COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLETES LONG DEBATE ON CHILD RIGHTS

Press Release
HR/CN/802

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLETES LONG DEBATE ON CHILD RIGHTS

Conscientious Objection to Military Service, Follow-Up to Human Rights 1993 Conference, Human Rights Defenders Discussed

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 14 April (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights concluded this evening a lengthy discussion of the rights of children and then briefly took up agenda items on conscientious objection to military service and follow-up measures to the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights.

Among those urging further action to protect the rights of children were representatives of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The spokesperson for UNAIDS pointed out that worldwide, some 2.6 million children had been infected with HIV/AIDS, the vast majority of them in the developing world or in "marginalized communities". The representative of the Red Cross said the organization was concerned about the increasing numbers of children recruited into or volunteering for military activity, where they often were exposed to terrible dangers and unspeakable atrocities. And the observer for UNHCR said one of several problems facing refugee children was the "invisibility" of adolescents, whose needs and rights were being neglected.

In addition, a representative of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said the agency wished to underscore the crucial importance of the global campaign against child labour, as the latest ILO estimates put the world total of working children at 250 million.

Among those speaking on the subject of follow-up to the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights was a delegate of China, who charged that some countries were taking a confrontational approach to implementation of the Conference's programme of action and were stressing civil and political rights at the expense of economic and development rights; he warned that a more "balanced" response was needed, of the process would lead to a dead end.

Towards the end of the meeting the Commission began discussion of the

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topic of the drafting of a declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups, and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. Among the comments were those of a representative of Madagascar who said it was disappointing that after 12 years of painful labour the declaration still had not been born for lack of consensus. What was being discussed was modest and reasonable and would be a major step forward for human-rights activists in the field, he said.

Addressing the session were delegates or observers of Costa Rica; UNAIDS; International Committee of the Red Cross; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Belgium; Romania; Holy See; Japan; China; Argentina; United States; Cuba; Poland; Switzerland; International Labour Office; Kenya; Morocco; Norway; Israel; New Zealand; Tunisia; Russian Federation; Uruguay; Philippines; Malaysia; Nicaragua; Pakistan; Indonesia; Slovakia; Venezuela; Iran; Thailand; Ukraine; United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Cyprus; Malta; Senegal; El Salvador; Austria; Madagascar; Netherlands (on behalf of the European Union); and the United States.

Representatives of the following non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also spoke: World Organization Against Torture; International Federation of Women Lawyers; Pax Christi International; International Save the Children Alliance; World Federation of Methodist Women; International Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation; Friends World Committee for Consultation; World Peace Council; International Progress Organization; International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies; International Association of Educators for World Peace; Transnational Radical Party; All-China Women's Federation; International Federation of Social Workers; American Association of Jurists; International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples; Commission on Human Rights of Central America; Christian Democrat International; Indian Council of Education; International League for Human Rights; Federation of Associations for Defense and Promotion of Human Rights; Christian Solidarity International; Defense for Children International; Pax Romana; War Resisters International; Friends Committee for Consultation; International Association for the Development of Freedom of Education; and International Service for Human Rights.

And officials of India, Pakistan, and the Philippines spoke in exercise of the right of reply.

The Commission will reconvene at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 15 April, to act on draft resolutions tabled under several agenda items, including that on the question of human-rights violations anywhere in the world.

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Statements in Debate

JOAQUIN ALVAREZ (Costa Rica) said his country considered that children under 18 should be excluded from any active participation in armed conflicts. Despite the arguments, the political will to avoid using children in armed conflicts should be the higher goal. Any hostile military education for children could be counter production to international work in promoting human rights. Costa Rica appealed to other countries to support the draft optional protocol, as international cooperation was the key to attacking the scourge of the use of children in armed conflicts. It was also urgent to establish rules that would eradicate the sale of children and pornography. Economic and social problems in poor countries were partly responsible for those evils, but they existed in all societies. In fact, very often the biggest demand came from countries with the greatest economic resources. Because of this, only joint action could overcome the problem. Costa Rica had the political will to end these problems and appealed to others to join it and protect boys and girls together.

SUSAN TIMBERLAKE, of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, said that since the start of the pandemic, some 2.6 million children had been infected with HIV. With some 30 million adults infected, millions of children had been and would be orphaned by AIDS. Of those children, the vast majority were in the developing world or in marginalized communities in the industrialised world. Governments should collect comprehensive data on transmission of HIV among older children and adolescents so that they could implement effective prevention and care programmes. Governments should also ensure that all children living with HIV/AIDS had access to treatment, counselling, education, recreation and social support, and that they were protected against any form of discrimination. They, furthermore, provide assistance to HIV-affected families so that children from such families could remain within existing family structures. Such children should be protected against all forms of exploitation, abuse and discrimination. Governmental efforts toward realizing the enabling conditions necessary for children's informed, empowered and harmonious development was a step towards reducing children's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

DOMINIQUE BOREL, of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said his organization was particularly concerned about the increasing numbers of children recruited or volunteering for military activity, who found themselves exposed to terrible dangers and unspeakable atrocities. These children could be easily manipulated and encouraged to commit acts whose gravity escaped them. In 1995, the twenty-sixth International Conference of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent had enjoined parties to armed conflicts to refrain arming young persons under the age of 18 and to take all possible measures to ensure that children did not take part in conflicts. This year, as in previous years, his organization had participated in the inter-sessional working group elaborating an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child

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relating to children in armed conflicts, calling for the harmonization of that proposed instrument with the tenets of international humanitarian law. The optional protocol should ban all forms of direct or indirect participation of children in armed conflict; to have it do otherwise would undermine the provisions of Protocol II of the 1947 Geneva Convention banning the participation of children in conflicts.

NEIL BOOTHBY, of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said there were three factors in particular that contributed to the tendency to overlook refugee children and adolescents during policy making and operations, thereby reducing the special attention that they received. First, there was a tendency to think of "refugees" as an undifferentiated group. But children and adolescents were entitled to special attention because their needs and status could be significantly different from those of adults. Second, where there was a differentiation, there was a tendency to think of young people simply as "dependents" of adults. The third problem was the "invisibility" of adolescents. One of the important findings of the Graça Machel study on the impact of children of armed conflict was the degree to which the needs and rights of adolescents were being neglected. The needs and capacities of teenagers were fundamentally different from those of infants and older children. That was why the Machel study was so important to UNHCR. The agency had elaborated an explicit agenda to strengthen its capacity to protect children and adolescents from sexual exploitation and military recruitment; to meet the needs and rights of unaccompanied children, and to assist young refugees to return home. UNHCR was prepared to undertake further efforts, including staffing and training, to effectively promote the well-being of children and adolescents.

MICHEL LASTCHENKO (Belgium) said that in the past few years, millions of children have been either killed, handicapped or mutilated by war materiel; likewise, children had become refugees, displaced, hostages or victims of particularly cruel new forms of confrontation. Children soldiers had featured prominently in contemporary armed conflicts; morality and ethics should ensure that the problem of children soldiers should be condemned in the same terms as the recourse to mercenaries in armed conflicts. Belgium had made numerous efforts on the international stage to ensure that anti-personnel mines were totally banned. In the past few months, his country had been deeply shocked by the kidnapping and later, by the discovery of the bodies of young girls who had been murdered by perverse criminals. The 1996 World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Stockholm had served as a salutary reminder as to the extent of this problem; the rapid conclusion of the mandate of the working group elaborating a draft optional protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and pornography would, he hoped, not only result in legal texts, but incorporate the conclusions of the Stockholm meeting.

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IOAN MAXIM (Romania) said the diverse and complex situations involving children that were raised in numerous reports -- including that of the Special Rapporteur on the sale on children, child prostitution and child pornography and Ms. Machel -- required an urgent and integrated approach by all Member States. These reports showed that the situations facing children required an appropriate legal approach, as well as the establishment of effective bodies and institutions, both governmental and non-governmental, to monitor and carry out support activities in the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. A plan of Action for Children elaborated by the National Committee for the Protection of the Child, a specialized agency of the Romanian Government, aimed at improving the situation of children, and in particular street and abandoned children, as well as implement special educational and public health programmes focused on the consolidation of families, including the strengthening of parental responsibilities.

GIUSEPPE BERTELLO, oberver for the Holy See, said His Holiness Pope John Paul II had often expressed his personal interest in all the children in the world. In a message released during the Day of Peace on 1 January 1996, John Paul II had written that the family should be the place where children should open up to the world, and that parent had an extraordinary opportunity to expose children to the high ideals reflected in their reciprocal love. Regarding the two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Holy See had expressed a number of reservations. It regretted that with respect to draft on children in armed conflicts no consensus had been found at the meeting of the working group. The best interest of the child required maximum efforts on the part of all participating delegations, along with political will and a certain flexibility and capacity for compromise. As for the working group on an optional protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, slight progress had been recorded. Nonetheless, his delegation felt that although there was a link between those three phenomena, treating them together in one instrument was a little ambitious. One could wonder whether it would not have been more useful to approach these questions through more in-depth studies by specialized research institutes, which could then have presented their conclusions.

