COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS REQUESTS SECRETARY-GENERAL TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO RECRUITMENT OF STAFF FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE
Press Release
HR/CN/749
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS REQUESTS SECRETARY-GENERAL TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO RECRUITMENT OF STAFF FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE
19960425 Resolution Passed by Vote of 33-16-4; Commission Also Adopts Measures on Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Children's RightsGENEVA, 23 April (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights decided this morning to extend the mandate of its Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Equatorial Guinea for another year and to terminate its consideration of the situation in Togo. Those decisions were contained in two of 11 resolutions adopted this morning.
In the measure on Equatorial Guinea, the Commission welcomed the holding of multi-party elections and encouraged the Government to facilitate the return of exiles and refugees. The resolution on Togo strongly urged that country's Government to continue its efforts to strengthen human rights and to consolidate democracy and the rule of law.
The texts on the two countries were adopted without a vote, as were all but one of the other resolutions. The only vote came when the Commission took up a text requesting the Secretary-General to pay particular attention to the recruitment for the Centre for Human Rights of personnel from developing countries. This measure was adopted by a vote of 33 Commission members in favour, 16 against, with 4 abstentions.
Among the other measures adopted this morning were resolutions dealing with basic workers' rights, contemporary forms of slavery, protection of the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples and hostage taking.
Action on Draft Resolutions
In a resolution on the question of basic workers' rights, the Commission appealed to States to ensure all persons under their jurisdiction could exercise their rights of freedom of association, to organize and join free and independent trade unions, and to bargain collectively. States were called upon to consider adopting measures to ensure that all persons had the right to equal pay for equal work, without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, ethnicity or religion. The Commission welcomed the
legislative and administrative steps taken by States to promote and protect the rights of workers, eliminate forced child labour, eradicate exploitation of child labour and address that issue through education, social support and alternative income-generating activities. It invited States to involve trade union organizations in formulating government policy that affected their economic and social interests.
JAIME S. BAUTISTA (Philippines) said the position of the countries of the Association of South-east Asian Nations on that text was that they could not support the draft because it represented an overlap of functions with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
JISHAN ZHANG (China) said the resolution contained elements which did not correspond to the mandate of the Commission. The ILO was the appropriate forum to deal with such questions.
Under the terms of a resolution on contemporary forms of slavery as reported to the Working Group on the subject established by the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the Secretary-General was requested to invite States that had not ratified or acceded to the conventions on slavery to consider doing so as soon as possible. The Commission recommended that the supervisory bodies of the ILO give particular attention to the implementation of provisions and standards designed to ensure the protection of children and others exposed to contemporary forms of slavery.
Also by that text, the Commission encouraged governments to consider adopting measures and regulations to protect child labourers. Member States were invited to consider taking appropriate action for the protection of particularly vulnerable groups, such as children and migrant women. Governments were requested to pursue a policy of rehabilitation of victims of prostitution. The Commission approved the draft programme of action for the prevention of the traffic in persons and the exploitation of prostitution of others while taking note of differences between States in the scope of applicability of their criminal legislation with regard to prostitution and pornographic material. The Secretary-General was requested to examine the reliability of allegations regarding the removal of organs and tissues of children and adults for commercial purposes, to enable the Commission at its next session to decide upon possible follow-up on the matter.
JISHAN ZHANG (China) said that as host country of last year's Fourth World Conference on Women, China fully supported the resolution. Some countries were guilty of a double standard: they claimed to support international instruments which protected women from prostitution and trafficking, and yet their domestic legislation was inconsistent with such instruments. Some countries had raised reservations about the draft programme
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of action for the prevention of the traffic in persons and the exploitation of the prostitution of others. China believed this programme of action should be adopted without restriction.
ARUNDHATI GHOSE (India) said his delegation interpreted the amended operative paragraph 12 of L.41 to mean that legislation not in accordance with internationally accepted standards, particularly when they related to women, needed to be brought into line with international norms. Those countries that did not have legislation protecting women from violations, including prostitution, should develop such legislation.
By a resolution on hostage-taking, the Commission demanded that all hostages be released immediately and without any preconditions and called upon States to take all necessary measures to prevent, combat and punish the taking of hostages, including strengthening international cooperation in that field. It also urged all special rapporteurs and working groups to address as appropriate the consequences of hostage-taking, in their forthcoming reports to the Commission, and decided to consider this question again at its fifty-fourth session.
In a resolution on the protection of the heritage of indigenous peoples, the Commission recommended to the Economic and Social Council that it request the Secretary-General to transmit the final report of the Special Rapporteur on the protection of the heritage of indigenous peoples, with its annex, as soon as possible to governments, specialized agencies, indigenous people's communities and organizations, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations; that it request the Special Rapporteur to prepare a supplementary report on the basis of the comments and information received from those governments and organizations and to include in it a chapter on relevant activities undertaken in other forums; and that it decide that the basic and comprehensive study prepared by the Special Rapporteur should be published in all official languages and disseminated widely.
By the terms of a resolution on the protection of human rights in the Asian and Pacific region, the Commission endorsed the conclusions of the fourth workshop on this subject held in Nepal this year, including the recognition of a step-by-step process towards establishment of a regional arrangement for the promotion and protection of human rights in the region. It recognized that diverse cultural, religious, historical and political particularities played a significant role in the development of regional arrangements, together with the universality of human rights. The Secretary-General was requested to allocate more resources from existing United Nations funds to enable countries of the region to benefit from all the activities under the programme of advisory services and technical assistance in the field of human rights.
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By a resolution on the composition of the staff of the Centre for Human Rights the Commission requested the Secretary-General to pay particular attention to the recruitment for the Centre for Human Rights of personnel from developing countries, to ensure equitable geographical distribution, giving priority to recruitment to high-level and professional posts and to the recruitment of women. The Secretary-General was once again requested, in signing agreements with countries as a result of which junior professional officers were provided to the Centre, and to urge those countries to ensure additional financial resources to guarantee that personnel from developing countries were able to work as junior professional officers.
The above resolution was adopted by a vote of 33 in favour to 16 against, with 4 abstentions. The result of the vote was as follows:
In favour: Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Against: Australia, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.
Abstentions: Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malawi and Republic of Korea.
PETER VAN WULFFTEN PALTHE (Netherlands) said the text intended to re-write the Charter of the United Nations. The distribution of posts within the Centre was a matter for the Secretary-General. The Commission was not the executive body of the Centre; that was the province of the General Assembly. The resolution called for an equitable distribution of staff within the Centre, but it was quite clear that equitable geographical distribution already existed.
HENRY STEEL (United Kingdom) expressed regret that, contrary to what Cuba had often said over the last five weeks, it had resolutely refused offers to reach consensus on the important topic of resolution. The resolution as it stood usurped the prerogatives of the Secretary-General, was contrary to the Charter and would have an effect quite opposite to the one it was designed for.
GERHARD BAUM (Germany) said his delegation agreed with the delegations of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and would be obliged to vote against the text.
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GERALDINE A. FERRARO (United States) said her delegation was very distressed by the actions of Cuba in failing to agree to the request by the Netherlands for further consultations. The United States would have hoped that the text could have been adopted by consensus. The delegation associated itself with the remarks of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
BILL BARKER (Australia) said he understood that delegations were concerned about equitable geographic distribution among staff at the Centre; Australia considered that staff from developing countries would perform equally well at the Centre. But Australia did not feel the text was the way to go about accomplishing what the co-sponsors wished. There should have been open, transparent discussion in preparation of the text. Australia had intended to abstain in the vote, but had decided, in view of the refusal of the sponsors to discuss the contents of the resolution, that it was obliged to vote against the resolution.
PETER SPLINTER (Canada) said he regretted the inability of Cuba to entertain discussions on the draft. If Cuba would reconsider its position, Canada would participate in the consultations. The purpose of the resolution was to lend the Commission's support to the High Commissioner for Human Rights in adapting the Centre to the growing demands upon it. Given that the Commission was the organ which made the most demands on the Centre, it was appropriate that the Commission should provide guidance as to how those demands could be met. It was hoped that further efforts could be made towards that end. Canada associated itself with those who had reservations about the current text, which was based on an incorrect interpretation of, even a disregard for the Charter of the United Nations.
