FOREIGN SECRETARY OF BANGLADESH, IN ADDRESS, LINKS HUMAN RIGHTS TO ECONOMIC PROGRESS
Press Release
HR/CN/747
FOREIGN SECRETARY OF BANGLADESH, IN ADDRESS, LINKS HUMAN RIGHTS TO ECONOMIC PROGRESS
19960426 (Delayed in transmission.)GENEVA, 22 April (UN Information Service) -- Noting that nearly 1 billion people now lived in abject poverty, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh told the Commission on Human Rights this morning that, for lasting progress, steps must be taken to reduce the gap between rich and poor in the world -- the international community must bolster the endeavours of developing countries to give their citizens better lives by providing increased flows of aid, removing conditions on the aid, offering debt relief, enhancing market access, and sharing environmentally friendly technology.
The Minister, Farooq Sobhan, also called for an end to politicization of human rights issues in the work of the Commission and for a halt to "selective targeting of countries for criticism and condemnation on charges of human rights violations".
Also addressing the Commission this morning was the Vice-Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea, Francisco J. Ngomo Mbengono, who said the country had made progress in establishing a pluralist democratic government and had recently held a presidential election in which 86 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.
The Commission continued to work its way through a long list of speakers on its agenda item on the human rights of children; the majority were representatives of non-governmental organizations.
A spokesperson for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) described alarming rates of infection among children and called for greater emphasis on education about the disease and greater efforts to end discrimination against AIDS sufferers and members of their families.
Representatives of Gabon, Sudan, Romania, Nepal, and Cuba spoke at the meeting, as did an official of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The following non-governmental organizations also provided statements: World Federation of Methodist Women; International Abolitionist Federation;
American Association of Jurists; International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples; Friends World Committee for Consultation; Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation; African Commission for Health and Human Rights Promoters; Commission for the Defence of Human Rights in Central America; International Federation of University Women; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; World Organization of Former Pupils of Catholic Education; and International Educational Development.
Statement by Vice-Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea
FRANCISCO J. NGOMO MBENGONO, Vice-Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea, said the President of the Republic, when coming to power, had established among his objectives the promotion of human rights and economic development in an atmosphere of peace, dialogue and cooperation. The country was embarked on the democratization of its institutions, and there had been continuous progress, year by year, in that endeavour and in respect for human rights. To help restore the country, the Government had promulgated a general amnesty law and a law on freedom of worship. A fundamental law passed by referendum in 1992 had set the stage for democracy by allowing and fostering political pluralism; related legislation had furthered that aim by protecting political parties and setting up systems for elections. There were 14 political parties, and a pluralist Parliament had been elected.
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea had noted that the country continued to work towards democracy and respect for human rights, he said. Treatment of prisoners had been termed satisfactory, although the Rapporteur had remarked that there was a lack of material resources. There was better understanding by the Government of the recommendations of the Commission, and that there had been notable improvement in freedom of expression.
Presidential elections had been held on 25 February, the Vice-Prime Minister recalled. Six candidates had been subsidized by the State, he said. Some political parties had been unable to agree to participate, although the Government had done all it could to accommodate their participation. Later, three candidates withdrew their candidacies. The climate of the election had been fair and amicable, showing that Equatorial Guinea had reached political maturity. A number of countries sent impartial observers. Of 213,000 eligible voters, 86 per cent cast ballots, electing Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea. The new Government included representatives of the opposition. Equatorial Guinea was not perfect, but was doing its best, he went on. It was willing to accept criticism, but not unfounded criticism. The Special Rapporteur should have spoken more about the economic rights of the people. There had been an economic blockade by certain interests since 1992; development projects were under way, but the blockade was threatening the country's humanitarian and social programmes.