BEN SCHONVELI, of the World Organization Against Torture, said the organization was concerned over the level of violence directed against children; in 1995, it had documented a 30 per cent increase in the number of cases of children's torture; and in 1996, the figures were more than twice that of 1995. The risks for children deprived of liberty were extreme; there was, for example, the squalid situation at the Al Huda Camp, situated two and a half hours from Khartoum in the Sudan; abuses there were extreme, and despite communications made by Sudanese authorities to the organization, mass arrest sweeps of children in Khartoum continued and the Al Huda Camp remained open. The risks to physical and psychological integrity of street children throughout the world was another area of concern -- specific examples included Honduras and Bahrain. In Bahrain, arrests of street children resulted in

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their being held incommunicado and in infliction of torture. The Commission should request all Special Rapporteurs to consider as explicit in their mandates the consideration of the situation of children and their rights, and to request that treaty bodies and appropriate working groups ensure that the situation of children was given special consideration in their deliberations.

ANCA POSTELNICU, of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, said abduction should be included in the draft optional protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Abduction of children was a very serious and criminal act which, along with the sale of and the traffic in children, was at the root of the sexual exploitation of children.

ALESSANDRA AULA, of Pax Christi International, said land mines threatened children's lives and their living conditions during and after armed conflicts. Children were especially vulnerable to mines because they were often unable to see what they were stepping on as they walked through long grass or rocky terrain, and also because they were less able to withstand loss of blood after an explosion. And because of their natural sense of curiosity they often mistook mines for toys. Pax Christi was firmly convinced that the total prohibition of the production, stockpiling, trade, transfer and use of anti-personnel land mines and laser weapons was the only effective way of protecting civilians, especially children. Some Governments seemed to ignore the atrocious humanitarian consequences of anti-personnel mines and preferred to consider this problem exclusively in military terms. It was a policy of hypocrisy that countries like Italy, Germany, France or Russia claimed to protect children while opposing a total ban on anti-personnel land- mines. Pax Christi International also sought a change on the minimum age for military service from 15 to 18 years. The use of children as combatants was a violation of their right to normal development in an environment free of violence, fear and deprivation. Pax Christi strongly supported the United Nations Children's Fund's (UNICEF) Anti-war Agenda, which encouraged the demobilization of child soldiers and their rehabilitation.

FRANCES MOORE, of International Save the Children Alliance, said children throughout the world were increasingly forgotten when practices or situations which were harmful to the population as a whole were considered. Such was the situation of Palestinian children in the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Restricted movement imposed through closures over the last year had had adverse effects on children. These had included deterioration in children's diets and an increase in child labour. The impact of the closure on education had been particularly severe, while the provision of health care had become increasingly difficult. All Special Rapporteurs, both country-specific and thematic, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation in the occupied territories, should see as an explicit element in their mandate the consideration of children and their rights.

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RENATE BLOEM, of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women, speaking on behalf of 45 NGOs, said it was intolerable that blatant violations of the rights of women still occurred, and were even escalating. Among them were traditional and slavery-like practices. Some harmful traditional practices were son-preference, prenatal sex selection, female genital mutilation and food taboos. Girls and women were also subject to sexual exploitation. Initiatives taken by various Governments for new legislation in the areas of extra-territorial legislation and extradition of traffickers in women and girls, as well as in increasing penalties for suppliers, traffickers and customers, was welcome. But there was still a need to harmonize laws between different countries. The international community should also promulgate legislation that prohibited child pornography, along with gender-sensitive national and international policies and programmes for prevention. As for child labour, domestic work was one of the most widespread and least researched forms of this phenomenon. The Commission should take a strong stand for girls and their rights and should institute periodic and systematic examination of violations of those rights.

ANNIGJE BUWALDE, of the International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty, said thousands of children were employed in Indian brothels, many of them victims of the trafficking in persons across international borders. A large percentage of the victims in India were young women and girls from Nepal. Although both India and Nepal had laws criminalizing that activity, the trafficking of children between the two countries continued to flourish. Despite reports of police collusion in the trafficking of children for prostitution in both Nepal and India, there had been little effort on the part of either Government to investigate charges of official complicity or to punish those responsible. Similarly, the trafficking of girls from Burma into Thailand was appalling in its efficiency and ruthlessness. The Thai Government was aware of the plight of those girls, but it had yet to prosecute the police officers and other traffickers implicated in this illegal trade. Law enforcement was crucial in combatting the cross-border trafficking of children, yet it was often the victims who were penalized for being prostitutes. Among other measures, there was need to improve information-sharing between law-enforcement agencies in tourist-sending and tourist-receiving countries. There was also an urgent need for Governments to re-examine their sentencing policies against convicted child molesters. The Commission should put pressure on countries which failed to take effective measures to deal with the commercial sexual exploitation of children and to closely monitor the progress that individual States were making in this area.

DAN CUNNIAH, of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, said the Programme of Action for the Elimination of the Exploitation of Child Labour had been adopted four years ago. The Programme obliged countries that accepted it to adopt, as a matter of priority, the necessary legislative and administrative measures to implement it at the national and international

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levels. The report of the Secretary-General on the implementation on the programme (document E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/25 and Add.1) showed that only Angola, Bangladesh, Philippines, Australia and Latvia had provided information on the subject. Although 187 States had acceded to or ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, there were, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), some 250 million children still working in the world. It was paradoxical that this almost universally ratified Convention was also one of the most violated treaties. In June 1998, the ILO would start discussions on a draft convention to eliminate the most intolerable forms of child labour as a matter of immediate priority. He hoped this would be a major step towards the total and effective elimination of child labour.

HENRY BANDIER, of United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation, said that in a neighbouring country of his, the crimes committed against children recently had showed that its leaders no longer deserved to be in power. Child-sex rings had been discovered, organized crime involving children, lists of paedophiles, and other offenses had been revealed. Upon investigation they were found to have spread across international borders. The public revulsion awakened had given necessary primacy to child protection and child rights, and there had been a major and effective public and Governmental reaction. More thought was needed on the part of the international community regarding doing the same thing: immediate action should be implemented around the world to save and protect children. The problem should be placed in a context of education, well-founded information, and of course protection of children. Much more education was needed to protect future generations who had sensitive minds; the devastating trend towards permissiveness had to be stopped. New structures must be built, and new moral principles were needed for civic education to forge in the minds of children an understanding of the problems of the day.

RACHEL BRETT, of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, said the involvement of children in armed conflicts as active participants was not inevitable. Its apparent inevitability was given the lie by the fact that in no armed conflict were all children equally at risk of becoming soldiers. Child participation in Government armed forces could be avoided through the establishment of proper recruitment procedures and of the means to enforce such procedures. Admittedly, recruitment of children into armed opposition groups was harder to regulate and prevent, but by focusing on those most at risk, it became easier to identify the steps which could significantly reduce the likelihood of child involvement. This applied to situations where there were no "Government" or "opposition" forces as such, but a series of different armed groups. The importance could not be overemphasized of active steps by Governments, international organizations and agencies and non-governmental organizations, as any lack of response was tantamount to acquiesence in such practices.

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BHARATI SILAWAL, of the World Peace Council, said children's rights consisted of the rights to love and care; to a good education and an environment that taught the virtues of humanity, tolerance and coexistence; to the possibility of growing up; to enter gainful employment; and to raise a family and bequeath to his or her own offspring the values acquired in the course of his or her lifetime. However, today television showed maimed children begging; scantily-clad girls dancing before leering audiences; dead girls who had been sexually abused and murdered; and, most horrific of all, young children with guns and bombs in their hands. A child was not born to love or to hate -- they were taught to do those things. It was a historic fact that women and children suffered the most during war. The fight against the wanton destruction that turning children into both perpetrators and victims of violence represented was a matter of priority.

NAZIMA MUNSHI, of International Progress Organization, said the children of developing countries increasingly were being compelled to become the breadwinners for their families, and the most contemptible result was the sale of children for labour, especially bonded labour, and child prostitution. Those who suffered from bonded labour in Pakistan were often afraid to speak out since their feudal masters dominated the polity; the courts had been unable to provide redress despite the courageous efforts of human rights organizations and the media in Pakistan; further, girls and women were brought to Pakistan from Bangladesh, Nepal, and India for purposes of prostitution; economic necessity and the connivance of Government officials were an integral part of this problem; a less noticeable form of exploitation, tantamount to prostitution, was the marriage of young girls against their wishes to wealthy but far older men. Pornography, sale of children, paedophilia, and sex tourism was there because of demand, and it was the demand that had to be tackled to prevent these abuses. Newsweek and other publications had highlighted the role of citizens of developed countries in child sex rings; a new protocol must be adopted on the rights of the child with concrete steps suggested to educate and enlighten both children and adults about such offenses against human rights.

