Reforming human rights: challenges facing new Human Rights Council.

The positioning along the lines of regional blocs is certainly a feature that the Council has inherited from the former Commission. I do not think such a group dynamic is fruitful for the Council. It is much more important to find majorities for issues across regional lines. My country has been working very hard at overcoming this group logic, and will continue to do so. Cross-regional dialogue will undoubtedly be necessary in order to enhance the work and credibility of the Council. The broader the ownership of the Council's outcomes, the better.

Western sources have focused considerable attention on the status of women in many developing, primarily Muslim countries. Prominent Muslim scholars and clerics have responded that Islamic society recognizes a different and ostensibly more appropriate form of women's rights. Is there room for a dualistic interpretation of women's rights on the Council?

There is no room for a dualistic interpretation of women's rights. The Council must maintain a unitary definition of human rights. As the Vienna Conference reaffirmed in 1993, all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated. It is the duty of states, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms. I see no room for a regional or cultural interpretation of human rights. Women's rights must be promoted and protected with the same strength everywhere in the world. Once we start assessing countries under the Universal Periodic Review, we will, however, take into account all the factors related to a particular country, including its state of development.