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Further Consultation Recommended on Draft Guidelines on the Human Rights of People Affected by Leprosy
Posted on 9 October 2009 by
During the afternoon of 1st October the Human Rights Council adopted 15 resolutions, including one on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members.
Akio Isomata of Japan expressed appreciation to the Human Rights Advisory Committee for the Draft Set of Principles and Guidelines on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Persons Affected by Leprosy and Their Family Members submitted by Professor Shigeki Sakamoto of Japan. This had been undertaken as follow-up to the Human Rights Council Resolution 8/13, 12th June 2008, dedicated to eliminating discrimination against people affected by leprosy.
Resolution L.17 was adopted without vote, following some oral amendments. Through this resolution, the Human Rights Council has asked the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to collect the views of relevant actors, including Governments, observers of the United Nations, relevant United Nations bodies, specialised agencies and programmes, non-governmental organisations, scientists, medical experts as well as representatives of persons affected by leprosy, and their family members on the draft set of principles and guidelines, and to make those views available to the Advisory Committee.
This request to finalise the set of principles and guidelines following further consultation and to re-submit it to the Human Rights Council in September 2010 is in part the result of lobbying by ILEP, the International Association for Integration Dignity and Economic Advancement (IDEA), the WHO Global Leprosy Programme and the WHO Goodwill Ambassador. Their concerns had been raised because the draft set of guidelines and principles contain some erroneous and misleading information and vocabulary and, also because some of the wording does not appear to place sufficient obligation on States to act to remove discrimination against people affected by leprosy.
Click on the following link to read about this decision - Human Rights Council Adopts 15 Resolutions and 2 Decisions - :
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/ABE38E075BC457E7C12576420061072F?opendocument
Categories: International Collaboration, News and Notes