COMMISSION CONTINUES DEBATE ON HUMAN RIGHTS OF DETAINEES, EFFORTS TO END TORTURE
Press Release
HR/CN/731
COMMISSION CONTINUES DEBATE ON HUMAN RIGHTS OF DETAINEES, EFFORTS TO END TORTURE
19960410 GENEVA, 4 April (UN Information Service) -- Issues relating to the protection of the human rights of detainees and the prevention of torture, enforced disappearances and related crimes were discussed this afternoon by the Commission on Human Rights.The representative of the United States termed torture "a singularly despicable and cowardly practice" and said those governments which continued to engage in it were breeding their own failure. The representative of Denmark reviewed expanded efforts around the world to treat victims of torture. The representative of Australia said that through its mechanism of thematic rapporteurs, the Commission had an effective way to prevent such abuses, if countries would only listen to and act on the rapporteurs' recommendations.
The World Federation of Democratic Youth charged the Government of Pakistan with being responsible for torture, deaths in custody, extrajudicial executions, disappearances, and the rape of Mohajir women and girls in the south of the country. The representative of Pakistan stated that critics of the Government's human rights performance were trying to divert attention from terrorist acts and from atrocities committed in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Several non-governmental organizations called for action against enforced disappearances, torture, and other offenses attributed to Indian forces in Kashmir.
Statements were also made by the representatives of Brazil and Tunisia. Also speaking were representatives of the following non-governmental organizations: Andean Commission of Jurists; Muslim World League; International Indian Treaty Council; World Muslim Congress; World Peace Council; International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations; and International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
Mexico, Bangladesh, Syria, Afghanistan, and China spoke in exercise of the right of reply.
Statements in Debate
MOHAMMAD ANWAR, of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, said the Government of Pakistan was responsible for torture, deaths in custody, extrajudicial execution, disappearances, and the rape of Mohajir women and girls in the south of the country. Mohajir infants and children were taken away from their mothers and freed in exchange for bribes. There had been credible reports about hundreds of Mohajir workers dying while in State custody after being tortured as a means to extract confessions from them. He urged the Commission to press the Government of Pakistan to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
JAVIER CIURLIZZA, of the Andean Commission of Jurists, said the justice systems in the Andean region had serious problems with efficiency, credibility, and respect for human rights; although some steps had been taken to improve performance, these partial reforms were not enough. There was a lack of trials of human rights violators, and there was still extensive application of emergency legislation, including use of military courts when rights abusers were tried. In Peru, a general amnesty law was a cause of great concern. There was overcrowding of prisons, and in countries such as Colombia and Peru, those accused of crimes against public security were tried in procedures that often were truncated and did not conform to basic legal safeguards. Judges needed to be closer to the population of the region and its needs. Ombudsmen and constitutional tribunals were useful ways of conducting reform and such steps should be encouraged.
ROBERT LOFTIS (United States) said torture was a thief of human dignity -- it perverted the powerful and preyed on the powerless; it degraded those who used it. There were some member States of the Commission that still permitted its practice. All States should immediately ratify the Convention against Torture and implement its provisions. The Centre for Human Rights should, within existing resources, develop and provide advisory services programmes to train police, prison authorities, prosecutors, investigators and security forces to respect human rights. It was also important to provide assistance to torture victims. Already this year, the United States had donated $500,000 to the United Nations voluntary fund for victims of torture and anticipated being able to make further contributions soon. It was time for each and every nation of the world to put an end to torture, a singularly despicable and cowardly practice. Governments that continued to engage in it only demonstrated their own inadequacy; indeed, they were breeding their own failure.
CRISPIN CONROY (Australia) said the country strongly believed that through its thematic mechanisms, such as working groups and special rapporteurs, the Commission had an effective way to respond to human rights abuses, if countries would only listen to and act on their recommendations.
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All countries must cooperate with the Commission's working group on enforced disappearances. They should also recognize the valuable contributions of non-governmental organizations. Another working group, on a draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, had realized some achievements; its next session would be the real test of whether or not a worthwhile protocol could emerge.
He said that in many cases arbitrary detention resulted from exercise of powers under states of emergency, when emergency courts did not follow the rules of due process of law and did not act impartially and independently. States must also be urged to protect the rights of juveniles by adhering to the guidelines established by the United Nations.
