HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE OPENS FIFTY-FIFTH SESSION

18 October 1995

Press Release
HR/CT/431

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE OPENS FIFTY-FIFTH SESSION

19951018 GENEVA, 17 October (UN Information Service) -- A new partnership between men and women, based on the sharing of power and of responsibilities and ensuring the active role of women in both public and private sectors, should be the principal objective, José Ayala Lasso, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said this morning as he opened the Human Rights Committee's fifty-fifth session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Ten years after the Nairobi Conference on Women, equality between men and women was far from being achieved, the High Commissioner said. The Fourth World Conference on Women, held recently in Beijing, had underlined the numerous obstacles which women continued to face regarding the full enjoyment of their human rights.

The High Commissioner told the Committee that the Declaration and Programme of Action of the Beijing Conference had reaffirmed the fundamental principle of the indivisibility and inalienability of the rights of women and girl children; those were integral parts of the universal rights acknowledged for all human persons. The interests of women should be taken into account, in an effective manner, at the national level and in United Nations organs, particularly those working for the respect and protection of all human rights, whether civil, cultural, economic, political or social.

The speaker noted that the Committee's current session coincided with the emergence of the United Nations financial crisis. He hoped that the crisis would be overcome rapidly so that the Organization could fulfil its role in the international protection of human rights.

The Committee also adopted its agenda and the list of issues to be taken up within the context of their periodic reports with the United Kingdom (concerning Hong Kong), Sweden and Afghanistan.

According to the provisional timetable, the Committee will take up the fourth periodic report of the United Kingdom in connection with Hong Kong on 19 and 20 October, the initial report of Estonia on 23 and 25 October, the fourth periodic report of Sweden on 23 and 25 October, and the second periodic report of Afghanistan on 26 and 27 October.

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