POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER ADDRESSES HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

Press Release
HR/CN/738

POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER ADDRESSES HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

GENEVA, 15 April (UN Information Service) -- One of the reasons for the utter failure of communism was its underestimation of the value of human dignity and the inalienable rights of the human person, the Foreign Minister of Poland told the Commission on Human Rights this afternoon.

The Minister, Dariusz Rosati, said that with the cold war definitely over, cooperation might and should prevail over confrontation to build a new international order based on respect for human rights. The United Nations had provided the best framework for dialogue and cooperation to further advance the protection and promotion of universal human rights.

Mr. Rosati's remarks came as the Commission continued its discussion of the further promotion and encouragement of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the question of the methods of work of the Commission. This discussion also encompasses the issue of women's rights, which a number of countries and non-governmental organizations addressed this afternoon. Many of these spoke specifically on the issue of sexual slavery in wartime, calling on Japan to compensate victims of its forces during the Second World War.

Also this afternoon, the Commission concluded its general discussion of the United Nations programme of advisory services in the field of human rights; and began a debate on the human rights situations prevailing in specific countries and territories.

Participating in the debate were the representatives of the following delegations: Switzerland, Afghanistan, Armenia, Syria, Latvia, Poland, Togo, Senegal, Sudan, Republic of Korea, Turkey, Venezuela and Bulgaria. Other statements were made by representatives of the United Nations Development Fund for Women and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Representatives of the following non-governmental organizations also took part in the discussion: International Federation of University Women, Arab Lawyers Union, African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, World Society of Victimology, Andean Commission of Jurists, Franciscans International, International Women's Health Coalition, African Association of

Education for Development, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, International Centre for Human Rights, International Federation of Human Rights, International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education, International Federation of Women in Legal Careers, World Peace Council, All China Women's Federation, Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, International Human Rights Law Group, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches, International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, Muslim World League, International Institute for Peace, Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples, International Council of Jewish Women, International Human Rights Association of American Minorities, Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations, International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, International Association against Torture, International Indian Treaty Council, International Movement for Fraternal Union among Races and Peoples, World Conference on Religion and Peace, International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, Liberation, Society for Threatened Peoples, World Muslim Congress, Transnational Radical Party, International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, All-Pakistan Women's Association, International Association of Democratic Lawyers and International Association for Religious Freedom.

The delegations of India, Ethiopia and Pakistan exercised their right of reply.

Statement by Foreign Minister of Poland

DARIUSZ ROSATI, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, stated that whenever a country wanted to be a member of the community of democratic States, it had to ensure, first of all, appropriate and sufficient guarantees for the safeguarding of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals, at the international and national levels. With the foundation of the United Nations and other international organizations, human rights had become part and parcel of the post-war world order. Their respect had become the subject of international cooperation, and their abuse a source of confrontation. One of the reasons why communism had utterly failed was its underestimation of the value of human dignity and of the inalienable rights of the person.

According to Mr. Rosati, the tragic experiences of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Somalia, Chechnya and many others underlined the urgent necessity of strengthening the United Nations capacity in the field of prevention and rapid reaction. It was within the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to respond to serious violations of human rights and act to prevent those violations from becoming gross and massive.

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He said that with the cold war definitely over, cooperation might and should prevail over confrontation to build a new international order based on respect for human rights. The United Nations provided the best framework for dialogue and cooperation to further advance in the protection and promotion of universal human rights.

Other Statements

DIDIER CHASSOT (Switzerland), referring to women's rights, said he was pleased to report that the Government of Switzerland intended to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which it had signed in 1987. In regard to internally displaced persons, it had been extremely pleased with the research work and data-collection carried out by the Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Deng. The delegation of Switzerland had taken note of the proposal of the Representative for a new legal instrument exclusively on the question of displaced persons. However, it was the view of the delegation of Switzerland that the existing norms should offer sufficient and effective protection to displaced persons. The development of a new binding legal instrument might weaken or complicate the issue. If the existing standards were strictly applied, they should suffice.

ANITA MAIWAND OLUMI (Afghanistan) said hers was among the countries faced with the problem of mass exodus. This was not merely the result of bad luck -- extreme poverty, hunger and natural disasters were some of the causes of displacement. Moreover, extreme poverty and hunger were man-made. Internal conflicts and the systematic violation of human rights pushed the population to seek safety and protect their dignity. The period between 1978 and 1992 in Afghanistan saw not only numerous massacres and extreme violations of human rights, but also the destruction of agricultural lands and of roads by land-mines. The problems faced by the country were the legacy of the atrocities committed by extremist groups and by the army of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. With the coming to power of the resistance in 1992 the conditions were created for the return of all Afghans. More than 3 million had returned since then.

