UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : HRC - Press Conference: President of the Human Rights Council ahead of 57th session

Bonjour, Tuziatus, and welcome to this press conference with Ambassador Omaz Niebour, the President of the UN Human Rights Council, who will tell you more about the upcoming 57 regular session of the Council starting this coming Monday.

It's a busy session with full five weeks of meetings, over 50 semantic issues, over 50 country situation to be discussed.

It's.

Will have.

This will be the 3rd and the last regular session that Ambassadors Nievel will preside over this year.

As you know before, he will report to the General Assembly New York next month.

But in addition to the programme of work and all the events that will take place during this session, I think all about Ambassadors Nievel will seize this opportunity also to present how the priorities that he layout at the beginning of his presidency have evolved and especially after the last presidential **** level discussion that he held yesterday on the impact of new technology, artificial intelligence on the human rights of all.

But without further ado, I'll give the floor to Ambassadors Neighbour.

Thank you very much, dear Mr Pascal, for you and for all your team having prepared this important gathering with the representative of the press here in Geneva.

I'm so happy to be with you this afternoon again, as said by Mr Pascal, to present to you an overview about the next session of the Council, also some elements about the activities of the presidency.

And of course also to answer your, your own question on any matter you would like to, to, to raise this afternoon.

As far as the next session is concerned, it will be, as said, an intensive one for five weeks.

It will be, you know, illustrated by some **** level panels, which is according to the mandatory decisions taken by the Council on the question, particularly on strengthening the integration of gender parity, gender approach in the work of the Council.

The question related also to the right of of indigenous people.

Other issues also like education, child will be discussed in some of these **** level panels and also a panel.

I would like to stress that on the right of development, you know that, I mean, it is an important issue discussed within the Council and we do hope that this panel could help the membership to advance in such an important issue while it is also discussed thoroughly in New York.

In preparing the summit of the future and the outcome of this summit, I mean, the the Pact of the future, we will have as usual, also interactive dialogues with mandate holders, working groups, with the **** Commissioner himself.

And by the way, the Council, of course, we'll hear from next Tuesday, next Monday, sorry, the general report of, of the **** Commissioner.

I'm pretty sure he will give, you know, a panorama about the situation of human right worldwide.

We will have also to deal as usual with the the decisions, the resolutions which are have already been presented in their titles, at least during the organisational meeting which took place on the 26th of August.

And during this organisational meeting, it was clear, you know, that many initiatives, even some new initiatives have been presented and that we will have important issue on country situations, on thematic situations to discuss again during this session.

We will have also the responsibility to nominate some new mandate holders.

I have already made my proposals to the membership concerning 2 of them, waiting that the process concerning two others be accomplished before precising my own churches to the to the Council, which then we'll have to decide on that.

As far as the activities of the presidency, I'm also very happy to share with you some of the highlights where as you may know, as I precise it, during the past session I met with you since the beginning I have nominated 17 Co facilitators working on various tracks.

The question of the review of the mandate of the Council is touch is discussed.

We know that it is upon the General Assembly to take a decision according to the resolutions to the resolution adopted on this issue before 2026.

But it seems to me as President of the Council and I am joined by numerous members of the Council that Geneva has to discuss because it is the workplace or human rights for United Nation and it has and particularly concerning the the the future of the Council itself, the membership here with all other stakeholders.

Civil society observers are, in my view, completely competent to discuss this issue.

The question of rationalisation and efficiency of the Council.

You know that we are confronting these past months and since a while a huge difficulties, financial difficulties, the United Nation crossing severely liquidity crisis.

So it is a a new argument for us to progress in our discussions in rationalisation and efficiency of the Council.

Other tracks are of utmost importance, the one of gender parity, gender equity.

We will announce during the decision the establishment of an Advisory Board on gender approach for the first time, with a very significative composition of leaders of international organisations, ambassadors, representative of civil Society, of course, in partnership with the focal point dealing with this issue and UN Women.

And we are in touch with the headquarter of Human Women on New York and also their office here in Geneva.

