COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO MEET AT GENEVA FROM 16 MARCH TO 24 APRIL
Press Release
HR/CN/815
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO MEET AT GENEVA FROM 16 MARCH TO 24 APRIL
19980310 Background Release (Reissued as received.)GENEVA, 10 March (UN Information Service) -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan will address the opening meeting of the fifty-fourth session of the Commission on Human Rights, which will review the state of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the world, from 16 March to 24 April at the Palais des Nations.
The Commission is the main human rights organ of the United Nations and it has an extensive mandate which allows it to examine the whole spectrum of human rights. The first week of the Commission's work will be devoted mainly to a long list of dignitaries who will address the session.
President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of France, and Prime Minister Edison C. James of Dominica will address the Commission, as will many foreign ministers and other high-level government representatives.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata; and the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Federico Mayor, will also address the Commission.
Also during the first week, the Commission is expected to begin its review of the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine, as well as in Nigeria, Iran, southern Lebanon and the West Bekaa, the former Yugoslavia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Iraq, Cuba, East Timor, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi and Cyprus. Many of the special rapporteurs on the situations in various countries will present reports to the Commission on the latest developments.
According to the provisional agenda (documents E/CN.4/1998/1 and Add.1/Corr.1) the 53 member States of the Commission will discuss how to realize economic, social and cultural rights in all countries, as well as the rights to development and self-determination. They will consider the human rights of persons subjected to any form of detention, focusing in particular on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and on enforced or involuntary disappearances.
In addition to discussing measures to ensure the human rights and dignity of all migrant workers, the Commission will look at the issues of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance and discrimination, as well as at the rights of national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples.
The annual session of the Commission will continue to study children's rights and will focus this year on issues ranging from the involvement of children in armed conflicts to the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. It will continue its standard-setting work in this area and will further elaborate draft protocols on these topics.
Other items on the agenda concern how to further promote human rights and fundamental freedoms through the United Nations system; the effective functioning of bodies established pursuant to United Nations human rights instruments; advisory services in the field of human rights; and the question of conscientious objection to military services.
The Commission was established in 1946 by the Economic and Social Council and it held its first session in 1947. In addition to preparing studies, making recommendations and drafting international human rights instruments, it also undertakes special tasks assigned to it by the General Assembly or the Council, including the investigation of alleged human rights violations. It also provides for the coordination of human rights activities in the United Nations system. The Commission has been authorized, since 1990, to meet exceptionally between regular sessions to consider particularly grave human rights situations, provided that a majority of its 53 members so agree.
Human Rights Violations
The Commission on Human Rights added the human rights situation in the territories occupied by Israel, including Palestine, on its agenda in 1968, and in 1993 decided to appoint a special rapporteur with the mandate to investigate Israel's violations in the occupied territories. The Special Rapporteur, Hannu Halinen (Finland), will present his report to the Commission (document E/CN.4/1998/17).
Other documents before the Commission under this item include the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 1997/1 on this issue (document E/CN.4/1998/18), as well as a note on all United Nations reports issued between sessions of the Commission that dealt with the conditions in which the citizens of the Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories were living under the Israeli occupation (document E/CN.4/1998/19). Also before the Commission will be a report by the Secretary-General on human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan (document E/CN.4/1998/20).
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While considering the question of human rights violations in any part of the world, with particular reference to colonial and other dependent countries and territories, the Commission will also have before it reports of the Secretary-General on human rights in southern Lebanon and the West Bekaa (document E/CN.4/1998/56).
The Commission will also have before it a report by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Nigeria, Soli Jehangir Sorabjee (India) (document E/CN.4/1998/62). Mr. Sorabjee was mandated to establish direct contacts with the authorities and the people of Nigeria and to present his report on the basis of any relevant information gathered. Another report which will be studied is that by Maurice Copithorne (Canada) on human rights in Iran, including the situation of minority groups such as the Baha'is (document E/CN.4/1998/59), as well as the Special Representative's report to the General Assembly (document A/52/472, annex).
