COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS DISCUSSES RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS AND MINORITIES, RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

Press Release
HR/CN/775

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS DISCUSSES RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS AND MINORITIES, RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

GENEVA, 21 March (UN Information Service) -- Mexico today proposed to set up an institutional mechanism within the Commission on Human Rights to study human rights violations against migrant workers. According to the country's representative, Porfirio Thierry Gómez-Robledo, migrants formed a highly vulnerable sector, suffering from xenophobia and covert or open manifestations of racism. They were also the favourite targets of political demagogues, who blamed migrants for real or perceived ills in society. The institutional mechanism Mexico proposed would take into account the views of both the host country and the country of origin, he said. It would prepare a set of minimum standards to ensure the full rights of migrants, as well as guidelines to ensure they were enforced. Mexico would present a draft resolution to this effect with the strong support of Latin American and other countries, he added. In a brief afternoon session, the Commission also heard a statement by Human Rights Advocates, a non-governmental organization, which referred to abuses being endured by migrant workers and immigrants around the world. He called on the Commission to establish a working group to address these abuses.

The Commission also heard statements on the rights of minorities. In a discussion on religious intolerance, non-governmental organizations expressed concern about the situations in Viet Nam, Pakistan and parts of Cyprus.

The following groups took the floor this afternoon: International Federation of Human Rights, International Association for Religious Freedom, International Federation for the Protection of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and other Minorities and Minority Rights Group.

The Commission resumes its meetings on Monday, 24 March, at 10 a.m.

Religious Intolerance

This afternoon, the Commission began a discussion based in large part on the report of its Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance, Abdelfattah

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Amor (document E/CN.4/1997/91), introduced this morning (see Press Release HR/CN/774). Mr. Amor reports that during 1996 he sent communications to 49 States. Among the communications addressed to States, reference was made to urgent appeals sent to China, Iran (2), Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

The urgent appeal sent to China concerns reports of the detention of Yulo Dawa Tsering, a Tibetan monk whom the Special Rapporteur had consulted during his visit to China in 1995 (see document E/CN.4/1995/1991) and in respect of whom the Chinese authorities had undertaken to ensure that no negative consequences would result from the aforesaid meeting.

The urgent appeals to Iran concern first, the priest Yusefi, born a Muslim and converted to Christianity, who was found hanged in circumstances not yet clarified; and second, Moussa Talibi, a Muslim who converted to the Baha'i faith, whose sentencing to death for apostasy followed upon the death sentences imposed on three Baha'is.

The urgent appeals sent to Egypt concern the case of Professor Nasr Abu Abu Zeid of Cairo University, declared an apostate, following a petition by Islamic plaintiffs, on account of his writings on the interpretation of the Koran. The Special Rapporteur reports receiving the cooperation of the Egyptian Government, which promptly responded to two urgent appeals. The Government's replies and the inquiries and investigations conducted made it possible to attest, first, that the judicial authorities enjoyed real independence vis-à-vis the official political authorities and, second, that the executive and legislative branches in Egypt were endeavouring to contain extremism and intolerance.

The urgent appeal sent to the United Arab Emirates concerned a Christian, Elie Dib Ghalib, who is said to have been arrested and subjected to ill-treatment on account of his marriage to a Muslim woman. A reply from the United Arab Emirates is now awaited.

Since 1994, the Special Rapporteur has visited China, Pakistan, Greece, Iran, India and the Sudan. Requests for visits were made to Turkey in 1995 and to Indonesia and Mauritius in 1996, but the Special Rapporteur has had no reply. The Vietnamese authorities are still considering a request to visit their country.

The conclusions presented in the report emphasized the right to change religion as a legally essential aspect of religious freedom; the right to conscientious objection, and the protection and promotion of religious freedom as an inseparable part of the general question of respect for all human rights. On the question of the phenomenon of sects, the report states that the pejorative connotation attached to the term "sect" could lead to them being considered to be different from a religion, and thus not entitled to the same protection. To consider sects to have small followings and, therefore,

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not religions runs counter to the principle of respect and protection for minorities.

