COMMISSION CONTINUES DISCUSSION OF ADVISORY SERVICES, FURTHER PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Press Release
HR/CN/791
COMMISSION CONTINUES DISCUSSION OF ADVISORY SERVICES, FURTHER PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
19970408 (Reproduced as received.)GENEVA, 7 April (UN Information Service) -- Representatives of several national institutions for human rights described their organizations' powers and duties as the Commission on Human Rights met for two hours this evening to continue discussion of advisory services and other activities to further promote fundamental rights and protections. Other speakers described the difficulties encountered by persons displaced within their own countries by armed conflicts or massive human rights abuses.
Officials of the national institutions of the Philippines, Indonesia and Iran spoke of procedures for enhancing human rights, fielding complaints from individuals, and carrying out training courses and educational programmes in the field.
A representative of Sweden, meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the Nordic countries and typifying the comments of several others, said a more comprehensive and effective response was needed for all phases of mass displacements, from early warning to peace-building and reconciliation. The Swedish delegate went on to claim that there were "serious gaps" in existing arrangements to meet the needs of the internally displaced around the world.
As the session started, it was announced that at meetings under its "1503 procedure" held Friday, 4 April, and this afternoon until 7 p.m., the Commission considered in closed session human rights situations in the following countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Chad, Czech Republic, Estonia, Gambia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Syria, United Republic of Tanzania, United States and Uzbekistan. The procedure allows the Commission to examine communications which appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. No reference was made in public debate to the confidential decisions taken concerning those countries, but it was disclosed that consideration of situations in Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Syria, Tanzania, United States and Uzbekistan had been discontinued.
Addressing the evening plenary, which ended at 9 p.m., were delegates of the following countries, international agencies, and national human rights commissions: New Zealand, Togo, Philippine Commission on Human Rights, Austria, Mongolia, Sudan, Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, Islamic Human Rights Commission of Iran, United Nations Development Fund for Women, Norway, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The following non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also delivered statements: Asian Cultural Forum on Development; World Peace Council; African Commission for Health and Human Rights Promoters; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; International Women's Health Coalition; Transnational Radical Party; and International Indian Treaty Council.
Representatives of Kenya, Armenia, and Azerbaijan spoke in right of reply.
The Commission will reconvene at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 8 April, and is expected over the course of the morning to begin debate on one of its major agenda items -- that on human rights violations anywhere in the world. The Minister of Justice of the Sudan will deliver an address at 10:15 a.m.
Statements in Debate
ELIZABETH WILSON (New Zealand) said steps taken to date to mainstream the human rights of women into the human-rights programme had been experimental and ad hoc. The High Commissioner for Human Rights/Centre for Human Rights and the Division for the Advancement of Women were the central actors in efforts to mainstream a gender perspective in United Nations human-rights activities. Their cooperation needed to be developed further. In addition, a coordinated approach from both the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Human Rights would be essential next year when reviewing the human rights of women. The High Commissioner for Human Rights/Centre for Human Rights was also urged to give consideration to the need for gender equality in the staffing of the Centre. New Zealand welcomed the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and supported the extension of her mandate for another three years. The issue of women's security, including freedom from violence, was a priority for New Zealand's Ministry of Women's Affairs, which had made national domestic violence laws stronger.
GNONDOLI KOMI (Togo) said his country had, at an early stage, understood that policies based on the respect of human rights consolidated the construction of a State of law and achieved sustainable socio-economic development. The Government of Togo had recently concluded an Advisory Services and Technical Assistance Agreement with the Centre for Human Rights to, among other things, identify the country's human-rights training needs among the professional and legislative bodies; and among institutions
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promoting human rights. The second aspect of this agreement consisted in improving the dissemination of human rights principles in educational establishments. He hoped that it would be possible for his country to benefit from further technical assistance programmes in the protection of the rights of children, of women and of vulnerable groups. Such programmes could also benefit the prison administration; NGOs active in the promotion of human rights, and civil servants and institutions whose activities touched on the human-rights issues.