At its fifty-third session, the Commission extended the mandate of Elisabeth Rehn (Finland) as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the former Yugoslavia. Ms. Rehn was appointed as the Secretary- General's Special Representative and Coordinator of United Nations Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 26 November 1997, and the post of the Special Rapporteur remained vacant. Her periodic reports (documents E/CN.4/1998/9, E/CN.4/1998/12, E/CN.4/1998/13, E/CN.4/1998/14 and E/CN.4/1998/15), her report to the General Assembly (document A/52/490, annex) and an additional report (document E/CN.4/1998/63) will be considered by the Commission. Some of these reports also address the issue of missing persons in the former Yugoslavia.
The report of Roberto Garretón (Chile), the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (document E/CN.4/1998/65) and the report of the Secretary-General's investigative mission to that country (document E/CN.4/1998/64) will be before the Commission. Other reports which will be reviewed by the Commission relate to the Sudan (documents E/CN.4/1998/66 and A/52/510, annex); Iraq (documents E/CN.4/1998/67 and A/52/476); Cuba (documents E/CN.4/1998/69 and A/52/479); East Timor (document E/CN.4/1998/58); Myanmar (documents E/CN.4/1998/70 and A/52/484); Rwanda (documents E/CN.4/1998/61 and A/52/486 and Add.1/Rev.1); Equatorial Guinea (document E/CN.4/1998/73); Burundi (documents E/CN.4/1998/72 and Add.1 and A/52/505; and Cyprus (document E/CN.4/1998/55).
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Choong-Hyun Paik (Republic of Korea), will present his report to the Commission (document E/CN.4/1998/71), and his report to the General Assembly (document A/52/493) will also be available. At its fifty-third session, the Commission asked the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure a human rights presence in the context of the United Nations activities in Afghanistan, in order to provide professional advice to all the Afghan parties and to the inter- governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the field. In this
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respect, the Commission will have before it a note by the High Commissioner for Human Rights (document E/CN.4/1998/120).
The Special Rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Bacre Wally N'diaye (Senegal) will present a report (documents E/CN.4/1998/68 and Adds.1-3) on this issue.
Situations which appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights will be examined under Economic and Social Council resolution 1503, adopted in 1970. Since then, particular situations relating to 75 countries have been placed before the Commission under the procedure. This work will be carried out in closed meetings on the basis of a confidential report from the Commission's Working Group on Situations, as well as other confidential documents.
Also on the agenda is the question of the human rights of all persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment. Among the issues to be examined are the following: torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the status of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; human rights and forensic science; the question of enforced or involuntary disappearances; independence of judges and lawyers; right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right to restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for victims of grave violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms; and arbitrary detention, as well as children and juveniles in detention.
Documentation includes the report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, Nigel S. Rodley (United Kingdom) (documents E/CN.4/1998/38 and Adds.1-2); the report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (document E/CN.4/1998/43); and the report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (documents E/CN.4/1998/44 and Adds.1-2).
The Commission will also review the report of the Secretary-General on hostage-taking and on staff members of the United Nations and the specialized agencies in detention (document E/CN.4/1998/33); a note by the Secretary- General (document E/CN.4/1998/41) transmitting the tenth annual report of the Special Rapporteur of the Subcommission on human rights and states of emergency (documents E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/19 and Add.1); and the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression (documents E/CN.4/1998/40 and Adds.1.2).
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The question of the realization in all countries of the economic, social and cultural rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has been a standing item with high priority on the Commission's agenda since 1975.
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Under it, the Commission studies the special problems faced by developing countries in their efforts to achieve these human rights.
These include, for example, problems relating to the right to enjoy an adequate standard of living, foreign debt, economic adjustment policies and their effects on the full enjoyment of human rights.
Among the issues to be considered by the Commission under this item are the links between human rights and unilateral coercive measures, the environment, extreme poverty and the right to food. (A report on this last issue by the High Commissioner is contained in document E/CN.4/1998/21.
