MINISTERS FROM CROATIA AND GABON OUTLINE HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS IN THEIR COUNTRIES
Press Release
HR/CN/770
MINISTERS FROM CROATIA AND GABON OUTLINE HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS IN THEIR COUNTRIES
19970321 Commission on Human Rights Discusses Status of Covenants and Conventions, Functioning of Treaty Bodies(Reproduced as received.)
GENEVA, 18 March (UN Information Service) -- Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ljerka Mintas-Hodak and Gabonese Minister of State and Minister of Justice in Charge of Human Rights Marc Eloi Rahandi Chambrier told the Commission on Human Rights this morning of progress their countries have made in protecting fundamental freedoms.
Ms. Mintas-Hodak said that since its independence, Croatia had become a party to a vast number of international instruments and had committed itself to accept the principles of important documents elaborated under the auspices of both universal and regional organizations. She urged the Commission to strengthen and develop human rights protection mechanisms.
The Deputy Prime Minister also called for more objective criteria for the evaluation of efforts and steps undertaken by countries with a view to improving the human rights situation on their territories in order to avoid double standards.
Mr. Chambrier said the return to multi-party politics in Gabon, the progressive introduction of institutions guaranteeing human rights, and the development of the democratic process in Gabon were significant advances, he went on. But numerous difficulties still stood in the path of the full enjoyment of human rights, including the debt burden and the perverse effects of the conditions of the structural adjustment programme. Human rights also included the rights to education, to health, to work, and to freedom from poverty and misery, he added.
At the start of today's session, Philip Alston, Chairperson of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, presented to the Commission a proposal for an international instrument that would allow individuals to complain of violations of their rights under the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the American Association of Jurists, welcomed the proposal this morning, but criticized restrictions on who could submit complaints under the protocol. The comments came as the Commission took up a discussion on the status of international human rights instruments and the effective functioning of human rights treaty bodies.
During the general debate, the Commission heard statements from the Slovak Republic, China, Italy, Nepal and Uruguay. Also speaking were the Chairperson of the Seventh Meeting of Persons Chairing Human Rights Treaty Bodies and the NGOs Amnesty International, International Educational Development, the International Commission of Jurists, the Transnational Radical Party, the Indian Council of Education, the International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
The Commission will continue its general debate on these issues this afternoon at 3 p.m. The human rights forum is also expected to open a debate on the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
Statement by Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia
LJERKA MINTAS-HODAK, Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia, said that in today's world, the protection of human rights not only represented a continuing challenge for the achievement of full respect for human dignity, but also signified a necessary condition for the maintenance of peace and security. The further strengthening and development of human rights protection mechanisms, their universal recognition and more effective implementation, reflected the ideals of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
Croatia had always been open to all forms of cooperation with the United Nations and various regional organizations which had a distinctive role in assisting in resolving the issues of particular importance for the maintenance of peace and stability in the area, she said. Croatia stressed the need for the improvement of coordination between the different organizations and bodies dealing with human rights monitoring issues. The overlap of mandates of different bodies needed to be avoided, and there was a need to establish "more objective criteria for the evaluation of efforts and steps" undertaken by respective countries with a view to improving the human rights situation on their territories. A fair criterion for the evaluation of human rights protection were the acceptance of international standards, or membership in universal and regional organizations, which provided specific controlling mechanisms in the field of human rights. Objective criteria would enable the Commission to avoid possible double standards.
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Since its independence, she continued, Croatia had become a party to a vast number of international instruments and had committed itself to accept the principles of important documents elaborated under the auspices of both universal and regional organizations. Croatia was still awaiting a peaceful reintegration of the final part of its occupied territory, which was currently being administered by the United Nations body pending local elections on 13 April 1997. Croatia remained open to appropriate assistance offered by the international community with the aim of achieving full respect of human rights in the area, including the return of displaced persons and refugees and the normalization of relations between the various ethnic minorities.
The Croatian Minister said the armed aggression against Croatia in 1991 and the subsequent armed conflict had resulted in widespread destruction and a mass exodus of the civilian population. Croatia had initiated several projects on extensive reconstruction of the liberated areas, taking into account their multi-ethnic structure. A just peace could only be achieved if human rights violations caused in the past were appropriately addressed and when those who committed those crimes were brought to justice.
Statement by Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Gabon
MARC ELOI RAHANDI CHAMBRIER, Minister of State, Minister of Justice in Charge of Human Rights of Gabon, said that, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, new political, economic and social developments had greatly advanced the cause of human rights. However, the path to the achievement of the inalienable and indivisible rights of human beings was filled with obstacles, as demonstrated by the Albanian crisis; the situation in the Middle East; the refugee crisis in the Great Lakes region, and the situation in Liberia, among others. These were problems the international community needed to address.
