COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES DEBATE ON REALIZATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT

Press Release
HR/CN/832

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES DEBATE ON REALIZATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 26 March (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights this morning continued its consideration of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development, and heard addresses from senior officials from the Sudan and Denmark.

At the beginning of the meeting, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) raised issues including alleged specific violations of the right to development, the potential dangers posed by transnational corporations and globalization and the effects of embargoes and sanctions.

The Commission then heard an address by Ali Mohammed Othman Yassin, Minister of Justice of the Sudan, who urged the international community, in its efforts to promote human rights, to avoid selectivity and manipulation of this noble theme for political purposes.

Friis Arne Petersen, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, said that as human rights were universal, they should be guaranteed to all persons without discrimination and observed by all counties whatever their form of government. Denmark was ready to continue to take the lead in the Commission's efforts to advance the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular by creating within the United Nations a permanent forum to represent them.

Meanwhile, a representative of the World Bank said that while the Bank's institutional mandate did not include the formal advocacy of human rights, it was fully aware of the contribution it could make in that regard.

The delegations of South Africa, Cuba, Brazil, Ukraine, Tunisia, Republic of Korea, El Salvador and Bangladesh made statements before the Commission this morning. The following NGOs also addressed the meeting: International Institute for Peace, Indian Council of Education, Asian Cultural Forum on Development, Service for Peace and Justice in Latin America, Association Tunisienne pour l'Auto-Développement et la Solidarité, World

Muslim Congress, Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, International Federation of Rural Adult Catholic Movements, International Indian Treaty Council, Pax Christi, Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace, International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, World Society of Victimology, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the World Federation for Mental Health.

Statement by Minister of Justice of Sudan

ALI MOHAMED OSMAN YASSIN, Minister of Justice of the Sudan, said the international community, in its efforts to promote human rights, should avoid manipulation of this noble theme for political purposes; although human rights violations anywhere should be the concern of all, it was unfortunately the case that selectivity, which focused concern on a very few States, was a matter that had to be thoroughly examined and rectified, in order to avoid the double standards which made some States the focus of attention and left mankind vulnerable to atrocious violations committed by other political regimes that enjoyed acceptance, approval, and support in influential circles. It was clear that current work modalities and procedures hindered focusing attention on numerous violations contained in reports submitted to the Commission because of the ability of influential States to focus attention only on some countries and not others. The attention enjoyed by political and civil rights at the expense of economic, social, and cultural rights also was a form of selectivity that had to be corrected.

Despite those unfair standards, the Sudan had cooperated with the international community, and especially with the Commission, he said. It had received the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan many times, the latest of which was September 1997; it also had carried out numerous investigations he had requested, and had started investigations as well of allegations of slavery, as requested by the General Assembly, and investigations on disappearances. It furthermore had received visits from other Special Rapporteurs. The country had enacted national legislation and had set up administrative measures in support of human rights.

The Sudan had put great effort into resolving the conflict in the southern part of the country and had signed last year a peace agreement with eight out of nine rebel factions, the Justice Minister continued. The agreement met all demands of the southerners, since it provided for the right to self-determination through a public referendum, and affirmed citizenship as the basis of rights and duties without consideration of religious or ethnic affiliations. The Government had implemented the agreement on schedule and continued its efforts to persuade the remaining rebel faction to agree to peace negotiations.

The military threats on Sudan's eastern and southern borders through aggression supported by foreign forces had led to serious human rights

- 3 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

violations, the Justice Minister said; the Special Rapporteur had investigated these abuses and the Sudan still awaited his actions in that regard.

Statement by Denmark's Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs

FRIIS ARNE PETERSEN, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, said Denmark had always give its firm support to the commitment of he Charter of the United Nations to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in all parts of the world. As human rights were universal, they should be guaranteed to all persons without discrimination and observed by all counties whatever their form of government. That was the essence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Denmark believed a constructive dialogue on human rights issues might be useful as a supplement to a dialogue carried out at the bilateral level or in a regional context, Mr. Petersen continued. To discuss human rights issues openly within the United Nations had become part of daily life in the world organization. No State was any longer immune to criticism. As the United Nations Secretary-General had said: "Increasingly, in recent years, human rights have also come to be seen as an integral element of good governance". And rightly so. The international community was approaching the new century -- a century which should be governed by the rule of law at the national as well as the international level.

Mr. Petersen said the Vienna Declaration had confirmed that all human rights were indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Economic, social and cultural rights could not be achieved without respect for civil and political rights and vice versa. The right to development encapsulated both categories of human rights, but a coherent and meaningful strategy for the effective implementation of that right should be developed. Poverty reduction was the prime goal of Danish development cooperation policy. One man element in implementing the policy was promoting popular participation in the development process by providing support for the rule of law and good administrative practices. In 1997, Denmark's development assistance amounted to $1.8 billion, representing 1 per cent of its gross national product. That was the highest ratio of any donor country and well above the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent.