ROXANNA CARRILLO, of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said that as gender issues had become central to the development dialogue, the linkages between human rights, gender and development had become increasingly apparent. The UNIFEM had responded by integrating activities which supported and promoted women's human rights into its approach to sustainable human development. It maintained an unswerving commitment to the empowerment of women. Until women could freely exercise their economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, sustainable human development would remain elusive. The current frameworks and systems needed to be balanced, augmented by a "gender-specific" perspective; this suggested that the systems now in place framed the issues from a male-centred experience

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only. The task was not to add a set of guidelines which addressed "the woman question", but to create an analysis which included the female experience, and that would have universal application.

ACHOT MELIK-CHAKHNAZAROV (Armenia), referring to the methods of work of the Commission, said he regretted that the panel had not been able to deliberate on the question of the provision of humanitarian assistance. Often, such assistance was required because of the closing of previously open transportation routes. This was particular so in the Balkan regions. Although, to some extent, the difficulties encountered were temporary, in certain afflicted regions people required assistance urgently. Furthermore, since a substantial share of humanitarian assistance was made up of medicines, it was inevitable that the cutting-off of such humanitarian assistance interfered with the right to life. It was unfortunate that some States used their territory in order to prevent the through-traffic of humanitarian aid and thus prevented the right to development, as well as grossly violating human rights. In that connection, the Commission could adopt a resolution calling upon States to renounce such practices.

IYAD ORFI (Syria) reaffirmed his country's condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestation; Syria made the distinction between terrorism and the legitimate rights of peoples to resist foreign occupation, he said. His President had already called for the convening of an international conference, under the auspices of the United Nations, to define terrorism and make the distinction between terrorism and the legitimate rights of peoples to resist foreign occupation. Syria wanted to unmask the premeditated attempts to mix up acts of terrorism and legitimate acts of resistance against foreign occupation. Foreign occupation was the highest form of terrorism, for it deprived people of their basic human and fundamental rights.

SANDRA KALNIENTE (Latvia) said his was one of the first countries to have created a national plan of action following the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna; the plan had provided the policy framework through which to integrate national and international resources in the promotion of human rights. Moreover, the National Human Rights Office had now been in operation for five months and had achieved notable progress in the areas of raising public awareness, complaint handling and public policy analysis. Future plans for the Office included the initiation of a conciliation process for the amicable resolution of complaints; research and analysis on the legal status of non-citizens, asylum seekers, the disabled, prisoners, the mentally ill and other vulnerable social groups; and the development of an education and training programme in the field of human rights.

In so many countries, violations of human rights continued on a gross and systematic level, she went on. In that regard, events in Chechnya were at the centre of attention. The Government of Latvia welcomed the recent announcement by the President of the Russian Federation of an unilateral

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cessation of hostilities and expressed its sincere hope that a lasting peace might be achieved.

JEAN-FRANCOIS DURIEX, of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the relationship between human rights and involuntary displacement of populations was at the heart of UNHCR's mandate to provide protection to refugees and to seek durable solutions to the problems of refugees. Whether in flight, in asylum or upon repatriation, refugees were particularly vulnerable with regard to the enjoyment of their human rights. The UNHCR would like the Commission to make a strong reference to the human rights of refugees and displaced persons, by affirming in the resolution it was expected to pass on mass exoduses that refugees enjoyed the protection of the human rights regime; and recognizing that refugees were especially vulnerable. It should in particular affirm the right to remain peacefully in one's home, the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution, the principle of non-refoulement and the right to return.

RI TCHEUL (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said the Japanese Government should fully assume its responsibilities for the crimes it committed against Korean "comfort women". The Special Rapporteur on violence against women had clearly declared that the Government of Japan should recognize its responsibility over the crimes committed during the war (see document E/CN.4/1996/53/Add.1). The creation of a "fund for Asian women" by Japan was a simple attempt by Japan to escape its responsibilities. The reparation of the damage caused by Japan should cover the totality of the requests of each State and person victimized. His country had suffered not only the forced prostitution of its women at the hands of Japan, but also forced labour and the massacre of 1 million people. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea demanded that Japan admit its legal and State responsibility for these crimes of the past.

ROLAND KPOTSRA (Togo) said the Government had established an ambitious programme of technical assistance in the field of human rights in two main areas: in the administration of justice and in education relating to the norms and practices of human rights. It had also organized a number of seminars and disseminated relevant documents on the subject. The Government of Togo had been profoundly grateful for the constant attention and diligent cooperation it had received from the Centre for Human Rights in all its endeavours.

IBOU N'DIAYE (Senegal) said the abolition of laws which excluded women was not sufficient to completely avoid the old forms of discrimination based on gender. Although many countries had adopted measures regarding the equality of men and women, discrimination continued on a daily basis in the field of employment and even in the family. The list of discriminatory measures against women was long; the persistence of such inequality, although officially prohibited, was mainly attributable to the fact that women's contributions to society were accorded lesser value. The Commission should

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take more initiatives to ensure the respect of the human rights of women, particularly those living in rural areas.

