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Mr. President, Madam High Commissioner, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour and privilege to address the Human Rights Council and firstly I would like to say that Lithuania aligns itself with the statement of the European Union presented by the esteemed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia His Excellency Dr. Dimitrij Rupel.

This year we are approaching two years anniversary of the Human Rights Council. During these years we have witnessed tangible results. The Council’s institutional building process is completed, we achieved an agreement on procedural rules and now it is time to start functioning in a full capacity. We do consider that decisions on institutional building will contribute to implementation of the principle of cooperation and interactive dialog in respect of human rights protection all over the world.

I would also like to express my personal gratefulness for His Excellency President Jorge Sampaio for his endeavours to improve intercultural and inter religious understanding among nations and peoples. Alliance of Civilizations is an excellent example of how do the states may consolidate their efforts in respect of joint actions towards peace and harmony in international relations. Protection of human rights and freedoms plays a vital role on this issue. Hence, Lithuania sees a great input of the work of the Alliance of Civilizations to the success of improvement of human rights in the world.  I do believe that cooperation between the Human Rights Council and the Alliance of Civilizations will be based on supplementing one others activities rather than on duplication.

Mr. President,

Lithuania considers that the Council is an excellent platform to demonstrate each country’s work and progress implementing human rights. We also believe that the Universal Periodic Review mechanism is a great opportunity for each UN member state to present its achievements in the field of human rights and wish a very successful start for the continuous process of UPR. The Universal Periodic Review will encourage states for positive developments and allow sharing our best practices emphasising and enhancing cooperation for the promotion and protection of human rights. Lithuania is very much looking forward to cooperate with the UPR mechanism and will present its report in 2011. Also we do hope that Member States will actually involve civil society into UPR reports’ preparation and will use NGOs input. In addition I would like to mention on more element of a crucial importance – UPR results should be widely spread to the society in an easily acceptable forms and ways.

Mr. President,

Lithuania considers that selection and appointment of mandate-holders of the special procedures is a very important question today. To this point we would like to express our hope that the process of review, rationalization and improvement of the United Nations’ special procedures will be successfully completed. The system that was developed by the Commission on Human Rights must be maintained and strengthened and all governments should cooperate with them. Hence Lithuania would like to invite all the United Nations Member States to cooperate with special procedures and special rapporteurs regarding country and particular thematic questions.

As regards my country cooperation with special procedures I would like to say that since 2001 Lithuania has issued standing invitations for special United Nations procedures and special rapporteurs. We are prepared to receive a visit from any special procedures mandate-holder.

On September 2007 Lithuania had the very first visit of the United Nations special rapporteur Mr. Doudou Diène. I would like to thank Mr. Diène for his attention to my country and a comprehensive analysis of the to human rights protection system. We may assure that all the findings and recommendations set in a mission report will be seriously taken into consideration.

Mr. President,

Human rights are all about collective responsibility. We belong to one global community and we are responsible for what happens in that community. The primary responsibility to guarantee human rights is self evident duty of every state, but a single nation must be supported by international activities and partners. The Human Rights Council is a body that assists in these international efforts by providing forum for substantive work on human rights issues. As being a global institution, Council’s special mandate should be appropriately and equally implemented. However we would like to note that four out of six special sessions were devoted only for one region. Lithuania considers that planning of the Council’s special sessions should be based on a reasonable regional necessity and it should reflect the entire world’s human rights protection and promotion needs.

Lithuania does believe in and expect for an efficient work of the Council, which would allow us to reach the goals that were set up when the UN reform process has started. I believe that the Council will function as an objective, constructive and non-selective instrument of the United Nations to fight human rights violations all over the world.

Mr. President,

Lithuania believes that the Human Rights Council will embody new culture of human rights and the highest human rights standards will become the key factor for all of us. Success of the Council’s work is in our hands therefore I would encourage everyone to hear the voice of the people who are in the greatest demand today for the protection of their rights and freedoms. Lithuania hopes that the Council will fully assimilate its future role and will impact particular human rights situations using the synergy of institutional capacity and strength of fundamental ideas.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.