HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONTINUES DEBATE ON RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
HR/CN/720
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONTINUES DEBATE ON RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
19960401 GENEVA, 28 March (UN Information Service) -- The neglect of economic, social, and cultural development by the United Nations system was a source of concern to the developing world, the representative of Malaysia told the Commission on Human Rights this morning.During the past week, the members and observers of the Commission had been examining to what extent economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development had been realized, he said. To continue polemical debates in that area was counterproductive and kept the Commission from focusing on the true challenges of development. There was no need in pursuing those challenges to assert or impose social diktats, cultural norms, or systems and standards of governance upon others.
The development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, as well as respect for human rights, were general objectives of the European Union's development-cooperation policy, said the representative of Italy. The corollary to European Union aid programmes was that serious and persistent violations of human rights, or interruptions of the democratic process, called for appropriate reaction.
A number of speakers stressed that the ultimate responsibility for development lay with individual States, but the representative of the United Republic of Tanzania said the fact that there were nearly 2 billion people around the world denied a decent living, and that the number of least developed countries was increasing rather than decreasing, was enough to indicate that there was something defective in the existing international economic order.
The representative of Brazil recommended that the United Nations Centre for Human Rights, under the guidance of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, enhance its capacity for promoting the right to development. The call was echoed by the representative of India, who also expressed support for the establishment of a new mechanism, such as an intergovernmental group of experts, to elaborate a strategy for realizing that right.
This morning,the Commission also considered two other items: the status of the International Human Rights Covenants; and the effective functioning of bodies established pursuant to United Nations human rights instruments.
According to the representative of China, some treaty bodies established to monitor the implementation of United Nations human rights instruments had not fulfilled their functions in strict compliance with their mandates. Indeed, they had addressed issues outside their terms of reference and duplicated the work of other bodies.
For New Zealand, the problem lay in the fact that States having ratified all six of the core human rights instruments faced substantial reporting burdens, while reports to different treaty bodies often duplicated each other in important areas. Consolidating the six treaty bodies into one body competent to consider reporting on all instruments would clearly simplify existing reporting obligations, as States would be required to submit just one comprehensive document.
Statements were also made by the representatives of the Russian Federation, Netherlands, Cuba, Australia, Bhutan, Algeria, Canada, Indonesia, Iraq, Senegal, Afghanistan, Costa Rica and Portugal.
Statements in Debate
HARON SIRAJ (Malaysia) said the neglect of, or lack of resources devoted to economic, social, and cultural development by the United Nations system was a source of concern for the developing world. There was no need in pursuing these ends to assert or impose social diktats, cultural norms, or systems and standards of governance upon others; continuing polemical debates in that area was counterproductive and kept the Commission from focusing on the true challenges of development. Malaysia, a pluralistic, multicultural society, in its quest for development and modernization, had learned many lessons which, if not factored in, would have torn it apart. Malaysia supported the creation of an intergovernmental group of experts to devise a positive, cooperative plan of action for achieving the right to development.
ANTONIO SALGADO (Brazil) said the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights had reaffirmed the universality of human rights and brought to light the relationship between democracy, development and human rights. Consensus resolutions would enhance the weight and credibility of the Commission and would increase the chances that its recommendations would be endorsed by the Economic and Social Council. Clear strategies and work programmes must be devised to support domestic and international efforts for the realization of the right to development. The Economic and Social Council could define clear, precise and practical objectives to be pursued by the United Nations system as a whole. The Centre for Human Rights, under the guidance of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, should also enhance its capacity for promoting the right to development.
HEMANT KRISHAN SINGH (India) said progress on the right to development had been slow and had not been able to advance beyond elaboration of
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conceptual issues; the time had come for substance. India supported the setting up of a new mechanism, perhaps an intergovernmental group of experts, to elaborate a strategy for realizing the right to development. That group could report back to the Commission at its next session. Another essential step was the setting up of a special branch within the Centre for Human Rights to focus on development issues. Regretfully, delegations addressing the Commission on economic and development matters had been almost exclusively those of the South -- there was a need for world-wide commitment. India had accorded the highest priority to development, and considered it a participatory, multi-level process.
ZHANG YISHAN (China) said some treaty bodies established pursuant to United Nations human rights instruments had not fulfilled their functions in strict compliance with their mandates. Indeed, they had addressed issues outside their terms of reference and duplicated the work of other bodies. The delegation of China believed that the system for reporting to those bodies needed to be simplified and that the treaty bodies should discharge their mandates in a responsible, objective, fair and non-selective manner. The Government of China conscientiously fulfilled its reporting obligations under the Conventions after canvassing the views of various governmental bodies, social groups and non-governmental organizations so that the reports reflected as objectively as possible the implementation of the treaties in China. The Government was convinced that the three reports it submitted to different treaty bodies last year would enable the international community to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the situation in China.
