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CHRI MAKES AN ORAL STATEMENT AT THE UPR REPORT CONSIDERATION OF KIRIBATI AT THE 45th REGULAR SESSION OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Sep 29, 2020 Download File

Geneva

CHRI delivered a video oral statement at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report consideration of Kiribati (Agenda Item 6) at the 45th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council. CHRI was among the six civil society organisations that intervened during the debate.  

The statement -- delivered by Ms. Aditi Patil -- commended Kiribati for its legislative efforts on issues such as climate change and disaster risk management, access to inclusive and quality education; welcomed the completion of the scoping study for establishing a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) in the country; and appreciated the steps taken efforts towards eliminating discriminatory stereotypes against women.  

While Kiribati had accepted 88 recommendations fully and one partially, CHRI expressed its regret that it had noted 40 out of the 129 recommendations received during the third UPR cycle. The statement urged the Government of Kiribati to: 

  • ensure further independence of the National Human Rights Task Force -- as a body closest to being an NHRI in the country -- enhance its capacity by seeking technical assistance from regional and UN bodies in this respect. 
  • intensify its efforts to remove structural barriers to the equal rights of women: to transmit their citizenship to their children and their foreign spouses on an equal footing with men; to land ownership and inheritance; and to exercise their agency by having access to reproductive and sexual health services, including by decriminalising abortion. 
  • take proactive steps to create community awareness about the remedies and support that are available for victims and survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. 
  • decriminalise consensual same-sex relations between adults 
  • amend its Penal Code to criminalise human trafficking in line with international standards, including within its borders.  

You can read the statement here and watch the video below: