December 6, 2005

Resolution on Establishment of a United Nations human rights training and documentation centre for South-West Asia and the Arab region

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Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on December 16, 2005 without a vote.

The Asian region (which includes many Arab states) is the only region in the world which does not have a regional human rights body. In other regions there are: the Organization of the American States and the Inter-American Court and Commission on Human Rights; the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights; the Organization of African Unity and the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights. The underpinnings of each of these bodies are regional human rights treaties, which do not exist for Asia. This UN General Assembly resolution, which was adopted by consensus in the UN's Third Committee, calls for a UN-funded human rights training and documentation center for South-West Asia and the Arab region. It remains to be seen how accessible such a center or its services will be for people living in undemocratic states all over this region. Such escapades also have a tendency to substitute "technical cooperation" for actual improvements in government-controlled human rights conditions.