A. S. KHOLI, of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, said rapid population growth and social and cultural norms which discriminated between male and female children had created an environment in developing countries for child abuse, whether in the form of child labour or of prostitution. Atrocities against children, particularly the sale for the purposes of begging or prostitution, were perhaps the most common and were well documented. The sale of children for labour was a practice that particularly afflicted developing countries. The resurgence of religious fundamentalism had created a new form of child sale, with parents motivated in the name of God to give their children up to the bondage of the mind. But while poor nations were guilty of the sale of children, a practice sustained by economic deprivation, what excuse was there for the exploitation of children in the rich countries, which sought to educate the less advanced

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nations about the essentials of human rights? In tandem with education and economic development, exemplary punishment for the horrendous crime of child abuse had become a necessity. Mere adoption of another protocol on the rights of the child was unlikely to stem such abuse. What was required was the force of the international community to demand that Governments amend their legal structures so that citizens found guilty of abuse of children be treated as killers, for they killed what was most precious: the future of mankind.

FRANCOIS COFFINIER, of the International Association of Educators for World Peace, said the basic purpose of education was to contribute to the overall development of the individual, physically and spiritually. Children represented the hope of the world. The Association had observed that a flourishing childhood was an essential component in the quest for peace. Children in Cuba were subject to ideological education as a means of controlling their minds. An example of mind control was the cumulative school report, which took ideological integration into account as well as grades. Without ideological integration, students could not go to university and have a good future. There was also child prostitution and sexual tourism in Cuba. Every step had to be taken to prevent such unacceptable behaviour. The group hoped that despite the repression in Cuba, an alternative civil society would emerge with values promoting human rights.

BEATRICE LAROCHE, of Transnational Radical Party, said that in Burma the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) oversaw a juvenile justice system that violated the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Burmese army forcibly conscripted children as front-line soldiers, and forced child labour was pervasive. Children's welfare and education, furthermore, had been declining rapidly; the Commission must call on Burmese authorities to cooperate with the United Nations thematic procedures and allow the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar to carry out his visit and pay particular attention to the situation of children. China's low level of spending on education severely impacted the quality and availability of basic education, especially in rural areas; many parents had to pay for such schooling; the number of children left outside the education system could be great, as girls made up the majority of unregistered children in China. Inadequate funding for education could be a direct case of an increase in child labour in China; Chinese authorities must allow more transparency in their monitoring of workplaces to prevent child labour, and should give supervisory agencies more independence. The Commission should adopt a resolution on the situation of human rights in China, including the rights of the child.

CAI SHENG, of the All-China Women's Federation, said more than 100 countries had formulated programmes for the development of children, while 187 States had ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Moreover, the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, had identified issues related to the situation of girl children as one of 12 areas of critical concern. Wars and armed conflicts in certain regions

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were seriously threatening the life and livelihood of children, and the violence against women and girl children was imposing greater suffering on these vulnerable groups. And despite constant condemnation from the international community directed towards the commercialization, forced prostitution and sexual exploitation of children, no significant changes had occurred. Her organization has always devoted itself to providing services for women and children and safeguarding their rights and interests. It had initiated many practical projects and programmes responding to survival needs of children.

ELLEN MOURAVIEFF-APOSTOL, of the International Federation of Social Workers, said little had been said about the seemingly undramatic article in the Convention on the Rights of the Child calling for all children to be registered shortly after birth, but it was vital; children prey to forcible inscription into the military, or perhaps eager to volunteer, were harder to protect from such a fate if their ages were unknown and they had no official records; similarly, a military age of 18, even if universally established, would not help an unregistered child much. In the cases of sale of children, child trafficking, child prostitution, and child pornography, the same problem was evident -- unregistered children were even more vulnerable than registered children, who were too vulnerable to begin with. In the case of child labour and its attendant abuses, once again unregistered children were at a distinct disadvantage. Governments should take measures to ensure universal birth registration in their countries; and all should take steps to ensure children their legal identities as an important way to protect their rights.

CARLOS ANDERS PEREZ BERRIO, of the American Association of Jurists, said the Commission should adopt a resolution on the activities of the working group on the draft optional protocol which clearly condemned criminal actions such as sex tourism, the traffic in and commercial exploitation of organs, the illegal adoption of children and the promotion and production of pornographic films using children. With respect to child pornography, the resolution should state that it is a crime, even if done with the real or even presumed consent of the child. The protocol should envisage the range of punishments that should be meted out to offenders. Recent events had shown that paedophilia was a widespread phenomenon and that paedophiles went virtually unpunished. Regardless of the argument as to whether these offenders could claim diminished responsibility while they committed their crimes, they should be punished, and this should be spelled out in the draft protocol.

M. T. HOUTAIN, of the International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples, said 13 years had elapsed since the return of democracy to Argentina. However, with every passing day, the danger of impunity took on more and more force. The fact that those who had committed violations of human rights had not been brought to justice meant the principle of equality before the law was tarnished. Enforced disappearances constituted a repressive tool in the armories of Governments which violated a large range of

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human rights and imposed permanent psychic suffering on their peoples. The disappearance of a mother bearing a child, or the abduction of a child during the enforced detention of one or other of the parents, was a systematic violation of the rights arising from family ties. For the past 20 years, the "Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo" in Buenos Aires had spent every day of their lives to ensure that their disappeared grandchildren could recover their rights and their identity. Out of the hundreds of cases of children born to mothers under detention by the military dictatorship, 58 had been clarified, and 31 children were now reunited with their families.

MIGUEL ANGEL ALBIZURES, of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America, said the region had undergone positive changes because of peace negotiations, and important steps were being taken to build a new system of governance. However, the same could not be said about people's day to day lives. The region was afflicted by acute poverty, which was a violation of the rights of boys and girls. It was not only a real obstacle for the realization of basic rights to education, to food, to health and to housing; it also gave rise to violations of political rights. Moreover, extreme violence was directed against children, including the denial of the right to life in places like Guatemala. Poverty also pushed youngsters to prostitution and crime. In Nicaragua, children were grouped in detention centres, while those who violated laws were put into prisons for adults, where they were often sexually violated. A similar situation prevailed in Honduras. While some governmental action had been taken against such violence, it had been lukewarm. There should be a Special Rapporteur to study and analyze the situation of children around the world, including Central America.

MASAKI KONISHI (Japan) said Japan had been reinforcing its international cooperation efforts on behalf of the rights of children and for improving their living conditions. In particular, it had promoted bilateral cooperation in the fields of education, health and medical services, through the construction of schools, maternal and child health care, and the improvement of children's hospitals. It also had extended contributions through the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization. Japan was seriously concerned about the effects that armed conflicts were having on children; and about the damage caused children by anti-personnel land mines; it had held the Tokyo Conference on Anti-Personnel Landmines in March, which was attended by 27 countries. Child labour was a major concern of Japan, and it welcomed various initiatives taken to combat it; it was especially important to prevent such labour in its more hazardous forms; Japan also intended to take an active role in combatting sex tourism through effective implementation of national legislation as well as international cooperation. The country also supported the efforts of the Working Group for elaboration of a draft optional protocol on involvement of children in armed conflicts.

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LI FAN (China) said the suffering caused to children by armed conflicts were well-known to the international community; it was also known that armed conflicts themselves were caused by deep political and economic factors. The basic principle of peaceful settlement of international disputes provided for in international law, and opposition of all manifestations of hegemonism and interference in other countries' internal affairs by force, should be reaffirmed when dealing with that issue. As for the abominable phenomena of the sale of children, child sex tourism, paedophile and sexual harassment on children, the demand was mainly from developed countries, while the child victims came from developing countries. Such crimes should be severely punished. It was necessary to establish effective systems of jurisdiction and international legal cooperation in order to remove loopholes. China had always treated as serious crimes the trafficking and abduction of children, as well as sexual exploitation of and sexual attack on children. Such acts were severely punished in China.

ZELMIRA REGAZZOLI (Argentina) said her country would have preferred to see the categorical prohibition of the participation of children in armed conflicts inscribed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As that was not the case, Argentinean law, which did prohibit it, would continue to apply as far as that question was concerned. In the same vein, Argentina urged the quick conclusion of the draft optional protocol on children and armed conflicts. Further international efforts were also needed to eradicate the sexual exploitation of children and the phenomenon of street children. As the Stockholm Congress against the commercial exploitation of children had concluded, all types of sexual abuse of children should be considered criminal, even if not motivated by commercial reasons. That was why, only one month after the Congress, the Argentinean Government had approved human and material resources for a study of the problem in order to fight it. Further, true to the principle that human life began at conception, the Constitution provided that the country's legislature should promulgate a new comprehensive social structure for the protection of vulnerable children, from pregnancy to the end of primary schooling.

