Mr Chairperson,

May I offer a very basic but, I think, significant suggestion in the area of advisory services and technical co-operation to promote and protect human rights - that governments and their delegates be given a refresher course on human rights and the essential role of this commission.

For government delegations, secretariat members and NGO participants who have read and subscribe to the excellent, high quality documents produced by the Commission and the United Nations, this is not such a strange idea.

It has been disturbing to hear the statements blithely delivered by certain government delegates which seem to be bereft of a basic grasp of human rights concepts. Therefore, when such delegations hotly insist that their governments act consistently with human rights principles, they open themselves to derision and contempt. Such assertions make it difficult for some diplomats and NGO representatives to keep a straight face during proceedings. They also demean the speaker. Most disturbing to me is that such statements which trample on the truth, insult the dignity and prestige of the Commission and the Chair.

For instance, yesterday we witnessed His Excellency the head of the Myanmar delegation deny that human rights violations existed in that country. His Excellency seems to be ignorant of the fact, so capably pointed out by His Excellency the Ambassador of Bangladesh, that hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the country. I assure you, these hapless refugees were not fleeing the weather.

On Monday, the representative of the Malaysian delegation told the meeting that the establishment of the national human rights commission was consistent with the Paris Principles. This is patently untrue, particularly with regard to the independence of the institution.

To be charitable, I can only offer the possible excuse that these delegates may have forgotten or may not have been trained to understand key human rights concepts, hence my suggestion of a refresher course. Of course, a key element would have to be the incorporation of the gender perspective - for some reason, certain government delegates do not seem to be aware that women are also human beings and therefore deserve to have their human rights protected.

Another key concern is the fact that some governments, while proclaiming in this room to be the defenders of human rights, actually fail to implement these commitments while at home. Basic and obvious initiatives, such as training the police and security forces not to violate human rights, are sorely lacking amongst these so-called bastions of human rights. The irony is that there are many NGOs present at the Commission who would gladly work with their governments to implement and operationalise human rights principles instead of travelling all the way to Geneva every year to report on yet more human rights violations at home.

For many human rights activists here at the Commission, our governments tend to suffer from a Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. Within the halls of the United Nations buildings, governments seem to adopt a persona of benevolence, commitment to human rights and open-mindedness to dialogue. However, at home, they turn into the main violators of human rights. It is not surprising that these offenders are viewed with distrust. We hope that somehow, the advisory services and technical co-operation offered through international human rights mechanisms and the Commission, will be able to efficiently and meaningfully address these concerns.