A/HRC/19/27
each country to enhance the protection of the rights of Afro-descendants, to mark the
International Year for People of African Descent and to agree on a set of priority actions.
27.
In an effort to implement the recommendation of the Working Group of Experts on
People of African Descent1 to provide training for specific professional groups such as
police officers, lawyers, judges and teachers to address stereotypes and prejudice directed at
Afro-Ecuadorians, the Human Rights Adviser in Ecuador elaborated several training
modules on the rights of Afro-Ecuadorians addressed to police, armed forces, national
human rights institutions and the judicial sector. The modules will be included in the formal
training curricula of these four State institutions. Moreover, the Human Rights Adviser is
providing technical assistance and support to the national human rights institution, as well
as to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights regarding specific publications on human
rights and Afro-Ecuadorians.
28.
The OHCHR office in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is following up on the
situation of Bedouin refugees in the West Bank under the Israeli occupation. The Office is
addressing the concerns that their livelihood and food security have been negatively
affected by the expansion of Israeli settlements and “closed” areas (such as military zones
and natural reserves) and that the Bedouin community has been gradually and
systematically dispossessed of its land and faces constant attempts to displace it from their
homes.
29.
On 7 June 2011, the High Commissioner presented her follow-up report on the
situation of human rights in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, as requested by the Human Rights
Council in its resolution S-15/1. In her report, the High Commissioner described how
50,000 Libyan civilians had fled the country’s Western mountains region and crossed into
southern Tunisia. Most of the refugees were reportedly ethnic Berbers (Amazhir) fleeing
fighting and indiscriminate attacks.
30.
The Human Rights Council, in its resolution S-16/1, , requested OHCHR to deploy a
mission to the Syrian Arab Republic to investigate all alleged violations of international
human rights law and to establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the
crimes perpetrated, with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full accountability. The
High Commissioner presented her report to the Council at its eighteenth session, when she
described how economic grievances were particularly strong in traditionally poor areas,
including the north-eastern and border areas, such as Dar’a. They also reinforced longstanding issues of discrimination and neglect suffered by specific ethnic and religious
groups, in particular the Kurds, who inhabit the North-East and who had been deprived of
their basic civil, economic and social rights.
G.
International Year for People of African Descent
31.
In its resolution 64/169, the General Assembly proclaimed 2011 as the International
Year for People of African Descent. In many countries, Afro- descendants constitute
numerical minorities whose generally non-dominant positions in their societies underline
the need for the adoption and implementation of measures to allow them to exercise their
rights to the fullest. During 2011, OHCHR implemented a framework for action to combat
discrimination against people of African descent as an overarching policy document that
guided its engagement with the fight against discrimination directed at people of African
descent. Some of the activities that OHCHR carried out in the context of the Year include:
1
8
See A/HRC/14/18, para. 130.