians.

And so we have asked the state party to come to come

to be able to abide by the government and to prevent itself

to have recourse to these type of strikes

regarding the other.

The other question that I have raised.

We have it raised under several issues.

First on, for instance, on criminal justice system. The

the fact that there is a disproportionate,

proportionate members of African descent, Hispanic and Latino American origin,

or migrants or Muslims that are subjected to severe,

uh, sentences in the state Party,

uh, much more than the white counterparts.

And we're also concerned by, for instance, one of the concerns was raised by the use

of police officers in schools for policing the school

and the fact that most of the affected members of

the school students are people from underprivileged backgrounds or,

uh, people from African descent, Hispanic

Latino origin and others.

And this would,

uh, in several cases conducted these, uh, students to then line up for,

conflicts with the law.

And so

we check up the issue for several times, for for several perspectives.

And we also addressed the issue of indigenous people,

which are also affected by this trend.

The United States is facing the structural problems for many, many years,

even centuries.

And so the the we asked the state party to be able to conduct serious,

uh negotiations

with indigenous peoples, for instance, to respect their sacred sites

because many of them are being exposed to,

um, projects of mining and others.

And so

I think the delegation was particularly concerned

about the need to change the situation.

And although it's a structural problem that

probably will take still time to overcome,

I think there are at least the present administration is

fully conscious that they will have to do something much more

than has been done up to the current moment.

Thank you.

Yeah, maybe also to to add on that question of of of drone, uh,

one of the problem that was also, uh, discussed with the delegation.

And it's not a new issue because it was already

discussed by the Human Rights Committee in our previous concluded observations

Is that, uh, I it's about the legal position of the US because,

uh, the US, uh, does consider, um,

and and does adopt a very broad definition of an armed conflict.

And, uh, their position is to say that when there is an armed conflict,

the covenant does not apply.

And it's, uh, uh, the body of law that apply is international humanitarian law.

So, uh, the Human Rights Committee did recall during the dialogue, but also, um,

in, uh, the concrete

observation that actually the hum the the the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does apply.

So we invite, uh, the the the US to revise its legal position.

It applies and especially Article six of the Covenant protecting the right to life.

So, uh, when we when? When there is an armed conflict.

Uh, the There is no exclusion of international human rights law.

And there is, of course,

no exclusion of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

So it's very important also, that the US revise their position on this, uh,

on this important question.

So thank you for for raising it.

Thank you, Mister Ruger.

Looks like we have a follow up question from

Yuri.

Yes, thank you. Just for one precision. You're talking about 1500 civilians.

Can you say please? Which period is from 2020 from 2021.

And is it up to date or is it up to

the beginning of 2023 for example?

Thank you. The information is we have is that

the people I referred to

1500 people

that

it came from 15 from 56 non strikes since January 2021.

Thank you. Um, do we have any more questions from the Internet platform?

Yes. Um, Associated press. Jamie, please go ahead.

Hi. Thank you. Vivian,

Um, I would like to just, um,

uh, follow up about, uh,

the major concerns that you have about the United States because

there's a long laundry list of concerns that you have and I,

I know that it's hard for you

to prioritise.

But there was a time during the hearings

where some a number of activists particularly,

uh, women's rights activists and indigenous peoples activists,

uh,

showed a pretty dramatic demonstration of opposition to some

of the responses from the United States government.

And I'm just wondering if you could give us a bit more

flavour about what you really see is the most pressing issues.

Um, you know, dozens upon dozens of of,

uh, NGO representatives, um, showed their, uh

uh

uh discontent with the responses from the US government.

And if you could just help us, uh, get a better flavour as to

where you think specifically,

the United States should be doing more to help address some of these

very pressing concerns in a number of communities across the United States.

Thank you, Jamie.

Yes,

thank you.

Well, uh,

the number of NGO S present regarding the United

States was a very huge and impressive one.

And the members of these NGO S were people particular

affected by the problems they were voicing and expressing concern.

And I think that we have to understand that many of the concerns they have expressed

come from the fact that they have experience in their lives,

very tragic situations.

So the the the NGO S covered almost all

issues of the review conducted with the state party.

So

it's difficult to see which ones would be the most important ones.

But I could just give some ideas on this.

There were, um,

of course, many reactions to the

setback resulting from the Dobbs judgement on abortion.

Uh, but of course,

many of the questions relating to the criminal

justice system particularly affecting members of underprivileged communities,

black, uh, Americans for people from African descent or Hispanic

Latino,

uh, origin,

uh, normally subject to very heavy sentences. Uh, much of the time,

uh,

con

convicted to life imprisonment, which is?

