Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma met with the newly-appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein in Geneva today.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma met with the newly-appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein in Geneva today.
The meeting is part of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s longstanding partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding in 1998, which was subsequently updated in 2010 in a Joint Declaration to enhance cooperation on advancing the protection and promotion of human rights in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights have regularly scheduled high level discussions as part of this partnership.
Mr Sharma and Prince Zeid discussed the current collaboration between the two organisations in establishing and strengthening national human rights institutions, as well as support to governments under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism. The Secretary-General was also briefed on the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to strengthen human rights institutions at national and regional levels, and to advance the rights of women including violence against women and early and forced marriage. The discussions also covered capacity-building, especially for small states, and support to achieve a stronger focus on human rights in national parliaments.
Building on the outcomes of these discussions, the Secretary-General and UN High Commissioner decided today to conclude a fresh Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations to guide future practical collaboration.
The Commonwealth has an Office in Geneva which houses the diplomatic missions of several Commonwealth small states and also has two resident members of its Human Rights team providing technical support for Commonwealth member governments on request. During his visit, the Secretary-General also reviewed the work of these human rights advisers in the Commonwealth Small States Office.