ANN-MARIE PENNEGÅRD (Sweden), speaking on behalf of the Nordic countries, said the group wished to call attention to the situation of displaced Shia-Arabs in northern Iraq. The group also wished to emphasize the need for a more comprehensive and effective response to all phases involved in mass displacements, from early warning to peace-building and reconciliation; the Centre for Human Rights should develop a strategy to take advantage of the valuable recommendations and information from treaty bodies and Special Rapporteurs, as such valuable knowledge was currently under-used. There were serious gaps in existing institutional arrangements to meet the needs of the internally displaced -- the relevant Representative of the Secretary-General on the question had rightly pointed out that it was important to ensure a human-rights field presence in such situations, and to extend technical and advisory services to the Governments concerned. It was hoped that the recommendations made by the Representative following visits to the former Yugoslavia, Russian Federation, Somalia, Sudan, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Burundi, Rwanda, Peru, Tajikistan, and Mozambique would be followed by those countries. It should be emphasized that in the end it was the Governments concerned which bore prime responsibility for protecting the rights of the internally displaced.
AURORA NAVARRETE-RECIÑA, of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, said the mandate of the national Commission was to protect the human rights of all sectors of society, and included investigating any complaints and providing appropriate legal measures for the protection of all persons. All basic human rights were embodied in the Bill of Rights of the Philippines Constitution. At the moment, apart from the Chairperson and the four Commissioners, the body had 600 personnel spread out in 14 regional offices to investigate allegations and provide victims of violations easy access to the Commission. The Philippines Commission on Human Rights was one of the strongest independent national human-rights bodies the world over because it was based on the country's Constitution.
CHRISTIAN STROHAL (Austria) said the plight of internally displaced persons was, in the words of Francis Deng, Representative of the Secretary-General for internally displaced persons, " a monumental crisis both in scope and intensity". At the root of any massive displacement there was always a lack of effective respect for humanitarian law, refugee law and human rights law. It was therefore logical that one of the three main areas of Dr.
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Deng's mandate was the development of an appropriate normative framework for addressing the needs of the internally displaced; a set of principles specifying the rules applicable for the protection of the internally displaced should be made available at next year's session of the Commission. The activities of the Representative with regard to the institutional framework were laudable and had led to a clear recognition of the dimensions of the problem by the international community. The constructive dialogue he had sought in his country visits had also allowed him to present a clear picture of the phenomenon of displacement. The Representative's mandate demonstrated the need for a more integrated approach within the international system, ensuring an effective response to all phases of displacement -- early warning and prevention, protection and assistance, post-conflict reconciliation and long-term development and solutions.
TSEDENJAV SUHBAATAR (Mongolia) said his country had undergone dramatic changes in the past seven years. Among the reforms undertaken, the renovation of the whole judicial and legislative system had posed the most important and imperative challenge. From the start, Mongolia had asked for advisory services and technical assistance from the United Nations human-rights bodies. Mongolia expressed its sincere gratitude to the High Commissioner and the Centre for Human Rights for their generous cooperation and assistance and looked forward to continuing this relationship. It also believed that regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights had an important role to play as they could be effective means of reaching consensus among countries in regions with more or less common values and concerns. The new Government of Mongolia gave priority to concrete action towards setting up a national human-rights mechanism in the near future.
ABDEL MONEIM HASSAN (Sudan) said his Government gave high priority to the issue of internally displaced people. The war in southern Sudan had forced thousands of citizens to move to the north in search of security and peace. There was now stability in the lives of these people. Cooperation between international organizations on internally displaced people was desirable, especially since there was no single body specialized in their affairs. But there was also a demand for cooperation and coordination between those international organizations and concerned Governments. Sudan had special experience with volunteer humanitarian organizations. However, those organizations had concentrated on food and humanitarian aid without giving importance to rehabilitation and development, and most of the time their work was in areas under rebel control. The issue of protecting the internally displaced was sensitive, as the sovereignty of States and their special ability to care for their citizens had to be taken into account. Sudan was against the deployment of human-rights observers among the displaced to protect them, as suggested by the Representative of the Secretary-General, as this would be violation of the sovereignty of the State. As for claims made by the non-governmental World Federation of Democratic Youth, that group ignored human-rights violations by the rebels.