ABDEL MONEIM HASSAN (Sudan) said his Government was concerned with problems of internal displacement and had adopted certain measures to come to grips with the problem in conjunction with international organizations. It had closely cooperated with all organizations to give new impetus to domestic efforts in a search for solutions to the problem of the rebellious faction in the south of the country. In various regions of the country, the Government had reconstructed villages and implemented agricultural projects for returnees. Many towns and cities had benefitted from those programmes. The Sudan had noted with great interest the appeals of various international bodies for the international community to assume responsibility for the protection of displaced persons. However, the Secretary-General's Representative on displaced persons had said that such responsibility fell within the purview of the governments concerned. So far as displaced persons were concerned, there was no discrimination against them in Sudan. Moreover, the State did not deprive them of freedom of movement. Various organizations working in Sudan had ensured the supply of food and medicine to them, regardless of religion. Sudan was quite prepared to cooperate with the international community and non-governmental organizations in the hope that peace and prosperity would prevail for all.

NECIP EGUZ (Turkey) said terrorism had become a threat to democracies; it was no longer a concern of a single country, but a global one. Terrorism undermined the most basic fundamentals of democratic systems and it destroyed the environment in which people lived free from fear. In that respect, it would be erroneous to limit the terrorism label to isolated acts of violence, given that terrorism was used today in many parts of the world as a method, a strategy to achieve political goals. That strategy was the wholesale massacre of civilians; the systematic and indiscriminate killing of innocent people; the destruction of the most basic human rights. Turkey welcomed the Sharm-el- Sheikh Summit of Peacemakers, which had brought together heads of State and government from 29 countries; the gathering had highlighted the need to promote coordination on bilateral, regional and international levels. The Summit called on countries to bring the instigators of terrorist acts to justice.

CONCHITA PONCINI, of the International Federation of University Women, quoting from the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Radhika Coomaraswamy (document E/CN.4/1996/53 and Add. 1), said that "in many countries with large migrant worker populations, there existed a variety of formal and informal legal and social structures that conspired against women domestic workers". The Federation heartily endorsed her recommendation that States should ratify and comply with the International Labour Organisation's conventions on the rights of migrant workers so as to reduce violence against women migrant workers. The group backed the recommendation in General

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Assembly resolution 50/168 calling on the Secretary-General to convene an expert group meeting with the participation of the Special Rapporteur for the preparation of recommendations to foster coordination among the United Nations agencies concerned with the issue of violence against women migrant workers. Also, the special advisor to the Secretary-General on gender issues should report to the Commission on a regular basis to strengthen the coordination of the mainstreaming of women's rights in general and the rights of migrant women workers in particular.

A MAACHOU, of the Arab Lawyers Union, said displaced persons were often the victims of racial discrimination. There were some 3 million people displaced as a result of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. The total number of refugees in the world had also increased in the past year. Mass exoduses were often due to terrorism and other acts of violence; many victims were women. Despite the signature of the peace accord between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, the latter continued to practise annexation of land, flouting the principles of international law. Furthermore, the occupation forces continued to threaten the rights of returnees.

KASHINATH PANDITA, of the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, said there was violation of the human rights of the Pandit minority community of Kashmir, India, displaced internally owing to the eruption of externally sponsored conflict in early 1990. The turmoil in that region appeared to be of ideological nature in which forces of liberalism were pitted against those of exclusivism. That had, naturally, endangered the democratic, secular and pluralistic structure in that State. In multifaceted societies, ideological conflicts generally subject inter-community relations to severe stress and strain. And if violence was to replace meaningful dialogue, vulnerable sections became targets of vandalism. Now that community of over 300,000 persons had been living in no fewer than 52 refugee camps in different parts of the country for at least six years. It was important that dispossessed and displaced persons of this community were given adequate assurances of a right to life and development in a secured homeland zone.

SARDAR ATTIQ AHMAD KHAN, of the World Society of Victimology, said the Commission was fully aware of the complex historical and political background of mass exodus from the State of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the fact that over 2 million people had been driven out of their homes had not received the attention it deserved. This displacement had been caused by the lack of a political settlement and the unabated violation of human rights. The State machinery of India had failed to honour the role reserved for its security forces. The most recent arbitrary displacement -- of 20,000 people -- was in March 1995, when Indian troops laid siege to the town of Charar for 66 days. A vast number of people had also been internally displaced as a result of military attacks against civilian populations in Neelam Valley in Azad Kashmir. The access to the area of the civil administration, and even of

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United Nations Military Observers, had become very difficult. India, a Member State of the United Nations and member of the Commission, not only caused a continued stream of displacement, but also impeded the voluntary return of the displaced to their homes.

JAVIER CIVILIZZA, of the Andean Commission of Jurists, said his group agreed with the Secretary-General's Representative on displaced persons in that there were areas in which the law did not offer adequate protection to those people. The Representative had recently visited Colombia and Peru, countries where there were some 600,000 people who had been forced to flee their homes by political violence. The process of forcible displacement of populations continued in Colombia. It was essential that any programme of assistance in the field of human rights designed for that country take into account displaced populations, not only as objects of protection, but also as participants in their own destiny. With relation to Peru, his group agreed with the Representative that the willingness to provide assistance to the country depended on the Government demonstrating the clear political will to attend to the real needs of the concerned populations. An adequate policy to encourage the return of the displaced should have as a fundamental principle respect for that population. The country's rigid anti-terrorist legislation and the fact that one third of the national territory was under a state of emergency were significant obstacles to adequate protection of the displaced.