And we will make this announcement hopefully before the end of this month.

The question of accessibility disabilities also, I hope that we will gesture it more better in any way, relatively better by creating a platform and creating some progressing in norms, facilitating the accessibility of of in the work of the Council for a person with disabilities and more widely taking care about this issue, which is of at the heart of human right enjoyment.

Likewise, the other tracks just to nominate them.

The question of in in strengthening EU pair processes.

You know that U pair is an exercise which is widely accepted and I mean positively assist, but we still have to do more.

I mean, to make the Council again more credible in its work and the country's members of the Council and all the International Committee satisfied with such exercise, this peer review exercise, the issues of giving more possibilities and more inclusivity for countries, less developed countries, I mean small island countries also.

These are all issues of utmost importance for all of us.

And we are of course trying to advance at the best new technologies.

I said by Mr Pascal question of artificial intelligence, you may have heard about this really.

I mean, I would say without hesitating, I mean unprecedented session we had yesterday as a presidential consultations and formal one, but very significative gathering.

I invited the leadership of the main international organisations involved in the governance of artificial intelligence worldwide.

So we had the leaders of the WAIPU of ITU, of UNICO, also some leaders from the private sector, the Vice President of Amazon, many academicians, but particularly what was, what was also what is also to underline is the intensive participation of the membership in such a dialogue with the aim, you know, to have the balanced approach on opportunities offered by these technologies, but also to face challenges.

I want to enter into detail.

I am here, of course, to answer your questions, if any, on this matter.

But what is for me in my current responsibilities is essential is that the Human Rights Council be at the heart of this governance, the global governance of artificial intelligence worldwide, because it is completely linked with the enjoyment of human rights.

We did the same, you may remember, last June on the question of the impact of climate change on food security and health security.

So the Presidency has presented this main thematics as major 1 and priorities for itself and what I can, I am very satisfied to tell you this afternoon humbly and modestly that we are advancing in such.

It's not easy, it always of course, the purpose of lot of discussions, but the Presidency have been met with the, you know, enthusiastic participation by the membership and by other stakeholders whom I invited to join us in this exercise.

These were the main element.

Mr Pascal, dear attendance, I wanted to share with you as a an introduction for our dialogue this afternoon.

And then I give you back the floor, Mr Pascal.

Thank you, ambassadors, neighbour.

So let's go on.

What's on your mind?

We're ready to take questions from the room.

Nina Larson from Agence France Press.

Thank you for taking my question.

First of all, I was wondering if you could say a little bit more about the liquidity crisis that you mentioned and how that's impacting the various, the various bodies and special rapporteur mandates and how concerned you are about that.

And also I was wondering if you could say something, if there's anything planned.

I know there's nothing specific on the agenda about Gaza or Israel this time, but for the October 7th anniversary within the council.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam, for your question.

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Paula, liquidity crisis, can you explain to us how remote participation is going to help in the liquidity crisis?

Or maybe I misunderstood when you made that link.

And the other question is what exactly is the Advisory Board on gender approach?

Is this about gender within the council or is this looking beyond the council?

Maybe you can explain a little bit?

Thank you.

Certainly there, Madam, when it comes to the question of the remote participation and the crisis of liquidity, I mean, the management of the United Nations in charge in New York to provide liquidities for such activities, you know, need need a decision by the General Assembly, a mandate by the General Assembly.

There is this liquidity crisis, of course, but even even and it is important to draw your attention on if the money is there.

We need this mandate of the General Assembly because it has been decided to use it provisionally during the COVID crisis.

Now it's a matter of making it on a permanent basis.

And for such purpose we need this decision of the General Assembly according to the rules and you know, the, the legal rules which are applicable for the work of the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies like the Human Rights Council.

So this is the this is the discussion going on now in New York.

So this is the first aspect.

I mean, your first question, you need to go more on this question.

Yeah, sorry, I didn't quite understand.

So you are saying you need more money to make remote participation possible or is remote participation reducing cost?

