NGOS DECRY IMPUNITY FOR PERPETRATORS OF DISAPPEARANCES AND KILLINGS; CALL FOR AN END TO TORTURE
Press Release
HR/CN/729
NGOS DECRY IMPUNITY FOR PERPETRATORS OF DISAPPEARANCES AND KILLINGS; CALL FOR AN END TO TORTURE
19960404 GENEVA, 3 April (UN Information Service) -- Non-governmental organizations alleged before the Commission on Human Rights this afternoon that a number of countries around the world were guilty of torture, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearances. Several NGOs also decried widespread impunity for such crimes committed in the past.The Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America said there had been a trend toward legislation granting impunity -- Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru had passed such laws. In Argentina's case, it was pointed out, impunity had been a problem for years. The International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples said sufficient punishment of those responsible for disappearances and killings carried out in Argentina prior to 1983 still had not been achieved, and sufficient information still had not been provided on the victims.
The World Organization Against Torture decried continued ill-treatment of detainees around the world -- a spokesman said the organization last year had received complaints of alleged violations in 61 different countries. And the NGO Pax Christi International charged that over the past year thousands of Albanians in Kosovo had been tortured by Serbian police.
Another concern was interference with the judicial process. The International Commission of Jurists reported that at least 337 jurists in 51 countries had suffered reprisals for carrying out their professional duties during 1995.
The delegations of Algeria, Mexico, and Afghanistan spoke, as did representatives of the following non-governmental organizations: Federation of Associations of Civil Servants; World Society of Victimology; International Union of Lawyers; International Human Rights Association of American Minorities; Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace; International Commission of Jurists; International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies; International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism; Indigenous World Association; Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees; International Association of Democratic Lawyers; Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation; Article XIX; and the International League for Human Rights.
Nigeria, China, Honduras, and Italy spoke in exercise of the right of reply.
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Statements
ESTELA BARNES DE CARIOTTO of the International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples said thousands of disappearances marked the years of terror in Argentina; the state of law had been reestablished in 1983, but subsequent laws and pardons had granted clemency to hundreds of perpetrators of serious violations, creating a very counterproductive climate. Recently, confessions by certain perpetrators had finally led the armed forces to admit some responsibility. Hundreds of children, the babies originally of people killed in the years of terror, had been farmed out as war booty to perpetrators of the crimes, and to others. The rightful grandparents had no knowledge of where these children were now, and the children themselves had lost their own identities.
ALESSANDRA AULA of the Pax Christi International said thousands of Albanians in Kosovo had been suffering torture at the hands of Serbian police for several years. According to her information, 3,296 cases of torture had been reported there last year. Most of the victims were political prisoners. It was reported that torture was also perpetrated against persons suspected of possessing weapons. Several cases had indicated that those people were tortured in their own homes in front of their spouses and children. Even when no weapons were found, the victims were taken to police stations and subjected to further torture.
AAMIR ALI of the Federation of Association of International Civil Servants said governments had a special responsibility for the safety and integrity of United Nations personnel. Unfortunately, officials were increasingly called upon to work in areas where in fact there was no government or where the authority of government did not hold. Referring to the situation in Rwanda, local staff accused of genocide had been detained without trial in appalling conditions for over a year and had been unable to get any legal help. Indeed, there had been a total collapse of the judicial system. One worry, he added, was the extension of their contracts with the United Nations; the contracts did give them a better chance of survival. In the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) area, 2 staff had been killed and 75 detained, 12 of whom remained in detention.
His organization deplored the cavalier attitude to the privileges and immunities of officials of the United Nations system demonstrated by increasing kidnappings, hostage taking, hijacking of vehicles, searches and detentions. The Convention on the Safety of the United Nations and Associated Personnel needed a further 16 ratifications to bring it into force and he appealed to governments to become signatories in the hope that next year the situation would be less discouraging.
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DANIEL CAMACHO of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America said that in the Honduras there had been impunity for the armed forces for massive human-rights violations, but progress was finally being made in solving the cases of some disappeared persons. The armed forces had invoked a controversial decree of amnesty when pressed for information, but such impunity had since been rejected. In Guatemala, teams of forensic experts had worked diligently in clandestine cemeteries, and had found bodies of women and children as well as men in mass graves, along with burned remains of peasant women and children. In Latin America, there had been a trend toward legislation granting impunity -- Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru had passed such laws. The Commission must speak out against such practices, and international custody should be exerted over areas where victims' bodies were buried.
