Russia urges all countries to join International Bill of Human Rights - diplomat

GENEVA, March 1. /TASS/. Multilateral human rights organizations need to abandon double standards and politicization, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said at a high-level discussion at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva on Tuesday. "This year the international community marks two milestone dates - the 50th anniversary of adoption and 40th anniversary since entering into force of the International Bill of Human Rights," Gatilov said. The bill consists of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both adopted in 1966. The two covenants came into effect in 1976 and were ratified by a sufficient number of countries. The document became "the first legally binding international human rights tool that marked the beginning when the states took responsibility in the human rights sphere," the Russian diplomat said. Several decades after, at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993 the universal, indivisible and interconnected character of both covenants was officially declared. However, even half a century after the adoption of these key documents, there is unfortunately a bias in the international discussions in favor of civil and political rights at the expense of economic, social and cultural rights. "The main challenge for multilateral human rights structures today is the need to abandon double standards and politicization and ensure the continuity and equality of all the human rights embodied in the International Bill," Gatilov stressed. The Russian diplomat said "an ability not to be subjected to pressure is needed here." Moscow "calls on all the countries to become participants of the International Bill - without any reservations and limits," Gatilov said adding that this could contribute to enhancing international regime of protecting and encouraging human rights. Gatilov said he hopes that Tuesday’s high-level discussion "will make a constructive contribution to advancing this noble goal." Read more