General Statement/Explanation of Position by the United States of America
as delivered by Jason Mack
Human Rights Council, 37th Session
Geneva, March 23,2018
Mr. President,
The United States strongly supports the renewal of the mandate of the Independent Expert on Mali. We wish to clarify our understanding of the language in a few parts of the text of the resolution adopted on Technical Cooperation on Mali.
We understand operational paragraph 4’s language about ‘illegal recruitment of children and their use as soldiers’ to refer both to the illegal recruitment of child soldiers and to the illegal use of child soldiers.
We wish to reiterate that states are responsible for fulfilling their applicable international obligations and commitments when countering terrorism and violent extremism, including their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as applicable.
Additionally, and more broadly, we reiterate our views regarding references to the International Criminal Court enumerated in our Item 4 General Statement to the extent they are applicable to resolutions adopted under Agenda Item 10.
Thank you.