COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES CONSIDERATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
HR/CN/830
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES CONSIDERATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
19980326 Hears Statements by Senior Officials From Libya, Portugal, Organization of Islamic Conference(Reissued as received.)
GENEVA, 25 March (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights continued this morning its consideration of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development.
According to Omar Mustapha El Muntasser, Secretary-General of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison of Libya, the right of the Libyan people to development was hampered by the United Nations embargo on the country. He said the greatest danger to international peace and security was the use by the United States of the authority of the Security Council in an illegal manner to control the decision-making centres of the United Nations.
Another guest speaker, Jaime Gama, Foreign Minister of Portugal, said great steps had been taken to make human rights fully universal. However, Portugal regretted that in some points of the world there were situations of oppression, intolerable and incompatible with the United Nations Charter. In East Timor the people still suffered a hard and illegitimate occupation, despite the clear decisions of the Security Council and the General Assembly.
The Commission also heard from Azeddine Laraki, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), who said the tragic conditions of the Palestinian people and blatant violations of human rights by the Israeli forces of occupation continued to concern the OIC. He added that Israel considered itself to be out of the scope of international responsibility adhered to by all the other States of the world, and continued to defy United Nations resolutions.
Debate this morning also touched on the rights of women, with a statement from Angela King, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. Ms. King said women's enjoyment of their human rights required a holistic approach to, and better understanding of,
their rights and violations of those rights. While Governments had the primary responsibility to ensure enjoyment of rights, many others had a crucial role in increasing awareness, including non-governmental organizations.
Also addressing the Commission were Philip Alston, Chairman of the Meetings of Chairpersons of Human Rights Treaty Bodies, and Fatma Zohra Ksentini, the Special Rapporteur on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic waste and dangerous products and wastes. Ms. Ksentini introduced her third progress report on the question, which calls Africa the main target of transnational corporations in dumping toxic and dangerous wastes.
The delegations of Swaziland, Egypt, United Kingdom (on behalf of the European Union), Cuba, China, Nepal and Uganda participated in the discussion this morning.
Statements
OMAR MUSTAPHA EL MUNTASSER, Secretary of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation of Libya, said his country had a policy based on cooperation for integration in order to achieve development, peace and stability. Seven African countries had already established a consortium of Saharan and Sahelian States with the objective of realizing geographic, human, economic and cultural integration. The purpose was to counter the prevalence of factors of tension which did not serve the interest of any of those countries.
He said that seven years ago, the United States and United Kingdom accused two Libyan citizens of participating in the aerial catastrophe over the village of Lockerbie in Scotland. The matter was based on doubts; there had been no precise judiciary inquiry in the light of which the relationship of those two citizens to the accident could be proved or disproved. They were accused and indicted before being heard or brought to a court of justice. The two States brought the accusation and the indictment before the Security Council, getting it to adopt resolution 731 (1992). Since the start, the two States had wanted to give the facts a political dimension, rather than keeping them within their specific legal framework. Libya's attitude towards the "Lockerbie crisis" was characterized by its cooperative attitude and response to the Council resolution.
Mr. Muntasser said the greatest violation of the United Nations Charter had been committed by the United States and the United Kingdom in pushing the Council to adopt another resolution, 748 (1992), on the basis of which the provisions of Chapter VII had been applied to Libya. But the case had nothing to do with the Chapter: Libya had not invaded, attacked or annexed forcibly
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the territory of another country. The provisions of that Chapter of the Charter applied when there was a threat to international peace and security.
The Libyan people, because of the embargo, the coercive measures, the economic boycott and the freezing of assets applied to the country, were obstructed from the full enjoyment of the rights related to development, he continued. They could not obtain medical care; many had died as a result of a lack of vaccines; their right to travel freely was curtailed; and their right to practice their religion had first to be subjected to approval from the Security Council.
The greatest danger to international peace and security in this very critical period of the history of the United Nations, he continued, was the United States' use of the authority of the Security Council in an illegal manner to control the decision-making centres of the United Nations in the service of its strategic objectives.