As to the effects of the existing unjust international economic order on the economies of the developing countries, and the obstacle that this represents for the implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the Commission last year authorized an open-ended working group on structural adjustment programmes and economic, social and cultural rights to meet for one week, to gather and analyse information on the effects of structural adjustment programmes on these rights and to elaborate basic policy guidelines which could serve as a basis for a continued dialogue between human rights bodies and the international financial institutions. An independent expert was also appointed, and the Commission will have before it the report of the working group (document E/CN.4/1998/27) and the report of I.S. Abdalla (Egypt) (document E/CN.4/1998/26).
Furthermore, the Commission will examine the report of its Special Rapporteur on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic waste and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights, Fatma Zohra Ksentini (Algeria) (document documents E/CN.4/1997/10 and Adds.1-2).
The Commission will also act on a number of resolutions submitted to it by the Subcommission and dealing with respect for economic, social and cultural rights.
Concerning realization of the right to development, the Commission will have before it the report of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts (document E/CN.4/1998/29), as well as a comprehensive report by the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 1997/72.
Right to Self-Determination
As it considers the right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation, the Commission will have before it a report by the Secretary-General (document E/CN.4/1998/30) which considers the situation in occupied Palestine. Under the same item, the Commission last year decided to follow the development of the situation in the Western Sahara as a matter of high priority. The Commission will also have before it a report by the Special Rapporteur on the question of
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the use of mercenaries, Enrique Bernales Ballesteros (Peru) (document E/CN.4/1998/31).
Elimination of Discrimination
Again this year, the Commission will deal with the issues of racial and religious discrimination. In 1997, the Commission asked the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia and related intolerance, Maurice Glèlè-Ahanhanzo (Benin), with all the appropriate assistance and resources to carry out his mandate to examine any forms of discrimination against blacks, Arabs and Muslims, xenophobia, negrophobia, anti-semitism, and related intolerance; and governmental efforts to overcome them. The Special Rapporteur's report (document E/CN.4/1998/79) will be among the documents before the Commission, along with the report of the Secretary-General on the activities for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (document E/CN.4/1998/77).
The Commission will also have before it the report of a seminar on immigration, racism and racial discrimination, held in Geneva from 5 to 9 May 1997 (document E/CN.4/1998/77/Add.1), as well as the report of a seminar on the role of the Internet with regard to the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, held in Geneva from 10 to 14 November 1997 (documents E/CN.4/1998/77 and Add.2).
Human Rights Promotion, Protection
In evaluating its programme and methods of work, the Commission also looks at alternative approaches and ways and means within the United Nations system for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. National institutions for human rights protection come up for study, as does the coordinating role of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights within the United Nations bodies and machinery in this field. These bodies include the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Human Rights Committee, which monitor, respectively, implementation of the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and that on Civil and Political Rights. How they, as well as the other bodies established pursuant to United Nations human rights instruments, carry out their mandates will also be examined.
At its 1997 session, the Commission decided to renew for a period of three years the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, including its causes and consequences, asking Radhika Coomaraswamy (Sri Lanka) to report to the Commission annually. The report of the Special Rapporteur will be before the Commission (documents E/CN.4/1998/54 and Add.1). The report of the Secretary-General on integrating the human rights of women into the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations (document E/CN.4/1998/49) will also be before the Commission.
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Other questions to be addressed under this item include human rights and terrorism, education and human rights, regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, preparations for the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and human rights and the arbitrary deprivation of nationality. Also before the Commission will be a report by Francis Deng (Sudan), the Secretary-General's representative on internally displaced persons, which is aimed at conveying a better understanding of the general problems faced by internally displaced persons and their possible long-term solutions (documents E/CN.4/1998/53 and Adds.1-2). Concerning human rights and mass exoduses, the Commission asked the High Commissioner for Human Rights to invite governments, intergovernmental organizations, specialized agencies and non-governmental organizations to provide information and to update her report on this subject, with particular attention to defining appropriate early-warning capacities and to ensuring implementation procedures and activities necessary to respond promptly and effectively (document E/CN.4/1998/51).
Regarding the coordinating role of the Centre for Human Rights within the United Nations bodies and machinery dealing with the promotion and protection of human rights, the Commission decided to consider the question of strengthening the Office of the High Commissioner at its fifty-fourth session. The Commission will have before it the report of the High Commissioner (document E/CN.4/1998/52).
