MINISTERS FROM NETHERLANDS, BELARUS AND LATVIA ADDRESS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Press Release
HR/CN/823
MINISTERS FROM NETHERLANDS, BELARUS AND LATVIA ADDRESS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
19980323 Debate Continues on Occupied Territories, Right to Self-Determination(Reissued as received.)
GENEVA, 19 March (UN Information Service) -- The fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a good opportunity to reaffirm international commitment to economic, social and cultural rights, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Hans van Mierlo, told the Commission on Human Rights this afternoon.
Mr. van Mierlo said every year at the Commission one had to face a stark fact: that in the world outside the meeting room, millions of people wondered whether they would have enough for themselves and their children to eat. That fact had a particular impact on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration, as wealth was still not fairly distributed and the amount of poverty in the world was staggering, he said.
Nina Mazai, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus, said meanwhile that the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration needed coordinated actions at the national, regional and international levels and a global partnership between States and non-governmental organizations. She added that there was a significant gap between the standards of human rights and actual implementation worldwide.
For Valdis Irkavs, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia, the 50 years since the adoption of the Declaration had brought dramatic changes. Half a century ago, only a handful of States were concerned with human rights, he said, adding that today human rights were universally recognized.
Also this afternoon, the Commission's general debate on the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories, including Palestine, and the question of self-determination continued.
Speaking at the meeting were representatives of Canada, Malaysia, Pakistan, Senegal, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Norway, Yemen, Iran, Algeria,
Israel, Syria, Swaziland, Azerbaijan, Portugal and Libya. The International Commission of Jurists, a non-governmental organization, also participated in the debate, while Angola, Morocco, Palestine, Indonesia and Portugal exercised their right of reply.
Statements
HANS VAN MIERLO, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, said every year at the Commission one had to face a stark fact: that in the world outside the meeting room, millions of people wondered whether they would have enough for themselves and their children to eat. Large numbers of people had no roof over their heads and their children received no education, because they were forced to work. Those facts had particular impact on the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration. Fifty years after the adoption of the Declaration, wealth was still not fairly distributed; the amount of poverty in the world was staggering. Some 1.3 billion people had to survive on less than one dollar a day; almost a billion people were illiterate, almost a billion were hungry and more than a billion had no access to a safe, clean water supply. What was more, almost a third of the people in the least developed countries would probably not live beyond the age of 40.
The rights and freedoms in the Universal Declaration were laid down to protect people against the arbitrary exercise of power by the State, the Foreign Minister said. At the same time, the State was called upon to create conditions in which people could achieve personal development. Governments had the duty to guarantee all the rights and freedoms in the Declaration. One should take care not to create a society that revolved solely around money rather that around people. People rightly would want a say in policy, in what course their country would take; more than economic growth was needed for the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights.
The fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration was a good opportunity to reaffirm international commitment to economic, social and cultural rights, Mr. van Mierlo said.
NINA MAZAI, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus, said the message of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was of permanent significance for mankind. Its principles ensured the rights of people to dignity, peace and freedom. The implementation of the provisions of the Declaration needed coordinated actions at the national, regional and international levels. There should also be an essential global partnership between States and non-governmental organizations.
Ms. MAZAI stressed the important role of education in human rights, which was an essential part of the activities of the United Nations and said Belarus fully supported the role of the United Nations. However, more funds
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should be taken from the United Nations regular budget and from voluntary contributions for technical assistance in the area of human rights. The Commission should not concentrate only on assessment and evaluation of situations, but must also provide assistance as well as implement preventive measures. The Commission should conduct frank and respectful dialogues during its consideration of country situations, and should be sensitive of the situation in newly established States.
There was a significant gap between the standards of human rights and actual implementation worldwide, Ms. Mazai said. The solution lay not only in the political area, but also in the economic and social fields. There was strong interdependence between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights on the other. The transition from a totalitarian regime to a democracy was never simple, but the Government of Belarus was determined to ensure strict compliance with fundamental human rights and freedoms.