- 3 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
Statement by Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh
FAROOQ SOBHAN, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, said there was no dearth of instruments to promote and protect human rights, but there was a need to reflect on whether all such efforts had paid adequate dividends; it was important to remember that nearly 1 billion people lived in abject poverty and worthwhile to remember that every year nearly a quarter of a million children died of malnutrition and preventable diseases, while numerous other children were injured and disabled every year in armed conflicts. Care should be taken to remember that the protection of human rights, the right to development, and furtherance of democratic principles were all closely related. Funding in any one of those areas should not be at the expense of funding for any of the others.
Bangladesh hoped that resolutions adopted during this session of the Commission would reflect objectivity, non-politicization, non-selectivity, and transparency, Mr. Sobhan said. Politicization of human rights issues and selective targeting of countries for criticism and condemnation on charges of human rights violations would negate the principles set out in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and would be counterproductive. There should be dialogue, understanding, and cooperation, not confrontation. Hard-won privileges and aspirations in the fields of human rights and democracy must not be allowed to be negated by the destructive forces of fragmentation and conflict.
Bangladesh had embarked on a bold, pioneering endeavour, continued the Foreign Secretary. It had established a caretaker Government that would be in place for 90 days for the sole purpose of allowing a free, fair, and transparent election, he said. The country hoped for the understanding and support of the international community in achieving that goal, and was promoting political pluralism. Bangladesh remained committed to defending human rights, and in keeping with that commitment had strongly participated in recent years in the mandate of international peacekeeping.
The Centre for Human Rights needed to be strengthened, the Foreign Secretary said, and Bangladesh suggested that the High Commissioner for Human Rights consider the need for greater geographical balance in the composition of the Centre.
Poverty was a major obstacle to the enjoyment of human rights, Mr. Sobhan said. To truly promote human rights, there was a need for reduction of the gap between the rich and poor -- the international community had to bolster the endeavours of developing countries by providing assistance for resource and capacity-building in favourable terms: increased flows of aid, removal of aid conditionalities, debt relief, enhanced market access, and access to environmentally friendly technology.
- 4 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
Children's Rights
The Commission on Human Rights this afternoon began a general discussion on children's rights, focusing specifically on the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (document E/CN.4/1996/99); the work of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (document E/CN.4/1996/100); the Programme of Action for the Prevention of the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (document (E/CN.4/1996/98); the report of the Working Group on the question of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (document E/CN.4/1996/101); and the report of the Working Group on the question of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflicts (document E/CN.4/1996/102).
Statements in Debate
EMMANUEL MBA ALLO (Gabon) said that in the course of the last 10 years, 4 million to 5 million children had been injured and more than a million had become orphans as a result of war. Six years ago, a world summit had been held in New York mobilizing the entire world for the benefit of children. Today, 187 States had committed themselves to promoting the economic, social cultural civil and political rights of children. However, practice did not correspond to the almost universal ratification of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. In Africa, for example, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 3 million children under five years suffered respiratory infections, malnutrition and other diseases every year. Among the urgent needs to be included on the Commission's agenda were combating the prostitution of children, pornography, and the participation of children in armed conflicts.
SUSAN TIMBERLAKE, of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said that more than 50 per cent of those newly infected by HIV were between the ages of 15 and 24; in some places, among 15- to 19-year-olds, two girls were infected for every boy. The drastic increase in the rate of infection among women also meant a corresponding increase in infected infants born to them. There was additional trauma to many other children from the difficulties of watching parents grow sick and die, and from living with stress, stigma, and discrimination in households of infected persons. Not enough was being done to protect the rights of children in the context of HIV and AIDS. A critical opportunity was being lost, because the human rights framework established to protect children also provided the framework to protect them from HIV/AIDS. Much more attention must be given to preventive education campaigns explaining the risk of infection, to efforts to end child prostitution and child pornography, and to programmes aimed at reducing discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS.
- 5 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
ALIER DENG RUAI (Sudan) said his country fully supported the proposed optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and urged the working group on a draft optional protocol on involvement of children in armed conflicts to urgently conclude its task.