ABDUR RASHID TURABI of the World Society of Victimology said that enforced disappearances in Kashmir were linked to a non compliance of United Nations agenda on that territory and the part of accomplishment of the work by United Nations in regard to ascertaining the will of the people. He said that India had failed in her compliance with that agenda. The Commission had to address the cause of torture and disappearances around the world in general and in Jammu and Kashmir in particular. In addition, India had to be encouraged to comply with the United Nations package on Kashmir.
FERNANDO MEJIA of the World Organization Against Torture said international steps to end torture were a good sign, but massive abuses continued: the organization had received complaints of alleged mistreatment last year in 61 different countries. In Guatemala, Colombia, Bahrain, and in East Timor, there were serious situations; in Peru, the general amnesty granted to perpetrators of human-rights violations was not acceptable and did not show respect for the victims' families. The Government should invite the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to visit the country. The Commission should not refrain from considering recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur against torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. In too many countries, arbitrary detention was carried out and torture was all too often used; usually these situations were combined with extreme degrees of impunity.
ALEJANDRO TEITELBAUM of the American Association of Jurists denounced the two laws and the decree which had, between 1986 and 1989, ensured impunity to those responsible for violations of human rights perpetrated during the period of military dictatorship in Argentina. The State of Argentina had thus systematically violated its obligations under the Declaration on Human Rights by not responding to requests for investigation into those matters. The Commission should recommend to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances that they request the Government of Argentina to accept a visit by the Group to the country.
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ALAIN LESTOURNEAUD of the International Union of Lawyers said his organization had contacted many countries in 1995 to advise them to put an end to violations against judges, lawyers and other judicial personnel. It had also attempted to obtain the results of investigations conducted in those countries following reported violations. The most flagrant violations had been reported in Turkey, Algeria, Colombia, Tunisia, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, India and Pakistan.
GHULAM RASOOL DAR of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities said Jalil Andrabi, a lawyer and human rights activist who had participated in the forty-seventh session of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, had been a victim of disappearance and of extra-judicial execution. He had been arrested by Indian forces on 9 March; his dead body was found on 27 March. He was the fourth human rights activist to be killed in Jammu and Kashmir since 1992. The Indian Government had denied access to United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteurs on torture and extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and the working group on disappearances.
RAVI NAIR of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace said there had been an attempt by the Conference Services Division of the United Nations Office at Geneva to limit the size of the report of the Special Rapporteur on torture. While brevity was useful in many areas, this one administrative sleight of hand must have warmed the cockles of many a torturer. In his third report, the Special Rapporteur had made reference to India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which allowed the armed forces unrestricted power to carry out their operations in areas declared "disturbed". The enforcement of that Act had resulted in innumerable incidents of arbitrary detention and torture. It contravened both Indian and international legal standards. Members of the armed forces throughout Indian territory were protected from arrest for anything done in the line of official duty. Such impunity was one of the main factors contributing to torture.
MONA RISHMAWI of the International Commission of Jurists said at least 337 jurists in 51 countries had suffered reprisals for carrying out their professional duties during 1995, making a mockery in many countries of the idea of the independence of the judiciary. Most of those killed were in Colombia. That country needed special attention from the Commission in the form of its own Special Rapporteur. Many attacks had also occurred in Turkey. In Algeria, political interference and the threatening of judges was problem. In India, a new bill was proposed which would reimpose many provisions of the recently lapsed, and lamentable, Terrorists Disruptive Activities Act. There were other problems with violation of the independence of the judiciary in Peru, Egypt, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, and Malaysia.
