984. China was grateful to the delegation of Romania for its briefing. It noted that Romania had placed importance in preparing the national report and had held the interactive dialogue in a very constructive manner, for which it expressed its appreciation. During the review, the Government had reported on efforts it made in promoting and protecting human rights and its achievements, including improvement of national legislation, formulation of national policies and programmes of action, and the establishment of national institutions. It also noted that the Government had outlined challenges faced by the country in promoting and protecting human rights, and it welcomed the latest information and commitments made by Romania. All had highlighted Romania’s readiness to fulfil its commitments and its determination to promote and protect human rights, and China considered that Romania will further implement its commitments and score new progress in the field of human rights.
985. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland thanked Romania for its detailed presentation and noted that Romania has admitted frankly both the key areas where progress has been made and where further efforts are needed. It highlighted this frank and self critical approach as a good result both for human rights in Romania and for the strength of the universal periodic review mechanism as a whole. The United Kingdom thanked Romania for the detailed response to all of the recommendations, which in its view shows that the universal periodic review can provide challenging suggestions to countries, which need consideration by a number of different domestic ministries. In conclusion, the United Kingdom was pleased to see that its recommendations had been accepted and stated that it looks forward to further bilateral discussions on these in coming months and years.
986. Algeria expressed its thanks to the delegation of Romania for the very exhaustive and clear presentation. It appreciated the action that Romania had taken on the basis of recommendation 10 made by Algeria. It had one question following the presentation, the delegation of Romania having indicated that at the present time, Romania had reservations regarding recommendations 1 and 18. In this regard, Algeria noted that in the very exhaustive presentation, Romania had not mentioned action taken on recommendation 14, put forward by Algeria, Tunisia and France. It asked Romania whether this recommendation was in addition to the recommendations mentioned where there were some problems, or if it was just an omission in the presentation. It reiterated its thanks for Romania’s efforts to uphold human rights, and noted that one of its major contributions in this regard was the presidency of Ambassador Costea heading the Council, which contributes to the enhancement of human rights around the world.
987. The European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe) and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network underlined, in a joint statement, that the universal periodic review had given them the opportunity to look at the future and identify better respect, protection and fulfilment of the human rights of all, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In this respect, referring to recommendation 4 made by Argentina and Canada, they encouraged Romania to continue in its efforts: to strengthen the anti-discrimination mechanism, in particular the National Council for Combating Discrimination; to include gender identity and expression in addition to sex among the non-discrimination criteria of Ordinance 137/2000, so that transgender persons are explicitly protected by the law; to raise awareness of discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender professionals in the education and health systems; and, lastly, to eliminate discrimination with regard to rights accessed through the institution of marriage, which is currently available only to heterosexual couples. With regard to recommendation 6 made by Finland, it encouraged the Romanian police to finalize the investigation of several cases of violence instigated in connection with the 2006 and 2007 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender marches in Bucharest. Lastly, they commended Romania on several important achievements, including repealing article 200 of the Penal Code which criminalized private same-sex relations among consenting adults, the development of an anti discrimination mechanism which from the beginning included sexual orientation among non-discrimination grounds, and the police protection ensured at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender marches in the last four years in Bucharest.
988. In its concluding remarks, Romania expressed its gratitude to all States and non governmental organizations that took an interest, either in written form or during the session, in the development and challenges encountered by Romania in ensuring the full respect for human rights. Romania has tried to address all queries raised during this interactive dialogue either by providing additional information or stating its position with regard to recommendations received.
989. Romania stressed that it is of the view that the universal periodic review mechanism has proven to be a useful tool for States in terms of reassessing and reasserting their national and international commitments in the field of human rights. Romania was grateful for all comments and recommendations made, aimed at strengthening the human rights protection in the country. In response to a question raised by one of the delegations, Romania stated that it has accepted recommendation 14; additional information on the recommendation is available in document A/HRC/8/49/Add.1.
990. Romania finally thanked the representatives of the civil society which have contributed to the elaboration of its national report and to those participating in the present debate. It noted that their inputs have been duly taken into account and that it is open to continue this fruitful cooperation with the civil society during the follow-up process to the outcome report. It also thanked the members of the troika Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada.
Mali
991. The review of Mali was held on 15 May 2008 in conformity with all the relevant provisions contained in Council resolution 5/1, and was based on the following documents: the national report submitted by Mali in accordance with the annex to Council resolution 5/1, paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/2/MLI/1); the compilation prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/2/MLI/2); and the summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/2/MLI/3).
992. At its 22nd meeting, on 13 June 2008, the Council considered and adopted the outcome of the review on Mali (see section C below).
993. The outcome of the review on Mali is constituted of the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (A/HRC/8/50), together with the views of Mali concerning the recommendations and/or conclusions, as well as its voluntary commitments and its replies presented before the adoption of the outcome by the plenary to questions or issues that were not sufficiently addressed during the interactive dialogue in the Working Group (see also A/HRC/8/50/Add.1).
Share with your friends: |