In Gabon, he continued, remarkable progress had been made in the field of human rights. Gabon was a signatory of many international human rights instruments. As for the application of human rights principles, a national conference in 1990 had permitted a strengthening of the country's judicial machinery for the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This had comprised, among other things, the abolition of the one-party system and the creation of a Constitutional Court, a National Council of Communication and a second parliamentary body in the form of a Senate.
The return to multi-party politics in Gabon, the progressive introduction of institutions guaranteeing human rights, and the development of the democratic process in Gabon were significant advances, he went on. But numerous difficulties still stood in the path of the full enjoyment of human rights, including the debt burden and the perverse effects of the conditions of the structural adjustment programme. Human rights also included the rights to education, to health, to work, and to freedom from poverty and misery. The
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debt burden borne by numerous developing countries made it difficult for them to successfully implement economic reform programmes, which in turn resulted in further degradation of living conditions. The evaluation of human rights should not be limited to internal situations. It should also take into account international solidarity with poor countries.
Status of International Human Rights Covenants
While considering the status of the International Covenants on human rights, the Commission will have before it a report of the Secretary-General (document E/CN.4/1997/72) which indicates that, as at 1 November 1996, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has been ratified or acceded to by 135 States; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by 136 States; the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, allowing individuals to submit complaints of violations to the Human Rights Committee, by 89 States; and the Second Optional Protocol, on prohibition of the death penalty, by 29 States. The report also indicates that upon ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or subsequently, 45 States made the declaration provided for in article 41 of the Covenant, recognizing the competence of the Human Rights Committee to receive and consider communications to the effect that a State party claims that another State party is not fulfilling its obligations under the Covenant.
Also before the Commission is a note by the Secretary General transmitting the report of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the work carried out towards the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights granting the right of individuals or groups to submit communications concerning non-compliance with the Covenant, as recommended by the World Conference on Human Rights (document E/CN.4/1997/105). The Committee concluded its consideration of a draft optional protocol at its fifteenth session last year after five years of discussions. The report provides an analysis of the issues that will need to be examined by the Commission in its consideration of the proposed optional protocol. In the proposed text of the Preamble to the optional protocol, States agreeing to it would note that the possibility for the subjects of economic, social and cultural rights to submit complaints of alleged violations of those rights is a necessary means of recourse to guarantee the full enjoyment of the rights; and consider that,
in order further to achieve the purposes of the Covenant and the implementation of its provisions, it is appropriate to enable the Committee to receive and examine, in accordance with the provisions of the Protocol, communications alleging violations of the Covenant.
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Effective Functioning of Human Rights Monitoring Bodies
A report of the Secretary-General (document E/CN.4/1997/73) lists measures taken to implement the different international human rights instruments, including the International Covenants on human rights; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The document also includes information on activities of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to coordinate and consult throughout the United Nations system in regard to measures that might be taken by human rights treaty bodies in response to situations of massive human rights violations.
The Commission will also review the report of the seventh meeting of Persons Chairing of Human Rights Treaty Bodies, held in September 1996 in Geneva (document A/51/482). That meeting reviewed the development of the work of the Committee against Torture, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. It promoted new and innovative methods such as integrating gender perspectives in the work of the panels. The meeting recommended, among other things, that the United Nations Development Programme should present a plan of action on how the principal human rights treaties and its reporting procedures could be promoted through development activities; and that other specialized United Nations agencies should be invited to indicate what contribution they could make to the dissemination of knowledge on the principal human rights treaties.
The Commission will also study an inventory drawn up by the High Commissioner of all international human rights standard-setting activities (document E/CN.4/1887/75). The aims to bring the Commission up to date on all ongoing international human rights standard-setting activities. Under the heading "Standard-setting Activities Already Embarked Upon by the Commission on Human Rights", the note lists the Declaration on the rights and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms; the draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture on establishing a system of inspection visits to places of detention; the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography as well as the basic measures needed for their prevention and eradication; the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflicts, and the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous people.
As for standard setting activities proposed by the Commission, the document lists the draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights granting the right of individuals or
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groups to submit communications concerning non-compliance with the Covenant; the basic principles and guidelines on the right to restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for victims of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the declaration of Minimum Humanitarian Standards, among others. Other standard-setting activities included in the report touch on issues such as internally displaced persons; protection of the heritage of indigenous people, and the right to a fair trial.
Statements in Debate
PHILIP ALSTON, Chairperson of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, presented the proposals put forward by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for the adoption of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The purpose of the protocol was to allow individuals and groups alleging violations of their rights under the Covenant to submit petitions to the Committee. In his outline of the key features of the approach proposed, he said the term "indivisibility" was nearly always used to describe the relationship between these rights and civil and political rights. But the United Nations human rights programme continued to devote almost no attention to economic, social and cultural rights and provided virtually no resources for their promotion. There were no Special Rapporteurs to deal specifically with economic, social and cultural rights, for example. The neglect this fact exemplified was further compounded by the attitude of leading non-governmental organizations, which trumpeted their commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but failed to undertake even sustained promotional and educational measures in relation to one half of the catalogue of rights reflected in that instrument.
