HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONTINUES DEBATE ON RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
HR/CN/718
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONTINUES DEBATE ON RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
19960327 GENEVA, 27 March (UN Information Service) -- The time had come to realize the right to development, representatives of developing countries told the Commission on Human Rights this morning.According to the representative of Peru, all human rights were linked to the right to development. Pointing out that only four countries had reached the goal of devoting 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) to development aid, he said now was the time to stop rhetorical delaying tactics and actually do something. The working group on the right to development should try again to reach consensus and find strategies that would resolve development problems.
What was needed to realize that right was a social contract at the global level -- not a piece-meal approach, but a comprehensive and integrated strategy, the representative of Bangladesh said. The working group should make all-out efforts to fulfil its mandate and recommend effective strategies for helping developing countries.
Disagreement in the working group was also a cause for disappointment for South Africa. Its representative recalled that the working group's report had been adopted without consensus. In an annex to the report, the working group's Cuban experts wrote that the document had been adopted in spite of their clearly expressed opposition. According to the experts, "parts of the report are worded in a way that could serve as grounds for actions that would run counter to the very essence of the right to development and, in particular, for actions directed against those who have been its main proponents -- the developing countries".
Other speakers touched on the effects of structural adjustment programmes on the realization of the right to development. Foreign-debt payments and structural adjustment regimes undertaken by the Government of Venezuela were hurting its efforts to help its citizens, that country's representative said. Chile called for burden-sharing among all actors in pursuing structural adjustment.
Also this morning, the Commission heard the Mexican Government representative to the peace talks in Chiapas. It also heard additional statements on the realization of economic, social and cultural rights; the status of the International Covenants on Human Rights; and the effective
functioning of bodies established pursuant to United Nations human rights instruments.
The following Commission members took the floor this morning: Bangladesh, Venezuela, Mauritania, Chile, Mexico and Peru. The observers from Iran, South Africa, Czech Republic, and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), also took part, as did the following non-governmental organizations: Four Directions Council, Indigenous World Association, Indian Council of Education, Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace, International Indian Treaty Council, and Liberation.
The Commission will devote its afternoon session to a special discussion on the human rights situation in Burundi. Following that, there will be a roundtable discussion with the participation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on Burundi and the Minister for Human Rights of Burundi. The Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Burundi, among others, have been invited to participate.
Statements
The General Coordinator of the delegation of the Government of Mexico to the peace talks in Chiapas, MARCO ANTONIO BERNAL, said one of the causes of the conflict in the Chiapas region was the lack of effective realization of the economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development of the people in the area. The Government had opted for a political solution through legislative means, making Mexico the first country to do that. The Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace with Dignity in Chiapas set out explicitly the level of recognition of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) and acknowledged that it was necessary to address the causes of the conflict. The Law established a negotiating committee to represent the Government.
The Law provided a general framework within which had been adopted rules of conduct for negotiations, he continued. The Government had also given guarantees and logistical support to allow the EZLN to carry out political activities outside the negotiations, such as the National Democratic Convention. That had set the stage for talks on substantive issues, including in relation to indigenous culture and rights. On 16 February, four accords had been signed by the parties. In those accords, the right to self- determination and autonomy was recognized, as were the political, economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples.
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ANWAR HASHIM (Bangladesh) said implementing the Programme of Action of the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights would be a major step towards advancing human rights, as the Declaration gave appropriate emphasis to the right to development. Bangladesh had made sustained efforts to uplift the well-being of its citizens, but resource constraints were limiting what was possible. Despite earnest endeavours, developing countries were facing challenges too daunting to overcome alone -- to vanquish poverty, they needed international help. What was needed was a social contract at the global level -- not a piece-meal approach, but a comprehensive and integrated strategy. The working group on the right to development should make all-out efforts to fulfil its mandate and recommend effective strategies for helping developing countries.
JANETH AROCHA (Venezuela) said human welfare should be the fundamental objective of the right to development. The approach should be interdisciplinary, and development in a multidimensional context should be kept in mind. Equality was important -- development should not be offered to some and not to others -- but it also must be recognized that there was no single model for success. All actors involved in the process should live up to their commitments. Study and consultation were needed to avoid duplication of efforts and loss of time and energy. Venezuela was trying to augment its social and humanitarian programmes, but could not deny that foreign-debt payments and structural adjustment regimes it had undertaken were hurting its efforts to help its citizens.