SAID KHELIFI (Algeria) said his country had, since its accession to independence, undertaken to set up and to consolidate a constitutional and
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system guaranteeing protection of human rights and fundamental freedom. The constitution of 1989 underlined political pluralism, separation of powers, and the independence of the judiciary. It also enshrined the freedoms of opinion, association, and public gathering, as well as non-discrimination, as fundamental rights. The constitution had allowed the creation of several political parties, whose activities contributed to the promotion and protection of human rights. The creation in 1992 of the National Observatory of Human Rights had reinforced that edifice. However, the democratization process was being disrupted and derailed by a political and economic crisis that had led to the resurgence of a radical Islamist movement which advocated violence and subversion. Despite current constraints and difficulties, Algeria continued to endeavour to surmount terrorism and religious extremism in order to install once and for all a democratic state of law.
PORFIRIO MUNOZ-LEDO (Mexico) said the Government had replied to requests by the Special Rapporteur for information on 17 of 18 alleged cases of torture in Mexico. The country's National Commission on Human Rights, from mid-1994 through mid-1995, had indicated that torture had ranked fifteenth among acts considered to be violations of human rights in the country. Between 1994 and 1995, alleged acts of torture had declined by 68 per cent. While there might be occasional isolated acts of torture in the country, Mexico could not accept the contention that torture was a mark of judicial investigations with the intent of intimidating detainees and obtaining confessions from them. Efforts were being made to sensitize state judicial powers and to end any instances of impunity. The Government had considered the proposed visit of the Special Rapporteur and had decided to extend an invitation; such a visit must be based on a spirit of cooperation.
OLUMI MAIWAND (Afghanistan) said it went without saying that the systematic practice of disappearance was a crime against humanity. Forced or involuntary disappearances were considered an offence under prevailing Islamic law. Of the two cases of disappearance alleged to have occurred in the Islamic State of Afghanistan and reported to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, no prisoner case file could be found relating to El Khatib Abdul Rahim Naiaf, despite an in-depth search by the security authorities. As for Nassry Zia, the American authorities had been informed in 1992 and again in 1993 that he had not been arrested by the security forces. She assured the Commission that there had been no cases of enforced disappearances within the territory of Afghanistan since the two cases referred to in the report of the Working Group.
KAUSER PARVEEN of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies said involuntary disappearances were a matter of grave concern; States responsible for such acts must be condemned. But there was another side to the problem: the activities of terrorists and militants. In the state of Jammu and Kashmir, terrorists kidnapped people, and many of these victims ultimately were killed; many, moreover, were raped and tortured before they
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were killed. Often the bodies could not be found. Fear and terror kept many from talking about these offenses. This serious pattern of violations and deaths must be addressed by the Commission.
ATSUKO TANAKA of the International Movement Against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism said there were a number of conflict situations in the world where the activities of movements demanding autonomy or independence for national minorities met with repression by the State. A case in point existed in China, where Mongolian Chinese intellectuals had been arrested by the Chinese authorities in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on suspicion of being "national separatists" having established a "Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance". Since their arrest, nothing had been heard of them. Apart from the circumstances under which they were detained, their activities were strictly non-violent and their objective was to obtain a high degree of national autonomy, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. She appealed to the Government of China to permit the detainees to communicate with their relatives or at least inform them of their present situation.
WILDA SPALDING of the Indigenous World Association said women under detention had become the hidden victims of the world's imprisonment binge. Reports on prison conditions in penitentiaries around the world had often focused more on the plight of the male prisoner population. The ordeals of women in prisons, which were by no means less than those of men, had not been given the attention they deserved. Women in custody had been reduced to the status of prisoners in the shadows. It was only in the context of discussions on general prison conditions that women were mentioned at all. The issue of women in prison and its consequence deserved separate and urgent attention.
JANETTE BAUTISTA of the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees said some 43,000 cases of unresolved disappearances in Latin America were still pending. There were innumerable obstacles to ending impunity in the region, and in maintaining independence of the judiciary. Recently legislatures had openly created conditions that could lead to new violations. In Colombia, impunity for forced disappearances continued to be a problem. In Mexico, Colombia, and Guatemala, recommendations for steps that might cut the number of violations had been ignored. In many countries, including Peru, legislatures had passed laws of amnesty closing all judicial investigations for past abuses and providing for the release of persons convicted of abuses. The Commission should adopt decisive and immediate measures, including the appointment of a Special Rapporteur for Colombia.
