PRESS BRIEFING BY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, RAPPORTEUR
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, RAPPORTEUR
19960404
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
The Chairman of the Human Rights Committee, Francisco Jose Aguilar (Costa Rica), and the Committee Rapporteur, Christine Chanet (France), briefed correspondents today on the Committee's three-week session, which began on 18 March and concludes today. During the current session, the Committee examined the periodic reports of Mauritius, Spain, Guatemala, Zambia and Nigeria, as well as communications by individuals.
Mr. Aguilar said the Committee had made a special decision to have Nigeria report following its trials and executions last November of leaders of the Ogoni people, including Ken Saro-Wiwa. Among the highlights of the session was the examination of reports from Zambia, Nigeria and Guatemala because of specific situations in those countries. He mentioned the return to democracy in Guatemala, the arrest of three journalists in Zambia -- released during the Committee's session -- and the trials and executions in Nigeria as points of interest. In examining Spain's report, the Committee was mainly concerned with terrorist violence and incommunicado detention. The examination of the report from Mauritius was perhaps the easiest, he added.
Referring to the Committee's recommendation that Spain establish transparent procedures for independent investigations of allegations of torture and ill treatment, a correspondent asked what kind of investigations were recommended. Ms. Chanet said it was up to Spain, as a democratic country, to decide on the type of independent body it would establish to investigate allegations of torture and to bring cases before the court.
In reply to another question, Mr. Aguilar said he hoped it was not just a happy coincidence that the three journalists in Zambia had been released on the second day of the Committee's examination of that country's report. Ms. Chanet added that the journalists had been detained for 24 days for contempt of Parliament which was against the Zambian Constitution, so maybe the authorities there had suddenly realized that the arrests in fact constituted arbitrary detention. Noting that in Zambia, detention for the charge of contempt of Parliament had no limits, Mr. Aguilar expressed hope that the Committee had helped in some way to bring about the journalists' release.
A correspondent asked for insight into the report from Nigeria. Mr. Aguilar said that when Mr. Saro-Wiwa had been tried and sentenced last year, the Committee had issued a special decision so that Nigeria could answer specific questions related to article 14 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, which deals with the right to fair trial. However, when the Ogoni leaders had been executed, the Committee decided to focus its examination of Nigeria's report on the right to life; the right to
freedom from illegal and arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment; and the right to trial. The Committee would examine other aspects of Nigeria's report, which had been many years overdue, during the next session in Geneva.
Had there been any response from the Guatemalan Government regarding the killings attributed to the military command? a correspondent asked. Mr. Aguilar said there had been a very frank dialogue between Committee members and the Guatemalan delegation. The delegation acknowledged the extremely serious human rights violations that had taken place and were still taking place which could be attributed to people connected to military and paramilitary groups such as the self-defence patrols, established by the military.
He noted that it was unusual for a country's delegation to accept that killings, tortures and disappearances were occurring. There was a trend by the new Government to tackle the human rights problem and he was hopeful it was on the right track. The delegation had also talked openly about impunity, including the fact that many of the country's top military had gotten away with human rights abuses. The Committee had recommended that the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) be kept in the country until normalcy could be fully restored. Progress had been noted, including the reform of the law on military tribunals. Military who had been present during one of the latest mass murders last November would be tried in a civilian court.
In reply to a question on the actual numbers of killings, disappearances and major cases of torture, Mr. Aguilar said the Committee did not deal with actual numbers but with the facts and whether there had actually been human rights violations in a particular country. One extrajudicial killing was serious enough and opened the door to problems. The Committee did examine figures on violations by the civil defence patrols in Guatemala and recommended that they be eliminated. Some 340,000 men were in the patrols and they had to be educated on tolerance and respect for human rights and dignity. That was a problem in a country which was poor; it would be difficult to educate that many people.
A correspondent asked how Nigeria's initial report could be categorized and what main issues were raised in conjunction with the report from Mauritius. Ms. Chanet said there were not many problems in Mauritius but discrimination against women was an important issue, although there was a new provision in the country's constitution forbidding discrimination based on sex. However, there were still a number of derogations in force on marriage and divorce which affected women. The situation was similar in Zambia, she added.
Mr. Aguilar said Nigeria's report was very clever but the Committee had been disappointed that it did not deal specifically with the case of Mr. Saro- Wiwa and the other Ogoni people who had been executed. However, Committee Members were able to examine the case in depth and get the information they wanted through their questioning of the Nigerian delegation, which was headed by Awulu Yadudu, the legal advisor to Nigerian President Sani Abacha. Ms. Chanet added that there was no constitution or laws in force in Nigeria, where everything was done by decree. That had a big impact on implementation of the Covenant.
A correspondent asked whether there had been a change in attitude by the Guatemalan military. Mr. Aguilar replied that as soon as he had come to power, President Alvaro Arzu had dismissed the top seven military officers. The delegation said the military supported change but Committee members indicated that they would wait for concrete evidence to see if there was in
Human Rights Briefing - 3 - 4 April 1996
fact a change in the military's attitude.
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