In an addendum to the report, the Special Rapporteur discusses his visit to India from 2 to 14 December 1996, at the invitation of the Government. The report concludes that the situation in India with regard to tolerance and non-discrimination based on tolerance and non-discrimination based on religion is, generally speaking, satisfactory. India's political commitment to "unity in diversity", by which it seeks to make viable a democracy covering a subcontinent and embracing a multireligious and multilingual society was certainly an example to humankind.

However, the report continues, as shown by the traumatic situations in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and at Babri Masjid, as well as by the intercommunal rioting in Bombay, India's democratic structure was susceptible to attack on account in particular of factors connected with extremism and with international relations.

In a report originally submitted to the General Assembly (document A/51/542/Add.2), Mr. Amor discusses his visit to the Sudan, carried out from 19 to 24 September 1996 at the invitation of the Government. The report recommends that the constitutional provisions concerning the armed forces and the duty of Jihad, notably its defence aspect, should be clarified by an interpretative text to ensure that it is compatible with the international norms to which the Sudan has committed itself. With respect to the application of the Shariah, especially to non-Muslims, the Special Rapporteur recommends that existing constitutional provisions should be supplemented by legislation ensuring that the courts take into account the customary law of non-Muslims as a guiding source of law.

The report emphasizes the need to respect internationally established norms in the field of human rights, including the freedom to change one's religion and the freedom to manifest one's religion or belief either individually or collectively or in community with others and in public or private. With respect to the situation of the non-Muslim communities, the Special Rapporteur considers that there should not be any control that is likely, through limitations and constraints on religion, believers and places of worship, to infringe the freedom of belief and the freedom to manifest one's belief. In this connection, it is essential that any conversion should be the result of free choice and not of constraint.

Rights of Migrant Workers

The Commission also took up this afternoon a report of the Secretary- General (document E/CN.4/1997/65) on the status of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the efforts made by the Secretariat to promote the

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Convention. According to the report, a meeting of high-level governmental experts from the African region was convened by the High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights in Addis Ababa from 14 to 17 May 1996, with assistance from the Economic Commission for Africa and the Organization of African Unity. The purpose of the meeting was to open a dialogue with States of that region not having adhered to international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the rights of migrant workers, in order to identify obstacles to ratification and to seek ways of overcoming them.

As at 1 November 1996, the Convention had been ratified by Morocco and the Philippines, acceded to by Egypt, Colombia, Kuwait, Seychelles and Sierra Leone and signed by Chile and Mexico. The Convention shall enter into force after 20 States have ratified or acceded to it.

Minority Rights

Another document now before the Commission is the report of the Secretary-General on the measures taken by States to give effect to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (document E/CN.4/1997/82). The report contains replies by States on: measures taken to ensure the right of minorities to profess and practise their own religion and to have instruction in their mother tongue; mechanisms, procedures and other measures to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to minorities, and commitments under international treaties and agreements. There is also information on the activities of the relevant organs and bodies of the United Nations and of non-governmental organizations with regard to the provisions of the Declaration.

The Commission also has before it the report of the Working Group on Minorities of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities on its first session (document E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/2). The Working Group decided that it should act as a forum for dialogue and the exchange of ideas, information and experiences leading to proposals for constructive group accommodation and further measures to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to minorities. To ensure coverage of situations at local levels in these dialogues, it was decided that participation would be open to all non-governmental organizations and representatives of minorities, academics and professional researchers attached to academic institutions as well as Governments and representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

Also, there is a report (document E/CN/Sub.2/1996/28) of the Working Group on Minorities on its second session (Geneva, 30 April to 3 May 1996). Observers from many Member and non-Member States, representatives of United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and numerous non-governmental organizations participated in discussions of: legal provisions protecting the existence and identity of minorities; the rights of persons of minorities to

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enjoy and use their own culture, religion and language; the value and content of education including the right to have instruction in their mother tongue; the value and content of multicultural education in fostering understanding and tolerance, and the role of educational policies in ensuring the socialization of minorities; national recourse and conciliation machineries; and the need to pay due regard to the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities in national policies and programmes.

