NO CULTURAL, SOCIAL OR RELIGIOUS EXCUSE FOR DENYING WOMEN EQUAL RIGHTS FOREIGN MINISTER OF FINLAND TELLS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Press Release
HR/CN/717
NO CULTURAL, SOCIAL OR RELIGIOUS EXCUSE FOR DENYING WOMEN EQUAL RIGHTS FOREIGN MINISTER OF FINLAND TELLS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
19960327 Non-Governmental Oranizations Call for Vigorous Support of Economic Development in Poorer CountriesGENEVA, 26 March (UN Information Service) -- The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland called this afternoon for greater progress in protecting the rights of women and girls, remarking that while the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women had passed far-reaching measures, following up those steps was just as important.
No reasons -- whether cultural, social or religious -- could be used as excuses for denying women and girls equal rights, or for continuing harmful traditional practices that violated human rights, said the Minister, Tarja Halonen. Finland regarded the promotion of the rights of women, children, minorities and indigenous peoples as a priority.
In addition to hearing the Foreign Minister's address, the Commission continued its debate on questions of economic rights and development in the world's poorer countries. A number of non-governmental organizations pleaded for greater development aid from international and bilateral sources. A representative of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies noted that the number of people living in absolute poverty, or denied the basic minimum needs, was estimated at 1.5 billion -- mostly in the developing countries. In south Asian countries, 49 per cent of the population lived below the poverty line. In India, despite the process of economic reform, the poverty ratio continued to remain static at 39 per cent, and there were high rates of infant mortality and low life expectancy, the representative said.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the World Federation of Democratic Youth said poor nations were facing mounting challenges that jeopardized their efforts to develop. They were becoming more and more isolated and conflict between developing and developed countries was deepening. Such countries were separated into two blocs, he maintained, one with economic rights, and one without.
The representative of Sri Lanka spoke, as did representatives of the following non-governmental organizations: International Federation of Social
Workers; Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund; World Society of Victimology; World Federation of Democratic Youth; International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies; World Peace Council; and International Association against Torture.
India and Iraq spoke in exercise of the right of reply.
Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland
TARJA HALONEN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, said her Government was concerned about reductions in the resources of the Centre for Human Rights. Cutting funds for human rights activities was both tragic and short-sighted, and priority areas such as the human rights of women must not bear an unfair share of the cuts.
Europe's recent socio-political changes had placed stresses on social and cultural structures, she said, and as often happened, women, children and minorities suffered most from wrenching social transformation. Finland regarded the promotion of the rights of women, children, minorities and indigenous peoples as a priority. The Vienna and Beijing World Conferences had reaffirmed that the rights of women and of girl children were integral parts of the system of universal human rights.
She said the Beijing Conference had specified that the human rights of women included sexual and reproductive rights -- a specific mention of something often unmentioned, and still unmentionable by some. For the first time, sexual rights had been explicitly referred to in a human rights document. The Conference also had clearly stated that no reasons -- whether cultural, social or religious -- could be used as excuses for denying women and girls equal rights, or for continuing harmful traditional practices that violated human rights. In Beijing, the girl child had been recognized as a full-fledged subject of human rights.
Now it was important to make sure that follow-up to the Conference realized the high expectations raised in Beijing, she said. The human rights of the child continued to be grossly violated, and such scandalous practices as child prostitution, child pornography and the outright sale of children, all on the rise, must be battled vigorously.
Statements
BERNARD A.B. GOONETILLEKE (Sri Lanka) said the Declaration on the Right to Development pointed out that this right was inalienable. Developing countries felt that effective international cooperation should be enhanced, as emphasized by the Declaration, by the Vienna World Conference and by other world summits, to make the right to development a reality. It was far from being so now. Equitable economic relations and a favourable economic environment were prerequisites to lasting progress. Sound development policy
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at the national level also was necessary, as was better functioning of the Bretton Woods system. It was regrettable that the working group on the right to development could not reach consensus at its last session. Serious efforts should be made to re-initiate its work in an open and transparent atmosphere, using an integrated approach.
ELLEN MOURAVIEFF-APOSTOL, of the International Federation of Social Workers, said human rights instruments had put great stress on human dignity, a theme regularly taken up by United Nations summits and world conferences. Poor people were often referred to as "the poor" in a depersonalizing manner. Article 25 of the Vienna Declaration of the World Conference on Human Rights had affirmed that extreme poverty and social exclusion constituted a violation of human dignity and that urgent steps were necessary to achieve a better knowledge of extreme poverty and its causes. Two years later, the 1995 World Summit for Social Development affirmed in Article 9 of the Copenhagen Declaration that social development needed to be enhanced. Little of those good words and intentions had been matched by actions. The Organization called upon governments to re-examine priorities and to assert the importance of human dignity in deed and words.
NEIL A.F. POPOVIC, of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, said he wished to address the question of human rights and the environment. The report of the Secretary-General on the subject included some insightful comments. However, despite its encouraging findings, the report was notable for the small number of opinions it contained. The request for comments had not been widely distributed, it seemed, and that had limited participation. The Sierra Club urged the Commission to request the Secretary-General to continue to work on this topic for one more year.