They call death by incarceration because there is no hope

for them to leave

and many of them being convicted from a very early age.

And also problems concerning solitary confinement

is solitary confinement applied to Children when

they first enter the criminal justice system.

So

these are indeed

very appalling and, um,

concerning situations or other,

situation that were brought to our attention was those concerning voting rights.

Many of the states

in the United States have been adopting restricted rights

with the change in the way of forming the constituencies for the elections

with uh, some disruption on the way to the access to ballots, the ballots

and this impacts particularly

black people from African descent

and, of course,

underprivileged people. And so we would expect that the state party would continue

to make efforts on this particular area.

But nevertheless, I think that one of the reasons why the NGO S

expressed more concerns was the fact that uh,

the delegation of the United States mainly referred to presidential

executive orders by the current administration,

and they felt that

these orders had not yet, uh,

got to the ground so could not deal directly with the root

causes of the many of the problems that we have been discussing.

I understand this concern.

I think the delegation also understood that concern because they had

more than one meeting,

I guess with the representatives of every day NGO S that are present

at the Vienna.

Um

and

the only thing I can say is

considering the previous administration.

I think that, uh, the the delegation that came before us did acknowledge

a lot of difficulties and shortcomings,

which is from the positive from the view of the committee is a positive sign

that they are indeed willing to engage

with the concerned, uh, affected persons, namely

of the NGO S present in order to make change

in the system.

But we have to take into account the fact that the United States is a federal system.

The federal system is not necessarily in in alignment with positions of states,

and many states have taken,

legislative actions or

adopting policies that go against

many of the things that would expect the United States

to abide by.

So

there is also an internal struggle between the

federal state and the states within the union,

and

one of the things that

I think was a positive sign was the fact

that we have heard from the delegation several examples

where

the federal system took to the courts.

Several, uh, decisions taken all legislative action taken by the states

in order to oblige them

to abide

by, uh, rules that would uphold the rights of those living in those states.

So although I understand the concern,

I really hope that, uh, the review came at the right moment at

the United States

now going back because it's one of the purposes of this dialogue.

It's not only to have a three or six hours dialogue,

but to allow the delegations that come to reflect

on the issues that have been raised and the recommendations that we have issued

and use this

to change their policies in order to

reinforce

the protection of the rights of people under their jurisdiction.

So, in a nutshell, I hope I've not answered your concerns,

but at least I tried to the best of my knowledge.

Thank you,

Yeah, and maybe also to to clarify, because it's some.

Sometimes it's not always very clear for a broader audience.

Uh, in the conclusive

observation we have free priority recommendation and It does not mean that

these recommendations are the most

we we do not establish, I would say a sort of hierarchy among problems,

because all problems are really urging problem and precinct problem.

But But here it's true,

as Mr Santos Pais say that we have free priority recommendations,

sexual and reproductive rights,

um, voting rights and also, um, freedom of assembly.

but, uh, we we and and we we have chosen this priority recommendations,

of course, because these are important,

but also because it's doable in a short period of time

in a in a period of time of three years.

So,

uh, it's really important, really, to to explain to a broader audience that, uh,

the Human Rights Committee does not

establish a sort of hierarchy,

uh, between problems or between victims or between affected people.

But

O, of course, In the whole Concordia observations,

we addressed other very significant issues and other very significant, uh,

problem urging questions such as

climate change and access to water, for instance,

or structural issues.

But we the the state will need more time, of course, to address this, uh,

this this problem

ra

disparities in the criminal justice system

aid crimes, uh, LGBT rights and the regression, Uh, we are witnessing in, uh,

in the US rights of person, um,

rights of indigenous peoples.

So these are also very urgent, uh, urging and pressing issues in the country,

but because it's very difficult for the state to address

this this problems in this short period of three years.

Of course, these are not in the list of, uh, priority recommendation,

but I just wanted to clarify the idea of priority recommendation

if I might just jump up again and take two issues concerning the same question.

Uh, we address two issues which for the state party are very important indeed,

gun violence

particularly.

And, of course,

welcome the adoption of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022

and the establishment of Federal Office for

gun violence prevention in September 2023.

But we are also concerned about the increase in gun related deaths and injuries,

which disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities

as well as women and Children.

And so the idea is to prevent and reduce gun

violence by strengthening the legislative

and policy measures requiring background checks

for all private firearms and ammunition acquisition

and transfer

and banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines

and restricting access to firearms

by those most at risk of abusing them.