JORGE BERGUNO (Chile) said Chile would vote in favour of the text, and regretted that there had to be a vote on the measure. But his delegation had serious reservations about the language of the measure regarding the right of the High Commissioner to carry out the restructuring of his staff; this seemed too rigid.
TAKASHI KOEZUKA (Japan) said his delegation found difficulty in the text and was obliged to vote against it. Not all of the developing countries were under-represented in the Centre. The geographical balance should be viewed from the perspective of the entire United Nations system and not the Centre alone. The issue of employment of United Nations staff members should be dealt with on a country-by-country basis.
CARLOS ERNESTO MENDOZA (EL Salvador) said his delegation had been among the co-sponsors and considered that the text was necessary because it dealt with a subject that should be resolved. However, his delegation did not consider the text to be the best it could be, and wished there had been more dialogue. EL Salvador would withdraw its sponsorship and abstain in the vote.
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DANIEL BERNARD (France) said his delegation associated itself with the remarks of the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
TYGE LEHMANN (Denmark) said it was surprising that the text required a separate vote, as another resolution already dealt with the Centre. Further, the attitude behind the text did not seem positive or cooperative. Denmark would vote against the measure.
PAOLO TORELLA DI ROMAGNANO (Italy) said his delegation would vote against the text for exactly the same reasons espoused by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, among others.
In a resolution on human rights in Equatorial Guinea, the Commission called upon the Government to take all necessary measures to promote the harmonious co-existence of all the ethnic groups making up the society of Equatorial Guinea. It welcomed the fact that the transition to democracy in the country had led to the holding of multi-party elections. The Government was encouraged to continue dialogue with all political forces with a view to ensuring continuity and consensus on democratization of the country and to facilitate the return of exiles and refugees. It was also called upon to continue improving the conditions of prisoners and detainees.
The Commission also encouraged the Government to accede to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as well as to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Government was invited to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations were brought to justice. It was encouraged to continue taking measures to improve the legal and social situation of women in the country. The Commission renewed the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation in Equatorial Guinea for one year.
The representative of Venezuela said that although Venezuela would not prevent consensus on that resolution, it would have preferred more forceful wording to bring out some of the more negative aspects of the situation in Equatorial Guinea, particularly with regard to local elections in the country and the presidential poll of last February.
By a resolution on the situation of human rights in Togo, the Commission strongly urged the Togolese Government to continue its efforts aimed at the strengthening of human rights and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law. The Commission also invited the Government and the Centre for Human Rights to do everything possible to ensure the proper execution of the technical assistance programme provided for under the agreement of 23 March, and decided to terminate its consideration of the situation of human rights in the country.
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TAKASHI KOEZUKA (Japan), explaining Japan's vote on a previously adopted resolution, said his delegation opposed the linking of the problem of foreign debt with human rights questions for the purpose of alleviating the debt burden. Japan had difficulty in accepting that idea.
As the Commission took up a text on the situation in southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa, through which it would, among other things, deplore continuing Israeli violations, Mr. DI ROMAGNANO (Italy), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said the Union was seriously concerned by the aggravation of the situation in Lebanon and northern Israel. The Union renewed its appeal for an immediate cease-fire and, in that context, supported Security Council resolution 1052 (1996). It considered that only a political solution could bring an end to the current crisis and allow the peace process to resume its course. Furthermore, it considered that the populations of Israel and Lebanon should be able to live in peace and security. It deeply deplored the suffering inflicted on the civilian populations of both countries. The Union insisted that all the parties, whether directly or indirectly involved in the current conflict, contribute to an immediate halt to hostility and acts of violence with the aim of allowing peace negotiations to resume.
The European Union expressed its support for the continuing efforts of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in highly adverse circumstances, which had included horrific injuries to four Fijian peace-keepers at Cana, he went on. The Union reaffirmed its commitment to pursue diplomatic efforts in the region and expressed its willingness to participate in proposals aimed at promoting a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.
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