The first of three important issues to be decided upon in relation to an optional protocol was whether the procedure should be open to individuals or only to specific groups, he went on. The Committee believed an individual right to petition was essential. The second was whether groups also be permitted to submit complaints and the Committee approved that. The Committee recommended that the right to submit a complaint should be extended also to those who acted on behalf of alleged victims, but not to groups or non-governmental organizations which were unable to show such a link to the victims. The Committee did not recommend the inclusion of a provision which would expressly obligate the State party concerned to implement the Committee's recommendations, to provide an appropriate remedy or to ensure the provision of adequate compensation where appropriate. The proposal represented an attempt to take full account of many of the concerns that governments had expressed in relation to the shape of the procedure. It reflected a carefully balanced effort to design a procedure which would give practical substance to economic, social and cultural rights and put them on equal footing with civil and political rights.
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IVANKA CORTI, Chairperson of the Seventh Meeting of Persons Chairing Human Rights Treaty Bodies, said that in addition to the recommendations in the meeting's report, that gathering had requested the Economic and Social Council to amend the rules of the Commission so that the treaty bodies could be recognized as having a distinct status that would enable them to participate in all the relevant meetings. The fact that the treaty bodies could not participate in international meetings of vital importance for them hindered the spread of knowledge of their work.
MILAN JEZOVICA (Slovak Republic) said his country believed universal ratification of the human rights instruments was one of the primary goals in the process of improving human rights observance. Regrettable divergencies in the interpretation of the universal character of human rights persisted, and were observed with concern. The limitation of extent of any reservations to the International Covenants on human rights, their precise and narrow formulation as well as their compatibility with the object and purpose of relevant international instruments, remained a constant task for the States. Reservations to human rights instruments, especially those incompatible with the object and purpose of treaties, posed an obstacle to the effective implementation of treaties and undermined the commitment of States to full respect and observance of human rights.
PAT WILKINSON, of Amnesty International, said the carrying out of executions was incompatible with the international obligations of States to respect basic human rights -- the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. The death penalty was irrevocable, discriminatory and constituted an extreme physical and mental assault on a person and that the cruelty of a crime did not lessen the cruelty of the punishment. The latest country among the 99 States that had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice was South Africa. President Nelson Mandela had said he would not reintroduce the death penalty as a way of fighting crime, for it was "not because the death sentence has been scrapped that crime has reached such unacceptable levels. Even if the death penalty is brought back, crime itself will remain as it is".
ALEJANDRO ARTUCIO, of the International Commission of Jurists, said indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights as affirmed in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action could only be translated into reality if violations of all rights were treated with equal importance. The adoption of an optional protocol granting individuals or groups the right of to submit communications concerning non-compliance with the Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights was indispensable. Among other things, this would contribute the debate on the justiciability of such rights.
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ALEJANDRO TEITELBAUM, of the American Association of Jurists, said the proposed draft optional protocol was an "important step" to stop violations of economic, social and cultural rights. The Association had participated actively in discussions on the proposal, and urged the Commission to establish an open-ended working group to study it. The draft was good, but some aspects needed to be improved. The draft did not allow States to introduce complaints, for example. However, States were important actors in international law and therefore should be allowed to do so. Furthermore, certain aspects of the draft, particularly those contained in its first article, restricted the right of victims to complain. The draft also excluded the possibility of non-governmental organizations petitioning on their own. Various regional instruments allowed this and no disasters had occurred. Victims often did not have the information or the means to come before international bodies. Therefore, if non-governmental organizations were not allowed to introduce complaints without a mandate from individual victims, there was a risk that grave violations against vulnerable sectors of society would never come under the scrutiny of the procedure established by the optional protocol.
CHAUDRY LATIF AKBAR, of International Educational Development, said India had ratified the Covenants on human rights, but it had yet to give effect to many of the provisions listed in them. The Covenants declared that all peoples had the right to self-determination. India said self-determination applied only to peoples under foreign domination and did not apply to sovereign independent States or a section of a people or nation, which was the essence of national integrity. Thus, the people of Kashmir had been denied the right to self-determination and the right to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Kashmiris were under foreign domination; they were not part of India. The Commission was urged to persuade India to stop deluding itself and allow the Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination.