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CLEMENTINO AMARAL, of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, said the body had been created in 1993 to embody the realization of the responsibility of the Indonesian Government to promote and protect human rights. Its full independence from the Government was guaranteed; to date, the Government had fully taken into account the Commission's recommendations. Indonesia was a huge country with complex problems that were social, economic, political and cultural in nature. Thus, the National Commission had a heavy and daunting task, although it had already achieved many of its goals. The integrity and credibility of the National Commission had been increasingly recognized, not only in Indonesia but worldwide. The National Commission also wished to mention the genuine cooperation provided by some foreign Governments and institutions. In order to strengthen its functions at the sub-regional and regional levels, the National Commission had established good working relations with national commissions in other countries and had participated in sub-regional and regional human-rights seminars. None the less, there was still a need to strengthen the functions of the national commissions. Such bodies welcome more substantive assistance, as well as concrete suggestions, from such institutions as the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
M. H. ZIAEE FAR, of Iran's Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the international community had devised various policies to promote human rights. National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights were among the most valuable mechanisms for reaching this important objective. Those bodies could be effective in preventing and rectifying human-rights abuses if they acted independently and if they participated in international fields apart from Governments to inform others of their own views. The Islamic Human Rights Commission had been active as Iran's national institution for two years and welcomed all national and international endeavours to promote human rights. It had undertaken various activities to promote human rights, including pursuing complaints, carrying out various human-rights monitoring visits and participating in various seminars and conferences. The Islamic Human Rights Commission wished to reiterate its request to the Centre for Human Rights for technical and advisory services.
ROXANNA CARRILLO, of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said the issues covered in the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women contributed to the charting of territories previously unknown in the human rights field and had helped to further understanding of the complexities of gender dimensions of many of the problems that women experienced and that prevented them from exercising full citizenship. Gender integration or mainstreaming of the human rights of women into the human rights system was one of UNIFEM's collaborative activities with the Centre for Human Rights. A briefing organized during the annual meeting of special rapporteurs, special representatives, independent experts and chairs of human-rights working groups, among others, had resulted in recommendations calling for all reporting on human-rights questions to include gender analysis; urging that sources of information should include national
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representatives with expertise on matters related to the human rights of women; and requesting that recommendations and conclusions of reports should include preventative and remedial measures in the field of women's human rights.
HEDDY ASTRUP (Norway) said there was an ongoing need to improve the translation of the awareness raised at the Vienna and Beijing world conferences that women's rights were an integral and important part of human rights promotion into concrete steps in the human rights field; and to ensure that the concept of mainstreaming took hold. This required a dedicated effort to implement, and in some instances refocus, some of the ongoing activities and to revise practices that were not in line with a more holistic approach. For the last two years, the Commission on the Status of Women had been meeting in parallel with the first part of the Commission of Human Rights; this was extremely unpractical. Any overlap between these two Commissions should be avoided in the future. Last month, the Commission on the Status of Women had focused on four critical areas from the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women at Beijing: environment, education and training, power and decision-making and women in the economy. That Commission's working group on the elaboration of an optional protocol to the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination against Women which would establish a complaints procedure, had carried out a first reading of a draft and the discussion indicated that there was much common ground.
TOFIK MOUSSAEV (Azerbaijan) said along with its aggression against Azerbaijan, Armenia was actively engaged in terrorism on Azerbaijani territory; the Armenian secret service and various Armenian terrorist organizations were systematically and deliberately perpetrating subversive and terrorist acts, targeting industrial units and means of transport. Since the late 1980s, Armenian terrorism in the territory of the former Soviet Union had been on the increase, particularly following its open assertion of territorial claims to Azerbaijan and the launching of armed operations in the Nagorno Karabakh region. Terrorist acts carried out had resulted in numerous victims, including women, children, and the elderly; in addition, Armenian territory had been made available for training of terrorists. These facts provided sufficient grounds for condemning Armenia for supporting terrorism; overall there should be a global, comprehensive international legal framework established to combat terrorism as a crime against humanity. The Commission must pass a resolution on human rights and terrorism, and take steps to implement efficiently its provisions for unmasking States using terrorism. Azerbaijan also welcomed the proposal of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to prepare a working paper on the effects of terrorism on human rights.
KAREN NAZARIAN (Armenia) said that at present there were some 304,000 refugees in Armenia -- 260,000 from Azerbaijan, 38,000 from Nagorno Karabagh and Shaumian, and 6,000 from Abkhazia. As a result of Azerbaijani shelling of
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borderline regions, some 72,000 people also had been left homeless. From the onset of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict, the Government of Azerbaijan had demanded the return of refugees to their homeland, freed from the military presence of the self-defense forces of Nagorno Karabagh, as a basic condition for the political settlement of the conflict; it declared more than 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons as having Azerbaijani nationality, an oversized declaration motivated by its wish to restore military control over certain territories. In contrast, it underestimated the smaller number of Armenian refugees which fled Azeri territories. The problem of Azeri refugees was closely connected to the problem of their return, whereas for Armenian refugees this possibility was literally non-existent. In fact, Azerbaijan was housing its refugees in buildings abandoned by Armenians; and the special camps in the Barda and Immishli districts of Azerbaijan were flagrant examples of keeping refugees in camps to serve political propaganda purposes. Armenia had done much to help refugees and to welcome back others returning to Armenia; it called on the Commission to intensify world-wide efforts to deal with problems of the displaced.
