SUBCOMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITIES TO MEET IN GENEVA FROM 4 TO 29 AUGUST
Press Release
HR/CN/810
SUBCOMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITIES TO MEET IN GENEVA FROM 4 TO 29 AUGUST
19970804 Background Release (Reproduced as received.)GENEVA, 31 July (UN Information Service) -- The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities begins its annual four-week session on Monday, 4 August.
The Subcommission, a panel of 26 experts established in 1947 to undertake studies and make recommendations to the Commission on Human Rights concerning the prevention of discrimination and the protection of national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, is to tackle this forty-ninth session with a much streamlined agenda, the fruit of a lengthy debate on its methods of work held the last time it met in Geneva.
A significant change in the way the Subcommission conducts its business will be in evidence when it takes up the consideration of human rights violations. Unlike in the past, the Subcommission will not take action on the human rights situations in countries already under public scrutiny at the Commission. It will, none the less, continue to examine information on human rights violations in order to report to the Commission, and it may take action in cases in which new and particularly grave circumstances arise.
The Subcommission will also examine such issues as contemporary forms of slavery, including sexual slavery during wartime and the exploitation of children; human rights and terrorism; the consequences of population transfer; human rights and HIV/AIDS; income distribution, and impunity for perpetrators of violations of economic, social and cultural right. And following up on earlier pioneering work, the Subcommission will take up a progress report on action by Governments to eliminate traditional practices affecting the health of women and children.
There are, in addition, a number of longstanding items in the agenda, including the rights of indigenous people. This year, the Subcommission will continue to look at indigenous land rights, the protection of the heritage of indigenous peoples and the possibility of establishing a permanent forum for the indigenous within the United Nations system. The problems of racial discrimination and the treatment of migrant workers will also continue to be examined.
Another question that has long been the subject of attention is the administration of justice and the rights of detainees. The experts will receive a revised set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity. Other subjects to be considered are compensation for victims of human rights violations; the rights of detained juveniles; the right to a fair trial, and the protection of human rights during states of emergency.
Moreover, as it reviews developments in fields with which it has been concerned, the Subcommission will look at human rights and scientific and technological developments, recognition of gross and massive rights violations as an international crime and the promotion of democratic society.
As at previous sessions, the Subcommission will consider communications -- from individuals, non-governmental organizations or other sources -- alleging a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested human rights violations so as to determine whether to refer them to the Commission for further action. The Working Group on Communications, which considers the merits of these allegations before transmitting them to the Subcommission, met from 21 July to 1 August.
Several of the Subcommission's subsidiary bodies serve as the pre- eminent international forums for interaction between Governments and civil society in the field of human rights. This is the case of the Working Groups on Indigenous Populations and on Minorities, whose latest reports will be presented to the forty-ninth session. Such reports, as well as studies from the expert members, form the basis of much of the yearly discussion at the Subcommission. The proceedings of the expert body are often at the root of international instruments for the protection and promotion of human rights.
Human Rights Violations
Consideration of human rights violations at the current session will be characterized by recent decisions concerning the working methods of the Subcommission. In particular, the Commission last year requested the Subcommission to focus on its primary role as an advisory body; to refrain from duplicating action with regard to country situations under consideration in the public procedures of the Commission and to limit action to exceptional cases in which new and particular grave circumstances arise.
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Last year, the Subcommission expressed concern at the growing manifestations of racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination and inhuman or degrading treatment directed against migrant workers in different parts of the world and decided, in view of the scope and seriousness of the problem, to devote close attention to the protection of migrant workers and
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members of their families at this session. It entrusted two of its members, José Bengoa and Mustapha Mehedi, with the preparation of a joint working paper on article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, together with two members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Ivan Garvalov and Shanti Sadiq Ali.
