Participation of AEDIDH at the workshop on the right of peoples to peace organised by the OHCHR

Pursuant to the Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/11/4, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) organized a two-day expert workshop on the right of peoples to peace. The workshop took place in Geneva on 15-16 December 2009 at the room XI of the Palais des Nations.

OHCHR, using existing resources, invited relevant experts from all regions of the world to share their views and experiences on the subject-matter of the workshop. It was open to States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

The expert workshop included an opening session delivered by Ms Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, and four substantive sessions as required. The substantive sessions were structured around three thematic issues, namely:

1. Content and scope of the right of peoples to peace, taking into account the resolutions of the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights, and the Human Rights Council concerning the right of peoples to peace;
2. Awareness-raising, namely identifying measures to raise public awareness at the national and international level of the importance of realizing this right;
3. Promotion, in particular identifying concrete actions to mobilize States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in the promotion of the right of peoples to peace.

On 15 December 2009 there was a first sustantive session focused on the different dimensions of the right of peoples to peace, who panellist were Ms Vera Gowlland, Honorary Professor of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies; Mr Alfred de Zayas, Professor of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations and Mr Thierry Tardy, Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. After this first rountable, there was a second sustantive session about the content of the right of peoples to peace, who panellists were Mr. Mario Yutzis, former Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Mr Jarmo Sareva, Deputy Secretary General of the Conference of Disarmament and Mr Laurent Goetschel, Director of the Swisspeace Foundation.

On 16 December 2009 Mr Antonio Augusto Cançado Trindade, Judge of the International Court of Justice delivered a key note address. The third session focused on right of peoples to peace from a human rights perspective, and the panellists invited were Mr William Schabas, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland and Ms Fatimata-Binta Victoire Dah, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The last session analysed the measures and actions to raise awareness and to promote the right of peoples to peace, and the panellist were Mr. Mario Yutzis, former Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Mr Alfred de Zayas, Professor of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations; Mr Luis Tiburcio, UNESCO representative in Geneva; Mr Laurent Goetschel, Director of the Swisspeace Foundation; Mr William Schabas, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland and Ms Fatimata-Binta Victoire Dah, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

As requested by the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights will submit a report on the outcome of the consultation, in the form of a summary of discussions, to the Council at its 14th session (June 2010).

Among the conclusions reached by the experts stress the constitution within the Human Rights Council of Working Group of codification of the human right to peace, assuming that the previous studies have already done and may directly start the official codification of this enabling right.

Some Permanent Missions participated at the workshop such as Bolivia, Cuba, Jordania, Russia, Philippines, Eslovenia, Bahrein, Switzerland, Siria, Argentina, Brasil, Serbia, Singapur, Azerbaiyan, Venezuela and Sweden on behalf of the European Union. The participation of civil society was extremly active by highlighting the intervention of Graines de Paix, Institute for Planetary Synthesis, Planetary Association for Clean Energy, UNESCO Etxea, Interfaith International, Arab Union of Jurist, APRED, International Organisation for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme.

Several members of AEDIDH participated positively to the success of the workshop through the presentation of studies regarding the role played by civil society in the promotion of the human right to peace, legal measures to introduce the concept of human right to peace in the program of work of the UN Human Rights Council, the relationship between the human right to peace and peace treaties, and the regulation of the human right to peace under the international human rights law.

We appreciate the support given by the Catalan government (Catalan Agency of International Cooperation and the Office for the Promotion on peace and Human Rights) for making possible the participation of AEDIDH at this expert meeting.

• Dossier submited by AEDIDH