Denmark, as in previous sessions, was ready to continue to take the lead in the Commission's efforts to eradicate the evil of torture and to advance the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular, by creating within the United Nations a permanent forum, Mr. Petersen said.

Statements in Debate

AATIQUE UR REHMAN, of the International Institute of Peace, said the pursuit of development presupposed that people were allowed to marshal all

- 4 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

their resources, material and human, and then to determine how those resources should be utilized. Those people living in the Northern Areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, which were controlled by Pakistan, had no such luxury. Since they had no recognized identity or any role in democratic decision making, the question of the realization of their right to development did not exist. The right to development was a luxury that only free people enjoyed. If Gilgit and Baltistan was given freedom from Pakistan, its people would transform their land into a paradise.

P.C. PATANJLI, of the Indian Council of Education, said that for some reason "reform" had been made synonymous with western -- or American -- capitalism, and all had seen the costs of such unfettered pursuit of wealth in America, where ghettoes still existed side by side with opulence; the social costs of the existing international economic order were also being seen today in countries like Japan, South Korea, and Thailand, where old civilizations with their own ethos and traditions were being persuaded to dump all that their forefathers had left them and embrace economic reform a la the IMF. Societies where personal integrity, family values, shared welfare, and community feeling had been the mainstay were today being asked to adopt the concept of the individual and his welfare as being important -- and the result was suicides, broken families, and child prostitution. How could the human rights of people in developing countries, many of them living as subsistence level, be safeguarded when with every economic setback the mandarins of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank demanded a cut in subsidies and a transference of resources from agriculture to industry, regardless of the fact that it was agriculture that had allowed the countries at least to survive?

RYAN GOODMAN, of the Asian Cultural Forum on Development (ACFOD), said the group wished to draw attention to the violation of economic, social and cultural rights in the Asia-Pacific region. In India, indigenous people were denied the right to development, particularly in the Jharkhand. Today, Jharkhand produced over 50 per cent of the total mineral resources of India, yet the indigenous people there remained extremely poor. In Bangladesh, the Government was taking land belonging to indigenous peoples; it had also driven out Hindu minorities, encouraging Muslims to take over the dispossessed lands. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus had been forced to migrate to India. In Japan, Koreans had been subjected to blatant forms of discrimination; they had, for example, no right to hold public office. Thailand also violated the economic and social rights of minority groups, particularly those of the hill tribes of the Akhas, Lahus, Lisus, Hmongs and Karen.

EMMA C. MAZA, of the Service for Peace and Justice in Latin America, said that today, more than half the population of Mexico lived in conditions of poverty and 22 million lived in conditions of extreme poverty. The gap between the rich and the poor was growing. According to information from the Ministry of Social Development corresponding to 1997, all the programmes aimed at alleviating poverty had been cut back from their levels in 1996.

- 5 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

Indigenous people in Mexico continued to suffer the worst conditions of marginalization in the country. In Chiapas, more than 10,000 indigenous people had been displaced from their communities due to the presence of paramilitary groups and the army and were living in inhumane conditions in various areas. The international community should urge the Mexican Government to introduce concrete reforms to improve the quality of life of the most marginalized in the society.

MONCEF BALTI, of the Tunisian Association for Self-Development and Solidarity, said nothing was more noble or positive than to strive for development and economic well-being for the world; the Tunisian Association focused on such topics, especially in the country's mountainous and far east sections; it designed participatory development projects and projects for the production of handicrafts; the Association insisted that those benefitting from the projects participated, and it stressed solidarity and full equality and partnership for women. It also helped the beneficiaries in submitting proposals for funding for small projects, including many that would not be supported by the normal banking network. Poverty remained a problem in many regions of the world; the international community simply must react, especially in terms of sharing prosperity, and the Commission had a fundamental role to play -- it was time to grant economic and development rights the importance they deserved.

MIAN GHULAM RASOOL, of the World Muslim Congress, said that in the last 50 years, the rights of the people of Indian-held Kashmir had been extensively violated. Over 600,000 Indian troops had inflicted untold miseries on the innocent people of occupied Kashmir. As colonizers, Indians had ravaged the state; economic activity in the area had come to a standstill. Despite their natural and human resources, the people of occupied Kashmir had no means to earn an honourable livelihood. Punitive measures had been imposed by Indian occupation forces that had taken the form of collective punishments. Whole villages had been razed to the ground; crops had been burned; the environment had been degraded; houses had been destroyed; commercial centres sealed, and educational institutions shut down indiscriminately over long periods.