JAIME GAMA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Portugal, said one could not ignore the great steps taken to make human rights fully universal. Increasingly, individuals in all continents were more conscious of their birth rights, and that those rights were not dependent on their race, culture or civilization and should be recognized and respected by the States. The growing consciousness of those rights of the human being was one of the more relevant aspects of the second half of the century. The international community also rejoiced with the spread all over the world of non-governmental groups and organizations spontaneously created by the civil society for the defence of human rights and with their growing attention to all violations of those rights, in particular systematic and organized violations. It was equally important that a majority of States had imposed on themselves more demanding criteria in the definition and application of laws that protected and respected citizens.
However, he continued, Portugal regretted that in some points of the world situations of oppression, intolerable and incompatible with the United Nations Charter, persisted. In East Timor, the people still suffered a hard and illegitimate occupation, despite the clear decisions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. The violation of the right to self-determination of the people of East Timor had led to the violation of other political and civil rights. All reports from independent and reliable institutions pointed out that the human rights situation in East Timor not only had not improved but had been worsening.
Mr. Gama said special attention should be given to the needs of all those that were most discriminated and disadvantaged on the grounds of gender, age, ethnic or cultural identity. It was dismaying that in many parts of the world, women were still victims of inhuman conditions and that, in many other
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parts, legal and de facto situations of unacceptable inequality still subsisted. It was also appalling that children were mistreated in certain countries, victims of harmful practices and often systematically neglected. The oppression of the legitimate aspirations of minorities in so many countries was also choking. That situation made it imperative that the Commission should make its work in favour of human rights more efficient.
AZEDDINE LARAKI, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the OIC had adopted a Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, which stated that human rights and public freedoms in Islam formed an integral part of the Muslim faith which no one had the right to impede or ignore as they were divine rules, revealed in heavenly scripture. The OIC also had declared that the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be observed and the issue of human rights dealt with in a fair and equitable manner while respecting the significance of national and regional particularities and various historic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
The tragic conditions of the Palestinian people and blatant violations of human rights by the Israeli forces of occupation continued to concern the OIC, Dr. Laraki said. Yet, Israel considered itself to be out of the scope of international responsibility adhered to by all the other States of the world, and continued to defy United Nations resolutions. Israeli actions in the region risked a disaster that would not be limited to the Middle East. The OIC emphasized once again its firm support for the peace process and requested the international community to take urgent action to restore the process to its correct course.
The OIC also was concerned over continuing tension and violence in Jammu and Kashmir, and considered that the essence of the problem was denial of the people there of their right to self-determination according to resolutions of the Security Council, he went on. Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina remained fragile, and swift international measures were needed to guarantee full and effective implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. And vicious aggressions and violations committed in Kosovo called for all necessary measures to end immediately such abuses; the OIC called for a dialogue under international patronage with the people of Kosovo as the best means of protection human as well as political and national rights for all inhabitants of the region.
ANGELA KING, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said that as the United Nations commemorated the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and embarked on the five-year review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, it was aware that women continued to encounter discrimination and disadvantage in their quest for the equal enjoyment of all
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their human rights and fundamental freedoms. In many countries, laws or customs still curtailed women's rights to freedom of movement and education. Too many women remained trapped in extreme poverty because they were denied rights that were essential to break the cycle of poverty. Too many women were subject to the multiple forms of violence at the hands of their partners and others.
Ms. King said that while great strides had been made in recent years by the Commission on Human Rights and its subsidiary bodies in gender mainstreaming, women's enjoyment of economic and social rights remained less well understood. Should the Commission consider appointing a Special Rapporteur in the area of economic and social rights, his or her mandate might direct that particular attention be paid to women's enjoyment of these rights, and the related gender-specific obstacles and disadvantages faced by women.
Women's enjoyment of their human rights required a holistic approach to, and better understanding of, their rights and violations of these rights, she said. While Governments had the primary responsibility to ensure enjoyment of rights, many others had a crucial role in increasing awareness about rights, and about mechanisms that were available to remedy violations and improve protection of rights at the national and international levels. Non-governmental organizations also remained pivotal. Women themselves, from all walks of life around the world, were asserting their right to equality and non-discrimination. They wanted to be free from violence in the home and in public life and to participate in decision-making about all matters on national and international agendas.