JEAN FALLON, of Franciscans International, said her organization was very shocked to hear that there was opposition to the report on military sexual slavery of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women (document E/CN.4/1996/53/Add.1). She was indeed confused by the half-truths presented as arguments in a public rebuttal to the report. She could only hope that no nation represented in the Commission would think that the rebuttal was a sincere and moral response to the past. Franciscans International was grateful to the groups in Japan that had uncovered the past as it concerned military sexual slavery in wartime and had clarified claims by their Government. They had been angered by their Government's move to set aside 481 million yen to promote the Asian Women's Fund, while refusing to pay compensation to individual victims. Franciscans International would continue to look for a sincere apology and redress for the survivors of Japanese military violence; it asked the Commission to urge Japan to accept the responsibility for its past.

CHARLOTTE BUNCH, of the International Women's Health Coalition, speaking also on behalf of the Centre for Women's Global Leadership, the International Women's Tribune Centre and the Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights, said the number of organizations she represented had gathered almost 1 million signatures from 115 countries to campaign for women's rights, which the Commission was urged to accept. The campaign had evolved into a unique form of human rights education with over 1,000 organizations utilizing it in classrooms, passing it around at community activities, demonstrations and

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other public forums, as well as reproducing it in publications, postcards, posters and electronic mail. With regard to mainstreaming of women's human rights, the Commission should mandate concrete steps and time-scales for the implementation of the recommendations made by the meeting of experts convened by the Centre for Human Rights and the UNIFEM in July 1995.

ELIZABETH BAUMGARNER, of the African Association of Education for Development, said the discrimination against women had no borders. All States were called upon to adopt comprehensive national legislation which specifically prohibited domestic violence against women and created remedies to discourage such violence. The framework for model legislation on domestic violence, contained in the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women provided an excellent example which all countries could adapt for their own use.

TANYA VAN DRIEL, of the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, speaking on behalf of 14 non-governmental organizations, said to understand and overcome gender-specific war crimes, it was necessary to view them in connection with the construction and idolization of a particular form of masculinity within the military which defined males as brave, competitive aggressors. Militarism created and perpetuated an entire culture of violence where the resolving of disputes through violent means was acceptable. In 1948, Japan had accepted the verdict and punishment of 10 members of the Japanese Imperial Forces who had enslaved 35 Dutch "comfort women" in Indonesia; thus, it had admitted that actions against the women constituted serious offenses. A clear and convincing action by the Commission would serve as a signal, first that such crimes were war crimes and were condemned by the international community and, second, to survivors -- particularly those who remained silent -- to encourage them to speak out.

ARIANE BRUNET, of the International Centre for Human Rights, said impunity relating to violations of women's human rights in times of armed conflict in Burundi, Rwanda, Haiti, former Yugoslavia, Algeria, Liberia and Chiapas, Mexico, had to be properly addressed. The international community should impose an obligation on States to take action against the perpetrators of those violations. In order to do that, it should recognize that rape and other gender-based violations were crimes committed against women for no other reason than that they were women.

EMNA ATALLAH-SOULA, of the International Federation of Human Rights, said that discrimination against women had taken on new and particularly iniquitous forms. For example, it was evident that some women from developing countries were being excluded from the forthcoming Olympic Games to be held in Atlanta next July next because of insufficient funds; yet others were being excluded on cultural, religious or political grounds. The concept of universality had always inspired the sporting movement, and had been enshrined in the Olympic Charter. All forms of discrimination, whether for reasons of

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race, religion, politics or sex, were entirely incompatible with the Olympic movement. The International Federation of Human Rights called upon States to put an end to such discrimination.

ALFRED FERNANDEZ, of the International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education, said the Summer University of Human Rights had among its objectives to defend and promote human rights education aimed at developing a universal human rights culture. Last year, the University had hosted 37 students selected from 250 candidates coming from 30 countries. A high level of interdisciplinary training was given to the students by university professors, international civil servants and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The students had also attended the meeting of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, and had become familiarized with the measures of protection available to the United Nations.

PAK SONG OK, of the International Federation of Women in Legal Careers, said the Japanese Government had openly rejected the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, while again taking up the so-called "Civilian Fund" for victims of wartime sexual slavery. The Japanese Government had thus revealed that it had no intention of resolving the issue. By so doing, the Government was attempting to "kill two birds with one stone": shirking its responsibility for past crimes and disguising itself as a "donor" and "helper". On behalf of the victims, the Federation called upon the Japanese Government to recognize its responsibility for the crimes and compensate the victims, both dead and alive.

