Human rights under scrutiny

YAREN – United Nations member states are expected to express their concerns about human rights issues in Nauru like press freedom and the treatment of refugees at a review this week.

Nauru is one of 14 countries being examined as part of the UN Universal Periodic Review process in Geneva.

During its 2011 review, Nauru were issued over 30 recommendations as it was only party to one international convention.

Nauru has also been criticised more recently for perceived infringements of human rights.

But the acting head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Pacific, Catherine Phuong, said that Nauru has improved its standing by ratifying more treaties and submitting rights reports.

“This shows that Nauru is more willing to engage with UN human rights mechanisms. There were also other recommendations in 2011 and they covered a broad range of topics, including visits by special rapporteurs, the abolition of the death penalty, domestic violence, child abuse or the criminalisation of same-sex relations. As is often the case there has been more progress in some areas than others.

“For instance, Nauru has adopted legislation which prohibits corporal punishment in schools, but there was less progress on other issues. For instance the death penalty has not been abolished yet and there is still a need to develop legislation on gender equality, on domestic violence or child protection.”

In recent days the Nauru the government has said it has no obligation to foreign media.

Phoung said: “Freedom of the press is an integral part of freedom of expression and is extremely important in any democratic society. The special rapporteur on freedom of expression has commented on several occasions.

“He has said that the very high fees for journalists were especially problematic in a small country where there are very few journalists and limited media outlets. There will be questions on freedom of expression during the upcoming human rights review. I am sure discussions will be very interesting.”

- Dateline Pacific