OULD MOHAMED LEMINE (Mauritania) welcomed the efforts made by the working group on the right to development. Its recommendations had defined the conditions for the realization of an ambitious and legitimate right of humanity to a higher dignity, freedom and welfare. Since the end of the cold war and the establishment of international dialogue and cooperation, the world had experienced a profound change in the field of human rights. However, those changes were seriously affected by the socio-economic imbalances which had reduced the level of development, as well as the living conditions of the populations of the developing countries. That situation could prompt violence and extremism, which, in turn, could create instability and insecurity in several countries.
JORGE BERGUNO (Chile) said it was inaccurate to refer to "first" and "second" generations of human rights, let alone to the current "third" generation, which referred to such rights as development. Actually, all were blended together, and always had been. Chile was trying to design and apply poverty-eradication strategies that also paid attention to fair distribution of income and creation of a just and equal society, reflecting the interdependence of human rights. But internationally, income distribution was growing more skewed -- the rich grew richer, while the bulk of the world's citizens grew poorer. That was economic apartheid. In pursuing structural adjustment, and balancing its needs with development needs, all actors must shoulder their share of the burden.
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JOSE URRUTIA (Peru) said the international system for promoting human rights, as well as various national systems, gave too much attention to civil and political rights and not enough to economic and development rights. Developing countries had real priorities -- for food, health, housing, and education -- and real commitment was needed to meet them. All were linked to the right to development. A lot had been said; now was the time to stop rhetorical delaying tactics and actually do something. Only four donor countries had reached the minimal level of 0.7 per cent of the GNP for overseas development aid. The working group on the right to development should try again, with great dedication, to reach consensus and find strategies that would resolve development problems.
SIROUS NASSERI (Iran) said there existed an interdependent and mutually reinforcing relationship between the right to development and other human rights. Since it had taken decades to arrive at the existing political consensus on the right to development, it was imperative to utilize the opportunity to the maximum towards the full realization of that right, including through further initiatives in the area of norm-setting and follow-up mechanisms. To that end, Iran strongly supported the recommendation of the working group that the Commission on Human Rights should establish a specific programme for its promotion and implementation. The programme should also contain guidelines for the Commission's subsidiary organs and treaty bodies on the way the entire United Nations system and, in particular, the human rights bodies could monitor the realization of the right to development. The Centre for Human Rights should also devote some of its resources for advisory services to assist governments towards the promotion of that right.
JACOBS S. SELEBI (South Africa) said the right to development transcended civil, political, economic and cultural rights. It was one of the most important items on the Commission's agenda. South Africa hoped that, in the current year, the Commission could reach consensus on the issue, both for political and administrative reasons. The report of the working group was disappointing for its lack of consensus -- it had not come up with guidelines or a global strategy. South Africa was seeking integrated and equitable development within its borders and throughout southern Africa. International debt burdens and trade barriers had to be resolved by the world community. There was a desperate need for improved cooperation and coordination between countries and international financial institutions.
ZDENEK VENERA (Czech Republic) said universal ratification of human rights instruments was paramount, along with implementation of those rights. Progress towards universal ratification had been rather slow. The significance of national and regional particularities and cultural and religious differences should not be invoked to undermine the universality of human rights instruments, and countries that had reservations to treaties should try to withdraw them. The Czech Republic was engaged in withdrawing a number of reservations, such as those related to the Convention against
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Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Czech Republic considered it necessary to strengthen the monitoring functions of the United Nations treaty bodies, so that they could more effectively gather facts on human rights situations in individual countries.
ASA GRANADOS, of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said she wished to review the implementation of the Basel Convention, the only international legal instrument entrusted to control international movements of hazardous wastes. The secretariat of the Convention had not been able to contact the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights. Direct contact, in UNEP's opinion, was important so that the Rapporteur could be given a comprehensive view of efforts to control, monitor, and prevent illegal traffic in hazardous wastes. The focal unit recommended for the Centre for Human Rights to follow up the findings of the Special Rapporteur should cooperate closely with the secretariat of the Basel Convention.
REBECCA ADAMSON, of the Four Directions Council, said the Commission could not afford to lose its credibility in safeguarding human rights. The Khwe people of Botswana needed attention and help, or else they would not survive. They needed the Commission's help to protect their rights now -- tomorrow would be too late. In the name of "development", the Botswana Government had stripped the Khwe, or Bushmen, of their culture, land, resources and livelihood. They no longer had any land. Commercial cattle operations had displaced tens of thousands of Khwe, and more would soon be dispossessed for reasons of tourism. It must be remembered that "development" was not the be all and end all. Ethics must be included and followed, and human rights protected.
