London - The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) submitted on Monday two stakeholder reports concerning the situation of human rights in Armenia and Turkey to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group.
The UPR is a process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. It ensures UN states of their responsibilities to implement human rights freedoms guaranteed under international and domestic law.
Armenia and Turkey will be among 16 countries scheduled to be reviewed at the eighth session of the Working Group in May 2010.
In Turkey, KHRP calls for further reforms to bring its national legislation in line with its obligations under international law
‘The UPR is a vital tool of the international system in holding States to account over their human rights records’, says KHRP Chief Executive Kerim Yildiz. ‘It is crucial that fellow UN Member States review the muddied histories of human rights in Armenia and Turkey, particularly with regards to ethnic minorities, and that they call on these countries to take urgent steps to improve the plight of all peoples living there.’
© Rudaw