And they also dealt with a pro a problem

which in the United States is a recurring one.

Excessive use of force by law enforcement officials.

Cases of police brutality.

The excessive and deadly use of force by law enforcement officials,

including by customs and Border Protection officers,

which has a disparate impact on people of African descent,

indigenous peoples, persons of Hispanic Latino origin,

migrants and asylum seekers.

And, of course,

we asked the State Party to review the federal and state regulations,

standards and operation procedures

governing the use of force by law enforcement

and bring them into conformity with the basic

principles on the use of force and firearms

and the United Nations Human rights Guidance

on less lethal weapons

in law enforcement.

Thank you.

I believe, um, Jamie from Associated Press will have a follow up question.

Yes. Sorry that thank you very much.

You discussed a lot of the issues that II I would have also like to ask you about.

So thank you for the very extensive answer.

Um, I'd also like to just talk very briefly about Iran,

if you might If you you mentioned that you engaged

the state party with regard to the United States.

And of course, um, Iran has made a lot of headlines in recent months about, uh,

crackdown on on women in particular, even within the last week or so, Um, about, uh,

the the the the The Law about, uh uh, women, uh uh,

clothing that women have to wear, um, to be able to.

And And I guess I'm just wondering, um, what if anything,

um you have gotten in terms of a response from the Iranian government about

whether these, uh,

what some people might call repressive laws are in any way

being re evaluated by the leadership of the Islamic Republic.

And you have Is there any sign that

the report that you're about you're providing today,

uh, could have any impact with the decision makers at the, uh,

at the top of the Islamic Republic?

Thank you very much

for the question, Jamie. Yes. Uh, well, uh, we have deal.

We have been dealing with this issue because it's

a It's a big concern of the committee,

but I think we are.

This, uh, dialogue arrives at the very, uh,

right moment because this law about the protection of the

family and the custody of the women and the,

uh, hijab, uh,

is still not theoretically, it's not in force. So,

uh,

we recommend very strongly the state party not to approve

it by the High Council of the Guardians of the Revolution

that have the last word on this issue.

So for the committee is very important.

And this is one of the recommendations, as my colleague said, that it's feasible.

And this is one of the reasons why we included it in our priority recommendations,

because they can do it.

And we see

what they've done after after three years.

I mean, in three years time, they will be before us.

And they will be asked about, uh, the, uh uh, fulfilment of the recommendation.

And we will ask also civil society.

And then what we do is we grade we the the the, uh, implementation of the,

uh of the recommendation.

And then we send,

uh, our report to the General Assembly of the United Nations. That is what we do.

This is the maximum of the pressure that we can

put on on the state to implement our recommendations.

And certainly this one about the situation of the women and the dress code, et cetera

has is, uh is a really,

very important for us and has priority in our from our point of view.

But of course, during the dialogue,

we we cannot perceive which is the attitude of the, uh, government,

because it in fact, it is an exchange of information or and and

and then, uh, the the attitude we can only, uh, have an idea of, of of,

of what it is like after a certain period in which

we can evaluate whether they are implementing it or not.

Thank you.

Um, I don't see any more hands now. So,

Mr Central Pa,

would you like to have some concluding remark?

Yes. Thank you very much. Uh, thank you very much for the questions.

Of course, it's difficult for for us

dealing with six countries, uh,

reviewing the session to be able to address all the concerns that have been raised.

I hope we have been at least met

some of your expectations.

I would just like to say to conclude that

we are not finishing a cycle.

I mean, when we review the state party's report,

we are already beginning the next follow up

the next report.

So we have the follow up on concluding observations,

as my colleagues have mentioned,

which we will deal in the next few years

and we will be preparing the next review of the state Party that will

come in 89 years in each one of the countries that we have reviewed now

and

our experience also tell us that most of the time members of delegations

and return to their countries reflect on

the concluding observations that we have issued

and reflected on the many questions and concerns that you have raised.

Many of them have contacts with their own,

uh, representatives of civil society,

and so they

hopefully will engage in meaningful dialogues with these representatives

and of course,

will be

watching

what each one of these countries will do in the hope that in the end,

the aim that we're pursuing, that the people under the jurisdictions of,

of all these states can benefit from better protection

more deep in respect of their rights

and that the state parties find the right way to address

their concerns

in a way that will abide by the provisions of our government.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Santo Pa.

Thank you, Mr Gomez. And thank you. M

TT Guha

And thank you, everyone for joining us today.

I believe our press conference has come to an end. An end. Have a good afternoon.

OHCHR - Press conference : CCPR - 03 November 2023