By a majority vote of 187 in favour, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted draft resolution XIX, "United Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre for South-West Asia and the Arab Region", which was previously adopted by the third Committee of the General Assembly at its 74th session, by a majority of 180 votes out of a total of 193 votes.
Adopting the resolution, the UN General Assembly recognised that the centre has made progress in the promotion of human rights and advocacy in the region and will continue to strengthen its effectiveness. It encouraged the centre's engagement with other United Nations regional offices to strengthen its work and avoid duplication.
The UN General Assembly, also expressed its appreciation for the success of the assistance provided by the United Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre for South-West Asia and the Arab Region, which is based in Doha, through capacity building activities in the field of human rights.
In this regard, the General Assembly noted the capacity-building activities provided by the centre in the areas of civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights, such as activities implemented in the areas of freedom of opinion and expression, combating hate speech and incitement to discrimination and preventing violent extremism.
The group sponsoring the resolution witnessed the joining of the United States, Turkey, Afghanistan, Australia, El Salvador, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Sultanate of Oman, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Fiji, Ghana, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and Venezuela.
In the resolution, the General Assembly recalled the centre's full commitment to ensuring more effective and efficient implementation of its mandate, and welcomed the expansion of awareness-raising activities undertaken to include the League of Arab States and additional countries in the region, and the increasing number of beneficiaries, including youth.
In its decision, the UN General Assembly stressed the role of the centre as a source of expertise at the regional level and the need to meet an increasing number of requests for training and documentation, in languages including Arabic.
The United Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre for South-West Asia and the Arab Region was established by General Assembly Resolution 60/153 of 2005, and is based in Doha.
The centre is in charge of training and documentation activities in accordance with international human rights standards, and providing support to governments, United Nations agencies and programmes, national human rights institutions and NGOs in this regard within the region.