VALDIS BIRKAVS, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia, said Latvia had spent 50 years under Soviet domination but had never lost its dreams of independence and had reestablished it without bloodshed or violence. It knew well the value of human rights and freedom of expression, as it remembered the days when Latvians regularly were deported to Siberia for speaking their minds. The spirit of its freedom fighters had showed that there was no power on earth that could strangle the desire for freedom.
Early on in its new independence Latvia had passed a National Programme for Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and had set up a National Human Rights Office, he said. It had benefited from the help of a number of United Nations agencies and now was proud to become a donor to the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation of the Centre for Human Rights. In any country particular attention must be devoted to the most vulnerable, and Latvia focused its human rights energies on children, the elderly, disabled, and prisoners, and was concerned with such issues as gender equity, minority rights and refugees.
Latvia gave its utmost attention to the rights of national minorities and considered them an integral part of society, he Birkavs said. There had been no occurrence of racial or ethnic violence since independence, and Latvia financed secondary education in eight minority languages and supported more than 20 cultural societies of national minorities. It had to be said that the irreversibility of Latvian independence was not yet a reality for many former Soviet citizens and their families currently residing in Latvia. It was extremely difficult to solve their integration problem if during the last 50 years a large number of those persons had not learned the Latvian language.
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Two days ago the country had been seriously accused of practising a "double standard" in human rights, Mr. Birkavs said. It was not true, and Latvian laws provided equal protection for all residents. Furthermore, Latvian nationality had never been conditional upon ethnic origin. There was a widespread campaign against Latvia in Russia, and Latvian diplomatic personnel had been threatened there. Latvia also had been threatened with economic sanctions because Russia felt Latvia was "not loyal enough to Russian interests". He was, and always would be, ready to discuss any human rights issue with the Russian Federation, and hoped Russia would abide by the recommendation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that States avoid unnecessarily antagonistic statements and resolutions.
Statements in Debate
ROSS HYNES (Canada) said his country continued its efforts to contribute to the advancement of human rights in the occupied territories. Human rights, good governance and democratic development were important themes of Canada's development cooperation programme in the territories. Canada opposed all unilateral actions intended to predetermine the outcome of negotiations, including the establishment of settlements in the territories and unilateral moves to annex East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan. Such actions were contrary to the international law and counterproductive to the peace process.
Furthermore, he continued, 382 Palestinians were being held by Israeli authorities in "administrative detention" without charge; 138 of those persons had been held for over a year. There were 40 children below the age of 16 being held in administrative detention -- that was a clear violation of international principles. At the same time, the human rights record of the Palestinian Authority over the past year remained a matter of serious concern: incidents of arbitrary arrests, torture, custodial deaths and the holding of secret trials did not accord with the international norms the Authority had pledged to observe.
HAMIDON ALI (Malaysia) said last year the Malaysian delegation had been cautiously optimistic with regard to the peace process. However, the delegation was becoming increasingly cautious and less optimistic. Despite the signing of the Hebron Protocol, mutual trust, cooperation and partnership were clearly lacking. The unilateral acts by the Israeli authorities, including closures and the building of new settlements, must cease if the peace process was to be sustained. The human rights situation in the occupied territories remained disturbing. The central issue remained clear: the Israeli occupation of the Arab territories was illegal and constituted a grave violation of the right to self-determination. There was a clear attempt by the Netanyahu Administration to formulate unilaterally a new basis for the peace process in order to solidify Israeli conditions and to discard everything that was agreed on jointly. This could not be termed as
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negotiating in good faith. The Netanyahu Administration was urged to recognize the necessity of implementing all agreements jointly reached and to comply with the contractual obligations of these agreements.
CHAUDHRY MUHAMMAD SARWAR KHAN (Pakistan) said the people of Kashmir had been denied their right to self-determination since 1947. Elections organized by the occupying Power, India, since then had always been rigged and fraudulent, as international forums had recognized, and the massive violations of human rights perpetrated by the occupying forces also had been well-documented. The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan had worked out modalities for discussing Kashmir, but India once again had gone back on its word. The only way to resolve the issue of Kashmir was through a free and fair plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.
