Panel discussion on the issue of national policies and human rights (HRC res. 27/26)

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
28th session
Panel discussion on the issue of national policies and human rights (HRC res. 27/26)
19 March 2015
Intervention by Greece

Mr. President, distinguished panelists,

Greece aligns fully itself with the statement delivered by the European Union.
As other speakers, we believe that national policies are in a way incomplete even not effective, if not based on a human rights perspective.

In this connection, we commend the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights on its report on technical assistance and capacity-building options for integrating human rights into national policies and on the overall work of the OHCHR in this area.

As highlighted by the EU representative, the UN entities, including OHCHR, provided practical guidance to EU member States for the application of a human rights-based approach in the transposition of the directive on preventing and combatting trafficking into their national legislation. OHCHR also provided technical assistance to the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) in aligning its policies with the new framework. In close cooperation with other partners OHCHR provided legal and methodological advice for the development of two specialized training packages for border guards, in compliance with international and regional human rights standards. The above are important contributions also to my country as Greece is one of the countries facing diverse challenges in the field of migration. 

We are pleased to report that Greece has published last year its first ‘‘Action Plan on Human Rights’’ which aims exactly in integrating a human rights perspective in a wide range of public policies. The plan looks at different rights especially of vulnerable groups such as women, children, migrants, persons with disabilities and seeks to identify how these rights are integrated into public policies and how they can be reinforced. 

We are confident that the debate today and the report which will come out of this Panel Discussion will be useful tools in our constant efforts to further integrate human rights into our public policies.

I thank you.