XU HONG (China) said a very important part in the international human rights activities was to fully stress human rights instruments and to implement them. This should find its expression not only in strengthening the treaty monitoring mechanisms, but also in the practical implementation of the provisions of the existing conventions. The realization of this should be promoted mainly through the efforts of the State parties to the conventions. In addition, the provisions of human rights conventions had to be put into practice by the States parties through the adoption of corresponding administrative and legal measures. State parties were entitled to formulate implementation measures in accordance with their own concrete national conditions. When considering the reports submitted by States parties, the treaty bodies should take into full consideration the different economic development levels and historic, social and cultural backgrounds of different countries. They should fulfil their functions in strict compliance with their mandates and avoid politicizing their consideration work. China had always
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attached great importance to international human rights instruments, and had already acceded to 17 human rights conventions. The Chinese Government was ready to join other countries in strengthening its cooperation with the human rights organs of the United Nations and in continuing its efforts for the promotion of the normal functioning of the Organization in this field.
MARIO ALESSI (Italy) said the death penalty was an issue with great moral and judicial ramifications. Italy's initiative against the death penalty at the Commission was in line with the general trend which had seen numerous countries abolish this practice. There were numerous international instruments that banned or limited the death penalty, including the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He did not wish to underestimate the concern of public opinion in certain countries in the face of increasing criminal acts, but capital punishment was not an appropriate response to this phenomenon. Humanitarian measures governing executions, if they were to take place, covered the non-application of the death sentence to pregnant women, children and handicapped persons. He hoped that those States that continue to apply the death sentence would consider applying a moratorium on the application of such irrevocable sentences, as this would give them the opportunity to consider the humanitarian and social aspects of capital punishment.
S. R. SIMKHADA (Nepal) said that as the international community prepared to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998, the desire for effective promotion and protection of human rights and related activities was widely shared. Nepal considered that measures for the abolition of the death penalty constituted progress in the shared desire and the ongoing search for protection and promotion of human rights. Nepal's Constitution banned capital punishment and supported initiatives aimed at its abolition.
OLIVIA PALALA (Philippines) said the country was committed to 19 human rights instruments. The Philippines had a number of recommendations to make, the first of which was that any new human rights treaties should contain a provision that facilitated subsequent procedural amendments without going through the full constitutional ratification process in States parties. Another recommendation was that the view of the treaty body concerned should be taken into account when the General Assembly considered proposals for optional protocols to human rights treaties. The Philippines believed that the Centre for Human Rights should soon develop its electronic information systems in order to better assist treaty bodies. The Philippines believed that more attention should be paid to increased collaboration with State parties and to further streamlining the reporting process.
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SUSANA RIVERO (Uruguay) said that already in 1830, the Constitution of his country had enshrined the right to life. In 1907, a law had abolished the death sentence in civil and military courts. Uruguay has since adhered to all instruments leading to the abolition of the capital punishment. The irreversibility of this punishment, the horror of the act and the fact that mistakes could be made, were some of the reasons for which his country had strongly supported the abolition of the death sentence.
ALFRED FERNANDEZ, of the International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education, said the draft optional protocol to the Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights should be adopted as soon as possible, given the lack of balance that existed between these rights and civil and political rights. The adoption of such an optional protocol would demonstrate the political will of the international community to ensure the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights. The optional protocol was very symbolic, embodying hopes for a more humane and fair world.
WILLIAM SCHABAS, of the Transnational Radical Party, said 30 States were now parties to the Second Optional Protocol aimed at the abolition of the death penalty. The United Nations had contributed immensely to the debate on the death penalty. International justice no longer tolerated capital punishment, even for those responsible for genocide and war crimes. It was time for the United Nations and the Commission to ask States that had not done so to consider acceding to the Second Optional Protocol. It was also time to urge retentionist States to restrict the number of capital crimes and to accept a moratorium on executions. The Transnational Radical Party was deeply concerned about the number of executions taking place in many parts of the world, in particular in countries like Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, China and the United States; and urged all States that maintained the death penalty not to apply it to pregnant women, juveniles or the insane.
A. S. NARANG, of the Indian Council of Education, said he had apprehensions on three counts regarding the provisions of the draft optional protocol on the Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights: many countries had delayed their adherence to an existing optional protocol, that to the Covenant on civil and political rights; the continued insufficiency of resources to realize these rights because developed countries still saw no interest in creating a just international economic order, and the increasing trend of using human rights as a peacetime weapon -- the economically dominant powers of the United States and Europe were fascinated by the human rights-trade linkage. This linkage was being used as a means of riding roughshod over large sections of humanity.
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SONIA WOLTE, of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, said the draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights filled a gap between that treaty and civil and political rights instruments. But the restrictive character of the draft in relation to those who were given access to the procedure was regrettable. This restriction meant that Member States and NGOs would be excluded from the procedure, a state of affairs which compared unfavourably with the complaints procedures of other international and regional instruments as well as mechanisms of the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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