London, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2011 -- The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jean-Paul Adam spoke of the “collective responsibility” of every Seychellois to protect each other’s fundamental human rights during his opening address at the ‘Implementation of Human Rights in Seychelles’ workshop launched earlier today at the STC conference Centre.

“In Seychelles, our Constitution points the way on what we, as Seychellois, consider to be our fundamental rights. It also outlines our duties as citizens. The two are inseparable. It is only by observing our duties to our nation, that we can truly respect the rights of all its citizens,” said Minister Adam, “While we balance our rights and responsibilities- the Government aims to continually improve the framework in which citizens’ rights can be defended. It was in this context that the Human Rights Commission has been set up.”

The Minister went on to say that: “As with most human rights issues, no purpose is served by throwing blame in any particular direction. Ultimately it is an issue that affects us all. The solution also lies with all of us and not with any particular individual or state. We have a collective responsibility....There should never be a monopoly on ideas. We all know that Seychelles is open to the world. We want to learn from the world and we are also ready to share our experiences so others can learn.”

Today’s workshop formed part of the United Nations Human Rights Council review of the human rights records of all 192 member States under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) which is a UN mechanism. The UPR process consists of a cross-sector interactive dialogue where a national report is produced and presented to the UPR Working Group in May 2011 in Geneva.

Seychelles’ first National report is being done with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Regional Bureau for the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) based in South Africa.

The Opening Ceremony also included an opening addresses by Mrs. Leyla Tegmo-Reddy, the Seychelles UNDP Resident Representative and Mr. Ronny Govinden, the Seychelles Attorney General.