GENEI SHIMOJI, of the World Peace Council, said large United States military bases had disrupted the daily life of the Okinawan people for past 50 years; the bases violated their human rights. The bases occupied 20 per cent of the total land area of Okinawa and had been constructed very close to residential areas with heavy concentrations of population and industry. The Okinawans had been severely deprived of their rights to use their own land for economic development.

ZHANG QINGFANG, of the All China Women's Federation, said inequality between countries could lead to damage to the human rights of women in countries under suppression; the idea of race superiority could result in greater discrimination in countries that suffered discrimination. Great injustices against women still existed in today's world; serious attention was needed from governments and the international community. In wars and violent conflicts, women and children were the most miserable victims. Globally, poverty was the greatest obstacle hindering progress on human rights for women; the efforts made to date to overcome poverty were far from enough. Violence against women also required much greater attention; during the Second World War, the Japanese military had forced women, including Chinese women, into prostitution, and to this day the Japanese Government had not been

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willing to face this historical reality; it should adopt practical measures to resolve the issue.

K. WARIKOO, of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said more than 400,000 people had been forced from their homes by violent cross-border terrorism in Kashmir; more than 20,000 of their homes had been looted and burned down to prevent them from returning. Kashmiris' traditional culture similarly was being destroyed by terrorists, who had attacked such sites as religious shrines. The forcibly displaced Kashmiris were suffering from lack of decent housing, and health conditions in the camps in which they were forced to live. The world community must do something to ease their suffering. The situation had major implications for peace and security in the region.

DONNA SULLIVAN, of the International Human Rights Law Group, said that the reports by the Special Representatives on Internally Displaced Persons and on Cambodia demonstrated significant progress towards integrating gender-specific information and analysis into the work of the Commission. The Group welcomed their attention to women's rights in the family and women's economic, social and cultural rights. Although a number of other rapporteurs and experts, including those on Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, and Iraq had examined economic, social and cultural rights, they did not integrate gender-specific information and analysis into those discussions. The Group commended the Special Representative on Internally Displaced Persons for his well integrated analysis of violence against women, and of women's rights to participation in decision-making, property, education and equality in the family.

HEE SOON KWON, of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches, said that at first Japan had denied the fact that military sexual slavery even existed. Thanks to the efforts of many non-governmental organizations, Japan had finally admitted what had happened during the Second World War. However, Japan's effort to establish a central fund to help women forced by its military into sexual slavery was insufficient. The victims said they did not want sympathy money; they wanted true justice, and for the Government to assume legal responsibility. Japan, by setting up this fund rather than assuming legal responsibility, was ignoring the opinions of the international community and the United Nations. The issue should go to the International Court of Justice. The World Council of Churches called on the Commission to urge Japan to establish a fact-finding body on the issue and to establish an administrative tribunal for reparations to the victims of its military sexual slavery during the Second World War.

MATTHEW GREENALL, of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, said his organization was alarmed at continued reports of violence and killing in Karachi, Pakistan, which showed no signs of letting up. The terrorism faced by the inhabitants of Sindh province would appear to occur on the basis of religious and ethnic divisions, in particular between

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the Mohajirs, originally immigrants from undivided India, and the natives of Sindh province. But the League had received reports that the security forces had resorted to arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudical executions in response to these conflicts. Such violations could only flourish when there was a lack of punitive measures in place to deter them. The only way of resolving the causes of the terrorism was through dialogue designed to harmonize the interests of the various groups.

ABDUL MAJID, of the Muslim World League, said that during the past 49 years, about 2 million Kashmiris had had to leave their homes and now lived in a state of uncertainty about their future. During the last seven years, the Indian security forces had burned down houses and routed residents; those displaced had been reduced to a state of hopelessness. Every displaced person had the right to return home in dignity and safety, but that right had so far been denied to Kashmiris. Indian propaganda machinery had tried continuously to mislead the world about what was occurring in Kashmir; it was the Government of India that had encouraged and facilitated a well-planned exodus of people; it was trying to keep Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs from living together in harmony. It was time for the Commission to ask the Government of India to stop human-rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

SARDAR ABID MAJID KHAN, of the International Institute for Peace, said a new situation had arisen in Pakistani-held Kashmir which deserved the immediate attention of the Commission. The Government was settling Afghans in the part of Kashmir it had occupied. Instead of allowing back those Kashmiris whose mass exodus had taken place as a result of the 1947 attack on Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan was settling Afghani people in a flagrant violation of the fundamental human rights of the Kashmiri people. That illegal process had created a great deal of tension which could erupt into not only violence in Pakistani-held Kashmir, but also would result in further and new exoduses from it. The right of Kashmiris to live in the place of their ancestors was a basic and fundamental right. The Pakistani Government in fact had tried its best to stop the speaker from entering the Commission, and he had been detained at the Zurich airport because of a fax sent by the Pakistani authorities. The Commission must bring Pakistan to stop gross violations of human rights in Kashmir, and must similarly bring pressure on India to stop settling outsiders in Indian-held Kashmir.