FIRDOUS SYED BABA, of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said all aspects of human endeavour, be they in the fields of politics, economics or social development, could not be successful unless the right to development was ensured, particularly in developing countries. However, the process of development was facing challenges in the form of insurgencies and terrorism. It was most urgent to find ways to tackle this threat so that the right to development could be realized. Kashmir had been traumatized by violence for the past nine years. The disenchantment of Kashmiris, which was essentially related to issues of political and socio-economic development of their state, was cleverly channelled by Pakistan to settle scores with India. Kashmir had seen the worst kind of economic devastation at the hands of mercenaries. How could the people of Kashmir could realize their right to

- 6 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

development when their lives were threatened? The people of Kashmir urged the international community to exert pressure on Pakistan to leave them alone and to put an end to the death and destruction that had ravaged their land.

PIERRE MIOT, of the International Federation of Rural Adult Catholic Movements, said rural movements wished to make their contribution to realization of the right to development. However, their efforts on behalf of the poorest came up constantly against an economic system that oppressed them ever more -- everywhere the forces were the same. In Asia, leaders of rural movements had met and had noted that rural resources such as water, soil, and environment were being everywhere damaged, and that shifts from community- based agriculture to other forms and to industry were the prime cause. Also, efforts were constantly made to shift traditional rural peoples to other types of economic existence, and indigenous peoples constantly were being pressured to leave their traditional lands; even in Europe, agricultural policy was damaging to many traditional and long-standing forms of life. Increasingly, national agricultural policies were controlled by large corporations; some firms now would be controlling the design, production, transport, and marketing of the most essential commodity -- food. The right to food needed to be promoted and protected, and the needs of rural peoples needed more attention and support from the international community.

ANTONIO GONZALEZ, of the International Indian Treaty Council, said the unilateral blockade imposed against Cuba was a clear example of the violation of the rights of the Cuban people to development and to live in peace. The Commission should request that the blockade be lifted entirely, as it violated international law and contained elements that were truly immoral. In Nigeria, meanwhile, the regime which was propped up by the Shell Oil Company was destroying the Ogoni people and their rights to the environment and development. Similarly, in Burma, tribal groups were being relocated in the name of development, with the complicity of transnational corporations, including UNOCAL of the United States, TOTAL of France and Premier of Great Britain. In Brazil, the Government had carried out a clear-cutting operation in the rainforest, thereby threatening the Yanomami of Roraima with huge fires that had burned out of control for two months. Similar violations of rights were also being committed in Suriname and Ecuador.

JACQUES VITTORI, of Pax Christi, said obstacles to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights had different origins and therefore measures to fight them had to be varied. Globalization had led to the emergence of the transnational super powers, and this had had disastrous results; globalization triggered marginalization and exclusion. There was a controversial idea about appointing a special rapporteur for economic, social and cultural rights. But his or her mandate would be too wide and the possibility of intervention would be too restricted because of budgetary constraints.

- 7 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

ARTURO REQUESENES, of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace, said that under the policies carried out by Mexico the rural population had become poorer and the income gap between rich and poor had grown; the richest 10 per cent of the population now controlled 40 per cent of the wealth, while the poorest 10 per cent had 1.6 per cent of the wealth; it was clear that since the Government had implemented its present economic model, it had abandoned its social, economic, and cultural duties, and the legal framework had been reformed at the expense of the poorest social classes. These steps ran contrary to the country's own Constitution. It was necessary to shift to a model based not solely on profit but one also focused on solidarity; the Mexican Government should undertake an in-depth inquiry, assisted by the international community, on the consequences of its economic policies and should initiate without delay economic reforms so as to comply with the principles of the Declaration on the Right to Development.

FERNANDO DE MEDINA-ROSALES MATRAN, of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, said the Cuban people had always demonstrated their solidarity with the world’s neediest. That was why Cuba had sent 600 doctors and teachers to work in South Africa under a cooperation agreement, and why Cuba was providing medical treatment to child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident; the youngsters were benefiting from advanced medical methods to treat cancer. Why, then, did Cuban children suffer from low birth weight? Why were Cuban doctors being denied access to half the medicines available in the world market? Why were other countries being denied access to medical advances originating in Cuba? It was sad that in this fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights situations such as the one Cuba was suffering as a result of the United States-imposed embargo were still arising. They were the result of the intolerance and arrogance of certain countries which sought to impose their will on others no matter what the price. Iraq was also suffering from such a situation.

