A/HRC/13/26
offices at the country level,2 15 human rights components in United Nations peace
missions,3 and 18 human rights advisers in United Nations country teams.4 The United
Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre for South-West Asia and the
Arab Region in Doha was inaugurated in May 2009 and the Regional Office for Europe in
Brussels, in October 2009. In September 2009 an agreement was signed with the
Government of Mauritania on the establishment of an OHCHR country office. The renewal
of agreements for existing offices is an encouraging sign and, in this context, I would like
to thank the Governments of Uganda and Nepal for demonstrating their continued trust and
cooperation through their renewed agreements. The establishment of an OHCHR Regional
Office for North Africa remains under discussion.
43.
Since the establishment of a rapid-response unit in 2006, the OHCHR capacity to act
promptly on the ground in the face of deteriorating human rights situations has been
steadily strengthened. It has continued to provide support to short-term missions and
commissions of inquiries aimed at providing technical advice in the aftermath of crises, as
well as for the implementation of resolutions and decisions of the Human Rights Council.
Through its rapid response capacity, OHCHR deployed a human rights officer to Honduras
to assist the United Nations Country Team to respond to the political crisis; two human
rights officers to Madagascar in the context of the political crisis, and a team of four human
rights officers to Gabon to monitor the human rights situation during the presidential
electoral period. Following the violence of 28 September 2009 in Conakry, OHCHR
supported the Commission of Inquiry on the events in Guinea, established by the SecretaryGeneral.
44.
OHCHR also provided operational and technical support, including through the
appointment of a secretariat, to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza
Conflict established by the President of the Human Rights Council on 3 April 2009 “to
investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian
law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations
that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January
2009, whether before, during or after”.5 The final report of the mission was submitted to the
Human Rights Council on 29 September 2009.
45.
To reinforce national protection systems, OHCHR continued to support the
establishment and strengthening of NHRIs, increasingly through engaging human rights
field offices and United Nations country teams. The Office continued to advise requesting
2
3
4
5
12
OHCHR country offices are located in Togo, Uganda, Cambodia, Nepal, Bolivia, Colombia,
Guatemala and Mexico. In addition, OHCHR has a presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
and in Kosovo. An agreement was signed in September 2009 between the High Commissioner and
the Government of Mauritania establishing a country office in Mauritania. This office will be
operational in the course of 2010.
OHCHR supported the Human Rights Components of the following peace missions: BINUB
(Burundi), BONUCA (Central African Republic), MINURCAT (Chad and the Central African
Republic), MONUC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), UNMIS and UNAMID (Sudan), UNMIL
(Liberia), UNIPSIL (Sierra Leone), UNPOS (Somalia), UNOCI (Côte d’Ivoire), UNOGBIS (GuineaBissau) UNAMA (Afghanistan), UNMIT (Timor-Leste), UNAMI (Iraq) and MINUSTAH (Haiti).
Human rights advisers were posted or continued their work in the following countries: Burundi
(covering the Great Lakes region), Guinea, Niger, Kenya, Rwanda; Indonesia (until 31 January 2010),
Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka; Ecuador, Nicaragua; Albania, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian
Federation, Serbia, Georgia (covering the South Caucasus), Tajikistan, and the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. This number also includes a human rights adviser within UNOWA (West
Africa).
Resolution S-9/1 of the Human Rights Council adopted on 12 January 2009 at the conclusion of its
ninth special session.
GE.09-17604
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