SUHAS CHAKMA, of the Asian Cultural Forum on Development, said the Asian human-rights community was concerned about the lack of equal access in the regional arrangement for discussion of human-rights issues. At the Amman meeting in January 1997, NGOs were not represented in the open-ended team comprised of representatives of interested Governments of the region. As for another issue currently under discussion, the Forum believed the large numbers of internally displaced persons were a consequence of man-made disasters. Protection to any displaced person during a conflict consisted of more than supplying them with food and blankets. In this respect, the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in providing protection for such people had been less than satisfactory. The Forum also considered that the forcible repatriation of 6,000 Jumma refugees from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh by the Government of India in March 1997 had been an act of coercion. In 1994, 5,000 Jumma refugees had also been repatriated through "non-violent pressure": a reduction in rations and the creation of inhospitable living conditions. This action was still under consideration by the National Human Rights Commission of India.
REFAQAT ALI, of the World Peace Council, said that traditionally, refugee protection was provided to those who had left their countries of origin. Recent developments necessitated a fresh look at this phenomenon. With internal turmoil plaguing many countries and taking the form of violent uprisings directed against one or the other community on the basis of religion and ethnicity, it was estimated that there were about 24 million such refugees today. This far exceeded the number who would fit the traditional definition of refugees. No international organization had yet the mandate or responsibility to deal with this category of unfortunate people. Consequently, they faced inhuman conditions and tension in places like Afghanistan. That country was witnessing the horrifying spectacle of
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thousands of displaced persons driven out of their homes by the advancing Taliban army. Very often the Taliban singled out people of a particular ethnic group. India had witnessed similar problems. Providing succour to the displaced was thing, but tackling the underlying causes which created the situations they suffered from was far more important.
SAIDOU KANE, of the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, said the UNHCR put at 60,000 the number of Negro-Mauritanians deported and forced to flee to Senegal, and at 16,715 those forced to go to Mali. Eight years after the deportations initiated by the Mauritanian Government following its conflict with Senegal, the vast majority of these refugees were still living in deplorable material and moral conditions in countries bordering Mauritania. Those deportees who had been civil servants, employees or merchants and who had agreed to return to their homes had found themselves unable to earn a living or recover their property, while farmers had lost their lands to Moors. As for the refusal of the Government to accept the organized return of black citizens to the country, it was instructive to read the letter of the representative of the UNHCR in Nouakchott, which referred to the pressures exerted on that organization by the authorities. Moreover, insecurity reigned in the south of the country, where a special army corps had occupied several villages in October 1996, raping some women and detaining arbitrarily 40 others. The situation in this region rendered unstable by the treatment of black Mauritanians could become explosive if no concrete measures were taken by the Government to resolve the problem of the deportees.
SIA REGINA DUNBAR, of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, said gender-specific violations of human rights in situations of armed conflict were violations of the fundamental principles of international human-rights and humanitarian law. Yet, gender-specific human-rights violations were still perceived as part of the business of war. Some examples of this phenomenon could be seen in Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Burma. There had to be accountability for such violence against women. Governments and leaders of both army and rebel movements must not only identify, prosecute and punish perpetrators of such violations, but also create an environment where those acts were prevented. All war crimes should be tried, with perpetrators punished and victims compensated; indeed, it was necessary to establish a permanent international criminal court. It was also essential that criteria for refugee status include gender-specific human-rights violations -- women and children constituted some 80 percent of the world's refugees, yet many were not eligible for that status because the criteria for granting asylum were inadequate. The absence of women in decision-making roles within peace negotiations was itself a violation of the human right to equal participation. The Commission should bear gender integration in mind at all times in its work, but specifically when formulating mandates for working groups and special rapporteurs, as well as in its appointments.