Almost everyone was familiar with the multiple risks and dangers confronting street children, including addiction, pornography, prostitution and sale of organs, he continued. The strategy of his Government had been to adopt effective, preventive and corrective measures so as to prevent -- and if need be eradicate -- those vices altogether. Although the phenomenon of street children, a result of the civil war in the south of the country, was a recent one, the Government had been exerting its efforts to gather those children in special camps where they were to undergo rehabilitation. The national laws prohibited recruitment of minors into the military forces. Allegations by the World Federation of Democratic Youth to the contrary were totally inaccurate. It was part of a propaganda campaign to distort the facts in order to give a false picture of the real situation in the Sudan. Furthermore, there were no such practices as the sale of or the traffic in children in the Sudan. Some tribal and traditional practices had been misinterpreted by certain commentators.
EVGENIJ STRIJAK, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said that more attention was needed for children in situations of armed conflict. Even when warring parties claimed that they attacked only military targets, the number of civilian victims often was high, and most of those victims were children. In addition, land-mines caused children great physical and psychological damage. Children in armed conflicts were often the victims of beatings, torture, and sexual assault, sometimes reaching a point of no return where they started committing the same atrocities themselves. The involvement of children in armed conflicts must be clearly and unconditionally outlawed; the Federation would welcome a similar wording in the optional protocol on children in armed conflict to that of the resolution of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference, which did not make any distinction between direct or any other type of participation.
ECATERINA LAUDATU (Romania) said that in her country until 1990, the protection of the child had been largely centralized and fragmented between different ministries and not adapted to the needs of the child. The new strategy was based on the consolidation of the family or, in its absence, institutional care organized along family lines. It was a policy of decentralization. The decision of the Government to approve a national plan of action had reinforced the role of coordination by the National Committee for the Protection of the Child and had obliged ministers to introduce programmes in which priorities were identified. The main problem in Romania had been that a great many children had been placed in institutions; the National Plan of Action now placed those children at the centre of its work,
- 6 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
by opening smaller institutions better adapted to the needs of the children and preparing children for discharge from custodial care. At present, there were 100,000 children who were wards of the State, 50,000 of whom were institutionalized.
RENATE BLOEM, of the World Federation of Methodist Women, speaking on behalf of 34 other non-governmental organizations, said continuing discrimination against the girl child, and the "low-value" tag attached in some countries to baby girls, perpetuated the low status and low self-esteem of women and adversely affected society as a whole. The Commission should ensure complete reporting on the two Programmes of Action adopted by the Commission in 1992 concerning the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and elimination of child labour. The Commission should also provide more comprehensive sex-segregated data; give priority to the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, in particular to the recommendation on violence against women and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; and consider holding another seminar on the overall situation of the girl child.
MICHELE HERREL, of the International Abolitionist Federation, speaking on behalf of eight member organizations of the Sub-Group on the Sexual Exploitation of Children of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, said more attention was needed on issues of prevention and corrective action in the field of child sexual exploitation, as well as on the rehabilitation and reintegration of child victims. Education was a strong factor in keeping children from becoming vulnerable to sexual exploitation, as it helped people to attain economic independence and promoted self-reliance and resistance to the lure of seemingly easy money. Preventive psycho-social services for potential perpetrators of sexual offences against children were rarely envisaged, but could prove to be important and effective; post-offence corrective measures, on the other hand, should be treated with utmost severity, and legal measures and law enforcement against procurers, intermediaries, and accomplices of sexual offenses against children must be equally, if not more, severe to have a deterrent effect.
ALEJANDRO TEITELBAUM, of the American Association of Jurists, and speaking also on behalf of Centre Europe-Tiers Monde, said some had argued that there was no need for an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child because existing laws were adequate to deal with crimes associated with violations of those rights. However, the American Association of Jurists maintained that existing legal remedies were inadequate and it was essential to establish mechanisms for better coordination between States on, for example, the trafficking of children.