P. TORELLA DI ROMAGNANO (Italy), speaking on behalf of the European Union, as well as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Cyprus and Malta, said the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, as well as respect for human rights, were general objectives of the Union's development-cooperation policy. The corollary to European Union aid programmes was that serious and persistent violations of human rights or interruptions of the democratic process called for appropriate reaction. Thus, agreements between the European Union and third countries included a suspension clause enabling the Union to react immediately, if necessary, in case of violations. Any denial of human rights was an obstacle to development, while development that failed to respect all human rights inevitably was incomplete. Durable solutions to development could only be reached through simultaneous national and international efforts.
SERGUEI L. TCHOUMAREV (Russian Federation) said that in his country, the groundwork had been laid for a market economy, but it was necessary to strike a balance between economic development and social progress. His Government recognized the important role played by international financial institutions in economic programmes, but it was necessary for them to take account of economic and social rights. Inadequate economic development of a State could
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not be justification for the violation of fundamental human rights. The importance of the universal ratification of human rights treaties must be stressed. The Russian Federation supported the mounting of studies to examine the implementation of international covenants and obstacles to their ratification; it was in favour of United Nations treaty bodies being actively involved in developing human rights standards and would welcome their liaison with regional human rights bodies.
PETER VAN WULFFTEN PALTHE (Netherlands) said implementation of economic, social, and cultural rights was complicated, particularly because a number of them were not amenable to judicial enforcement. Cooperation between the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) could be useful. Good, clear indicators on such rights also were needed, and the Netherlands recommended that the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights study the possibility of using the human development index and human freedom index, both developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to measure progress. In the end, State accountability was the critical factor. The proposed draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights must address the questions already raised by the Netherlands relating to indicators and government responsibility and accountability.
JULIO CESAR GONZALEZ MARCHANTE (Cuba) said United Nations statistics showed a serious deterioration of living standards in developing countries, where more than 80 per cent of the world's population lived. A lack of access to commodity markets; debt payment and servicing; the negative flow of resources, and lack of access to technology were among the many disadvantages those countries faced. Foreign debt continued to grow despite efforts to halt its escalation. Cuba had taken an active part in the working group on the right to development; its work must continue so that appropriate strategies could be found to promote that right. In that regard, Cuba welcomed the proposal to establish a specific branch within the Centre for Human Rights which would concentrate on a programme of work concerned with the right to development.
CRISPIN CONROY (Australia) said genuine improvement in human rights depended on universal ratification of human rights instruments and on keeping reservations to such instruments at a minimum. The very growth and success of the human rights treaty system was now threatening its effectiveness through mounting workloads and backlogs, as well as a lack of resources and wasteful overlapping and duplication. Priority should be given to achieving universal ratification by the year 2000 and making the treaty system more effective and efficient. That could include reducing the number of treaty bodies and the number of reports required of countries, and replacing comprehensive periodic reports with thematic, specifically tailored reports. Development of treaty-based databases was a good idea, as was the setting up of a meeting of
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independent experts to suggest ways and means of reducing the number of treaty bodies.
JIGMI Y. THINLEY (Bhutan) said when life was threatened, all other rights became very remote; human rights could not be viewed as grants and concessions to be extracted from governments. Individuals must have, in the end, the will to attain human rights, and must join together in a national process. That presupposed sufficient freedom, including freedom from poverty and deprivation. Developed countries must make a genuine commitment to assist developing nations; they must meet the official development aid target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP), help ease foreign-debt burdens and soften the impact of structural adjustment programmes. Economic inequality was dividing the global family. Bhutan was pursuing a balanced, humanistic policy of development for its citizens, and supported convening a group of international experts to come up with a strategy for successful global pursuit of equitable economic development.
MOHAMED HASSAINE (Algeria) said there was a dichotomy between the rights of the individual and collective rights. The servicing of the debt burden in developing countries had been to the detriment of the realization of the rights of the individual. It was urgent for developing countries to devise measures and a machinery for resisting the "globalization" process. The realization of the right to development went beyond a purely economic approach. The absence of objective standards remained a substantial handicap to the assessment of progress towards the realization of the right to development. His delegation supported the proposal to set up a new working group to draw up a strategy for the right to development.
LEONARD LEGAULT (Canada) said development fortunately was no longer a debating ground between the North and South; all were moving towards mutual understanding of the issues involved, and Canada hoped it would now be possible to decide what steps should be taken next. The "Group of Seven" summit in Halifax in June 1995 had encouraged steps to reduce the multilateral debt burdens of the poorest countries; called for integration of the poorest countries into the world trade system; and undertaken to pursue appropriate macroeconomic and structural policies to maintain the momentum of growth while recognizing the particular role of the Bretton Woods institutions in promoting macroeconomic stability. The new structure of the Centre for Human Rights should be able to better provide advice on development, and Canada welcomed the efforts of the High Commissioner to establish contacts with international financial institutions and development agencies. The key to implementation of the right to development was coordination.