GARE SMITH (United States) said children were among the least empowered people on the planet and that many of the attempts to strengthen and enforce their rights had failed. Child labour was one of the most prominent children's rights issues. It was important that the Commission maintained the distinction between all forms of child labour and the exploitation of child labour. Jobs which prevented children from attending school, or which subjected them to hazardous conditions, were exploitative; such labour was detrimental both to children and their countries. The judgment of the nations where primary school attendance was not compulsory or State-provided or enforced was to be questioned. Many of the estimated 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 who worked were compelled to do so, sometimes under appallingly cruel conditions and at wages so low as to be nearly non-existent. In the most tragic cases, children were held in bondage and

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even slavery. Progress was being made, as evidenced by developments in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. Armed conflict was another vicious enemy of children. It trampled their rights and often left them scarred for life. A third major concern was child prostitution and child pornography. American legislation on these issues was among the strongest and most effective in the world. The United States stressed the importance of issues involving children and pledged to continue to look for practical solutions to these problems. Other Governments should join in this effort.

AYMEE HERNANDEZ QUESADA (Cuba) said crimes such as child prostitution, paedophilia, sex tourism, child labour, street children and the illegal sale of tissues and organs for transplant were a most common scenario for millions of children. The Commission could not ignore that many of those children came from the South or from marginalized segments of the North. The question of children in armed conflict had received attention and had a break through. Cuba would continue to support the work on the optional protocol against sale of children and pornography. It was sad that the world had to wait until such reprehensible events in Europe last year created interest in the issue. The Commission should work together on problems of children sex exploitation. Cuba believed that the sale of children had many dimensions and that it should not only be punished if it was for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Cuba had made much progress in the fields of education and health for its children; it was proud of its achievements despite difficult conditions and scanty resources. In the last few years Cuba had attained levels of healthcare bettered only by some developed countries. Child mortality due to cancer had increased, however, mainly due to the inability to obtain certain drugs as a result of the United States blockade of the island. This in addition to having to pay above-market prices for drugs and other medical products, another consequence of Washington's economic war against Cuba.

JACEK TYSZCO (Poland), quoting from UNICEF's 1996 Report on the State of the World's Children, said "today's problems of poverty and violence will never subside unless we invest in the physical, mental and emotional development of the next generation". The international community had acquired comprehensive experience in the field of the protection and promotion of the rights of children, as borne out by over half a century of UNICEF activities; a universally accepted convention, and the work of the two working groups elaborating draft optional protocols to the Convention. However, these achievements were undermined by the fact that children were the earliest casualties of war. They bore the main consequences of the breakdown of society and the dislocation of families. There was an urgent need for further international action concentrated not on additional instruments and mechanisms, but on concrete business-oriented programmes such as those initiated by UNICEF and the ILO aimed at halting the exploitation of child labour and enabling children to acquire literary and other skills.

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DIDIER PFIRTER, observer for Switzerland, said his country had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Children in December 1996; the treaty had entered into force in March 1997. Switzerland believed the conclusions and recommendations contained in Ms. Machel's final report on the impact of armed conflicts on children should guide the future work of United Nations organs concerned with children's welfare. His country was disappointed by the modest results of the working group to elaborate an optional draft protocol on children in armed conflicts. It was imperative to continue these efforts, as children needed to be protected until the age of 18. Switzerland placed particular importance on the conclusion of a ban on anti-personnel mines, of which women and children were the principal victims. As for the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution, the progress made by the inter-sessional working group on the elaboration of a optional protocol was below the expectations raised following the Stockholm World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. An efficient legal instrument should quickly be adopted by this working group, which, in order to avoid a duplication of tasks, should concentrate on examining the sexual exploitation of children.

GERT A. GUST, of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said child labour today figured high on the agenda of the international community. In this connection, he wished to underscore the crucial importance of the global campaign against child labour in which the United Nations and the ILO were leading actors. Latest ILO estimates put the world total of working children at 250 million. The ILO had implemented 700 projects on child labour in countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It had also concentrated on building and strengthening national capabilities and resources in the areas of national policy-making; legislative reform; research and date collection; and the mobilization of a broad social alliance of all the partners concerned. The ILO, which had focused on the most intolerable forms of the problem, was preparing new international standards on child labour. The organization hoped those new standards would promote a dynamic forward advance in the global child labour campaign, which could be won with international support.

MICHAEL OYUGI (Kenya) said the recommendations made by experts on the impact of armed conflict on children and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography were pragmatic and should be supported and implemented. The international community must not relax in its fight against child abuse. This was especially significant in view of the rise of more sophisticated channels of abuse such as the use of the internet for pornographic purposes. Kenya hoped that the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflicts would be adopted and ratified. Kenya had traditionally attached great importance to the welfare and safety of children and believed that they had to be accorded the appropriate care and attention. It was deeply concerned about the consequences of the conflicts in the Great Lakes region, especially in eastern Zaire, on innocent children, women and men. The

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violence, hunger, disease and even death resulting from the conflict continued to cause untold trauma, especially for children. Children living in an environment in which unbridled violence and vengeance were the major characteristics could in turn only perpetrate the same vices later in life. And the suffering of children was not limited to conflict situations. Child abuse was indeed equally prevalent in peaceful and stable environments. Both boys and girls were increasingly becoming victims of sexual exploitation for commercial purposes. Kenya was deeply concerned about child sex tourism, which was increasingly conducted under the guise of legitimate trade.

FATIMA BISBIS (Morocco) said the problem of protecting children had never been more difficult than today. In some developing countries, one quarter of children worked, starting as early as the age of five, under deplorable conditions. War was only one threat to children: there was also the sale of children. The question arose as to how to protect children from these dangerous phenomena. Legal provisions against them already existed, and the Convention on the Right of the Child had been ratified. Remaining gaps had to be filled and existing legislation had to be strengthened. That was why Morocco supported the optional protocol for children in armed conflicts. As for the sexual exploitation of children, which had acquired new and alarming dimensions, the Convention remained too general -- it was necessary to strengthen some of its provisions. But in considering the problems of children, one could not ignore the disastrous effects of economic and social marginalization in poor countries. For its part, Morocco was deeply attached to Islam, which guaranteed the rights of children even before birth. Morocco had acceded to the Convention and had elaborated national laws to protect children.

PETER WILLE (Norway) said the numbers of countries that have ratified the Convention on the rights of children was a convincing testimony of the will to accord high political priority to out children who are our most precious and most vulnerable resource. The high numbers of reservations of entered into by State parties is however, contrary to the object and purpose of the Convention. Millions of children were caught up in armed conflicts in which they were not only bystanders but targets. This intolerable and unacceptable situation was clearly exemplified in the report present by the Expert of the Secretary General, Graça Machel. His country strongly supported the work of the working group for the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the rights of children on involvement of children in armed conflict. The working group has made substantial progress and he hoped that the few outstanding issues would be solved during the next session of the working group. His country welcomed the work of the Special Rapporteur on sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography and the World Congress against commercial sexual exploitation of children. This Congress succeeded in raising awareness both at the national and international level of this abhorrent and intolerable practice. The Convention on the rights of children established basic international standards in this area, now the world

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was faced with the challenge of their implementation, national and international strategies for the eradication of child labour will be identified at a forthcoming conference in Oslo in October 1997.

ALEXANDER GALILEE (Israel) said that it was only in the last century that the long and fundamental process of changing the disregard of children's rights began to bear fruits. Israel was proud to be an active participant in this world-wide process. The first stage of its accomplishments included increasing public awareness of phenomena such as child abuse, pornography and prostitution. The second stage of Israel's achievements included taking responsibility for solving the problem and it had passed ground-breaking legislation. To facilitate the complexity of children's protection, Israel had developed a comprehensive model utilizing a single umbrella body. Thus it was able to deal at the same time with public awareness, provide a hotline, therapy, shelter, educational and prevention programmes, training, research and lobbying. Within this comprehensive approach, Israel stressed the point that its main focus was always the child's best interests. Israel, like other immigration countries, faced typical problems of child protection in an immigrant environment. Millions of refugees in today's world suffered from crisis-inspired cultural detachment. Despite cultural diversity, the protection of the child was of common interest throughout the world. Israel was involved in several programmes whose scope transcended the individual interests of states.

ROGER BALL (New Zealand) said the country was pleased to be able to report on a number of key developments in the area of children's rights; these included appointment of a Commissioner for Children, the extension to children of protection under the Domestic Violence Act of 1995, and the regular convening of a youth parliament. The Government now would be working to implement the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child based on New Zealand's latest report to the panel. New Zealand also wished to acknowledge the valuable role played by UNICEF, and was pleased to have been elected to UNICEF's executive board; a UNICEF report on child labour had set out in horrifying detail the range of situations in which children were subjected to economic exploitation. New Zealand had been among the first countries in the world to enact laws allowing for the prosecution of its own citizens and residents who committed child sex offenses in other countries, or who facilitated travel of others to do so; however, legislation was only the first step in the fight to eliminate such crimes.