The Commission will consider the report of the Secretary-General on progress made in the implementation of the programme of advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights and on the operation and administration of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights (document E/CN.4/1998/92). In this regard, the Commission will consider reports relating to assistance to Somalia, Cambodia, Guatemala and Haiti (documents E/CN.4/1998/96, E/CN.4/1998/95, E/CN.4/1998/93 and E/CN.4/1998/97, respectively).
Protection of Specific Groups
In 1996, the Commission decided to add a new item to its agenda, entitled "Indigenous Issues". In 1997, the Commission asked the High Commissioner on Human Rights to convene the second workshop on a permanent forum for indigenous people in the United Nations system. The Commission asked the High Commissioner to transmit the report of the workshop to the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, inviting it to submit the report, plus any comments, to the Commission (documents E/CN.4/1998/11 and Add.1). Other documents in this area include the report of the open-ended intersessional working group of the Commission with the sole purpose of elaborating a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (document E/CN.4/1998/106) and the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (document E/CN.4/1998/107).
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Measures to improve the situation and ensure the human rights and dignity of all migrant workers will again be considered during the forthcoming session. The Commission will have before it the Secretary-General's report on the question of violence against women migrant workers (document E/CN.4/1998/74). In 1997, the Commission decided to establish a working group consisting of five inter- governmental experts, appointed on the basis of equitable geographical representation, with a mandate to gather all relevant information from governments, non-governmental organizations and other relevant sources, and to elaborate recommendations to strengthen the protection and implementation of the human rights of migrants. The Commission will have before it the report of that working group (document E/CN.4/1998/76).
Concerning the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the Commission will review the reports of the Subcommission's intersessional working group. That panel reviews the promotion and practical realization of the Declaration; examines possible solutions to problems involving minorities, including the promotion of mutual understanding between and among minorities and governments; and recommends further measures, as appropriate, for the promotion and protection of the rights of minorities. The report of the group's third session will be before the Commission (document E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/18), as will a report of the Secretary-General (document E/CN.4/1998/90).
Standard-Setting
The Commission is continuing its standard-setting activities with work on a draft declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. Last year, the Commission urged the open-ended working group on this question to complete its task promptly and submit the draft declaration to the Commission. (The latest report of the working group will appear as document E/CN.4/1998/98.)
In addition, the Commission will consider the question of a draft Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, designed to establish a preventive system of visits by a committee of experts to places of detention within the jurisdiction of States parties to the Protocol. The Commission will have before it the report of the open-ended intersessional working group set up to elaborate the draft Optional Protocol (document E/CN.4/1998/42).
Rights of Child
The question of the rights of the child has received increased attention in recent years, especially since the entry into force in 1990 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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The Commission will have before it the report of the Special Representative on the impact of armed conflict on children, Olara Otunnu (Côte d'Ivoire) (document E/CN.4/1998/119). The Commission will also review the latest report of its open-ended intersessional working group on a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts (document E/CN.4/1998/102). Meanwhile, the Commission's open-ended working group responsible for elaborating a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography was asked to finalize the draft optional protocol before the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The working group will present the report of its fourth session (document E/CN.4/1998/103).
Under this agenda item, the Commission will also consider the status of the Convention; the report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, including child prostitution and child pornography, Ofelia Calcetas-Santos (Philippines) (document E/CN.4/1998/101); as well as the reports on her missions to Kenya (document E/CN.4/1998/101/Add.1) and to Mexico (document E/CN.4/1998/101/Add.2).
Other Issues
A relatively new question on the Commission's agenda is that of conscientious objection to military service. At this session, the Commission has before it a report of the Secretary-General that takes into account information from governments and non-governmental organizations regarding this issue (document E/CN.4/1997/99). This report was presented to the Commission at its fifty-third session, but it decided to defer consideration of the item to its fifty-fourth session.
In addition, the Commission will consider the follow-up to the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, when it considers a report from the High Commission for Human Rights on the measures taken and the progress achieved in the comprehensive implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (document E/CN.4/1998/104).
Commission Membership
The membership of the Commission for 1998 is as follows: Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Congo, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
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