Also speaking for Pakistan, on the situation in the occupied territories, NIHIL HASHMI said the initial euphoria of the Middle East peace process had faded away, and serious human rights violations in the occupied Arab territories continued. Pakistan was convinced that illegal occupation of the territories would not enhance the process and expansion of the illegal Israeli settlements would deal it a mortal blow. The international community must inject the peace process with new spirit and momentum, and the Israeli leadership must concede to reality and resolve all pending issues with the Palestinian Authority, with all sides demonstrating flexibility and commitment to a just peace.
XIE BOHUA (China) said the international community should continue to encourage the consolidation of the peace process in order to give confidence to the Arab, Jewish and Palestinian populations. Those populations today were victims of all the sentiments of frustration, powerlessness, hatred and fear. The death of the peace process was unacceptable -- there was no political alternative to peace negotiations and the search for peaceful coexistence between the Israelis and the Palestinians. A coexistence based on social justice, security and mutual understanding could only be established through political means.
The representative said respect for the right of peoples to self-determination required, above all, the rejection of all forms of foreign aggression, interference and control; the safeguarding of national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity; and the unobstructed choice by the people of each country of their own political, social and economic systems. No country should be allowed to impose its own ideology on others. At the same time, the international community should have a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the principle of self-determination. It was clear that the right to self-determination meant in essence the right of the oppressed nations to resist imperialism and colonial domination and to pursue their national independence and liberation.
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The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights clearly stipulated that the right to self-determination should not affect territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States. Some people had repeatedly abused this human rights forum by blatantly advocating for the dismemberment of sovereign States. China had also been a victim of such activities.
JUAN ANTONIO FERNANDEZ PALACIOS (Cuba) said the rights to self-determination and non-interference continued to be flouted. New policies of force and domination had followed the old colonialism. The cultures and particularities of States were infringed upon and interfered with. Cuba continued to seek return of territory usurped illegally by the United States for the Guantanamo naval base.
The use of mercenaries had changed in recent years, but was no less damaging to countries and human rights, he said. Such illicit activities were widening, and mercenaries now were trafficking in drugs and arms along with their other depredations. Cuba for years had been subjected to mercenary activities emanating from the territory of the United States, and called for a decisive end to such violations of its sovereignty. It would introduce a resolution at this session of the Commission on the use of mercenaries.
SAODAB SYAHRUDDIN (Indonesia) said her Government wished to reiterate its unflagging support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people to realize their inalienable right to self-determination and achieve sovereign statehood in their own homeland. Indonesia remained convinced that the principle of self-determination was the necessary foundation for ensuring peace and stability in the region and security the fundamental human rights of the people. At the same time, Indonesia wished also to reaffirm its support for the Middle East peace process and the implementation of all the agreements signed among the parties concerned and the commitments made in accordance with the underpinnings of the Madrid peace conference and relevant United Nations resolutions.
JANIS BJORN KANAVIN (Norway) said the ongoing crisis in the peace process in the Middle East affected in a very severe way social and economic development in the region. This had direct consequences on human rights conditions. There was a continuing and dramatic decline in living conditions in the occupied territories, particularly in the Gaza strip. This was a clear reminder that international assistance had to be coupled with necessary political progress between the parties. The violation of the letter and spirit of the peace agreements by either side had often entailed violations of human rights. Building of new settlements on occupied territory, use of torture, administrative detention, terrorism, and border closures showed that obstacles to the peace process and to human rights were often the same. The international community expected the parties to put the peace process back on
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track. Norway was ready to assist in advancing the peace process and human rights conditions.
MOHAMED SAED AL-ATTAR (Yemen) said the Palestinian people continued to suffer from the scourges of Israeli occupation of their territory, which had gone on for 30 years. The Syrians in occupied Golan and Lebanese in occupied Lebanon suffered as well. International law and conventions were consistently defied, along with the will of the international community, by Israel; detention of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons without trial, torture of detainees, and such crimes as assassinations and attempts at genocide also were perpetrated by the Israelis. The Commission was urged to investigate these Israeli practices and act to end them; as matters stood now, Israel was practising a new kind of apartheid.