PHILIP ALSTON, Chairperson of the Meetings of the Chairpersons of Human Rights Treaty Bodies, said he was speaking on behalf of the Chairpersons of each of the six expert Committees which made up the United Nations human rights treaty monitoring system. Everyone knew there were many shortcomings in the functioning of the system and there was a long way to go before it worked as it should. It was unnecessary to draw the attention of the Commission once again to the problems such as non-reporting, overdue reports, and the failure of Governments to provide information requested or to respond to exhortations to act. However, these problems should not blind people to the achievements of the system. The Chairpersons believed that in a great number of cases, the human rights monitoring system was working well.
Continuing reform of the treaty system was imperative, Mr. Alston continued. However, there were few, if any, easy answers. The system had to be seen as a process of partnership, concessions had to be made and compromises reached. A lack of adequate resource, whether human, financial or material, more often than not provided incentives for inefficiency, discouraged rational decisions, strengthened those who were opposed to reform, and penalized both Governments and the Committees themselves. A concerted
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effort to strengthen the support available to the treaty bodies was now imperative. The Chairpersons believed that it was now appropriate to build upon an approach which was capable of immediately increasing the support available by seeking voluntary funding for the work of the six treaty bodies
In terms of reducing the reporting burden upon States and making the system more effective, he went on, the Chairpersons believed that in relation to periodic reports, there were significant advantages in seeking ways by which to focus the report of each State party on a limited range of issues, which might be identified by the Committee in advance of the preparation of the report. At their last meeting the Chairpersons also reiterated the importance of high-quality concluding observations with a particular emphasis on the identification of specific recommendations.
FATMA ZOHRA KSENTINI, Special Rapporteur on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic waste and dangerous products and wastes, introducing her third progress report (document E/CN.4/1998/10 and Add. 1 and 2), said the human and financial resources provided to her remained insufficient to carry out her mandate, forcing her to set priorities. Her choice this year had been Africa, the main target of transnational corporations in dumping toxic and dangerous wastes. She referred the Commission to her conclusions and recommendations and stressed the great interest expressed by the countries she visited in receiving technical assistance to help them combat illicit dumping.
Ms. Ksentini said one of the aims of her mandate involved formulating a list of countries and transnational corporations engaged in the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous waste. However, as she had said last year, the lack of adequate resources meant such a list could not be produced. She had endeavoured to find the names and origins of transnational corporations suspected of this but communications had been vague. None the less, she concluded that exports of toxic and dangerous wastes from industrialized countries had been stepped up despite bans now existing in the legislation of developing countries. African and other developing countries -- including the Baltic States, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Georgia, Slovenia, Romania, Poland and Albania -- were targeted. The trade in the recycling of toxic and dangerous waste was increasing, and there was a trend to moving polluting industries from industrialized to developing countries. Products banned in countries of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were exported to developing countries. In her recommendations she stressed the need for prevention in order to address the problem.
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Statements in Debate
MOSES DLAMINI (Swaziland) said his country believed the recognition, promotion and realization of the right to development was a major step towards the achievement of the ultimate goal of the provision of a comprehensive and integrated approach to human rights. This would certainly contribute significantly and substantially to the creation of a fair international economic environment. It was necessary that Member States and the United Nations system should continue to coordinate and cooperate to ensure a more effective promotion and realization of the right to development. In that endeavour, the human rights of women and children should always be of the highest priority. His country also attached great importance to General Assembly resolutions 51/103 and 52/120, which called upon all States to refrain from passing extra-territorial legislations with a view to solely apply some economic coercive measures against developing nations for purposes of political compulsion.
TAREK ADEL (Egypt) said his country understood that democracy, good governance and human rights were the necessary conditions for the achievement of the right to development. The rights of individuals were also essential in the success of that development. However, those criteria were not sufficient by themselves. Egypt was more concerned by the non-acceptance of the problems of the developing countries by the industrialized nations, including the fact that the terms of trade between the developing and developed countries lacked reciprocity and that the commodities of the former had less access to the markets of the latter. Moreover, the right to development of the developing countries should not be hampered by additional burdens from the industrial nations which might further deteriorate the socio-economic structures and basic rights of the population.