AMANDA ROMERO of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers said there had been massive violations of human rights in Colombia, many involving torture. Moreover, victims were sometimes forced to declare that they had received proper treatment while in detention. Domestic legislation
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in Colombia was not in keeping with the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and there was an almost total lack of sanctions against the practice of torture. According to one non-governmental organization, there were frequent cases of detention associated with cruel or violent treatment. The system of regional justice was used to imprison hundreds of peasants, as well as trade unionists in order to restrict their right to defence. The detention conditions of political prisoners had been described as unjust and inhuman. Some lawyers who defended prisoners had been obliged to seek asylum elsewhere. He urged the Commission to institute a mechanism to monitor the situation in Colombia.
AFTAB KAMAL PABHA of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation said torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment against dissidents continued to be prevalent in many parts of the world. The merciless and barbarous killing of a Norwegian hostage by the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist group, Al Faran, was well known to the Commission. In the State of Jammu and Kashmir, militant outfits had used the most barbaric methods to torture opponents, dissidents and moderate secular elements in society. Could the Commission remain a silent spectator to crimes by these armed gangs which reminded the world of barbarism of medieval times?
JAN BAUER of the Article XIX - International Centre Against Censorship said the organization invited the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression (document E/CN.4/1996/39 and Add.1 and 2) to continue to examine the impact of restrictions on freedom of expression and information that were justified by Governments in countries such as Turkey, Nigeria and the Gambia on the grounds of national security, public safety and public security. The group did not believe that in countries such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Iran and Sudan the pronouncement of fatwas, threats, acts of intimidation, imprisonment and the murder of writers and journalists truly reflected the call of Islam for peaceful coexistence between nations, international understanding, tolerance and respect for the human being. Article 19 invited the countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to enter into a dialogue with the Special Rapporteur to address the question of violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression by States.
XIAO QIANG of the International League for Human Rights said the organization was concerned with the implementation of the Convention against Torture. In many countries torture was still a systematic practice used by the authorities. China had signed the Convention in 1988, yet torture was endemic in its detention centres and prisons in China, and the Government had not taken adequate measures to end it. In fact, torture and ill-treatment seemed to be a method of eliciting confessions, applied to regular and political prisoners. Beating, long periods in tightened handcuffs and leg irons, restriction of food to starvation levels, and long periods in solitary confinement were common violations committed in China. The lodging of complaints generally brought further abuses.
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Right of Reply
OROBOLA FASEHUN (Nigeria) said the Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs had alleged repression and corruption in Nigeria. Nigeria was attempting to reorder its society to ensure equality of opportunity for all and to respect the human rights of all in a complex society. Corruption was a problem worldwide. Nigeria was addressing the problem decisively; its record as a responsible member of the world community was recognized. It did not see the need for such statements as that made by the Canadian Foreign Minister.
SHAO WENHONG (China) said she wished to clarify the situation in China regarding the death penalty. Most countries still retained the death penalty as a punishment. In China, the death penalty was exercised with extreme caution and stringent provisions were applied to its use, which occurred most notably in connection with perpetrators of heinous crimes. The death penalty could not be applied to minors below the age of 18 years nor to pregnant women. Moreover, the application of the death penalty was an optional punishment -- not the only punishment that could be applied. Mitigating circumstances could lead to the commuting of the sentence. There was also the possibility of reprieve. The International League of Human rights said that there were many cases of torture in China. That was a lie.
GRACIBEL BU (Honduras) said the Central American Organization for the Defense of Human Rights had made charges against Honduras. The country had made no efforts to halt provision of information on disappearances, and on the contrary had taken steps to increase the supply of information. It had contacted forensic experts to identify victims, and the Government had been able to identify some perpetrators. It was taking steps to bring violators to justice. Furthermore, the courts were operating impartially and independently; no one was immune, and that included high-ranking military officials.
PAULO TORELLA DI ROMAGNANO (Italy) said that the statements made by two non-governmental organizations needed rectification and clarification concerning the legal proceedings carried out in Italy with regard to the disappearance of Italian nationals in Argentina. He recalled that several years ago, the Court of Appeals and the Public Prosecutor of Rome had established an investigative procedure to shed light on those disappearances. The disappeared persons had dual nationality. Given that Argentine authorities had been unable to cooperate with the investigation, the Italian justice system was studying the possibility of pursuing an investigation in Italy.
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