MATTHEW GREENALL, of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, said violations of the right to freedom of expression in Bahrain were currently so serious that they stretched to the abuse of the
- 7 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
rights of children. Not only had the violent methods used by security police to break up peaceful demonstrations in favour of democracy frequently caused fatal injuries but also children as young as seven had been arbitrarily arrested in connection with such demonstrations. Over 100 minors had been arrested in 1996; youths had been given sentences ranging from six months to life imprisonment during collective trials. Young people were frequently taken into custody as hostages if their elder relatives who were being sought could not be found. Concerning the involvement of children in armed conflicts, there were alarming reports of conscription of young children by State authorities of the Sudan. The excuse given by the authorities for their abduction was that their fathers were probably evading legal conscription or fighting for rebel armies.
RACHEL BRETT, of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), said the main reason children were recruited into government and armed opposition forces was not because they had special qualities, but because of shortage of manpower. Such recruitment became more prevalent, therefore, when large numbers of soldiers were needed, where the conflict was prolonged and where the government or opposition group was unable to ensure an adequate supply of adult soldiers. Moreover, children were available and had less power to oppose illegal recruitment than adults; they were most likely to be recruited because they were unaccompanied refugees, lived on the margins of society, were from the conflict areas themselves or were without documentation to prove their age. Those same categories of children were also the most likely to volunteer for service in armed forces or armed opposition groups. Research undertaken by the Friends World Committee for Consultation had resulted in recommendations for the international community (see document E/CN.4/1996/NGO/33).
S.K. SONI, of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said children were suffering greatly at the hands of armed terrorists and mercenaries introduced by Pakistan into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. In blatant violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, those terrorists and mercenaries forced Kashmiri children to serve as messengers and conduits for carrying intelligence, arms, and explosives; many teenagers had been forced to enrol for training in handling firearms. The Commission must pressure Pakistan to stop its terrorist activities in Kashmir.
CHARLES GRAVES, of the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, said his organization noted with great concern the traumatic effect of war and armed conflict upon the children of Rwanda. A report received from his organization's affiliate -- the Kigali Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights -- appealed for help with the rehabilitation of Rwandan girls suffering from the consequences of rapes perpetrated during the recent war in that country. The Kanyarwanda organization in Kigali had appealed for international aid to treat the psychological and physical sequelae of the traumas of girls and other child victims. In Uganda, too, children had
- 8 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
suffered extensively from various conflicts. An affiliate of his organization, the Medical Foundation, had engaged in a survey of the needs of children there and established a number of treatment centres. The rehabilitation of children who were victims of armed conflicts was extremely complex; it required family assistance, or in the case of orphaned children, substitute families to fill the vacuum. All possible international assistance must be given without delay to local support groups where trained doctors, social workers and human rights workers could treat the problem. The international community should not ignore the evident need.
FACTOR MENDEZ, of the Commission for the Defence of Human Rights in Central America, said the group was carrying out an investigation of human rights legislation in countries in the area. One focus of the study was the rights of children; unfortunately few States had set standards for respecting children's rights, and while most countries had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, some violated its provisions. In Honduras, some children detainees were kept in adult prisons. In Nicaragua, an 1880 police regulation declared that any student who could not prove he was a student was considered a vagrant; in Guatemala, street-children were abused by State agents, and too few children went to school; in Costa Rica, a law on juvenile justice differentiated between children aged 12 to 14 and children aged 15 to 17. There also were problems in El Salvador, Panama, and Colombia. The serious situation of human rights in general in Colombia extended to children, and the Commission should appoint a special rapporteur for Colombia.
RUESTA DE FUETER, of the International Federation of University Women, said those involved in promoting the rights of the child had to possess a very broad knowledge of educational, economic, social, cultural, ethnic and other issues. Members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, therefore, had a monumental task when considering reports submitted to them by nearly 200 States parties to the Convention. Their task was further complicated by the fact that they were also required to participate in conferences and draft protocols. In view of the workload, the International Federation of University Women were concerned that the Committee might make mistakes. The workload of the Committee had prevented the necessary feedback between the Committee and States parties to the Convention. None the less, the work of the Committee was highly valued -- it should continue its efforts.