AUDREY GLOVER (United Kingdom), on behalf of the European Union and the Central and Eastern European Countries associated with the Union, said there was a distinct relationship between human rights, democracy and development. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself reflected this. The preambles to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, as well as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, also stressed that the ideal of human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want could only be achieved in an environment where they enjoyed the full range of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. The task was implementing these concepts. Those concepts were often summed up in the term "good governance", which meant respect for the rule of law, effective administration, respect for property rights, and the absence of corruption. The Union was confident that this very clear link between democracy, good governance, human rights and development was responsible for the very welcome recent trend towards democracy as a method of governance.
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For all these reasons, the European Union had always given particular importance to the link between human rights, democracy and development, Ms. Glover said. Therefore, the Union's practical support for development activities and the implementation of universal human rights standards went hand in hand. For example, the European Union reaffirmed its continued commitment to strive to achieve 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) as a development cooperation target to be achieved as soon as possible. It also supported electoral assistance programmes through both the funding of electoral observers and a wide range of projects aimed at the creation of a climate favourable to democracy. In this context, the problem of the external debt levels of many developing countries remained a source of major concern to the Union.
CARLOS AMAT FORES (Cuba) said it was illegal under law and human rights instruments to set up obstacles to trade that caused damage to States; such acts hindered the right of every person to an acceptable living standard. The General Assembly had been considering since 1992 the need to put an end to the economic embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. A wide majority of States had voted for resolutions to that effect; yet the United States instead moved to strengthen its embargo. The United States considered this blockade as an ideal means for ensuring that changes in Cuba occurred that were in the interests of the United States rather than in the interests of Cubans; it was reviving its old annexationist plans. This war of attrition had caused economic damage exceeding $60 billion; it had caused untold negative human consequences; it went beyond a bilateral effect and was instead a kind of "try-out" of policy in which the United States interfered deeply into, even dominated, the affairs of developing countries. Economic embargoes were becoming a kind of international fashion, and the Commission must energetically reject such unilateral coercive measures.
WU JIANMIN (China) observed that the attention given to economic, social and cultural rights as well as the right to development by the international community was far from adequate. There was a serious imbalance in the work of the Commission, resulting from the tendency of over-emphasizing civil and political rights to the neglect of economic social and cultural rights and the right to development. As the United Nations was now actively engaged in mainstreaming human rights in its work, it had become all the more pressing to redress the imbalance between the two categories of rights. If the United Nations failed to pay enough attention to the concerns of the developing countries, it would find itself estranged from the majority of the world's population. With a view to carrying out efficient international cooperation, the international community should intensify exchanges and discussions on economic, social and cultural rights as well as the right to development, so as to raise the public awareness of the indivisibility and interdependence of those rights and civil and political rights. Moreover, the Office of the High
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Commissioner for Human Rights should play an active role in promoting the right to development.
S.R. SIMKHADA (Nepal) said the socio-economic conditions of the least developed countries, Nepal among them, were such that those States encountered structural problems in their development endeavours. Nepal, being landlocked and with difficult terrain, was further handicapped in building economic infrastructures for development as well as in the delivery of basic social services. That was basically the reason why a large portion of Nepalese still lacked even the most basic of human needs. While the Government had given priority to poverty alleviation and the fulfilment of basic needs, such efforts were greatly constrained by the lack of resources. Nepal recognized the interrelationship between human rights, democracy and development. Nepal was State party to several international instruments on human rights, but a number of obstacles remained to the enjoyment of these rights by the people because of internal and external circumstances. Poverty, economic underdevelopment, illiteracy and lack of even the most basic needs and social services constituted some of the most significant obstacles. Nepal also had been faced with the added burden of providing asylum to a large caseload of refugees for the past nine years. Nepal hoped that the international community would recognize the severity of the burden of the refugees on the country and assist in creating a favourable climate for bilateral negotiations to succeed, so that the refugees would be able to return to their country of citizenship.
HAROLD ACEMAH (Uganda) said issues related to sustainable development and human rights, and specifically the right to development and the promotion and implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development, should be given the highest priority by the international community. Uganda supported the urgent calls for a global strategy to this end, and supported the recommendation that a follow-up mechanism be established to bolster such efforts. The most fundamental human right, the right to life, was meaningless without the complementary right to live in dignity and the basic needs to sustain life; it was in the best interests of all countries to eradicate poverty from the globe. Uganda endorsed the proposal to include the Declaration on the Right to Development in the International Bill of Rights, and thought its implementation would contribute to efforts to establish the new international economic order proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1974.
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