Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

to health. We abstained on the General Assembly resolution and disassociated from
the resolution in the Council. We hope to work with the lead sponsors of these
resolutions and the UN independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations
related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation in 2011 to agree a mandate
that will ensure the important work of the independent expert continues. Our legal
position does not undermine our support for addressing sanitation issues. The UK is
the biggest donor to low-income countries for basic systems of water supply and
sanitation.
We were at the forefront of action to defend the ability of NGOs to contribute to open
discussion in the Council. This was particularly evident in our interventions in
support of NGOs’ attempts to raise awareness of discrimination on the grounds of
sexual orientation.
Despite improvements in the Council’s performance, it is difficult for us to achieve
our objectives. The UK and like-minded states are in a voting minority and have to
work hard to persuade other members that the UN should address human rights
situations in specific countries. We believe that this is essential to the Council’s
credibility. We hope that the G20 countries will play a greater role in the promotion
of human rights in future.
A review of the Human Rights Council began at the end of 2010 which is due to
conclude in the late summer of 2011. We would like the review to make the Council
more effective. We have made recommendations to achieve this, including giving
special rapporteurs and other independent mechanisms a role in convening the
Council and allocating them more time to report at Council sessions. We will
continue to take every opportunity to promote institutional changes that will
strengthen the Council’s performance. However, we are realistic about our chances
of success.
The UK’s membership of the Human Rights Council will expire in June 2011 after the
maximum permitted two consecutive terms. We have announced that we will run
again for membership in 2013. In the interim, we will remain actively engaged in the
Council’s work and in shaping the EU’s approach.
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