Khartoum: Permanent Representative in Geneva, Ambassador Hassan Hamid Hassan, addressed the regular meeting of African Group ambassadors with the President of the Human Rights Council, amid the Council's ongoing deliberations, including the anticipated British draft resolution on Sudan.
According to Sudan News Agency, Ambassador Hassan reviewed developments in Sudan, highlighting the Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue announced by the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), with all necessary guarantees and immunities to ensure the freedom of participants. The initiative has been welcomed by both the African Union and the Arab League.
He also reviewed Sudan's exemplary cooperation with three UN human rights mechanisms that enjoy the acceptance and support of the government. These include the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sudan, the designated expert on the human rights situation, who regularly visits the country, and the Security Council Panel of Experts, which has devoted a significant portion of its reports to the human rights and humanitarian situation.
In this context, Ambassador Hassan warned against the politicization of the work of the Human Rights Council by some states, recalling that Sudan has consistently advocated the principle of complementarity as an established and recognized approach. He also referred to the traditional and longstanding African position on resolutions imposed on states that neither enjoy their acceptance nor achieve the intended objective.
In this regard, he noted that mobilizing some non-governmental organizations participating in the Council's proceedings to campaign against certain states constitutes a departure from the Council's mandate. He cited organizations campaigning for the expansion of the arms embargo and other political activities that have no connection with the work of non-governmental organizations and do not fall directly within the mandate of the Human Rights Council.
The interventions by ambassadors and experts during the meeting underscored the dangers posed by the politicization of the Human Rights Council by some states, which has increasingly suffered from sharp divisions due to selectivity and double standards. This includes attempts to impose coercive measures on states, as well as the growing disregard by non-governmental organizations for the regulations governing their participation in the Council's proceedings.