ERIK HOLST (Denmark) said that, today, treatment and rehabilitation for victims of torture were each year offered to tens of thousands of victims in more than 180 rehabilitation centres and programmes in all parts of the world. The first centre for the treatment of torture victims had been created in Copenhagen 14 years ago. Although first established in Western Europe, North America and Australia, such treatment and rehabilitation centres and programmes were now increasingly being set up in Latin America, Asia and Africa, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. The rapidly increasing need for such services was a sign that victims of torture now dared to come forward and request the treatment and rehabilitation which they desperately needed and definitely deserved. But requests for support from the United Nations voluntary fund for victims of torture now far exceeded the funds available -- only $2.7 million in 1995 -- to the extent that it now only covered 10 to 15 per cent of the estimated total needs for funding existing treatment and rehabilitation services. Consultations should be held among current and potential donor countries to the Fund to overcome the current deficit.
TAT HAIDER (Pakistan) said that with the restoration of democracy and fundamental rights in Pakistan after a protracted struggle, the task of making the articles of the Constitution an operative reality had been taken up by the Government in earnest, which was not a simple task. The Government sought to strengthen democratic institutions and it jealously guarded political freedoms, working closely with non-governmental organizations. But no government could abandon its primary duty of protecting the people from organized crime and terrorism, and if the urban areas of Sindh had been peaceful ever since the current Government took over; if Karachi had now returned to normalcy in spite of the efforts of terrorists, it was only because of the support of the people of Pakistan. The ethnic group which had charged Pakistan with excesses was only trying to cover up the involvement of members of the group in heinous crimes and distract attention from atrocities committed in occupied Kashmir.
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ANTONIO SALGADO (Brazil) said impunity for perpetrators of gross human rights violations remained a grave problem in many countries. Situations in which violations of human rights reinforced each other constituted a sort of vicious circle. Brazil had achieved democracy and enjoyed a political system based on free elections, which ensured freedom of expression. But Brazil was also aware of the constant need to improve its civil rights record and, above all, to ensure that the exercise of political freedom led to significant improvement of the standard of living of all Brazilians. Until last year, the deaths and disappearances of political activists during the military regime had not been officially recognized. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso had now enacted a law that recognized as dead 136 missing activists. The same law assured financial compensation for the victims' families and also created a commission entrusted with analyzing the cases of those who were not included in the list annexed to the law. Brazil was convinced that the adoption of a reparation policy with regard to past events was a moral obligation in societies that had triumphed over authoritarianism.
MOHAMED ENNACEUR (Tunisia) said it was essential to distinguish between human rights violations committed as a deliberate policy of States and those resulting from human error. In any case, whatever their origin, violations of human rights could not be tolerated. Deliberate violations called for international cooperation so that they could be stopped. It was also necessary to teach respect for human rights at all levels. Human rights should be disseminated as part of a universal culture based on respect for the human person. In order to achieve those goals, international dialogue and cooperation were absolutely indispensable among all the actors working in the protection and promotion of human rights. Tunisia attached great importance to dialogue, which was part of the irrevocable political choice it had made based on democracy and the promotion of human rights.
MUSHTAO AHMAD WANI, of the Muslim World League, said it was tragic that there were many areas in the world where torture was practised systematically and where millions of people languished in detention centres. In Jammu and Kashmir, torture and inhuman treatment affected the entire territory -- the entire population was as if in a prison. The Indian occupation forces there could target an individual, a group or an entire town at the mere hint of mild dissent. Some 50,000 people had been killed by the Indian security forces, while those tortured and jailed probably numbered more than 100,000. Why had the Commission not as yet adopted a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir? This was dismaying.
ALBERTO SALDAMANDO, of the International Indian Treaty Council, said he had been pleading since 1974 for an end to the unjustified detention and imprisonment of indigenous people, and particularly of Leonard Peltier, who had been denied parole by the United States Federal Parole Commission. Another individual, Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, the Head of State of the Sovereign Nation of Hawaii, had been arrested in July 1995 and held without
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bail for over six months. He had been charged with harbouring a fugitive, another Native Hawaiian who had refused to pay taxes to the "admittedly illegal occupying power". Mr Kanahele had been released pending a new trial, under humiliating and unjustified restrictions: he was prohibited from entering the Nation of Hawaii.
HAMIDO BANO, of the World Muslim Congress, said the people of Kashmir were suffering ruthless violations of human rights at the hands of Indian security forces. In Kashmir, no laws as the civilize world knew them were operating. As a teacher at the University of Kashmir, she had been a victim and a witness; she had seen the crippling and torturing of students by Indian forces, and had risked her life and that of her family by coming here to make her report. There was one Indian soldier for every six Kashmiris, and more women had been raped by Indian soldiers in Kashmir than in all the wars of the century. The international mechanisms set up for prosecution of crimes must come into play in Kashmir -- there was a limit to human endurance.