KAMEL MORJANE (Tunisia) said the protection of children was Tunisia's pride because of its achievements in that field. Tunisia met the needs of this vulnerable part of society, believing as it did that effective realization of the rights of children required the eradication of the causes of violations. The protection and development of children was one of the constant concerns in the framework of national policy to develop the country's human resources. Tunisia had developed programmes for children's education

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and health, as well as for the health of mothers. The increase in the occurrence of degrading acts against children worldwide required the strengthening international legislation. Tunisia harboured the hope to see this move forward.

CECILE SLESZYNSKA, of Christian Democrat International, said the Government of France had vowed to combat sexual exploitation of children; that had been the appropriate attitude and approach to take; it was to be hoped that appropriate legislation and implementation would follow. Female circumcision continued to be practised in some countries in Africa and Asia, and this extremely abusive practice needed to be ended; abuses committed by paedophiles also had to be fought wherever they occurred; paedophilia appeared to be fostered by the permissiveness and ambience of the developed countries. The moral climate of developed societies showed unacceptable levels of abuses; it was necessary to recognize that problem and find the sufficient will to deal with it.

J. K. GUPTA, of the Indian Council of Education, said the group was deeply concerned over the menace of child labour in South Asia. In spite of all efforts at the international level, and of legislative measures taken at national levels, child labour in South Asia was on the increase, a consequence of the rapid growth of population, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. Legislation banning child labour in South Asia could not contain the incidence of child labour as it did not have enough provisions for the rehabilitation of rescued children. The Governments of South Asia needed to work out a comprehensive programme of rehabilitation for children engaged in child labour. The group appreciated the special efforts of Bangladesh in eliminating the exploitation of child labour and hoped that other countries in the region would also start special drives and action programmes to combat this menace. Non-governmental organizations could also play an active role.

MICHAEL CURTOTTI, of the International League for Human Rights, said the League supported adoption of a clear and effective optional protocol on involvement of children in armed conflict; the key task was to raise minimum age standards for recruitment into the armed forces and for participation in armed conflict; the minimum standard for both these purposes should be 18 years; currently the Convention on the Rights of the Child set a minimum of 15, and even this standard was all too frequently violated. Raising the minimum age already provided in international law and the Convention was an essential step, but the standard also had to be effectively monitored and implemented. However it occurred, such recruitment should be severely punished, as it was fear of criminal sanction that would be most effective as a deterrent; it was necessary to make sure that the crimes addressed by the draft protocol were treated no less harshly than other war crimes; to do less would be to fail to meet the standards of the Convention.

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ANTONIA MACIAS, of the Federacion de Asociaciones de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, said the Philippines was party to international conventions on the protection of children and as such was supposed to protect its children. Despite all these good intentions, the Philippines still witnessed infringement on the human rights of its boys and girls. Displacement for development projects affected the basic rights to housing, to an adequate standard of living, as well as to education and health. Women and children were especially affected by such projects. Given a situation of the abject poverty, many families could only prostitute their children, a problem which was exacerbated by the presence of foreigners in the country. The Commission should adopt measures to check the grave problems of child prostitution and child pornography.

VLADISLAV ERMAKOV (Russian Federation) said the Convention on the Rights of the Child was a valuable international instrument, and the Russian Federation had ratified the treaty; it hoped for early completion of work on an optional protocol to the Convention on the role of children in armed conflict; it expected a minimum age for enrolment in armed forces of at least 18. Another important problem to be addressed was protection of children against sexual exploitation; adoption of legislation and law-enforcement measures on the subject was vital for combatting such abuses. Attention further was needed to effective implementation of standards already set by the Convention; protection of children also fell within the ambit of instruments aimed at protecting women and fostering women's rights, and countries should aim for harmony between the various standards set by these treaties. By decree of the President a programme for action on children had been established in the Russian Federation, providing programmes for several aspects of child rights.

SUSANA RIVERO (Uruguay) said the country had traditionally defended the rights of the child, adopting structures to protect children and adolescents. It was currently devoted to updating its code on children, adopted in 1934, and coordinating various social policies to promote the state of children, especially in difficult situations. There was a need worldwide to step up all possible measures to ensure the greater protection of children. Children were the most valuable legacy for future generations and no efforts should be spared to protect them. Children in their formative years should remain in school: free education was instrumental to their development. Uruguay wanted the minimum age of recruitment into the armed forces to be 18 years, and was against the involvement of children in hostilities. Regarding the problem of the sale, abduction and trafficking of children, the Commission should address the issues further. Prostitution and pornography must not only be eradicated, but their consequences should also be addressed. To prevent the perpetuation of such abominable acts, Uruguay emphatically appealed for the protection of children and adoption of practical legislation and social measures.

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JOSE FERNANDEZ (Philippines) said the Philippines was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and had taken the necessary steps to implement the treaty; the country participated actively in activities promoting the Convention, and in working groups studying optional protocols to the pact. The delegation noted with concern the large number of children who had been disabled physically and mentally as a consequence of poverty, disease, disaster, land mines, displacement, and all forms of violence, and called for greater attention to be given to their needs; it was necessary to emphasize that such children had the right of enjoyment and equal access to education and the highest attainable standards of mental and physical health, and all who could were urged to overcome discrimination directed against children with disabilities. The Special Rapporteur on the sale of children and the Committee on the Rights of the Child also should give attention to the special needs of disabled children. Greater efforts were required in addition to address the problems of children caught up in armed conflicts and of children who were the subject of trafficking in its many forms, including prostitution, pornography, bonded labour, and commercial adoption.

ROHANA RAMLI (Malaysia) said that, despite the high level of ratification of and accession to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, problems encountered by children like drugs, sexual exploitation, abuse, disease and armed conflict could not be wished away. The realization of children's rights were inherently complex because children were in many ways utterly dependent on their parents and guardians. The Convention upheld a number of basic rights but did not infringe on the rights of parents. The role of the community in a child's upbringing should not be confused with individual freedoms and the interest of the community as a whole. And the issues concerning the rights of the child were inextricably linked to the socio-economic conditions of the community. Malaysia believed that children's issues could not be separated from that of the family. In Malaysia, the incidence of child labour was negligible, which did not preclude the country from taking an interest in the question. The solution to child labour was not wholesale condemnation of countries and industries that were accused of using it. Trade embargoes would only exacerbate the condition. A joint-multilateral approach had to be made to alleviate child labour that recognized the importance of the family.

DANILO ROSALES DIAZ (Nicaragua) said that every week a quarter of a million children died, most of them from preventable diseases; millions more suffered from poverty and malnutrition; in the developing world the debt crisis had meant a transfer of huge funds from the South to the North at the same time as there was greater need for funding of social programmes and health care of importance to children. Nicaragua had made a strong economic recovery recently, although without many noticeable increases in social indicators, at least to date; nonetheless, it had done a good deal to help advance children's rights given that the country had coped with a crushing

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foreign debt burden and structural adjustment measures; a draft code related to children was in the process of adoption by the legislature. Many children had died or suffered physical handicaps during the country's long internal conflict; millions more had been refugees; many children had undergone irreversible damage; the country was still trying to overcome the consequences of the decade-long armed conflict on children; the aims were to improve education and health care, and indeed such accomplishments were needed around the world. Progress was needed, as now under discussion, on measures to help children caught up in armed conflicts and in situations of sexual exploitation; such work needed to be speeded up.

SYRUS QAZI (Pakistan) said one third of the country's large population consisted of children -- there were some 38.5 million; Pakistan had been trying to provide health and children's rights to all despite major obstacles, including poverty and age-old practices; a major achievement had been in the area of health -- for example, guinea worm disease had been eliminated, deaths form measles had been reduced, and nearly universal salt iodization achieved; there was much still to do, and the country faced grave shortfalls in resources for such goals as providing sufficient primary education. The international community could help in these efforts by understanding the magnitude and complexity of the problems, and by realizing that quick fixes were not possible. Despite all its problems, Pakistan was determined to eradicate child labour, beginning with its most intolerable forms; a reputable study had shown that the magnitude of child labour in Pakistan had been greatly exaggerated, but the matter still posed a formidable challenge; more inspections of workplaces were being carried out, more educational programmes devised and implemented, and centres established for rehabilitation of child labourers providing, among other things, free education, medical care, nutrition, and vocational training. The international community was urged to view the problems of developing countries with understanding and to assist them in surmounting their difficulties.

B. N. MARBUN (Indonesia) said the promotion and protection of the rights of the child were an essential part of Indonesia's commitment to the respect of human rights. In order to fully realize the goals of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Indonesia had set up a National Action Plan with a view to increase the dissemination of information and awareness of the treaty's provisions. Indonesia was dedicated to addressing a number of serious problems which had become a matter of great concern for the international community, such as the exploitation of child labour, the sexual exploitation of children and the protection of children affected by armed conflicts. Indonesia had established a national focal point to monitor and coordinate national activities in the field of child labour, and had taken measures to alleviate the underlying social problems, such as poverty, which led children to seek employment. Indonesia was also deeply concerned with issues related to the sexual exploitation of children, a grave problem that should be quickly and effectively addressed. Indonesia fully supported efforts to complete a

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draft optional protocol to the Convention on this question and to provide effective measures for the prevention and eradication of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The rights of the child had to form an essential part of the international community's commitment to human-rights standards.