K.D. BROOTA, of the Indian Council of Education, said the United Nations, while urging States to implement the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, should keep in mind the evolutionary process in the development of rights in their present form. It was a historical fact that human rights had come through a long term evolutionary social process. In Europe and North America, that process had been going on for several centuries, so a comparison of human rights between developed and developing countries could be misleading. One should always consider the time-frame and the relative degree of economic, social and political progress and the established cultures of societies in different countries before attempting such a comparison. In third world countries, one could not overlook the basic fact that human rights began to be understood in a fundamental sense only when literacy became universal. There might not be a single country where violations and abuse of human rights, at some time or the other, had not taken place. Human rights could not and should not be allowed as a tool of imposition by one State over another. Recent trends, unhappily, showed that that was precisely what was beginning to happen.
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RIYAZ PUNJABI, of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said it was heartening to learn that the majority of States around the world were signatories to the treaties on human rights, but disheartening to reveal that some of those States were observing those Covenants more in breach than in respect. South Asian States were in turmoil. Gross violations of human rights were taking place in some of them, and the reason was that they had not signed the instruments. Pakistan was among them. Pakistan continued to suppress Hindis for demanding self-determination and to butcher Mhajirs because they were asking for fundamental rights. It also continued to send mercenaries to Pakistan-held Kashmir to destabilize an entire region. The Commission must urge Pakistan to sign treaties and protocols on human rights.
RAVI NAIR, of the Asian Buddhists Conference for Peace, said she was speaking on behalf of 12 other Asian non-governmental organizations to bring to the attention of the Commission that authoritarian governments continued to rule in Asia. Regimes carried out cultural cleansing of Tibetans, and of Jummas of the Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh. The East Timorese, meanwhile, demanded their independence. Events in Kashmir and north-eastern India, Karachi in Pakistan, and the South Korean situation demonstrated how human rights were trampled by national security regimes. Human rights violations across the Asia-Pacific region continued to be appalling. Asian countries espousing economic, social, and cultural rights had been using a lack of a certain level of economic development as an excuse for not fully respecting human rights. Yet, some of those same States had not ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
ROSEANNE OLGUIN, of the International Indian Treaty Council, said the right to development for traditional indigenous peoples was not based upon economic concerns alone. It was founded on their fundamental right to define for themselves what constituted development, based on a spiritual relationship to the land, water and natural surroundings, sources of sustenance since the beginning of time. The right to development for indigenous peoples was fundamentally woven with the responsibility to protect the earth from destruction, contamination and exploitation. It was part and parcel of the responsibility to insure the survival of their unborn children.
She said the Gwich'in Athabaskan Indians, who lived above the Arctic Circle in north-east Alaska and north-west Canada, were currently resisting a United States plan to once again consider oil and gas exploration in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That proposed exploration was a direct threat to the survival of the Porcupine River Caribou Herd birthplace and the culture of those peoples.
UMA BHUGTIAR, of Liberation, said that transnational corporations influenced development through foreign direct investment, while controlling 70 per cent of world trade. It was time for the United Nations to create an international regulatory body so that transnationals could not control and
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dominate the economic agenda of the world. They transgressed the sovereignty of States and the principle of self-determination, and some, in carrying out their profit-making activities, gravely violated the human rights of indigenous peoples. The recently publicized plight of the Ogoni tribe showed that there was an ongoing disregard for native populations and their well-being. Human-rights ethics must be shared by corporations, as well as governments, and the laudable codes of behaviour of some corporations, such as Levi's and Reebok, could serve as the basis for developing guidelines for all.
JOSNE QIRALDO, of the Indigenous World Association, said Colombia had set up joint commissions, including private associations and non-governmental organizations, to further human rights and investigate problems. That channel was being used to try to resolve the crisis afflicting the country. Over 20 indigenous people recently had been murdered by government forces and paramilitary crews. The indigenous people of Colombia had occupied their land since the dawn of time, and asked only to be left in peace. Impunity for such crimes had to be abolished. But the efforts of the joint commissions had abruptly been ended precisely because they might prove effective in promoting human rights. One could see the lack of will of the Government. The joint commissions had been set up only because of international pressure. The Commission must appoint a special rapporteur to investigate the situation.
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