First human rights consultations in SCO history

BEIJING. KAZINFORM - On November 22-23 in Beijing under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan SCO Foreign Ministries held consultations on the matters of interaction among international organizations in human rights. The meeting was held as part of implementation of the Cooperation Program between the Foreign Ministries of SCO member countries for the period of 2016.

"During the consultations the participants exchanged opinions and proposals of further consolidation of cooperation. In particular the central topics was stimulation of coordination and interaction of the UN human rights institutions, prevention of dilution of the intergovernmental nature of the UN work, politization and broad interpretation of international human rights commitments", Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan in SCO Secretariat, Advisor Yerik Ashimov told in the interview to Kazinform.

According to Ashimov, the participants of the consultations noted the attempts of broad interpretation of the existing human rights commitments including creation of special protection for certain groups such as sexual minority, human rights defenders, bloggers and others, and also similar tendencies in the activity of treaty bodies.

"Taking into account that these have been the first human rights consultations in the SCO history, the parties concluded to hold them on a regular basis", Ashimov said.