Statements in Debate

PORFIRIO THIERRY GOMEZ-ROBLEDO (Mexico) said international migration had become a major global phenomenon no region could avoid. Mass movement of workers did not occur only during wars, but were a response to the liberalization of markets, standardization of consumer models and globalization. Migrants were a highly vulnerable sector of the world population -- in the communities in which they lived, migrants suffered from xenophobia or covert or open manifestations of racism. They were also the favourite targets of political demagogues, who blamed migrants for real and perceived ills in their society. Mexico respected the right of every country to decide its migratory policy. But countries should all respect and guarantee the rights of every human being living in their lands without discrimination. Mexico proposed the establishment of institutional mechanism to study problems encountered by migrants from a comprehensive point of view, taking into account the views of both host countries and countries of origin. This joint analysis should make it possible to prepare a set of minimum standards to ensure the rights of migrants. Mexico would present a draft resolution to this effect with the strong support of Latin American and other countries.

VO VAN AI, of the International Federation of Human Rights, said his organization was particularly concerned with the human rights situation in Viet Nam and Pakistan, where cases of religious intolerance had been registered. In Viet Nam, Buddhist, Catholic and Caodai communities had been subjected to repressive measures. In Pakistan, Christian and Ahmadi communities had been harassed and discriminated against. He applauded the visit to Pakistan in 1995 by the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance and called on the Pakistan Government to implement Mr. Amor's recommendations.

GIANFRANCO ROSSI, of the International Association for Religious Freedom, said the right to change religions, which was intimately linked to the right to practice and disseminate one's religion, was being seriously violated in many countries. In the Bible, Christians were asked to go out in the world and spread the good news, while the Koran enjoined Muslims to call all men to the path of God. Muslims had been free to disseminate their religion -- there were now 1 billion of them in the world. However, in many countries where Muslims were in the majority, they had not extended this right to others. In these countries, other religious groups were not free to

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evangelize as, according to the Shariah, a Muslim that commits apostasy was liable to be executed. This practice was against the precepts of the Koran.

SARA CHANG, of Human Rights Advocates, said that, in the seven years since the adoption of the International Convention of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Member of Their Families, only eight States had ratified or acceded to it and only two others had signed it. The International Labour Organization estimated that there were some 36 to 42 million migrant workers worldwide, many of whom were enduring abuses. The Commission should act to protect the rights of migrants by, among other things, establishing a working group which would address the abuses suffered by migrant workers and immigrants; gather information from other United Nations bodies that dealt with human rights violations on whether treaties under their purview were being used to protect the rights of migrant workers and immigrants; and analyze and report on information regarding abuses not addressed by treaties currently in force. The working group would seek to determine what role the Commission could play in protecting the rights of migrant workers and immigrants.

PAVLOS OF KYRENIA, of the International Federation for the Protection of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and other Minorities, said that since its invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Turkey had been systematically destroying every Christian symbol of the island. Since then, the historical treasures of Cyprus had been stolen and sold, often with the encouragement of Turkish authorities. Hundreds of works of art had disappeared; other ancient cultures had been unearthed by illegal excavations and stolen; churches and graves had been damaged; and icons had been stolen or destroyed by graffiti. Many churches had also been looted, or converted into mosques or even latrines or barns for animals. Even as this happened, the Government of Cyprus maintained every mosque and shrine of the Muslim faith in the free part of the island.

ALAN PHILIPS, of Minority Rights Group, said the Group would launch a world directory on minorities next month which listed 700 different minority groups. However, this represented only 10 per cent of the 7,000 groups that could have been covered. Today, most of the world's violent conflicts were between different ethnic groups within States. However, many minorities did live peacefully alongside each other, and distinct ethnic, religious and linguistic traditions were respected. The Group supported the recommendation of the Working Group on Minorities that a voluntary fund should be established to enable minorities to join the panel's discussions. The Commission should prolong the mandate of the Working Group, expiring this year, to ensure that there was a forum for constructive debate next year. Indeed, the Working Group should be given a permanent mandate. Minority Rights Group had also presented a paper on the ways in which non-governmental organizations could play a constructive role in promoting and protecting the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

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