02/04/2014

Israel absent from the adoption of its UPR report

Israel was absent during the adoption of their UPR report at the Human Rights Council (HRC) on 27 March 2014 due to a strike at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a letter sent to the HRC President on 13 March 2014, Isreal's Ambassador to the UN explained that the delegation could not be present during the adoption of its UPR report first scheduled on 21 March "as a consequence of a labour dispute" and therefore requested a "postponement" of the adoption "to a later date".  The HRC President rejected this possibility in a letter on 14 March stating that a postponement "was never granted in circumstances of this nature" and instead offered to postpone for only one week, within the same HRC session, in order to give them time to find a solution.

In the past, only Libya's report adoption had been postponed to another HRC session due to the revolution that took place in 2010. Guinea-Bissau and Kiribati had their adoption postponed, but within the same HRC session. At the second scheduled date of adoption a week later, Kiribati did not show up but submitted a written response to the recommendations read by the HRC President while Guinea-Bissau eventually was present. As for Samoa, they were also absent for the adoption but, like Kiribati, sent a written response to the recommendations received. Finally, Cyprus was absent during the adoption at the Working Group stage, not the HRC.

The issue at stake was therefore that Israel had not provided its responses to the recommendations received. In a letter to the HRC President dated 24 March, the Deputy of Foreign Policy and International Affairs of Israel clarified that 105 recommendations had been accept in part or fully. In addition, an addendum, containing their detailed responses to the recommendations, together with an annex, was made available on the UN website. The UPR report of Israel was therefore adopted.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Countries: Israel