COMMISSION HEARS FURTHER DEBATE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF EFFORTS AT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
HR/CN/721
COMMISSION HEARS FURTHER DEBATE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF EFFORTS AT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
19960401 Calls for Increased Foreign Aid, Lowered Debt Burdens Amid Charges of Abuses in Pursuit of Economic ProgressGENEVA, 28 March (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights approached the end of a debate on economic and development rights this afternoon amid pleas for greater aid for the world's poor, interspersed with cautionary words that the rush to development must be kept from trampling on the rights of vulnerable groups or causing environmental damage.
Several developing countries and some non-governmental organizations called for increased foreign aid and reduced debt burdens for the world's poorer nations, and for more socially conscious structural adjustment programmes from international financial institutions.
The representative of Nicaragua said that systems of assistance to least developed countries should be revamped, adding that new mechanisms were needed to correct inequalities created by the new world economic order, and that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should pay greater attention in their loan programmes to social development. What international financial institutions did not understand, he said, was that the social damage caused by current structural adjustment programmes overwhelmed any benefits realized by more stringent economic discipline.
Non-governmental organizations, such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Conference on Religion and Peace, charged, respectively, that the global trend towards open, deregulated labour markets was leading to "a race to the bottom" in which basic labour standards were ignored, and that economic, social, and cultural rights were abused under military rule and through the pursuit of inept or shortsighted development projects, such as the Narmada Dam in India or the Three Gorges Dam in China.
Statements were also made by the Philippines, Australia, Republic of Korea, Ukraine, and Nepal. Pakistan and Bolivia spoke in right of reply. Also addressing the Commission were representatives of the following non-governmental organizations: International Federation of Rural Adult Catholic Movements; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; ICFTU; African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters; World Muslim
Congress; World Conference on Religion and Peace; and World Organization against Torture.
Statements
PIERRE MIOT, of the International Federation of Rural Adult Catholic Movements, described a number of projects in which his organization had been involved in various parts of the world. In Asia, a training seminar had been held dealing with methods of sustainable agriculture. Participants had been convinced that "social" agriculture was the only sustainable agriculture -- a method which respected the environment and the person. In Africa, a seminar had been organized in Benin which had enabled the farmers in the south of the country to analyse the causes of difficulties encountered. In Central America, work had commenced based on three basic axioms: self-management, self-sufficiency and self-determination. In Europe, increasing numbers of peasants had committed themselves to cooperatives in order to offer a more diversified supply of products. Further seminars had been held, concerned with the role played by women in the economy. Two actions were required: a fundamental change of the global political economy and the promotion of a viable social economy.
MICHELA NOONAN, of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, said environmental degradation and human rights violations were sometimes related to militarism. Environmental destruction occurred when countries prepared for war by building, transporting and testing weapons. The fast-growing piles of nuclear waste and so-called "liberated weapons material" were becoming as much of a menace to the world's existence as nuclear weapons themselves. There had been nearly 2,000 nuclear-weapon tests since 1945; the cumulative radiation yield of those tests was more 10 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. There was hope that a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty would be signed before the end of the current year.
DAN CUNNIAH, of the ICFTU, said increasing inequalities in health care, welfare, jobs, and wages for millions of people pointed to the fact that the relationship between economic growth, social development, and equity was not automatic. There should be a new financial order based on an international tax on speculative foreign-exchange transactions; international agreements on capital taxation; and increased monitoring of financial markets. The current open, deregulated labour market was leading to a race to the bottom, where basic labour standards were ignored, the fight to form or join trade unions was suppressed, and trade-union organization was violently repressed in many countries. The Commission should urge the Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization, to take place in Singapore later this year, to look into the emerging issue of trade and labour standards in order to halt the downward spiral in working and living conditions resulting from increased unfair competitive pressure.
- 3 - Press Release HR/CN/721 1 April 1996
KOMBA-KONO,of the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters,said his organization proposed the convening of high-level meetings at regional and world levels in order to promote a dialogue between creditors and debtors with the objective of reaching a complete settlement of the foreign debt burden by an automatic cancellation of all international debts.
The speaker added that the participation of women in economic and social development processes was still low in a number of developing countries, particularly in Africa. The way for African countries to achieve development themselves entailed the establishment of effective and viable economic regional commissions to enable them to pool their mineral and natural resources, process finished goods from raw materials, and export goods.
MUSHTAO WANI, of the World Muslim Congress, said one could not conceive of self-development and collective development without first recognizing the inalienable right to development. The working group on the right to development had only made limited progress in that regard. Ways and means had to be sought to improve implementation of the right to development. The international community should achieve consensus and evolve legislation for the realization of the right to development.
Turning to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he said thousands of people had been killed by the occupation forces, while the economy of Kashmir was in shambles. Deforestation had left vast parts of Jammu and Kashmir denuded. It would take years before the people could be rehabilitated and the economy of the valley rebuilt.
DAVID ARNOTT, of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, said it was important for the Commission to work to halt violations of economic, social, and cultural rights under military rule. Land confiscation, looting by the military, extortion, arbitrary taxation, punitive crop procurement, displacements, forced relocations, deliberate ecological damage, and other measures were being taken by governments and local authorities. They had been used to remove the civilian support base for resistance groups, as in Myanmar or East Timor; to change the ethnic composition of particular territories, such as Tibet, the outlying islands of Indonesia, or in Bhutan; and in the context of inept or shortsighted development projects such as the Narmada Dam in India or the Three Gorges Dam in China. Other similar abuses occurred in Iraq and Turkey.