REF AQUET ALI KHAN, of the World Peace Council, said the expression "forced disappearances of people" ironically did not cover kidnapping and hostage taking by terrorists, thus creating even greater opportunity for State authorities to terrorize the population by unauthorized means. It was therefore important that the Commission, apart from encouraging national States to adopt appropriate measures with regard to enforced disappearances, undertake extensive educational work to sensitize the people in general about the long-term implications of acts of enforced disappearance or custodial deaths. Laws and institutional structures should be so fashioned in all countries as to ensure that the taking away of the life and liberty of people by unlawful means became impossible.
GHULAM NABI FAI, of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, said the organization had invited Jalil Andrabi, a respected lawyer and Chairman of the Kashmir Commission of Jurists to speak to the Commission this year, but he had been arrested by Indian paramilitary forces on 8 March. His dead body had been found floating in a river. Mr. Andrabi had spoken before the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities here last August, and had pleaded that human rights could only be restored in Kashmir by allowing its 13 million people to exercise their right to self-determination. The legal system of Kashmir had fallen apart, and the people there had suffered for five decades. The United Nations must not let them down.
DAN CUNNIAH, of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, said that despite the request made by the Special Rapporteur on torture, the Government of China had not yet invited him to visit the country. Likewise, it would be expected that the Working Group on arbitrary detention would
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eventually be formally invited by China this year. On several occasions, the Confederation had protested to the Chinese authorities about the ill-treatment of trade unionists held in detention centres, prisons and labour camps.
Right of Reply
PORFIRIO MUÑOZ-LEDO (Mexico) said his delegation wished to highlight inaccuracies in information about Mexico provided by the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees, a non-governmental organization, yesterday. The representative of the group had said that in Mexico, "laws and decrees were promulgated to authorize arrest without legal warrant". However, laws in Mexico were adopted by a multi-party congress whose members were democratically elected. Secondly, since the inception of the United Nations, no law had been promulgated in which there had been any derogation, partial or complete, from human rights. The group had further claimed there had been a resurgence of disappearances in 1995. There were in fact 23 new cases of alleged disappearances in 1995, but in that same year 28 cases of presumed disappearances had been resolved. Therefore, the list of presumed disappearances had decreased in 1995, rather than increased. Mexico considered the statements made by the group not only aimed at discrediting governments but also cast doubt on the work of the thematic procedures of the Commission.
MIJARUL QUAYES (Bangladesh) said the NGO Article 19 had referred to Bangladesh in the context of "pronouncement of fatwas, threats, acts of intimidation, imprisonment and murder of writers and journalists". The group would have the Commission believe such acts were rampant in Bangladesh. Bangladesh strongly believed that such acts did not reflect Islam. Furthermore, such acts violated the rule of law in his country. Certain clerics in the rural periphery of the country reportedly had sometimes pronounced fatwas, but law enforcement agencies had responded to such isolated incidents. It was essential that non-governmental organizations be able to distinguish between systematic patterns of violation and isolated incidents that were no more than criminal activities subject to legal remedy.
ABIR JARF (Syria) said the International Federation for Human Rights had repeated allegations against Syria and referred to certain people and their organization as a legitimate group, when in fact these people were members of organizations that had committed terrorist acts in violation of State laws and regulations. Investigation proved that they had received money from abroad to commit actions against State security and integrity, and to smear the name of Syria abroad. The accused had confessed in court in a public trial, and without pressure or force. They had been represented by 10 lawyers. Some of the accused had been proved innocent, while others had received sentences of varying severity. That proved that the trial was fair. The International Federation for Human Rights was biased in its focus, which always was applied to developing countries.
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HUMAYUN TANDAR (Afghanistan) said the speaker from the group Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace had made a grave accusation, saying that Afghanistan had been mentioned in the report on torture submitted to the Commission. But the name of his country did not appear in the report. That non-governmental organization was deliberately misleading public opinion; it should present its excuses publicly.
SUN MING SHAN (China) said a non-governmental organizations had wilfully distorted China's practices in its judicial system and its efforts to prevent torture. The charges made by the group were fabrications. There was a strict ban on torture in China. It was a criminal offense, and there were strict punishments for those who carried it out. Judicial organs in China were independent and were free from interference from any parties. Each and every case of torture was promptly handled as soon as it was found. And when severe injury or death resulted, there was never any hesitation in imposing severe punishments. The specific case referred to by the speaker also was not as presented; there had been no misconduct or abuse by the State. non- governmental organizations went so far as to fabricate lies and ignore facts. That kind of behaviour must be stopped.
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