UNHRC's 56th session to kick off in Geneva
The 56th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) will start today in Geneva and will last until July 12 of this year, Kazinform News Agency reports.
As Official Spokesperson of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Aibek Smadyarov informed at a briefing on June 17, Kazakhstan will complete its three-year (2022-2024) membership in the main UN human rights structure this year.
During the current session, Kazakhstan plans to work in the following priority areas.
Together with other HRC countries, a delegation of Kazakhstan will submit a joint statement on countering domestic violence. Aibek Smadyarov reminded of recent adoption of the law on domestic violence by Kazakhstan.
“Given our experience in adopting this progressive law, we believe it is important to bring this pressing issue to the global human rights platform to develop joint efforts to eradicate violence against women and children,” Smadyarov said.
According to him, Kazakhstan also co-authored some resolutions of the HRC:
The first one is the draft resolution on the Right for Education initiated by Luxembourg and Human Rights Watch.
“The purpose of the document is to develop a new Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to consolidate the legal obligations of states to provide free pre-school and secondary education. The participation in the project is of historical importance and will allow Kazakhstan, for the first time, to become one of the main initiators (authors) of a global universal treaty in the field of human rights,” he said.
The second document is the draft new resolution “Strengthening the Safety of Children in the Digital Context” initiated by Egypt. The document is aimed at the attraction of more attention of the global community to the issue of protecting children in the digital space in connection with the emergence of various challenges and threats.
And another document is draft resolution “Online sexual and gender-based violence” initiated by Belgium.