ERIC SOTTAS, of the World Organization against Torture, said unions and the ICFTU had proposed a list of rights which were all juridically defined by the instruments of the International Labour Office, the only institution with both the means and the prestige to monitor their implementation. Both in terms of aid financing and commercial projects with developing countries, there was consensus on the need to favour those who demonstrated a good human rights record. His organization had been encouraged to observe that the idea
- 4 - Press Release HR/CN/721 1 April 1996
of subjecting structural adjustment programmes to impact studies was beginning to take root. It was to be hoped that the process would be irreversible and could move the debate from empty words to the adoption of effective instruments in that field.
LILIA R. BAUTISTA (Philippines) said reporting obligations, which her Government took seriously, placed a heavy burden on resources. None the less, the Government saw the reporting obligation of States parties to human rights treaty monitoring bodies as a collaborative effort towards the effective implementation of the international instruments. While there must be guidelines for reporting, there must, likewise, be guidelines for the consideration of reports. Yet, general guidelines common for all countries could not take into account the different situations of different countries and the political, social, economic and cultural contexts obtaining in them. There was a clear need for a rationalization of the reporting process and the work of the human rights treaty monitoring bodies. Members should work together to address that need.
DANILO ROSALES DIAZ (Nicaragua) said poverty, social marginalization, underdevelopment, and similar problems reigned throughout the world, which was paying an extraordinarily high price for not having dealt with social problems properly. Systems of assistance to least-favoured people should be revamped. New mechanisms were needed to correct the inequalities created by the new world economic order. The World Bank and the IMF should and give greater priority in their loan programmes to social development, and take social justice into account. Those institutions did not understand that the social damage caused by current structural adjustment programmes overwhelmed any benefits realized by more stringent economic discipline. Similarly, trade systems must be more fair and open to developing countries.
DAMIR IVKOVIC (Australia) said the principles of the universality and indivisibility of all human rights were central to the advancement of human rights. Australia had consistently pursued a human rights diplomacy based on those principles. He rejected any notion of a hierarchy of rights, or the suggestion that any one group of human rights could be subordinated to another. The series of United Nations global conferences had developed a framework for national and international action designed to realize the promise of the United Nations Charter for "social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom". Australia was concerned, therefore, that the upcoming United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) agenda had still not agreed on language reaffirming the right to adequate housing. As to the right to development, Australia had recognized the interdependence of human rights and development; it had long supported the right to development.
JOON HEE LEE (Republic of Korea) said that since its accession to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in 1990, the
- 5 - Press Release HR/CN/721 1 April 1996
Republic of Korea had tried to fully reflect the requirements of the Covenant in its domestic laws and policies. The review of its initial report on implementation of the Convention, in May of last year, was an important exercise in human rights. The process highlighted some of the effects of rapid economic development, such as drastic urbanization and growing environmental strains. In spite of the problems, however, economic growth and the accompanying higher standards of living were key ingredients in improving economic, social, and cultural conditions. Respect for human rights primarily derived from the actions and willpower of States at the national level.
YEVHEN SEMASHKO (Ukraine) said the problems of countries in transition were being addressed by bodies of the United Nations, but it was urgent, particularly for Ukraine, that solutions be more specific in order to assist those people faced with ever more serious difficulties. Indeed, the situation in Ukraine was doubly difficult since the country was moving from totalitarianism to democracy and from an imposed and distorted economy to a market one. Courageous initiatives were required. Ukraine must search for its own transition model. Ukraine was particularly interested in deepening its cooperation with the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as well as with other countries in transition.
BANMALI PRASAD LACOUL (Nepal) stressed the importance of the right to development. The socio-economic condition of the least developed countries was far behind that of the rest of the world, and such countries as Nepal were further handicapped by unfortunate geographical situations, with difficult terrain and scarce resources on which to build economic infrastructures. Nepal recognized the interrelationship between human rights, democracy and development, and its Constitution embodied fundamental human rights and freedoms. But the obstacles to enjoyment of those rights included external circumstances, as well as internal ones. Developing countries needed help for the majority of their people, who lived without such basic amenities as food, shelter, education, and health care.
Right of Reply
MUNIR AKRAM (Pakistan) said Kashmir was a disputed territory, as had been confirmed by the Security Council, by maps of the United Nations and by the agenda of the Security Council. It had been also confirmed by the people of Kashmir. If the Kashmiri people believed they were part of India, that country would not need an army of 700,000 troops to keep them in bondage. India did not allow a plebiscite in Kashmir because it knew the answer. India had spoken of transparency, but it had failed to invite any of the thematic rapporteurs to Kashmir. By contrast, Pakistan had invited several. India was waging a campaign to suppress the Kashmiri people, but freedom would triumph in Kashmir.
- 6 - Press Release HR/CN/721 1 April 1996
JORGE LEMA PATINO (Bolivia) said the Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples had criticized Bolivia. The country had made profound social transformations and had managed to relieve the burden of poverty on its citizens. The reforms were based on Bolivian conditions and departed from the neo-liberal model. The Government's law on land respected the rights of indigenous communities. To continue the cycle of reform, the Government had issued its ninth rural development plan, which would benefit the majority of the rural population. Those who criticized Bolivia's efforts disregarded the true success and sincere intent of its programmes.
* *** *
CORRECTION: In Press Release HR/CN/717, dated 27 March, the last sentence of the paragraph on page 4, summarizing the statement of ABDELBAGI GEBRIEL, of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, should read as follows: "The NGO Subcommittee on the South would hold a seminar on meeting the goals of the Copenhagen Social Summit, and encouraged other non-governmental organizations and delegations to attend."