EU Presidency Statement - Human Rights and Human Responsibilities - ECOSOC

Mr. Vice-President,

On behalf of the European Union, I would like to make a statement with regard to draft decision E/2004/L21, sponsored by (41) delegations.

The decision before us seeks to overturn the decision 2004/117 of the Commission on Human Rights. This decision is the first step in trying to get a pre-Draft Declaration on human social responsibilities adopted by the United Nations. The European Union strongly opposes 2004/117 on procedure as well as on substance.

On procedure Mr. President a pre-draft declaration has not been mandated by the Commission on Human Rights. The Commission only requested the Sub Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights to undertake a study on the issue of human rights and human responsibilities.

On substance, our opposition is even stronger. The pre-Draft Declaration on human social responsibilities undermines the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights and other important human rights documents. It aims to make human rights conditional. As such it is a direct attempt to undermine the very foundations of international human rights law. It will lead to a serious set back to our accomplishments in human rights in the past fifty years.

The idea that a State can determine which rights an individual can enjoy in return for the exercise of responsibilities is entirely inconsistent with the fundamental concepts of human rights. Yet, this is the core line of thought in the pre-draft declaration.

The European Union does not take issue with the idea that members of any society have responsibilities towards each other, towards the community and towards a democratic society. These duties are already included in Article 29 of the UDHR. Many of these responsibilities are also associated with rights. It is, Mr. Vice-President, the conditional linkage between responsibilities and human rights that we cannot allow to go unchallenged.

Mr. President, delegations have expressed doubts whether ECOSOC can take a decision as proposed by the European Union. However, as was confirmed by the legal opinion of Tuesday 20 July, it is entirely within the mandate of ECOSOC, as a parent body of the functional commissions, to overturn, when necessary, decisions of one of its subordinate bodies. Therefore, the answer to the question is a full yes. And the issue is of such importance to the European Union that we believe it to be essential that ECOSOC now addresses this matter.

I call upon all member states that champion the fundamental principles of human rights - universality and access for all - and to join us in our defence of these very same basic principles and to overturn 2004/117 of the Commission on Human Rights. We, therefore, hope that the Economic and Social Council adopts draft decision E/2004/L.21.

Thank you, Mr. Vice-President.

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