GHAFOOR SHUKOORI, of the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, said that in Afghanistan millions of innocent people had been killed, and tens of thousands of others were crippled or handicapped. The territory had been turned into a field of land-mines. Millions of other Afghans had been forced to migrate to other countries. After the victory of the Islamic revolution in Afghanistan, direct intervention in the country, particularly by Pakistan, had taken on a more horrendous dimension and was intended to destabilize the country. Schools and universities were being closed in western Afghanistan; women were being pushed out of the mainstream of social life and were not

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allowed to attend schools or go out of their houses to shop. Enemies of Afghanistan were trying to push the country backward, and the Islamic State had repeatedly solicited help from the international community to bring an end to foreign intervention and begin the process of rehabilitating the country. The United Nations system must contribute effectively and meaningfully to the process of returning Afghan refugees and curb those foreign groups trying to prevent the return of peace.

JEAN-JACQUES KIRKYACHARIAN/GHOLAM-HOSSEIN ESHGHI, of the Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples, said the Commission ran the risk of losing its raison d'etre; it must find a way of countering the manoeuvring carried out by States to keep their citizens from exercising human rights, including their right to free expression. The speaker's wife had been a 20-year veteran of the campaign for democracy and human rights in Iran. She was the third member of her family to be killed by the mullahs; she had been gunned down after leading a humanitarian delegation to Turkey in order to address the plight of Iranian refugees. Since January nine Iranian dissidents had been assassinated outside of Iran; out of over 120 terrorist attacks against Iranian dissidents outside Iran over recent years, up to 70 per cent had occurred under the present Government. When there was judicial proof that members of the Iranian cabinet were involved in murders outside Iran, why did the international community not act? The Iranian case should be referred to the Security Council for punitive measures.

ANDREE FARHI, of the International Council of Jewish Women, speaking on behalf of 32 non-governmental organizations, expressed concern at the failure of the Commission to reflect the impact of world changes on the pattern of human rights situations in all regions. The non-governmental organizations accordingly welcomed the efforts of the Chairman of the fiftieth session of the Commission to remedy that situation and to institute reforms in the working methods of the Commission; and his proposal to constitute an open-ended working group to consider specific proposal to that end. In particular, the Chairman's proposal for the adoption of a reordered agenda to deal with new situations and development was considered as being particularly constructive.

MAJID TRAMBOO, of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities, said education in human rights was vital, and the Association believed the Plan of Action for the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education could be achieved through development and dissemination of material for education at international, national, regional and local levels; the development and dissemination of methodologies for such education; and increases in the awareness of human-rights standards and mechanisms among the population at large through the media. An investment today in human-rights education would be repaid many times in the future. Horrendous human-rights violations were being perpetrated against residents of Jammu and Kashmir; clearly this highlighted the need for human-rights education. State-oriented

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violence against women in Jammu and Kashmir must end, and the relevant Special Rapporteur must, as a priority matter, investigate this trend in Kashmir and elsewhere in the world.

DAVID MATAS, of the Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations, said there was a gap in the United Nations system in reporting on compliance around the world with standards for the human rights of refugees and displaced persons. Neither the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees nor the Commission on Human Rights had such a reporting system. Rights of refugees and displaced persons were being violated daily by signatories to the convention on refugees. Systematic reports were needed; already there were consistent applications of interdiction procedures in which those seeking protection in foreign countries were shunted from country to country until eventually forced to return to the country from which they had fled persecution. Canada and the United States were now negotiating an agreement to prevent any claimant passing through either country from making a claim of protection in the other; the commitment to refugee protection in principle had often been coupled with denial of refugee protection in practice.

GUNILLA BACKMAN, of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, said her organization, together with the Migrants Network of the European Project and all other networks fighting against AIDS in the world, were concerned about the acute problem of HIV/AIDS among mobile populations all over the world. Migrants, immigrants and refugees already lived a marginalized existence. In the last few years, they had become politically controversial and a matter of intensive debate inflaming public opinion. It should be noted that in more than 50 countries travel restrictions continued to be applied against people living with HIV/AIDS. That included countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Even countries claiming to advocate human rights, such as the United States, frequently banned HIV-positive people from entering their borders.

IDA MILLI, of the International Association against Torture, said the majority of the 200,000 women forced into military sexual slavery by Japan during the Second World War had been Korean. The victims, who had since had the courage to speak about the barbarism they had endured, demanded justice and equality. The Japanese Government should take the following measures: identify and prosecute all perpetrators involved in the recruitment and institutionalization of military rape and slavery; provide a resort to the International Court of Justice or the permanent Court of Arbitration; and conduct a thorough investigation into the historical facts. The women deserved individual apologies, acknowledgement of government moral and legal responsibility for such crimes, and reparations -- payment of compensation from Japanese governmental resources to each individual victim, and thus the assumption of Japanese State responsibility rather than feeble attempts to achieve pacification with privately raised "atonement money".