ALI KHORRAM (Iran) said the crimes perpetuated by Israel against Palestinians and Arabs in occupied territories could not be enumerated: firing on and killing of innocent civilians at check points; excessive use of force against civilians, including live ammunition and heavy weaponry which had led to the killing of many; and physical and psychological torture during interrogation and detention, among others. The Israeli regime had not and would not spare any effort to suppress the legitimate right of the Palestinian nation to self-determination. The very name of Israel had become reminiscent of occupation, suppression, repression and violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
MOHAMED HASSAINE (Algeria) said the present Israeli administration ignored the commitments taken by the previous administration. The situation in the occupied territories was deteriorating because of the intransigence of the Israeli administration which continued its policy of settlements. There were various violations of human rights of Arabs in the occupied territories, including arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial executions and this was of concern to all. The only way to a just solution was the total withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories and the establishment of a sovereign State in accordance with United Nations resolutions. Stalling policies and attempts to create a fait accompli should be condemned. Concerning Western Sahara, Algeria had welcomed the appointment of James Baker III in 1997 as Special Envoy for Western Sahara. Algeria supported the implementation of the regulatory plan agreed upon and the implementation of a free, regular and impartial referendum.
YOUSEF LAMDAN (Israel) said unfortunately a distinctly blinkered approach again characterized the report of the Special Rapporteur on the territories. He only saw one side of the story and recorded uncritically and without the slightest effort at verification every allegation, no matter how farfetched, that he was fed by his Palestinian sources. The Special
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Rapporteur had to be reined in and restrained from writing fiction if Israel was ever to receive him.
Today, the Palestinian Authority was responsible for the well-being of about 97 per cent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and it was the Palestinian Authority that was the correct address for responsibility for human rights violations in those areas, he said. Its record had been frankly atrocious, as a number of reputable sources confirmed. Violations included improper detentions, torture, extrajudicial killings, denials of a fair trial, harassment of human rights defenders, denial of freedom of expression and of political freedoms, and racism and anti-semitism. The Commission had lost much credibility over the years through its one-sided and selective approach to human rights in the Middle East, and it was time for it to demonstrate that it could be impartial and courageous. Tackling the Palestinian Authority's gross violations would go some distance towards redressing the balance.
NSEIR GHASSAN (Syria) said Israel had prevented the Palestinian people from enjoying the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration. It had dispossessed Palestinians of their fundamental rights through arbitrary killing, by preventing children from going to school, destroying and confiscation of their lands. Palestinians were subjugated to the most savage form of occupation. They were also subjugated to racial and religious discrimination. Palestinian self-determination should go together with the resistance from foreign occupation. The Palestinian people had the right to a nationhood with Jerusalem as their capital.
MOSES DLAMINI (Swaziland) said his country was a strong advocate of dialogue and cooperation in an effort to address the difficulties that existed between the concerned parties in the Middle East peace process. The international community should devise innovative ways to remove the existing obstacles and meet the challenges to the full realization of all human rights and to prevent the continuation of human rights violations.
Turning to the question of the exercise of the right to self-determination, he said Swaziland condemned the use of mercenaries and their recruitment, financing and training, as this violated the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. Such activities posed a serious danger and threat to peace and security in developing countries, particularly in Africa.
TOFIK MOUSSAEV (Azerbaijan) said it needed to be underlined that self-determination should not be used to justify territorial expansionism under the pretext of care for relative ethnic groups in other States. It could not be used to justify military aggression against an independent State and annexation of its territory. Armenia was still proclaiming the cause of its conflict with Azerbaijan as allegedly the strife of the Armenian community
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of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, and referring to it as a matter of self-determination. But in this case one was not dealing with exercise of the right to self-determination but a violation of the United Nations Charter: the use of force against the territory and political independence of a member State. Azerbaijan could serve as an example of the truth that in order to avoid bloody conflicts, the international community had to be very careful about the veracity of every case of proclamation of the right to self-determination -- it had to distinguish it from cases of aggression.