MAKMUR WIDODO (Indonesia) said some countries or groups of countries had been reluctant to recognize the right to development for fear that the status of civil and political rights would suffer; they thought that what one would gain, the other would lose. Problems such as poverty, unemployment, and
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social disintegration traditionally had been the responsibility of States, but now were seen correctly as global problems requiring concerted, cooperative global effort. While developing nations must strive towards economic vitality, developed nations also must live up to their responsibilities in that regard. Development had to be a two-way street, with active participation of both the haves and the have-nots. The proposed group of experts to develop a strategy for development was a good idea, and in general the Commission must approach the subject in a new way, leaving behind its former sterile and unproductive rhetoric.
BARZAN AL-TIKRITI (Iraq) said development could not be attained when heavy economic penalties were imposed on a State from the outside. The use of such penalties, most often imposed against developing countries, had increased recently. Iraq had suffered greatly from the sanctions imposed against it through the influence of the United States. Indeed, in 1990, the former United States Secretary of State had threatened that an international economic embargo would take Iraq back to the pre-industrial era -- an outright declaration of the intention to destroy entirely the development process in Iraq. The working group on the right to development should conduct a deep, comprehensive study of the impacts on developing States of economic sanctions imposed by the Security Council, and determine how effective such sanctions were in achieving their intended goals.
IBRA DEGUENE KA (Senegal) said over 1 million people all over the world suffered from chronic hunger, while 800 million had fallen below the poverty line. The dichotomy between civil rights and economic rights, or between individual and collective rights, was a reflection of a difference in ideological approach. As indicated in the report of the working group on the right to development, the obstacle to the right to development was its multi-dimensional nature. Every State should avoid harming other States and their peoples in carrying out its foreign policy. Senegal welcomed the work of the working group and considered that its mandate should be extended.
ALI MCHUMO (United Republic of Tanzania) said the founder of his nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, once correctly observed that "human rights begin with breakfast". His country was pursuing development both by stressing individual self-reliance and by providing State support for economic growth and public well-being. The fact that there were nearly 2 billion people living in abject poverty, and that the number was increasing, indicated that there was something defective in the international economic order, however. Steps must be taken to provide developing countries with fair value for their labour and fair prices for their raw materials. The international community must act to improve trade conditions, ease foreign debts, increase development aid, and share useful technologies. It might be useful to set a target of eliminating the category of least developed countries over a number of years through a kind of global Marshall Plan, mobilizing whatever resources were necessary.
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ELIZABETH WILSON (New Zealand) said States, such as New Zealand, that had ratified all six of the core human rights instruments faced substantial reporting burdens, and yet reports to different treaty bodies often duplicated each other in important areas. Reporting burdens fell still more heavily on developing countries. New Zealand supported the reform initiatives now under way and proposed for the treaty system, while stressing that States must none the less meet their reporting obligations under the instruments and avoid overdue reports, even if there were backlogs in review of the reports. Adequate resources must be dedicated to the new treaty system. Consolidating the six treaty bodies into one body competent to consider reports on all instruments would clearly simplify existing reporting obligations, as States would be required to submit just one comprehensive document.
HUMAYAN TANDAR (Afghanistan) said he wished to focus on a grave threat to development: the anti-personnel land-mine. The victims were already too numerous to contemplate, and the toll continued to mount. Afghanistan was populated by people crippled by land-mines, and some 15 million of those devices still lay like traps under the soil. So many mothers had seen their children killed by mines, so many farmers had tried to scratch a living from the soil, losing their lives instead. The manufacture and sale of those mines must stop; planting them was the act of cowards. Funding was needed to help countries with the expensive process of removing those morbid instruments. Nothing but a total ban on those disgusting weapons, including the destruction of existing stockpiles, would suffice.
MANUEL DENGO (Costa Rica), said the Plan of Action emanating from the Vienna Conference represented an importance advance in human rights. The political and economic changes in the world pointed to the need for countries to adapt to the new order. In that regard, Costa Rica had directed resources from its military budget into education, health and social security; that had led to significant improvements in the country. Costa Rica also considered it fundamental for development to be achieved with absolute respect for nature. The Alliance for Sustainable Development in Central America had encouraged a global approach which promoted and respected the environment. However, it was essential to have international cooperation and solidarity in order to make the right to development a reality through the world.
PAULO CUNHA ALVES (Portugal) said it was important to continue to study the question of extreme poverty, which entailed not only material misery, but also social and cultural exclusion -- a blanket non-participation in associative life and an inability to obtain justice. Similarly, it was a good idea, as had recently been undertaken by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to look into the question of such rights as they applied to the elderly, who often were vulnerable. The Committee's recent mission of technical assistance to Panama in connection with economic, social, and
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cultural rights had shown the usefulness of follow-up missions and had increased general understanding of the difficulties of implementing these rights. Also deserving greater study were the problems of women in realizing such rights. Structural adjustment programmes should continue to be reviewed to ameliorate their effects on the daily lives of citizens of poorer countries.
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