BARBARA TUHOVCAKOVA (Slovakia) said the question of the protection of the rights of the child was rightly one of the major concerns of the Commission. Slovakia expressed satisfaction with the level of international interest in this very sensitive issue; it supported activities undertaken by working groups and special rapporteurs. Effective assistance given to children in regions of armed conflicts was a step in realizing the right of the child. Unfortunately, many practices still persisted which harmed children: growing phenomena like the use of children in armed conflicts, sexual exploitation and child labour threatened the growth and development of young people. The legal protection of the rights of the child through international conventions was not enough -- Governments had to create structures. Slovakia, for its part, continued to create conditions for the thorough implementation of the right of the child.

NAUDY SUAREZ (Venezuela) said there still were serious problems that needed to be solved on behalf of children; among them were the negative impacts of economic and social problems, especially the high levels of foreign debt and the demands of structural adjustment programmes in poorer countries, where they had led to cuts in social programmes and a deterioration of the well-being of children. Venezuela recently had experience such problems in the wake of a pronounced economic crisis; however, it recently had taken serious steps to improve the situation of children, setting up national bodies to promote and monitor child rights; and establishing educational, health, and day-care programmes; other projects set up, among other things, homes for adolescents, which provided vocational training. Community education programmes had been established, and family subsidies were provided to help extremely poor families afford education for their children. In addition, Venezuela was carrying out a programme in cooperation with the ILO to help eliminate child labour.

ALI BAHRAINI (Iran) said a large number of children were exposed daily to dangers; and the family institution, meanwhile, had become tremendously vulnerable; sexual exploitation of children was extensively practised in some parts of the world and had increasingly become a transnational crime; root causes for such offenses must be addressed, including poverty, economic constraints, and underdevelopment in some nations, along with moral decay and decline in family values in developed countries. Iran, despite its vast territory, did not have such problems of sexual exploitation because of sufficient political and social will, the rich Islamic cultural heritage, strong family ties, and implementation of legal measures against prostitution, corruption, alcoholism, and substance abuse. The draft optional protocol on

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the sale of children should be approved as soon as possible, and other measures taken as well, including enforcing punitive measures against offenders, facilitating extradition of such offenders, extending cooperation of all countries with the relevant Special Rapporteur, and addressing effectively the negative impacts of new information technologies, such as the Internet, on the sale of children and related abuses.

KRIT GARAJANA-GOONCHORN (Thailand) said the report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children had been regrettably blighted by inaccurate statistics, at least as they related to Thailand; the Government was strongly determined to eradicate child prostitution completely, and had passed a tough new anti-prostitution law, stepped up raids on brothels and other premises employing commercial sex workers, and especially had attacked the fundamental causes of child prostitution: poverty and ignorance. It had increased minimum schooling requirements, carried out public-education programmes, and provided vocational training in regions known to be sources of sex workers. The Special Rapporteur had estimated that there were 150,000 to 240,000 adolescents engaged in prostitution in three cities in Thailand -- or one if every 5 girls in the country; the figure was absurd, and did not contribute at all to combatting what the Government admitted was a serious problem. The National Commission on Women's Affairs of Thailand estimated there were 150,000 to 200,000 prostitutes in the country, of whom 15 to 20 per cent were under age 18; the Thai Red Cross had consistently put the number of child prostitutes at between 20,000 and 40,000. The Special Rapporteur might wish to recheck her sources. Because of her statistics Thailand had withdrawn its support of draft resolution L.34 on traffic in women and girls.

JOHN EIBNER, of Christian Solidarity International, said that since last Spring, the Baroness Cox and himself had been on seven fact-finding missions to the north and south of Sudan. On those missions, they had obtained an abundance of evidence of the gross and systematic abuse of the rights of children, committed by the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime. Most of these abuses the NIF committed as part of its self-proclaimed Jihad or holy war to transform the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Sudan into a totalitarian Islamicist State. The NIF was also guilty of chattel slavery, which flourished in Sudan. The victims of the slave raids organized by the NIF and carried out by the NIF's Popular Defense Force were the black Africans of the southern regions. Nothing had materialized from the Khartoum regime's widely publicized promises of last year to facilitate independent investigations into the practise of slavery and to publish its own report.

HELENE SACKSTEIN, of Defense for Children International, said the first Congress against sexual exploitation of children, held in Stockholm, had been active and practical in intent, and had featured, in addition to expected participants, a strong media contingent, and a lively and helpful children's delegation. It was important to implement the Congress's aims and to allocate sufficient resources; also needed were a timetable and clear objectives and

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goals. The conclusions of the Congress had already been widely disseminated, and such activities would continue. Ample correspondence received by Defense for Children indicated how important the issue was; further attention was needed on one focal point pointed out by the Conference -- dissemination and implementation of the standards of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Closer cooperation with civil society was needed, in addition, to end child sex exploitation.

MANUEL SANZ, of Pax Romana, said illicit transfers of children, and maltreatment, forced labour, and sexual exploitation of children deserved greater response. In Mexico, minors were detained and often maltreated in detention centres; sometimes they were kept in centres for adults; sometimes they had to watch their parents being tortured; in Colombia, minors were improperly detained; in addition, there were situations of concern involving detained children in Israeli-occupied Palestine, in Bahrain, and in China. Over 73 million children, meanwhile, according to UNICEF, were involved in forced labour; countries where this occurred included India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Sexual exploitation of children was especially grave an offense; some countries provided the clients, and others the victims; Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other north European countries had organizations of paedophiles which sent clients to developing countries where they found victims. It was important, in addition, for countries to register children at birth to prevent adoption abuses, sale of children, and other corrupt activities. It was worth noting, finally, that the United States had not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Human Rights Defenders, Conscientious Objection, World Conference

The Commission this afternoon took up agenda items on a draft declaration on human-rights defenders, conscientious objection to military service and follow-up to the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights.

The Commission received the report of the working group drafting a declaration on the rights and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms (document E/CN.4/1997/92). The meeting, the group's twelfth, saw the introduction of a consolidated text of the draft declaration prepared by Chairman-Rapporteur Jan Helgesen. That text did not contain proposals on four issues which were still outstanding: the right to attend and observe court proceedings; the financing of those who defended human rights and fundamental freedoms; the reference to domestic legislation, and the question of "duties towards society". According to the report, many delegations found the consolidated text acceptable subject to satisfactory conclusion of outstanding issues.

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The Commission was further presented with a report by the Secretary-General on the question of conscientious objection to military service (document E/CN.4/1997/99). This report presents a summary of information covering the number of countries in which conscription is practised; liability for service; length of service; recognition of conscientious objection; known cases of conscientious objection; alternative and development service, and possible penalties for refusal to perform military service. The report concludes that there is tendency towards the abolition of conscription, and that the number of States in which provision is made for civilian and/or unarmed military service has increased.

Also before the Commission was a report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the follow-up to the World Conference on Human Rights (document E/CN.4/1997/98). This report reflects the current policy orientation of, and guiding elements for, the High Commissioner's activities since the fifty-first session of the General Assembly in December 1996. Under a chapter headed, "Human Rights: The common language of humanity", the report discusses the moves towards a culture of human rights and human-rights education. Democracy, development and human rights and the right to development are covered in a chapter on "Human Rights: The signpost to sustainable development". Further issues brought up in the report include equality and non-discrimination, and freedom from violations. The report also covers issues of prevention and responsive action; technical cooperation, and the emergence of national human-rights institutions. The report concludes by discussing preparations for Human Rights Year in 1998.

Also on the follow-up to the World Conference on Human Rights, the Commission took up a note by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the meeting of special rapporteurs/representatives/experts and chairpersons of working groups of the special procedures of the Commission held in Geneva from 28 to 30 May 1996 (document E/CN.4/1997/3). According to the note, several participants stated that there was a serious lack of coordination among the various bodies and agencies of the United Nations system dealing with human rights issues and that that situation seriously undermined efficiency. While the participants welcomed the initiative of the High Commissioner to convene a meeting of the three Special Rapporteurs of the Great Lakes region, concrete examples were given of cases in which the participants had not been informed of action taken by other United Nations bodies or agencies. The participants agreed that there was, therefore, a need for the High Commissioner to establish stronger links with other United Nations bodies or agencies to improve coordination. In that connection, the High Commissioner noted that coordination within an organization of sovereign States was very difficult. Progress could only be made step by step. He provided some concrete examples of improved coordination between the Department of Public Information and his office, as well as some initiatives aimed at reinforcing the coordinating role that was set forth in his mandate.