GONçALO DE SANTA CLARA GOMES (Portugal) said one of the most successful accomplishments of the United Nations had been decolonization. However, that task would not be fully accomplished until the remaining non-self-governing territories were able to freely determine their own future by exercising their inalienable right to self-determination. In this connection, Portugal had repeatedly declared that it had no claim with regard to the sovereignty over East Timor and that it only aimed to the conclusion of the process of decolonization of that non-self-governing territory, which was brutally interrupted by Indonesia's military invasion in 1975.
ADAMA DIENG, of the International Commission of Jurists, said the rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people continued to be denied and that repression was increasing. More than 600 Tibetans were currently detained for peacefully advocating independence from China, and many political prisoners died in jails. Tibet's supposed autonomy was a fiction -- real control was wielded by the Communist Party which made policy from Beijing. Any lasting solution to the Tibet question must address Tibet's status. The International Commission of Jurists recommended a United Nations supervised referendum to ascertain the wishes of the Tibetan people. On the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, it expressed its extreme alarm about Israel's illegal settlements policy, its legalization and systematic use of torture, the continued use of administrative detention, summary executions and the illegal destruction of property. The Palestinian Authority should also set positive examples for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
SAID HAFIAMA (Libya) said violation of the rights of Palestinians continued, year after year. Those who claimed to support peace in the Middle East had in some cases sided with Israel and tried to create public opinion to reduce the importance of item 4 of the agenda or to merge it with item 7. Pressure was brought to bear on the Arabs, but in fact it was Israel who was hindering the peace process. Israel and the United States were trying to mislead the international community and create the impression that the conditions for the peace agreements had been met. They had not. The best solution for the Middle East would be to apply the measures formerly applied to South Africa. Israel had put itself above international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Conventions.
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Right of Reply
LEOVIGILDO DA COSTA E. SILVA (Angola), referring to a statement by the United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation, said there was no legal basis for the question of self-determination for Angola's territory of Cabinda. The latter had been part of Angola since independence in 1975. With regard to human rights violation in that same territory, several international bodies had witnessed the efforts of Angola in promoting and protecting human rights.
NACER BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI (Morocco) said the Centre Europe-Tiers Monde had devoted its statement this morning to the question of Western Sahara. The group had the right to do that, but it did not have the right to make fallacious allegations. An example of the mistakes the NGO made was that it referred to Moroccan newspapers and their opinions. The press in Morocco was free and could say whatever it wanted. Morocco was a democracy where alternatives existed. The NGO wanted to say that Morocco was opposed to a referendum, but that was false. Morocco had requested a referendum and wanted it as soon as possible. He wondered whether Centre Europe-Tiers Monde was the spokesperson for the other side.
NABIL RAMLAVI, observer for Palestine, said the delegate of Israel had claimed to speak under item 4 on the situation in the occupied territories, but he had not addressed the item, adding that he should have been disciplined. The delegate of Israel had tried to shed crocodile tears on the problems of Palestinians, but he had not referred to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners, to the deliberate use by Israel of torture. He had not referred to collective punishments imposed on Palestinians. Why not? Why had he not referred to the international reports that had confirmed Israeli violations of Palestinians' human rights? He had not referred to the behaviour of his Government and so had only attempted to mislead the Commission and to divert it from its essential work. The United States also had tried to mislead the Commission on the situation in the Middle East. In fact, the United States and Israel were two sides of the same coin.
SAODAB SYAHRUDDIN (Indonesia), referring to Portugal's statement on East Timor, said the people of East Timor had opted for integration when the Portuguese left the territory. The decolonization process had thus been ended by the process of integration with Indonesia. Portugal's claim that it still had responsibility had been rejected by the International Court of Justice.
Mr. SANTA CLARA GOMES (Portugal) said General Assembly resolutions and other international bodies called for the respect of the integrity of East Timor and the inalienable right of its people to self-determination.
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