Human Rights Monitor 2009 article on key human rights developments at the General Assembly.

Human Rights Monitor 2009 article on key human rights developments at the General Assembly.

In comparison to recent years, the main session of the General Assembly in 2009, its 64th session, was relatively dull in terms of its human rights outcomes. In the absence of any new initiatives, and with the ‘death penalty resolution’ now occurring every other year, it was more a case of Western States, together with a handful of Latin American States, endeavouring to hold the line against moves by the African Group, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) or the Arab Group to weaken hard-won human rights protections and standards in resolutions. The one wild card during the session proved to be the report of the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism. Given the report’s consideration (inter alia) of the impacts of counter-terrorism measures on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons (LGBTI), many delegations anticipated the heated interactive dialogue and the complications it would create for the associated resolution. However, few foresaw the extent to which it would percolate through the work of the Third Committee, nor its future potential to negatively impact on States’ enthusiasm for ‘gender mainstreaming’ across the UN system. Read more...

This article is also available in Spanish here.