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Regarding coordination between the Commission on Human Rights and the High Commissioner for Human Rights as far as in situ visits were concerned, The participants were of the firm opinion that international scrutiny should not be undermined by manipulation on the part of a given Government leading to the invitation of one special rapporteur at the expense of the visit of another or others. The meeting also addressed the issue of the negative effects of the financial and budgetary crisis facing the United Nations on the fulfilment of the mandates of the individual human-rights experts and panels.

Statements in Debate

MICHEL MONOD, of War Resisters International, said he had participated in a conference of conscientious objectors in Eastern Europe last November; many changes had taken place in the Constitutions of countries that were members of the Commission; the right to refuse military service and perform alternative service, based on religious grounds, was recognized in many Constitutions now, but in many cases laws had not been passed by Parliaments to apply these Constitutional articles. In other countries, the alternative service was twice the length of military service; in other cases, there was not sufficient division between the military and the non-military aspects of alternative service. In other countries, conscientious objectors were prosecuted, but often not immediately; to escape punishment or terms in jail, where abuses were rife, they were sometimes driven to desperate acts. It was important for civilian service alternatives to established; service in military barracks for such objectors, far from home, too often led to severe abuses; employing such people in the kitchens of the army or its health service was not an acceptable alternative. Countries must take urgent measures to implement the Commission's resolution establishing the right to conscientious objection and provide suitable civilian alternative service.

RACHEL BRETT, of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, in a joint statement with Amnesty International, said the right to conscientious objection to military service was not a marginal concern outside the mainstream of protection and promotion of human rights, but a basic component of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and promotion. Several United Nations bodies and European Union institutions had urged Governments to guarantee that individuals objecting to compulsory military service because of their conscientiously held beliefs were given the opportunity to perform an alternative service of a genuinely civilian character and of a length which could not be considered as a punishment. But the failure to provide adequately for the exercise of that right was not limited to Europe. Therefore, Amnesty International and the Friends World Committee for Consultation called for the immediate and unconditional release of all persons detained or imprisoned because they had been refused their right to register their conscientious objection to military service; and urged all States to re-examine their legislation and practices in relation to conscientious

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objection to military service to ensure full compliance with Commission resolution 1995/83.

RAKESH NARAIN SRIVASTAVA, of Indian Council of Education, said the right to refuse military service for reasons of conscience was inherent in the concept of freedom of thought. However, there had been differences of opinion concerning the desirability of permitting any exceptions to bearing arms for active military service on grounds such as conscientious objection, religious belief, or moral conviction. In the case of the Gulf War the United States failed to adhere to the United Nations official recognition of conscientious objection as a human right; in some countries, minorities had been made to join the military; in Poland, those who resisted came from a different social stratum; problems often arose in various countries when ethnic minority groups were deployed in their native regions, as when desertions took place from the Yugoslav army in 1991; that also happened in the erstwhile USSR when soldiers were assigned to unstable provinces during the 1991 coup in Moscow; in 1994, some Russian officers refused to fight against civilians in Chechnya. The United Nations should continue its interest in the question and arrive at a global perspective so as to ensure that nations did not adopt any subjective approach; the Indian Council of Education also suggested that the minimum age of recruitment for the military should be 20 years.

VOLODYMYR VASSYLENKO (Ukraine) said the mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was difficult to overestimate. Ukraine commended the efforts undertaken by José Ayala-Lasso, the first High Commissioner, including the restructuring of the Centre for Human Rights and contributing to the reform of the United Nations machinery, as reflected in his report. That document contained a clear picture of the further development of the United Nations human-rights programme based on the recommendations of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. The strengthening of the Commission should also be at the heart of activities for building a partnership for human rights. Reviewing and rationalizing the Commission's overloaded agenda constituted one of the most important means for achieving this goal. Efforts should be made to eliminate double standards and selective approaches in the assessment of human-rights issues. One of the most pressing issues at the present time consisted of enhancing the efficiency of United Nations human-rights bodies. Strengthening of preventive activities of those bodies was indispensable for their effective functioning.

LI BAODUNG (China) said the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action required a holistic, balanced, and impartial implementation; misinterpretation of it, either by quoting a section out of context, or stressing some aspects at the expense of others, should be prevented; nonetheless, certain countries were emphasizing only civil and political rights and ignoring economic, social, and cultural rights; they were playing down development and playing up democracy; they did not pay enough attention to regional, historical, and cultural particularities; this approach was not conducive to effective

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follow-up. Development needed greater attention, as an indivisible right among other rights; in absence of sustained and stable economic development, human rights could not be fully guaranteed; China had learned from experience that only by concentrating on economic development under the precondition of national and social stability could steady progress and full enjoyment of all human rights be achieved. It was important, furthermore, for the follow-up to Vienna to be based on cooperation and dialogue; yet what was happening was certain countries' politicization of human rights, coupled with a confrontational approach. Such a tactic would lead to a dead end, China wished to emphasize; it once again appealed to countries to respond to developing countries with cooperation, dialogue, and consensus, so that healthy progress could be made.

J. SYMONIDES, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the long-term goal of UNESCO was establishment of a comprehensive system of education and training for peace, human rights, and democracy for all groups of people and embracing all levels of education; the strategy was to mobilize individuals and institutions so that everyone could receive appropriate education and training, especially women, children, persons belonging to minorities, and indigenous people, refugees and displaced persons. UNESCO collaborated with Governments to this end; it cooperated closely with the academic community and non-governmental organizations; it worked with member States to elaborate national policies; and it had begun a multidisciplinary project called "Towards a Culture of Peace". It was obvious that cultural rights needed action to strengthen their implementation and further their elucidation, clarification, and perhaps codification. UNESCO also was preparing its programme to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and would involve all its structures and networks; it believed that the anniversary should be used to prepare a human-rights agenda for the twenty-first century.

LORIA MARKIDES (Cyprus) said that four years after the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and almost 20 years after the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, the international community still had a long road to travel to achieve gender equality and to remove all obstacles to the advances and empowerment of women. Despite the catastrophic effects of the Turkish invasion and the continuing occupation of more than 37% of the territory of Cyprus, the country had advanced the cause of women and had empowered them. The establishment of a National Machinery on Women's rights as well as the enactment of legislation on violence in the family and the granting of pensions to housewives were indicative of the progress achieved. The Turkish occupation of a large part of the country has resulted in the grave and systematic violations of the human rights of the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of women. Women in Cyprus were still struggling for the right of Cypriot women refugees to return to their ancestral homes, and were struggling for their right to find the whereabouts of missing relatives.

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JACQUELINE AQUILINA (Malta) said the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would coincide with the five-year review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action; Malta believed that human rights, peace, and development formed the "triad" of goals of the United Nations; there could not be one without the others; it also believed that human rights programmes should be able to respond to the needs of the international community by being capable of both preventive and responsive action; technical cooperation, which could take several forms, went a long way in that regard. The main objectives of the future should be emphasis on human rights, promotion of international cooperation for human rights, and stimulation of action and coordination across the United Nations system; this should only be done in the context of other reforms taking place or which might take place in other parts of the United Nations; and the delegation wished to refer here to contributions made by Malta in other fora regarding United Nations reform. The work of the Commission this session had again showed that solidarity and good will could really achieve results, and it was to be hoped that 1998 would mark the start of another 50 years of improving the dignity of the human race.

MOSTAF ALAEE (Iran) said international cooperation was one of the important elements of the process that had followed the World Conference on Human Rights. States should receive guarantees which allowed them, upon ratifying a given instrument, the choice of implementing it to take into account specific cultural conditions. This should be the price to be paid for obtaining the universality of the ratification of international human-rights instruments. Iran also underscored the importance of consultative services in the field of human rights in order to strengthen national capacities and achieve the objectives of promoting human rights. The implementation of advisory services programmes should be free of all political considerations.

ABOU AZIZ NIAYE (Senegal) said the High Commissioner for Human Rights had been appointed because of the Vienna Conference; that was a valuable step; the Centre for Human Rights, meanwhile, had changed over the years, from a kind of research institute to a secretariat and advisory-services operation to States, among other things. It was important to make the Centre more efficient and practical and effective; that was why the restructuring now under way at the Centre was so important. Senegal hoped that in the restructuring process any measures decided would take into account all factors involved in human rights, and should have a balanced approach reflecting the interest of all countries; it also felt any proposed steps in restructuring should be presented to the General Assembly and should be discussed at the Commission. Decisions concerning the staff and staff careers had apparently been taken without letting the General Assembly review them; Senegal was concerned about the fate of staff from developing countries -- there were few African staff at all, as it turned out, and those Africans who had jobs held minor positions; Senegal was worried about what would happen to them under restructuring. It also was worried about possible de-emphasis or elimination

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of some important programmes, such as those focusing on economic and development rights. Sufficient financial resources also must be provided to the Centre.

