10/06/2009

Switzerland raises a point of clarification to ask for a position on recommendations

Switzerland raised yesterday a point of clarification during the adoption of the Report of the Working Group on Djibouti in the plenary session of the Human Rights Council (HRC). The delegate asked Djibouti to provide responses to pending recommendations.

In the Report of the Working Group, Djibouti sorted recommendations in three categories: the ones accepted, the ones rejected and the ones on which it will provide answers at the HRC plenary session in June. According to resolution 5/1, Switzerland pointed out, the State under Review must indicate accepted recommendations and "other recommendations will be noted". Switzerland therefore asked Djibouti to clarify if the eight pending recommendations from the Report of the Working Group were accepted or simply "noted". In response, the head of delegation indicated that those recommendations were noted and that Djibouti will provide responses to them later. He also promised to keep the HRC informed about the implementation of the accepted recommendations.