Sumario: 25 July 2008, Brussels - The European Union welcomes the appointment by the United Nations Secretary General of Ms Navanethem PILLAY as High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The European Union is pleased to see the High Commissioner's Office entrusted to a woman from the South, who has held the most senior posts in a number of international courts, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and has played a distinguished role in combating impunity.
This appointment, put to the United Nations General Assembly for approval, comes in the year in which we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration. That anniversary will provide an opportunity to solemnly reaffirm, throughout the world, the universality and indivisibility of the human rights enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration.
The High Commissioner's Office is a key body within the United Nations system and has, since its establishment at the 1993 Vienna summit, played a crucial part in protecting and upholding human rights. The European Union wishes to reaffirm its support for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and its attachment to the integrity of that body's remit. The High Commissioner's Office has to be able to discharge its duties in an entirely independent and impartial manner.
The European Union considers that the High Commissioner's Office must be able to draw on all the resources needed in establishing its strategic management plan and in carrying out its work on the ground, particularly as regards technical assistance. The EU similarly believes that the rules governing the budgetary and human resources policies of the High Commissioner's Office should remain applicable.
The European Union welcomes the involvement of the High Commissioner's Office in assisting the special procedures in their vital task, particularly country mandates, and in supporting the universal periodic review process, an innovative, transparent mechanism. The European Union also underlines the crucial importance of the High Commission's support for the proper functioning of the human rights treaty bodies.
The European Union lastly wishes to pay special tribute to Ms Louise ARBOUR and to her high mindedness, sense of dialogue and resolve to fulfil her remit. The EU particularly commends the strengthening of the OHCHR through the development of its work in all continents.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
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