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CHARLOTTE BUNCH, of the Centre for Women's Global Leadership, International Women's Health Coalition, and International Women's Tribune Centre, on behalf of the Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights, said there was growing concern that women's rights were not viewed as full and critical human-rights matters. Through international conferences, millions of women around the world had learned about their rights and now represented a formidable force which could be mobilized for the defense of the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all people. Women around the world were now working to put this into action and were looking to the United Nations for leadership in implementing the platforms of different world conferences. The Commission should ensure that women's human rights were a core component of all activities during the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998. Without respect for the human rights of women, the creation of a culture of human rights would remain elusive. This was because when the abuse of women's human rights in the home, on the streets, in the media and in war was tolerated and even condoned, children learned early that the rights of others could be violated with impunity. The 1998 celebrations provided a unique opportunity for the United Nations to promote the understanding that human rights began at home and that a global culture of human rights required respect for the human rights of women in all arenas. It was thus vital that, among other things, the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women be supported and that her mandate be extended.
OLGA CECHUROVA, of the Transnational Radical Party, said people living with HIV/AIDS were still victims of stigmatization throughout the world. Stigma and discrimination were tragic effects of the pandemic, causing great suffering and also undermining public health efforts to prevent further HIV spread. Stigma and discrimination were the enemies of public health; preventing discrimination toward HIV-infected people and those with AIDS had been made an essential part of the public health strategy in order to prevent and control the global epidemic. The epidemic continued to grow and it was not by chance that 90 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS could be found in developing countries and within every society in which there were marginalized people living in poverty and suffering from inadequate human rights protection. Governments should take measures to avoid social stigmatization of and discrimination against those affected by HIV/AIDS and strengthen national and international mechanisms that were concerned with HIV/AIDS-related human rights and ethics. All States should ensure in their laws, policies and practices, including those regarding HIV/AIDS, the respect of human-rights standards. The High Commissioner for Human Rights should consider appropriate methods to keep the protection of human rights in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic under continuous review; monitor Government and private practices, and ensure that women, children and low-income and disadvantaged groups had equal access to HIV information, education, health services, prevention methods and medication.
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BONNIE WHITESINGER, of International Indian Treaty Council, said the traditional Dinéh (Navajo) People of Big Mountain in Arizona, in the United States, were facing forced evictions and displacements from their aboriginal homeland. For more than 20 years, the Dinéh had been resisting such evictions and forced relocations; they depended on the land and their livestock for survival and their traditional way of life, and their homelands were vital for exercise of their traditional religion. The Dinéh had been denied home improvements and new home construction; sometimes as many as 18 people had to live in the same room and many had to haul drinking water for livestock as far as 40 miles. The Commission should seriously consider sending the Special Rapporteurs on internally displaced persons, religious intolerance, and other subjects to Big Mountain to examine the situation there as soon as possible. Currently many families were being coerced into signing a lease plan called an "accommodation agreement" elaborated by the United States Government; they had been led believe that the agreement was their only alternative for remaining on their ancestral homelands, even though the Dinéh had repeatedly rejected the accord.
Right of Reply
MICHAEL OYUGI (Kenya) said allegations had been made by Human Rights Watch/Africa concerning internally displaced persons in Kenya following ethnic clashes in 1991; those displaced persons had returned to their lands and had since carried on with normal life. While it was true that a number had not been resettled in their former areas, it was also true that projects undertaken by the Government in cooperation with international humanitarian organizations had been successful. Moreover, efforts had been made to enhance the security and well-being of returnees and to encourage peaceful co-existence among those involved in the clashes. A number of those responsible for human-rights violations during the clashes had been charged, tried, found guilty, and sentenced. For those reasons, Kenya found the statement of Human Rights Watch to be misleading.
KAREN NAZARIAN (Armenia) said the statement of Azerbaijan was in violent contradiction with reality. Azerbaijan had recently embarked on a vicious campaign to discredit Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and the entire peace process. Based on unfounded accusations and contradicting all norms, this action of Azerbaijan should be condemned. Armenia regretted that Azerbaijan had chosen to embark on such an approach: instigating provocation and false information did not help confidence-building and contradicted what Azerbaijan said it supported. Armenia called on Azerbaijan to renounce its provocative statements and concentrate on the real issues of the agenda.
TOFIK MOUSSAEV (Azerbaijan) said he would submit a document on terrorist acts committed by the Republic of Armenia as an official document of this fifty-third session of the Commission.
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