ALIAF QADRI, of the World Society of Victimology, said that in many areas of the world, particularly in areas where conflicts of any type had occurred or where populations were under colonial rule, the right to development was not respected, promoted or implemented. The classic example of this was Jammu and Khashmir, which was under the colonial occupation of India. Since 1947, India had not engaged in, or encouraged, any development projects in the occupied territory. The huge military operation in Jammu and Kashmir had totally destroyed economic and developmental patterns and the infrastructure. Tourism, handicrafts and the fruit industry had been disastrously affected. This pathetic situation had led to massive unemployment and the spread of poverty, illiteracy and diseases. There was an urgency to implement the right to development in occupied Kashmir. It was also vital to address the exercise by Kashmiris of their right to determine their political future.

- 8 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

SARA BERVAN, of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, said the income of the 10 richest individuals of the world was 150 per cent more than the combined wealth of all the poorest nations, and the gap between rich and poor was growing; women were especially apt to suffer as wages spiralled downward, and it was women who worked the longer hours to supplement diminishing incomes. Some States held up as models by the Bretton Woods institutions now had 60 to 80 per cent unemployment and paid more than half of every dollar gained towards the interest on the debt they had incurred; it was necessary to appoint a Special Rapporteur to investigate ways of alleviating the effects of such debt, especially for the poorest countries. Such data should be reported in a disaggregated format. International institutions which had increasing power to affect lives but were not accountable to human- rights mechanisms needed more attention from the international community -- multinational corporations continued to grow in power and influence, and should not be allowed to overwhelm States' powers to limit foreign ownership and State control of land use and environmental protection. The Multilateral Agreement on Investment now being negotiated with little transparency continued to ignore core treaties, plans of action, and covenants of international institutions. WILDA SPALDING, of World Federation for Mental Health, said at the 1996 European Economic Commission meeting, it had been generally agreed that even commercial analysis had demonstrated the success of debt swop policies linked to the human rights agenda category of "environment improvements". At the same time the group had suggested that debt swop policies be applied to other areas of the human rights agenda and was given quite a positive reception. The Commission was then urged to recommend expanded human rights categories for use in debt swop negotiations. Although all members of civil society could benefit from that, the most vulnerable and low-income groups were often the ones at risk of the consequences of the side-effects of international debt stress on national economics.

ALFREDO SFEIR-YOUNIS, Special Representative of the World Bank to the United Nations, said that while the Bank's institutional mandate did not include the formal advocacy of human rights, it was fully aware of the contribution it could make in this regard. The concepts of development and human rights were intertwined and could not be addressed as separate issues. The World Bank was working closely with developing countries to create the conditions for, among other things, a stable economic growth, sustainable development, and equitable mechanisms to benefit the most vulnerable. The overriding objective of the World Bank was to alleviate, and if possible, eradicate poverty in client countries. This was because freedom from poverty was a basic freedom and central to the enjoyment of other human rights which were now denied to more than one billion people earning less than one dollar a day. The Bank had developed a number of instruments and programmes to address the many issues and concerns linked to the alleviation of poverty. These included the country assistance strategy process, the financing of projects, and poverty assessments.

- 9 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

The World Bank's four landmarks for development implementation at country level included the reform package; commitment to human capital development; assistance to developing countries to follow-up global conferences; and emphasis on the social, cultural, ethical and spiritual dimensions of development, Mr. Sfeir-Younis said.

THEMBA KUBHEKA (South Africa) said the two sets of fundamental universal rights were not only indivisible and equal, they were also mutually reinforcing. The human rights based development mandate embodied in the Right to Development resolution was as important as the requisite follow-up mechanisms that were envisaged for the practical and effective implementation of the resolution. The effective implementation of this resolution must be premised on a firm basis of an assured and conducive environment both at the national and international levels. However, at the end of the day, the primary responsibility for successful implementation of the right to development resolution.

Mr. Kubheka reminded the Chairman that 21 years ago, they shared the same Johannesburg Fort Prison. Now that South Africa had achieved a non- racial and democratic State the biggest threat to the new found, people- centred and democratic dispensation would be the failure to address the socio- economic legacy of apartheid. It was in this sense that the Government's policy of Reconstruction and Development Programme was fundamental.

MARIA DEL CARMEN HERRERA CASEIRO (Cuba) said improvements in certain macroeconomic indicators resulting from neo-liberal policies had caused a mistaken optimism in the developing world; some had reached the point of euphoric praise, pretending to ignore the high social cost for most peoples of the growth of the world economy. The economic and social situation of the developing countries remained dramatic; the rift between the rich countries of the North and the poor countries of the South continued to expand; in addition, the financial resources allocated by the international community to help such poor nations had been substantially reduced and more and more conditions were being imposed for access to these funds. Such conditions usually disregarded the actual emergencies and social hardships such countries were undergoing -- in fact, they tended to make them worse. International cooperation, without any conditions whatsoever, and the adoption of more resolute measures aimed at enhancing development, were a must; it also was important to include priority for promotion of the right to development in the process of United Nations reform.