No, no, remote participation is not.

I, I, I am not a technician.

In my view, it need costs.

It needs of course, but at the same time, now it need costs.

It need costs, but we need a decision to be taken by the membership, all the membership of the United Nation, because the money provided to the Secretariat here in New York or to the Human Rights Council come from New York and there are, you know, special committees which takes decision concerning these issues.

The 5th Committee particularly, but also the Secretariat in their management, you know, they have the necessity to be backed by a decision by the General Assembly because it is something touching the rules, the rules of the United Nation as such.

So this decision is to be taken in New York and it is still under discussion, as I said.

For, for your second question, yes, I mean the idea of establishing this advisory body under the responsibility of the President of the Council.

I mean came to make the best coordination possible between the Council itself, but also all the ecosystem of international organisation in Geneva.

To make, you know, to share the best practises, enhancing the gender approach to to consult on which way we have to work to make the parity a full reality as soon as possible.

The parity on, on, on in the hierarchies of the international organisation, in the leadership, in the decision making at all levels.

This is one of the more main objectives of, of this Advisory Board.

Why are we trying to launch it?

And we will do it, of course, as I announce it, I mean, these months in, in September, there is a, a parallel exercise going on in New York.

But I mean, it is, we will create this here, this one here in Geneva to try to also strengthen the coordination between New York and Geneva on such issues.

And as I said, our main partner is UN Woman and I visited by the way, the executive Secretary of UN Women in New York.

I'm in touch with them here.

So we are proposing that such advisory body be a flexible instrument without bureaucracy, but can you know, be a force of of proposition, a force, you know, of suggestion and with the analysis and to be backed by experts and also by the Secretariat of the Office of the **** Commissioner and those all those who and it's composition is is Pleuriel is diverse.

We will have, as I said, the leadership of the international organisation, some important figures of the ambassadors strongly involved in the question of gender approach here in, in, in Geneva, representative of civil society, of intergovernmental organisations.

All in all, about 2020 eminent personality who will help the President of the Human Rights Council in its endeavour also to, to strengthen the inclusion of gender approach within the Council, within the management, but also within the activities as a, as a main subject.

Of course.

I mean, and as we observe the situation in the world, we are far from, you know, having this gender parity, gender equity.

What is important is that the Human Rights Council be at the forefront of such a such efforts.

And This is why as President, I'm favouring this, this, this initiative, and I am of course, supervising it and I am completely involved in it.

It will be hopefully an important instrument for the Geneva ecosystem, but also an exemplary instrument.

This is also the main purpose of the rest of the activities of multilateralism.

And more widely, why not to, to, to be, as I said, a suggestive force for the all stakeholders among which countries who, who can learn, who can draw, you know, elements to be applied in their own countries for, for, for this fundamental right?

You have a follow up question.

Yes, sorry, very quick one.

When you say gender, is this about women's rights or is it about women's rights and LGBTQ?

Because that has been a contentious issue in the Human Rights Council, right?

Thank you for this precision.

It's about women's right.

When we say gender parity, I mean, it's about women's right.

The other issues, of course, they are also, you know, discussed within the council.

But for us, it's about women's right.

It's about equal rights between, you know, women and men.

Paula Dupras, Dovias Geneva solution.

Thank you.

So I just wanted to to ask you a little more.

You.

You had mentioned that you would be reporting to the UN General Assembly on your report, your annual report and that so you said that in hope that this would contribute to the summit of the future.

Can you detail a little bit how you, how this will contribute to the sum of the future, especially at a time when I think a lot of people are asking the question of how effective the council actually is?

No, I need, I need to, I mean of course, make a, make a clarification.

The Summit of the Future will take place on, as you know, of course, 22nd and 23rd of September.

My presentation of the reported General Assembly will be at the end of October.

What did I do for the Summit of the Future?

I shared, I, I organised these presidential discussions on the question of, on the trilogy climate change, food security and health security.

And I was of course before in full touch with the President of the General Assembly who visited us here in February.

I visited him in April in New York.

