Pretoria - The United Nations Resolution on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is set to go to the UN General Assembly for final adoption in December - and South Africa will vote yes.
“The resolution will be presented to the General Assembly in the next few days and South Africa in general supports the main thrust of the Resolution.
“We remain committed to the protection of Human Rights Defenders all over the world. Accordingly, South Africa will vote yes,” the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said on Sunday.
The resolution was first put before the General Assembly last week by the Third Committee of the United Nations.
However, South Africa, China, Russia, Syria, Burundi, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and Sudan voted against the resolution after citing lack of fair discourse between states and sponsors.
The UN resolution, regarded as “soft law”, seeks to recognise the role of human rights defenders and the need for their protection.
Explaining why Pretoria voted against the resolution before, DIRCO spokesperson Clayson Monyela said just like the others, it was a subject of intense negotiations until the eleventh hour.
“The Africa Group had about 39 proposed amendments that were going to be proposed from the floor on the day of adoption.
“After last minute efforts and attempts to adjust the resolution to align it with South Africa’s concerns, the main sponsor introduced oral amendments without notifying South Africa and the amendments rendered most of our concerns redundant,” said Monyela.
These events and the introduction of oral amendments from the floor did not afford the South African delegates at the United Nations headquarters in New York an opportunity to engage in a process of consultation with the department, he said. - SAnews.gov.za
