IFOR is currently participating in the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council which is in remote modality due to the pandemic. Today program of work included the general debate with the High Commissioner for Human Rights and following the States representatives, NGOs with Consultative Status have been able to take the floor.
IFOR referred to some concerning local situations such as Colombia, Eritrea and Western Sahara and then addressed the issues of criminalization of solidarity and nuclear disarmament
Human Rights Council, 46th Session
Geneva, 26th February 2021
Item 2: General Debate
Oral statement delivered by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Madam High Commissioner,
IFOR thanks you and your office for the reports.
We are particularly concerned by the situation in Eritrea and in the region and by the lack of collaboration as also highlighted, yesterday, by the new Special Rapporteur[1] and share a deep concern for the risk and danger faced by young people who refuse to serve in the National Service.
We welcome the recommendations which have been listed in your report on Colombia[2] and highlight the importance to guarantee a comprehensive intervention by the State to reduce the violence and not just an increase in the military presence.
We are alarmed by the increasing cases of criminalization of solidarity[3] with individual cases of people being charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration because they provide first assistance to migrants or rescue them, whether at sea, in the mountains or in the middle of forests.
Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa[4], continues to be a pending decolonization case. International Law needs to be implemented.
IFOR restate the call made a few months ago “on the governments in the region and around the world to contribute to a peaceful solution of the conflict and the implementation of the fundamental rights of the Saharawi people”[5].
We would like to conclude with a positive note: nuclear weapons are finally banned!
We welcome the enter into force of the UN Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons (TPNW)[6], on January 22nd 2021[7].
Thank you.
Oral update of Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, at the 46th HRC on February 24th 2021. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26795&LangID=E
A/HRC/46/76.
In 2019 the Red Cross EU Office released a statement regarding the soaring of the criminalisation of solidarity in Europe. https://redcross.eu/latest-news/the-eu-must-stop-the-criminalisation-of-solidarity-with-migrants-and-refugees
Some recent individual cases:
Gian Andrea Franchi and Lorena Fornasir: https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/si-preso-cura-dei-migranti-sotto-accusa-nonno-andreaCarola Rackete: https://theconversation.com/sea-watch-3-captain-arrested-eu-complicit-in-criminalising-search-and-rescue-in-the-mediterranean-119670
Sean Binder and Anouk Van Gestel: https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-events/criminalisation-of-solidarity-how-to-protect-the-right-to-help-migrants-and-refugees/
It is on the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since 1963.
IFOR has released a statement on the situation in Western Sahara on November 13th 2020 http://www.ifor.org/news/2020/11/13/ifor-statement-on-the-current-situation-in-western-sahara. Another one was released on December 14th 2020 http://www.ifor.org/news/2020/12/14/smlf3m85b4eq2r7kexpxd76zzgvoi5.
You can watch the recording of the session here. IFOR statements is at 00:46:36.
IFOR has released a public statement regarding Western Sahara on November 13th 2020, the day before the truce was broken in the region. You can read the original statement here.
A second statement has been published December 14th 2020 on the U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and on the primacy of fundamental rights and international law. You can read the original statement here.
IFOR has a long standing engagement for nuclear disarmament and on January 22nd 2021 has organized a new Day of Action to join activists worldwide to celebrate the entering into force of the UN nuclear ban Treaty adopted on July 7th 2017 by the UN General Assembly. The Treaty reached its 50th ratification on October 24th 2020, International UN Day.
You can watch here, the video message of the president of IFOR which has been released for the occasion.
You can read more about the Day of Action here and discover some actions from IFOR members published on our Facebook page.