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JUANA SALES, of the International Indian Treaty Council, said he wished to commended the contributions made by the independent expert on Guatemala, Monica Pinto (document E/CN.4/1996/15). The judicial system of Guatemala had been transformed into an instrument of crime. The Commission should include in its resolution on Guatemala an encouragement to the United Nations Mission for Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala to contribute more to the respect of human rights in Guatemala and to be more vigilant in that field.

MESTIN WOLDE-MARIAM, of the International Movement for Fraternal Union among Races and Peoples, said his group was concerned that Ethiopia, which had just come out of a bloody civil war, could be involved in another round of violence and suffering. This was the reason the Movement cooperated with the Ethiopian Human Rights Council. The Council was a non-governmental organization which monitored, investigated, verified and reported human rights violations; so far it had published nine reports, several special reports and a book supported by photographic evidence. These documents had revealed extra-judicial killings, torture, involuntary disappearances and arbitrary detention, as well as forced displacements. The Council constantly faced vilification from the regime, which claimed to be democratic, and so far the regime had refused to register the Council in accordance with the law; oddly enough Western Governments had weakened the Council by insisting that it drop two of its main objectives, encouragement of the democratic process and the rule of law. Such a position demonstrated clearly a double standard in application of human rights.

DAVID ARNOTT, of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, said tourism was often a cause of human rights violations in developing countries; development often was short-circuited as peoples were introduced to modern life too fast. There was forced labour, human rights violations, and violence against women and children, including rape and coerced prostitution for sex tourism. There was land confiscation, forced displacements and disturbing of prevailing cultures. The Burmese military in 1990 evicted 5,000 people from a temple city in order to "cleanse" it and prepare it for tourists. The Commission should set up a working group to study the human-rights dimensions of Third World tourism.

GHULAM MOHAMMED SAFI, of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, said the Federation was concerned about the fate of more than 2 million displaced Kashmiri civilians; in 1993 and 1994, he had visited several of the refugees in camps in Azad Kashmir to document why so many innocent civilians had fled their homeland; he had found a student whose fingers had been chopped off slowly, inch by inch; and a merchant who had suffered electric shocks and had been hung upside down. A mother of 23 years of age had been raped in front of the women of her house after soldiers had broken her infant's right foot. The Commission must take the strongest possible

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action as quickly as possible to halt, even temporarily, the terrible atrocities being committed in Kashmir by Indian forces.

RACHEL GARSTANG, of Liberation, said the increase in the scale of human rights abuses resulting from internal conflicts was of very serious concern. While the United Nations Centre for Human Rights tried to deal with the workload through new procedures, more Special Rapporteurs and diminishing funds, the ability of States to rebuff criticism had also become more sophisticated. The fundamental issue of human rights was the sincerity of United Nations Member States in their intention to abide by the international instruments they had consented to. While ratification of such an instrument was seen as a landmark of approval, the question should be why increasing numbers of States were violating human rights standards they had accepted. The searching question was whether there was perceived to be an inherent and fundamental inconsistency between the nation State and international instruments by countries with escalating abuses.

VERONIQUE DE WEICHS DE WENNE, of the Society for Threatened Peoples, said the right to freely leave and return to one's country must be protected; yet Georgia had deprived Abkhazians of this right. No adult male was allowed to leave, and Georgia had furthermore established a severe economic blockade on Abkhazia. People could not travel in pursuit of trade, could not visit friends or relatives, send representatives of human rights organizations to the West, or carry out other fundamental and normal travel activity. Most recently, Russia had completely cut all telephone communications with Abkhazia. As for problems of displaced persons, the Society wished to draw attention to this very important issue in the case of the Ingush refugees of the Russian Federation, who had been displaced from North Ossetia in the Caucasus region, and to the situation of refugees of Tibet, whose rights had been violated both by China and, recently by the Nepalese Government.

MUMTAZ AHMAD WANI, of the World Muslim Congress, said that despite the many impressive human rights instruments which the international community had evolved, gross and consistent violations of human rights continued in many parts of the world where international intervention and involvement was either minimal or absent. He said he was a direct witness of such violations in Jammu and Kashmir. In the last seven years, he had seen his people brutalized, the territory invaded, towns and villages burnt. Tens of thousands of people had been killed, women raped and dishonoured, tens of thousands of people detained, tortured and extrajudicially executed. The children of those 2 million people had lost their identity, he said.

EVA BRANTLEY, of the Transnational Radical Party, said the Secretary-General of the United Nations had remarked before the Commission that democracy must be promoted, something that required of governments political will, development of a civil society and promotion of transparency. But the Commission also must pay attention to these aims; if the Commission

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had acted on these aims there might not have been a civil war in former Yugoslavia, or severe human rights abuses in Burma. The Commission had an obligation to prevent human-rights violations from occurring. Governments of course were obligated to prevent them, too, but the Commission had to exercise its duty of due diligence; it should call attention to such crises, so that governments could not commit them or ignore them.