Realization of Economic, Social, Cultural Rights
As it studies the question of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights this year, the Subcommission will have before it final reports on impunity of perpetrators of violations of those rights and on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights, and income distribution. Last year, the Subcommission also requested the Secretary-General to organize a seminar of experts to develop appropriate indicators and to monitor the implementation of the commitments made by Governments, as set out in the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development. A decision on whether that seminar will go ahead is awaiting a determination on whether the activity should be held under the Commission for Social Development or the Commission on Human Rights.
Concerning forced evictions in the context of gross and consistent patterns of human rights violations affecting large numbers of people, a subject in the agenda since the forty-fourth session, the Subcommission will have before it the report of the Secretary-General on the expert seminar on forced evictions held in Geneva from 11 to 13 June 1997.
Among the other issues included in the review of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights are the international economic order and the promotion of human rights; the realization of the right to development, and the question of transnational corporations and their impact on the full enjoyment of all human rights. Concerning that last subject, the Subcommission last year considered that it would be useful for the Commission to establish, for a three-year period, a working group of five experts to identify and examine the effects of the methods of work and activities of transnational corporations on economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development; and to make recommendations and proposals aimed at regulating the methods of work and activities of transnational corporations in order to ensure that these are in keeping with the economic and social objectives of the countries in which they operate, and to promote economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development.
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Human Rights of Women
The Subcommission considers the human rights of women and the girl child under every item of its agenda, as well as in all relevant studies it undertakes. Last year, it requested that studies submitted at the forty-ninth session include gender-disaggregated statistics and discuss ways in which gender affects the various forms of abuse to which women are subjected, the consequences of those abuses, the availability and accessibility of remedies, the relationship between the abuses suffered by women and the subordinate status of women in public and private life, any gaps in existing international standards of protection, and gender-specific recommendations to remedy these violations. It also decided to consider more fully the implications of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action for its work.
Continuing its work against traditional practices affecting the health of women and children, the Subcommission will take up a report from Special Rapporteur Halima Embarek Warzazi. Mrs. Warzazi's mandate was extended for a further two years last year so that she might continue to monitor action taken by Governments to implement the comprehensive Plan of Action for the Elimination of Traditional Practices affecting the Health of Women and Children. At the present session, the Subcommission will examine a progress report from the Special Rapporteur.
The Subcommission will also look at the question of the role and equal participation of women in development, and it will have before it the most recent reports of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Contemporary Forms of Slavery
At its last session, the Subcommission decided to continue to give consideration to the questions of forced labour, illegal and pseudo-adoptions, incest, domestic workers, early marriage and detained juveniles at its forty- ninth session.
Concerning the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, the Subcommission last year requested the Secretary-General to invite all States to report on the measures adopted to implement the Programme of Action for the Prevention of the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, an instrument drafted at the Subcommission.
As for the exploitation of child labour and debt bondage, the Subcommission will continue to consider the possibility of appointing a special rapporteur. The Subcommission has drafted a Programme of Action for the Elimination of the Exploitation of Child Labour, adopted by the Commission in 1993. All States have been requested periodically to report on the measures they have taken to implement the Programme of Action.
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Also considered during the discussion on contemporary forms of slavery is the question of the traffic in persons and exploitation of the prostitution of others. Last year the Subcommission welcomed the approval by the Commission of the Programme of Action for the Prevention of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others and requested the Secretary-General to invite all States to report periodically on implementation of the Programme of Action and on the effectiveness of such measures.
The question of sexual slavery and slave-like practices during armed conflicts is a recent addition to the agenda of the Subcommission. In 1994, it invited human rights expert Linda Chavez to submit a working paper on the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slave-like practices during wartime, including internal conflict. Ms. Chavez was subsequently appointed Special Rapporteur with the task of undertaking an in-depth study of the subject, and she submitted a preliminary report in 1996. She has since resigned as Special Rapporteur, expressing the wish that another Subcommission member continue with the study.
At the current session, the Subcommission is also expected to hear a statement from a representative of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. At its previous session, the Commission requested the Secretary-General to transmit to Governments an appeal for contributions to the Trust Fund.
Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The Subcommission will examine the report of the fifteenth session of its Working Group on Indigenous Populations, which focussed on issues relating to the environment, land and sustainable development, and on the possible establishment of a permanent forum for indigenous people within the United Nations system. Under this item the Subcommission also considers protection of the heritage of indigenous peoples.
In addition, the Subcommission will review activities undertaken within the framework of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, which began on 10 December 1994; consider the status of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, and discuss the question of religious freedom of indigenous people.
Protection of Minorities
The question of ways and means to facilitate the peaceful and constructive resolution of situations involving minorities is a priority of the Subcommission, whose work preceded the 1992 adoption by the General Assembly of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Also at the Subcommission's
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recommendation, the Commission authorized in 1995 the establishment of a working group of five Subcommission members to review the promotion and practical realization of the Declaration and examine possible solutions to problems involving minorities, including the promotion of mutual understanding between and among minorities and Governments.
Administration of Justice and Human Rights of Detainees
The administration of justice and the human rights of detainees is another focus of attention at the Subcommission. In particular, with regard to the question of the impunity of perpetrators of violations of human rights, the Subcommission decided in 1991 to request members El Hadji Guissé and Louis Joinet to study the subject. The Subcommission subsequently requested the Special Rapporteurs to draft a study on the impunity of perpetrators of violations of human rights in order, in particular, to determine the scale of the phenomenon of impunity and to propose measures to combat that practice. After studying a final report submitted Mr. Joinet on impunity for violators of civil and political rights, the Subcommission requested the Special Rapporteur to prepare a revised set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity.
Other related topics to be examined by the Subcommission are the right to a fair trial and the application of international standards concerning the human rights of detained juveniles. The forum will also have before it a list, updated annually, of countries which proclaim or terminate a state of emergency; and the final conclusions and recommendations on the protection of human rights during states of emergency, prepared by a Special Rapporteur.
With regard to the administration of justice and the question of compensation for victims of gross violations of human rights, the Subcommission has been studying basic principles and guidelines proposed in a study entitled, "The right to restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for victims of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms". The author of the study has submitted to the Commission a further revised set of proposals in the light of comments from the Subcommission and its working group on the administration of justice and the question of compensation.
Freedom of Movement
As it takes up the question of freedom of movement, the Subcommission will have before it the final report of its Special Rapporteur on the human rights dimensions of population transfer, including the policy and practice of the implantation of settlers and settlements. Also to be considered is the right to leave and seek asylum and the right to return.
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Further Developments in Fields of Concern
During its review of further developments in fields with which it has been concerned, the Subcommission will take up a note by the Secretary-General and a report from the International Labour Organization.
It is during this review that the Subcommission considers the questions of discrimination against HIV-infected people or people with AIDS; human rights and scientific and technological developments, recognition of gross and massive violations of human rights as an international crime, and the promotion of a democratic society.
The Subcommission also reviews developments related to recommendations made in earlier studies, as well as issues not previously the subject of studies but which it has decided to examine. In the latter category, the question of terrorism and human rights is the subject of a working paper.
In addition, under the heading, "International peace and security as an essential condition for the enjoyment of human rights, above all the right to life", the Subcommission is expected to take up the question of the injurious effects of anti-personnel landmines. It has also received a report by the Secretary-General on the use of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, fuel-air bombs, napalm, cluster bombs, biological weaponry and weaponry containing depleted uranium, on their consequential and cumulative effects, and on the danger they represent to life, physical security and other human rights.
Communications Concerning Human Rights
This year, as at previous sessions, the Subcommission will consider complaints of abuses forwarded to it by its Working Group on Communications, which must first determine whether the allegations appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Under the terms of the confidential "1503 procedure", named for the Economic and Social Council resolution that established it, the Subcommission considers at private meetings those communications in order to determine whether to refer them to the Commission.
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