Turning to country-specific situations, he said that in Nigeria, Burma and other countries, oil and gas conglomerates violated, in their pursuit of profits, the human rights of people closely tied to the environment. The subject of toxic waste and human rights also deserved vigorous continued attention by the Special Rapporteur.
SYED NAZIR GILANI, of the World Society of Victimology, said that one of the main suggestions made by non-governmental organizations to the working group on the right to development was that "every individual had the right to be placed in the best possible conditions for the full realization of his human potential, which entailed the duty of the State to organize society in a manner conducive to that realization.... The State had the primary role and responsibility to implement the right to development in both its individual and collective dimensions". But although those ideals formed the operational edifice of the contractual behaviour between the State and the human person, recent press reports confirmed that they vanished in the case of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir. To realize the right to development, the contractual behaviour of a State with the human person and the international
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community, under the treaties, conventions and other agreements reached, needed to be encouraged and monitored.
ABDELBAGI GEBRIEL, of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, said poor nations were facing mounting challenges that jeopardized their efforts to develop; they were becoming more and more isolated. In effect, they were losing control, and the international economic system was wresting from poorer countries their control over the lives of citizens. The conflict between developing and developed countries was deepening; they were separated into two blocs, one with economic rights, and one without. Sanctions, particularly economic ones, inflicted on developing countries were too severe. They amounted to massive violations of human rights. The Organization would hold a seminar on meeting the goals of the Copenhagen Social Summit, and encouraged other non-governmental organizations and delegations to attend.
GOVIND NARAIN SRIVASTAVA, of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, said that as the next century approached and mankind celebrated the astounding advances in science and technology that successive generations had achieved, a question increasingly demanding urgent attention was whether the path of development adopted by countries needed to be reformed to address the growing problem of poverty and destitution. The number of people living in absolute poverty, or denied the basic minimum needs, was estimated at 1.5 billion -- mostly in the developing countries. In south Asian countries, 49 per cent of the population lived below the poverty line.
In an age of global interlinkages, poverty could not be tackled in isolation by different countries, he said. Nor did it lend itself to any single global prescription. Country-specific programmes had to be developed, but the international community could play a major role in assisting the process by calling upon governments to at least ensure that all segments of their populations had equal opportunity to benefit from whatever programmes were initiated. The Institute for Non-Aligned Studies urged the international community, among other things, to mobilize all actors in the developmental process, starting with community organizations of poor people.
REFAQAT ALI KHAN, of the World Peace Council, said development implied progress towards a higher standard of living and an increase in the ability of individuals to control their own lives. However, in many cases, development also wreaked havoc on the environment and was gravely damaging the planet. Inevitably, development led to conflict in which powerful groups usurped the rights of weaker ones, as when infrastructure and heavy industry upset social balances and caused environmental degradation and the usurpation of agricultural land. The world community must monitor the performance of States and industries in carrying out development, since the process knew no national boundaries. Access to the fruits of scientific and technological advancement should be made available to all, and the problems of the heavy foreign debt burdens of poor countries and of rapidly growing populations must be faced.
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ROGER WAREHAM, of the International Association against Torture, said the Copenhagen Alternative Declaration spoke of the necessity of placing people at the centre of the development process. It also said that social development could only be achieved if all human rights of all individuals and peoples were fulfilled. In three General Assembly resolutions, the international community had made it resoundingly clear that it did not approve of the attempts of the United States, through its embargo, to force its narrow national agenda upon the sovereign State of Cuba.
It was that "big stick" mentality and arrogance which was an obstacle to the right to development, he continued. Reports indicated that the Security Council sanctions against Libya arising out of the Lockerbie incident were creating tremendous hardships for the people of that country and were certainly obstructing its right to development. The Commission could not take serious steps to secure the right to development until it established clearly and unequivocally that all of its members were subject to the same standard of scrutiny.
Right of Reply
ARUNDHATI GHOSE (India) said it was with a sense of sorrow, rather than anger, that she took the floor in response to a statement made this morning by Pakistan. The Indian delegation had so far been extremely restrained in responding to unprovoked and gratuitous attacks, but her delegation's patience could wear thin. The issue between India and Pakistan was not a human rights issue -- it was quite simply Pakistan's request for Indian territory. The only human rights dimension related to that issue was Pakistan's sponsorship of cross-border terrorism, and the hiring of mercenaries to achieve that end, which resulted in gross violations of the human rights of India's citizens. Jammu and Kashmir was and would always remain an integral part of India. Questioning the irreversible fact of its accession to India was to question the formation of Pakistan itself.
MOHAMMED SALMAN (Iraq) said the Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom had this morning referred to the fact that Iraq was not cooperating with the Special Rapporteur. Iraq had hoped he would be objective in his appraisal. Iraq had indeed cooperated with the Special Rapporteur and anticipated continuing to do so. But the Special Rapporteur had gone beyond his mandate and involved himself in certain political acts during his mission. His report had ignored the official point of view and given a political character to his mission, something which had not been within his mandate. Iraq had responded to all the claims in the Special Rapporteur's report. The Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom should be encouraged to set aside political considerations.
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