S.K. SAHNI, of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, said terrorist activities had adversely affected the human rights of innocent civilians and created conditions of fear and alarm. In a democratic setup, the problem of terrorism assumed a unique manifestation. Where the press was free, human rights violations by State forces were openly reported, whereas ill-treatment committed by militants was not reported for fear of retribution. State action was taken as causative and militant action as reactive. It was always desirable to have maximum transparency to project an unbiased and impartial state of affairs. Wherever the army was called to assist the civil authorities to search for terrorists, as was happening in the Kashmir Valley in India, local magistrates and non-governmental organizations should be associated in order to allay misgivings regarding the conduct of security personnel.

ATTIYA INAYATULLAH, of the All-Pakistan Women's Association, said the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war in Kashmir, and in such areas as Bosnia, should be examined by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. The Commission must avoid being long on words and short on action. What could be said when India had created a national human rights commission but gave it no jurisdiction over the major human rights issue in the region, the conflict in Kashmir? Administration of human rights must be depoliticized, as politics did no good when Kashmiri women were raped and Kashmiri children were shot; in serious political flashpoints such as Kashmir, countries should be called to account.

SAEEDEH KEYHANI, of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, said women still suffered much discrimination and oppression, although they doubtlessly had taken major strides forward. Today, major issues such as peace, social and economic development and the spread of democracy had become intertwined with the issue of women. But at the same time, a reactionary, brutal and suppressive force, such as fundamentalism, whose most distinctive feature was misogyny, had emerged, taking advantage of Islam. Fundamentalism threatened all achievements of the civilized world, especially those of women. Under the cloak of Islam, it rejected equality between men and women and allowed brutality against women.

ALFREDO TARRE MURZI (Venezuela) said countries or colonial regions where violations of human rights continued were wastelands, a marginal world incompatible with civilized humanity. It was important not to equivocate. True response to violations was still stymied by the survival of political

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feudalism in various parts of the world. The challenge was how to establish social justice in a way in which there were no exploiters or exploited. The United Nations was destitute because of a loss of confidence of its Member States; a way existed for rising above this crisis in the revision of programmes of human rights. The time had come to apply some healthy correctives to the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

VLADIMIR SOTIROV (Bulgaria) stressed the importance of the international community's concerted efforts aimed at the economic reconstruction of the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Bulgaria, he said, had closely watched the human rights situation in former Yugoslavia. He was confident that the general framework agreement, initiated in Dayton and signed in Paris at the end of last year, set the foundation for an effective protection of human rights in the area. In that context, five Bulgarian experts, including two representatives of Bulgarian non-governmental organizations, were taking part in the mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The human rights situation of Bulgarians in Serbia was of particular interest and of substantial importance to his country in the context of promoting good neighbourhood relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), he continued. It was of particular concern that the Bulgarian national minority be treated on an equal basis with the other national minorities in the enjoyment of their constitutional rights in the field of their ethnic appurtenance, promotion of their culture, free access to information and education in their mother tongue.

GIANFRANCO ROSSI, of the International Association for Religious Freedom, said there were persistent and fundamental violations of human rights taking place in Saudi Arabia. The country was an absolute monarchy which had no written constitution, no political parties and no labour unions. Expression was extremely limited; even Freud, standard philosophy and music were prohibited. Foreign workers often were persecuted, along with members of the Shiite Muslim minority. Once imprisoned, people were subject to systematic torture; trials were rarely held in public; defense lawyers were not even authorized to be present in the courtroom. Women domestics coming from developing countries often worked in conditions of virtual slavery, and were subject to physical and sexual abuse. Women in general were not treated equally. The Commission must deal publicly with human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.

Right of Reply

HEMANT KRISHAN SINGH (India) said his country totally rejected the baseless allegations contained in the statement by the Secretary-General of Organization of the Islamic Conference this morning. India was home to the second largest Muslim population in the world, and Muslims were given full

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rights and equal treatment. It was unfortunate that India's neighbour had problems with India's democratic institutions; the Indian people put their faith in these institutions, which ensured the enjoyment of their basic rights of citizens of a democracy. If India's neighbour was genuinely interested in the welfare of Kashmiris, it should welcome the elections scheduled throughout India at the end of April, including in Jammu and Kashmir.

FISSEHA YIMER (Ethiopia) said the representative of the International Movement for Fraternal Union among Races and Peoples had deliberately distorted facts about Ethiopia. Contrary to allegations he had made, the Ethiopian Teachers Association was still functioning and with regard to Ethiopian Trade Union Federation, the Government had nothing to do with the internal conflict that resulted in its incapacitation. Habeas corpus was still available as a remedy. The Ethiopian peoples were enjoying peace more than ever.

MASOOD KHAN (Pakistan) said India had unleashed some non-descript, shadowy allegations against Pakistan and Kashmiris; the speaker had been given a script by his Government. The elections scheduled by India for Kashmir had been rejected by Kashmiris; they were fraudulent, illegal and meant to justify India's unjustifiable occupation of Kashmir. India continued to torture and kill human rights defenders in Kashmir; that was how it respected human rights there.

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