FREDERICO DUQUE ESTRADA MEYER (Brazil) said economic and social rights had not received attention commensurate with their importance. The debate on the issue should focus not only on the conceptual aspects of such rights -- which had already been discussed at length -- but also on concrete measures for their realization. The Brazilian delegation welcomed proposals in that direction that might emerge from the debate, such as the idea of appointing a

- 10 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

special rapporteur with a focused and precise mandate to deal with specific aspects of the realization of economic and social rights. With regard to the right to development, Brazil believed that it should be one of highest priories of the Commission. Moreover, the human person should be the subject and main beneficiary of development. To that end, both international cooperation and domestic effort played pivotal roles. If on the one hand the lack of development might not be invoked by Governments to justify the non- realization of internationally recognized human rights, on the other hand the international community had the obligation to cooperate in order to overcome the obstacles that thwarted the full enjoyment of the right to development.

YEVHEN SEMASHKO (Ukraine) said the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights in the world were far from ideal. The Commission had to play its role in the realization of these rights and should give them the same importance as civil and political rights. Particular problems relating to adequate living conditions, external debt and environmental degradation hampered progress in implementing these rights and affected transitional countries, including Ukraine. The problems involved in the transition of countries from planned to market economies were global and Ukraine welcomed growing awareness of them. The rapid global integration of States in transition in the world economy was an important factor for peace and stability. It was urgent that United Nations assistance to countries in transition, including Ukraine, should be more concrete.

MOHAMED LESSIR (Tunisia) said the profound political changes of the recent past had not led to a great improvement in human rights. There were still armed conflicts and there were still extreme poverty and disease; meanwhile, overseas development aid had declined drastically just as the need for it had grown immensely. The economies of many developing countries were being held hostage to heavy levels of external debt, and the right to development continued to be underemphasized in comparison with other human rights. There must be an effort to balance rights between development and social peace and security; failure to do so led to clandestine immigration, organized crime, and terrorism -- problems that had reached the level of crisis in many nations, developing and developed alike. Tunisia was struggling to develop in a balanced way and was dedicated to sustainable development; it was linking political, economic, banking, and social reforms into a coherent, humanistic vision; the country was convinced that there could be no true progress if some segments of the population were neglected, and special measures had been taken to protect children and ensure equality for women.

KIM JOONG KEUN (Republic of Korea) said poverty was not solely a phenomenon of developing countries; in developed countries as well, those stricken by poverty struggled to survive on a basic level of subsistence. When individual's lives were put in jeopardy, social instability was generally

- 11 - Press Release HR/CN/832 27 March 1998

not far behind. At the international level, the United Nations system and other international organizations should suggest concrete steps to ensure the realization of economic, social ad cultural rights, and the right to development. In addition, the international community should seek constructive ways to alleviate oppressive debt burdens on the developing countries, and ensure that the often sidelined issue of women's rights figured prominently on the global agenda as a means to improve not only human rights, but social and economic development as well.

CARLOS ENRIQUE GARCIA GONZALEZ (El Salvador) said the momentum of the peace process had made possible the implementation of a modernization programme and the establishment of the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedoms in his country. This political change was necessary to break the cycle of destitution and overcome marginalization in the society. It enabled the participation of all national actors, with the help of the international community, in bringing about the right to development. Following its ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, El Salvador had accepted the responsibility to apply each and every obligation present in the Covenant and to ensure that national laws were consistent with the treaty. El Salvador reiterated its commitment to promote all measures to help its men and women live a full, free, safe and healthy life where the spectre of poverty gave way to sustainable human development and democracy.

IFTEKHAR CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said the international community had been able recently to establish the relevance of new parameters -- for sustainable development on one hand and for the right to development on the other; the world now was convinced that human beings were not born to suffer the misery of hunger and poverty; they suffered now and did in the past because the world was not paying sufficient attention to the issue. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action emphasized that the eventual elimination of extreme poverty should remain a high priority of the international community. It was important that all act in concert to realize the development expectations that had been engendered by the spread of democracy; growing inequity within as well as among countries was a direct threat to the realization of the right to development, and even, indirectly, to democratic institutions; structural reforms that did not take into account social realities could destabilize the process of democratization. Developing countries, meanwhile, must be helped to keep pace with economic globalization or they would be permanently marginalized.

* *** *