I gathered with his teams.

I, we have been visited by the, I mean Co facilitators of the summit.

They came here to Geneva for consulting not only the President of the Council, but you know, the wider range of those involved in the preparation of this summit.

After this presidential discussion, which which took place last June, I shared with the President of the General Assembly the its outcome from my own point of view, making proposals, written proposals to be embodied in in the declaration of the future on on my responsibility, upon my own responsibility as President of the Council.

I did the same for the one concerning artificial intelligence.

As I told you, the Co facilitators presented a very important report mid-july, precisely the 16th of July.

I shared this again with the President of the General Assembly with the Under Secretary General in charge of preparing the the the digital compact.

You know that it is a main issue also hopefully to be, let's say successfully achieved within the summit of the future in in few time.

So the human right of Council, the Human Rights Council through its president already, you know, came with some proposals, concrete proposals, ideas.

And I do hope that his proposals and his ideas and according to from what I know, some of them are already embodied on in the ongoing text still under negotiations in New York.

So we did it.

So this is of course, and that was an important issue I had to deal to deal with.

And I do hope particularly that the question, the question like this, it goes without seeing climate change.

And I'm pretty sure for the generation, for the future generation, the use of new technologies, all these issues will be, I mean, very seriously, deeply included in the declaration of the future with what, what is very important, a clear engagement from all by consensus, but also a clear engagement from all to work more hard on these issues, as it has been demonstrated during our discussion yesterday on the question of artificial intelligence.

Follow up question, Paul.

So would you say that the it's, it's really the the issue of tech governance that is perhaps?

You know.

Dunvalo Agute, you know to to everything else that the Secretary General has already presented in terms of.

You know the agenda.

To going forward, dear Madam, I'm sending your question at least we we will have present the Geneva perspective.

This is this is our our Monday.

We cannot jump on the what is it is discussed by the membership in New York, but Geneva perspective is important.

As I told you, we have here, for example, the, the, the main international organisation working on some specific issues on this question of new technologies and the Council by itself had had dealt, had, yes, had dealt with these issues even before.

We have some resolutions on the question of new technologies, the impact on the enjoyment of human rights.

So I think it was important and when the Secretary General came here, you may remember at the opening of the, I mean, session of February, we spoke about that.

He himself insisted on that.

I visited him also.

I spoke with him on on that and he's of course it is up to the Member states, to the governments to decide, but I know how much I mean and he's more than strongly engaged, you know, so that the credibility of the organisation be maintained and by meeting her duties and her responsibilities towards toward the the next generations.

Thank you, Ambassador.

Do we have more questions from the room?

Any questions from journalists participating online?

OK.

Ambassador, is there's anything else you would like to say before we close this press conference?

Thank you very much.

I think I thank you very much for the interest you are deserving to the to the Human Rights Council, to the activities of the Human Rights Council as President.

What I can say is that I do consider that is a major tool of at the end of the International Committee should be always, you know, supported in its activities, in its endeavours.

We are crossing some difficult times, it goes without saying, I mean on all fronts.

But nevertheless, nevertheless, we have many things which can unite us.

And when I say I see it, I'm convinced on it, particularly the the issues I just referred to, some thematic issues.

And also when dealing even with difficult issues, the door of the dialogue should be always maintained.

And allow me to say that I mean your role of the journalist is fundamental, you know, because the Emirates Council is is observed worldwide.

You may know that it's activities sometimes are are followed by, I mean online by by more than two 3,000,000 attendants sometimes.

So it is important and the subjects which are dealt with always are are fundamental and the media also echoing that and facing also the the responsibility of giving the just in information, the just facts is fundamental and it it is very helpful for our activities.

I thank you so much and wish you a nice end of the afternoon.

Thank you, ambassadors, neighbour, and thank you all.

Just to remind you that on Friday morning at 9:15, you will hear from this room, from the experts of the fact finding mission for the Sudan, who will present as a first report to the Human Rights Council next week.

So we'll see you on Monday in Room 20.

Thank you.