DAN CUNNIAH, of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), said his organization condemned strongly the widespread abuse of child labour. In a survey conducted in 1990, it was estimated that there were 79 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 who worked. The International Labour Office considered that only a partial view; surveys in Ghana, India, Indonesia, and Senegal in 1993-1994 indicated that an average of 25 per cent of children under age 14 were engaged in some form of economic activity -- that meant one could assume that between 100 million and 150 million under age 15 were victims of that silent tragedy which robbed them of
- 9 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
their childhoods. Trends showed child labour was reappearing even in developed countries. Consumers should frown upon goods and products manufactured by children, and the ICFTU would use all means at its disposal to put an end to the shameful practice. Although poverty, population growth, and inadequate educational facilities were closely linked to the occurrence of child labour, to say child labour was a harsh but inevitable reality was a notion that should be totally rejected.
NANCY DARGEL, of the World Organization of Former Pupils of Catholic Education, said the major religions of humanity were founded in human rights long ages before the latter had been codified. To be allowed to teach in school was a vocation but if the teachers did no more than transmit information, they were building up indifference. If their pupils no longer knew what they were living for, they would cease to be alive to one another and to the world that was their home. Religion was the world's link between the material and the spiritual. It was not by emptying teaching of all that was spiritual but by professing and living the identity of its creed that each and all could best promote and foster human rights and freedom in their entirety. Her organization fully supported the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
KAREN PARKER, of International Educational Development, said the children of Iraq were suffering unspeakably as a result of economic sanctions against Iraq and of illnesses, disabilities, and deformities apparently caused by radioactive residue from bullets and other weapons containing depleted uranium used by the United States during military operations against Iraq. Her organization and 16 other non-governmental organizations condemned sanctions against Iraq because of the extreme suffering of Iraqi children. Along with more than 20 other non-governmental organizations, International Educational Development called for immediate medical and humanitarian aid for Iraqi civilians and full disclosure and compensation for victims of weapons or waste containing depleted uranium. Iraqi children had an absolute right to relief from the hardship of war, and to life-sustaining food and medicine. Sanctions could not be used to deprive children those rights, even if the intended purpose of sanctions addressed other issues.
BALA RAM (Nepal) said that despite its fragile economy, Nepal had formulated with firm determination a 10-year national programme of action to ensure that children were given special focus within national priorities. A children's welfare board had been set up to mobilize the support of non-governmental organizations in that regard. In addition, Nepal had decided to implement universal primary education, compulsory and free for all children, by the turn of the century. Furthermore, orphans and illegally employed minors were being rehabilitated and educated. A plan had been drawn up to build and operate a children's home to provide shelter and education to orphans and abandoned children. Nepal had done its best to meet the challenges, but its task was far from over.
- 10 - Press Release HR/CN/747 26 April 1996
AYMEE HERNANDEZ (Cuba) said children were the hope of the world, yet they were seriously threatened all over the globe. Cuba was concerned by the lack of transparency and willingness to negotiate on that topic -- all should agree on the importance of protecting children and join forces. With so many armed conflicts fuelled by arms exported by developed countries, there was tragedy enough, but children of the poorer countries suffered still more from another kind of war -- that of economic and social disparities between richer and poorer countries. In extreme poverty, some parents felt forced to sell their children to feed illicit appetites of people in more wealthy countries; those violations extended from child prostitution to the sale of children's internal organs. Some seemed reluctant to recognize the existence of the sale of organs, but it occurred and it was time to face the topic squarely; such mutilation of children for export of organs to rich countries must be stopped. To truly deal with those and other abuses, one had to attack the root causes.
* *** *