RAKESH NARAIN SRIVASTAVA, of the Indian Council of Education, said the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights focused on the need for ushering in a culture of human rights. Against this background, Governments were expected to actively promote and protect human rights, to prevent ethnic and religious conflicts, to eradicate poverty and to promote sustainable development. Initiatives aimed at promoting dialogue between nations at international fora such as the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, the Copenhagen Social Summit and the Beijing Conference on Women had been important pillars in strengthening the human-rights movement. Still, much remained to be done, in particular with respect to the status of women. In this context, the group urged the Commission to take serious note of continuing violence against women and design special programmes to sensitize the world community on gender issues.

The representative of the Federation of Associations for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, said the Vienna Conference on Human Rights had been a step forward in recognizing how much needed to be done in human rights; at this point a global dimension was needed, and human rights had to be dealt with from a universal perspective. The interdependence of civil and social rights was confirmed, but unfortunately, economic, social, and cultural rights often were forgotten or shoved into second place to civil and political rights. However, the interconnectedness of rights was illustrated by the way lack of attention to economic, cultural and social rights led to a loss of civil and political rights. The greatest challenge facing the human-rights agenda currently was poverty; in the face of poverty, few rights were possible. Much remained to be done, finally, the deepen the relation between the United Nations, States, and NGOs; good cooperation between these three was essential if human rights were to progress; further emphasis on education in human rights was needed, moreover.

FACTOR MENDEZ DONINELLI, of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America, said the rights of women were an indivisible and integral part of human rights. In this context, violence against women was incompatible with the enjoyment of human rights. The Commission therefore supported the elaboration of a draft protocol to the Convention on the elimination of violence against women that would include mechanisms to allow parties to denounce human-rights violations; investigate serious and repeated violations of human rights, and allow the possibility for individual women, or groups of women or NGOs, to communicate violations of human rights to the body monitoring the implementation of the Convention.

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MARIA SOLEDAD ARGUETA (El Salvador) said the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights had provided an opportunity for new progress, including a recognition of the human rights of women and children and of the interrelatedness of human rights, along with the creation of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights; now implementation of the objectives of the Conference was needed, and it was encouraging that steps within the United Nations had been taken to respond in a coordinated way to the Vienna Programme of Action. El Salvador agreed with the General Assembly's medium-term plan, which identified promotion of human rights as a priority objective. The international community in 1998 would have a chance to reflect and renew its commitments to human r-rights on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration; activities in the field, including technical and advisory services, and preventive measures, should be given priority. Moreover, all involved in the human-rights field should strive with renewed vigour to cooperating to strengthen the human-rights programme; forthcoming events should not be just commemorative but create a strong will for further progress.

CHRISTIAN STROHAL (Austria) said the World Conference on Human Rights continued to provide the United Nations and the international community with a framework of principles and activities which charted the course of action in the field of human rights into the next century. Its pronouncements on universality, on the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights, and the recognition of human rights as a legitimate concern of the international community, continued to guide work in that area. It was Austria's sincere hope that Human Rights Year in 1998 would provided the opportunity to reinvigorate the momentum created at the World Conference for the strengthening of the United Nations human-rights programme. Human Rights Year was not so much about new standard-setting activities or the drafting of lengthy documents, but about better implementation of existing standards.

NIELS BOHR, of the International Association for Development of Freedom of Education, said the World Conference had given emphasis to subjects of importance to the Association, including the importance of human-rights education; education played an important role when it came to human rights, and should be an important part of national educational policies; in recent years, the Association had participated in the running of a "summer university" for human-rights education -- the "university" was the outcome of the efforts of a number of human-rights groups. Last summer 25 institutions had cooperated, including State authorities, international Governmental and non-governmental organizations, and universities. Some 22 countries were represented. The creation of an international court of justice in the field of human rights was recommended by the group, along with various steps involving education and freedom of teaching. At its next session, the summer university would include new elements -- priorities in human rights, including indigenous peoples and ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities, and an introduction to the use of new technologies in the promotion of human rights.

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JAONA RAVALOSON (Madagascar) said the delegation was disappointed over the slow progress towards finalization of the declaration on human-rights defenders; after 12 years of painful labour this declaration had still not been born for lack of consensus; and yet what was being talked about was something modest and reasonable. It would be a major step forward, and a highly symbolic gesture if the declaration could finally be adopted. Therefore Madagascar supported extending the mandate of the working group for a thirteenth and final year, with the result to be submitted for consideration with or without a vote. The text would be valuable for NGOs and human-rights organizations in the work they carried out; and Madagascar called on member States to protect, with or without the declaration, the physical integrity of all human-rights defenders.

RICHARD VAN RIJSSEN (Netherlands), speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said the international community had to speak out on behalf of human-rights defenders, who were often left voiceless by their own Governments. Yet, when the Union addressed the issue of human-rights defenders around the world, it was often charged with pointing fingers at others. The real universality of human rights could be witnessed by human-rights defenders in different parts of the world, by people who in their countries spoke out about the rights of their compatriots; who defended the rights of free trade unions; who risked prison for proclaiming out loud the contents of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was the task of the international community to make their voices heard. The commitment of Governments to universal human rights should secure the rights of everyone, including human-rights defenders; to this end a working group to elaborate the drafting of a declaration with the aim of establishing the responsibility of Governments in protecting human-rights defenders under the chairmanship of Jan Helgesen could hold its final meeting in 1998 in time for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration.

JOHN SHATTUCK (United States) said he felt privileged to speak about some individuals who had made a difference in the lives of their fellow citizens through their courageous actions on behalf of human rights; their crucial role in the struggle to ensure respect for human rights could not be overemphasized; he wished to salute those brave men and women who had lost their lives in defense of human rights last year in countries around the globe; their lives were a monument to the universal principles this Commission served. Among others, he wished to speak of Bishop Belo, whose courageous defense of cultural, religious and political rights of people in East Timor had earned him the Nobel Prize for Peace. Others deserving gratitude and respect were Muchtar Pakpahan and Bangbang Widgejanto of Indonesia; the Dalai Lama; Wai Jingshen and Wang Dan of China; in South Africa and throughout the world Nelson Mandela was a beacon for human rights; and in the last year political and military leaders inside and outside the Government of Guatemala had also taken a courageous stand for reconciliation and human rights. Many journalists also had courageously reported on human-rights issues, often at

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great risk. For such people and many others, the declaration on human-rights defenders should be adopted now.

XIMENA GALLEGOS, of International Service for Human Rights, speaking on behalf of a number of other NGOs, said that on 27 March in a discussion in the Commission on the situation in Colombia, someone had said a remark on the situation was not credible because it had come from an NGO; the false accusations against the person concerned, Dr. Gustavo Gallon, had been made through military intelligence; on appeal of the court case concerned, the military had been implicated; other untrue and irresponsible remarks had been made about human-rights advocates in Colombia, and such allegations endangered their lives. Calumny and lies were increasingly used as a way of undermining work for human rights. The Commission must express concern to the Government of Colombia over the safety and well-being of Dr. Gallon and other human-rights defenders.

Right of Reply

JAVED ASHRAF (India) said the Commission had heard today a statement by Pakistani Federal Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, one-time Prime Minister of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. This showed that the issue of self-determination of Kashmir was nothing more than a cover for Pakistan's territorial ambitions. Many appeals for bilateral dialogue on this issue had been heard, as well as for not bringing to the Commission issues which were directed at domestic use. India totally rejected the allegations made this morning and in every Pakistani statement. The last thing Pakistan was interested in was the promotion and protection of human rights in its own territory or in others. Jammu and Kashmir legally and constitutionally belonged to India, and would always remain so. One third of Kashmir had been taken illegally by Pakistan, which India rejected. Bilateral talks between India and Pakistan were under way. At this junction, it was important that the atmosphere for these talks should not be allowed to deteriorate. Unfortunately, Pakistan's repeated attacks on India during the meetings of the Commission had done little to encourage the creation of an atmosphere conducive to fruitful and friendly talks. India would none the less remain hopeful.

MASOOD KHAN (Pakistan) said Pakistan's Federal Minister had the right to speak about the self- determination of the people of Kashmir. One needed to talk not of war, but of peace, and doing so required a structured dialogue. However, as talks continued, prisoners languished in jails without the possibility of visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross. If repression occurred and there was no exercise of human rights, there could be no durable peace. Pakistan had the right to raise the question of the right of self-determination in this Commission. Kashmir was the core question in the talks between Pakistan and India; to resolve the issues between the two

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countries, it was important to ensure that gross violations of human rights in Kashmir should cease.

REGINA IRENE SARMIENTO (Philippines), responding to remarks made by an NGO regarding the sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines, said her country, like a number of others, was confronted with the global menace of trafficking in children. However, the Government of the Philippines was not insensitive to the problem, and was aggressively addressing it. National legislation had been passed to prosecute those found guilty of child abuse and exploitation, including child prostitution. Furthermore, the remarks of the same NGO regarding the abuse of human rights by members of the armed forces while combating Muslim insurgents in the south of the country were not correct. In fact, a peace accord had recently been signed between the Government and the Moro National Liberation Front.

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