Saudi Arabia pledged $1 million to the UN human rights office before it won a seat on the UN Human Rights Council in November 2013, paving the way for its chairmanship — just announced by the UN last week on September 17th — of the influential UNHRC committee that interiews and shortlists candidates to become UN human rights investigators.
From the Saudi pre-election submission:
Voluntary pledges
42. Should Saudi Arabia be selected as a member for the period 2014-2016, it pledges to continue to support tirelessly the work of the Human Rights Council. It will continue to adhere to Human Rights Council resolutions, cooperate with its mechanisms and actively participate in its work during its regular and special sessions and in the session of the Social Forum.
43. Saudi Arabia furthermore affirms its commitment to:
• Continue to shoulder its humanitarian responsibility to protect and promote human rights at the national level by enacting legislation and establishing mechanisms that strengthen the institutional framework for human rights, and by adopting best practices in the field of human rights;
• Support the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights by contributing $1 million over a period of five years, starting 2012, in order to enable the Office to carry out its work and activities, including work referred to it by the Human Rights Council;
• Support the human rights bodies and mechanisms of the United Nations and cooperate constructively with them, particularly the Human Rights Council and its subsidiary mechanisms, including the universal periodic review mechanism, so as to ensure their continuation and success. These bodies provide assessments of the human rights situation in the world that call on States to cooperate with one another and benefit from each other’s experience, and constitute a single forum for dialogue among States that is conducive to the exchange of best practices and experiences in the field of human rights;
• Cooperate with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the specialized agencies of the United Nations with regard to meeting the country’s training needs in the protection of human rights, building national capacity and identifying additional ways of protecting and promoting human rights.
