COMMISSION HEARS FURTHER PLEAS FOR INCREASED DEVELOPMENT AID, DEBT RELIEF FOR WORLD'S POORER COUNTRIES
Press Release
HR/CN/833
COMMISSION HEARS FURTHER PLEAS FOR INCREASED DEVELOPMENT AID, DEBT RELIEF FOR WORLD'S POORER COUNTRIES
19980327 Begins Discussion of 'Indigenous Affairs'(Reproduced as received.)
GENEVA, 26 March (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights concluded this afternoon its review of economic and development rights, hearing a flurry of requests for greater emphasis on development issues, especially in poorer countries, and for reduction of external debt burdens where they were keeping nations from meeting the basic needs of their citizens.
A representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) told the Commission that cutbacks in aid flows must be reversed and that economic globalization should not become a pretext for abandoning the world's most disadvantaged and destitute families.
At the very end of the meeting the group began review of its agenda item on "indigenous affairs" with a presentation by the Chairman/Rapporteur of Commission working group attempting to compose a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
It also heard an address by the Premier of Greenland (Denmark), Jonathan Motzfeldt, who said indigenous peoples around the world were increasingly being recognized for their unique interpretation and practice of sustainable development and their vital role in the conservation and management of the global environment. Sadly, he said, this important role had not brought them much reward -- they continued to struggle for their physical and cultural survival.
The Commission was addressed as well by the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the President of the National Commission of Human Rights of Venezuela.
Other statements were made by the representatives of Malaysia, United States, Yemen, Haiti, Portugal, Algeria, Nicaragua, Colombia and Iran, as well
as by representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Officials of the following non-governmental organizations also delivered statements: International Federation Terre des Hommes; Caritas Internationalis; International Association Against Torture; International Movement ATD Fourth World; African Association of Education for Development; Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization; Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund; Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples; Socialist International; and Minority Rights Group.
The representatives of Brazil, Portugal and Indonesia spoke in exercise of the right of reply.
Statement by Director-General of UNESCO
FEDERICO MAYOR, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the word "memory" was part of the word "commemoration"; what one needed to understand, to live daily events, to make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights come alive, was to remember the situation under which it was developed, and to understand the commitment and compassion of those who framed the Declaration. UNESCO was determined to intensify its work and cooperation with the Commission and Centre for Human Rights in order to strive towards the common objective of all human rights for all.
The UNESCO's founding act and the Universal Declaration had much in common, Mr. Mayor said; the same inspiration which had given rise to UNESCO three years later had led to the adoption 50 years ago, in Paris, of the Universal Declaration. UNESCO had been the first international organization to declare the importance of human rights to its basic activities, and UNESCO took its role as an educator and cultural force seriously -- it sought eagerly to spread the news and power of human rights to children and adults through many diverse measures, including schooling, training of teachers, information activities, and community projects. It also was necessary to keep strong the vital connection between human rights and democracy, peace, and development.
For human rights to progress, one had to foster awareness around the world of what was not acceptable, Mr. Mayor said. The Universal Declaration was, on one level, the world's ledger of untold misery, injustice, and frustration. After the worst had imposed itself on a scale never known before, the founders of the United Nations system had set up structures to prevent that horror being repeated. For 50 years, UNESCO's role had been to promote not just human rights but a shared human-rights culture -- shared values on which there could be no compromise. Flagrant violations of human rights could never be accepted. One such case was that of the Taliban in Afghanistan; it was not acceptable to have a "two speeds" approach to such a
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regime, even if Afghanistan was a good trade partner with another country. Market forces and mercantile interest alone did not lead to democracy.
Statement by Premier of Greenland
JONATHAN MOTZFELDT, Premier of Greenland, speaking on behalf of the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, said indigenous peoples around the world were increasingly being recognized for their unique interpretation and practice of sustainable development and their vital role in the conservation and management of the global environment and the world's biodiversity. Sadly, this recognition had not yet materialized into political action everywhere. Many indigenous peoples were facing social, economical, as well as political marginalization and had to struggle for their physical and cultural survival.
Mr. Motzfeldt said there was a need for a mechanism to facilitate coordination and direction with respect to indigenous issues and suggested that the Commission establish an open-ended Ad Hoc Group which would draw up a draft mandate for a permanent forum for indigenous peoples within the United Nations. Since one of the main objective of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples was the adoption of a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Nordic countries urged Governments to work towards the early adoption of the declaration in close cooperation and consultation with indigenous peoples.
Mr. Motzfeldt said he was an indigenous person and that, in Greenland, they very much saw self-government as a process. The process of building and maintaining a relationship with Denmark had not always been easy as they had their differences, with respect to priorities. He urged Governments not to hesitate when it came to allowing indigenous peoples to govern their own lives and to take effective measures to protect and preserve their own cultural heritage. Indigenous groups were often threatened by assimilation or even extinction if they were not supported in maintaining their distinct languages and cultures.
Statement by National Commission on Human Rights of Venezuela
ASDRUBAL AGUIAR, Minister of the Secretariat of the Presidency of Venezuela and President of the National Commission on Human Rights of Venezuela, said 50 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, its promise that "everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized" remained to be fulfilled. Human rights and their practice were the spirit which generated the daily fabric of States. However, the obstacles to a culture of peace based on human rights were many and they were not easy to solve.
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To ensure that the rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and other international instruments were more than just a group of prerogatives, all persons and countries had to be included in the process, Mr. Aguiar said. Venezuela's long experience of democratic stability had not prevented two attempts at autocracy which had resulted in the collapse of the financial system and caused a deterioration of the quality of life and slackening of the observation of human rights. However, this period was now being overcome with Venezuela's firm devotion to democracy.
Statements in Debate
MUSA HITAM (Malaysia) said he supported the current proposal to establish a follow-up mechanism comprising an open-ended Working Group on the right to development. Moreover, the appointment of and independent expert would indeed greatly facilitate the task of the proposed Group. The international community should remind itself that the ratio of trade to gross domestic product (GDP) had fallen in 44 of 93 developing countries over the past ten years, while the ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP had fallen in more that a third. Development was a holistic concept and that the participation of each member of society into its mainstream was essential. However, participation should be looked at in the broadest possible context. There were now whole countries which were denied their right to participate in matters which affected he lives of their citizens. Democracy could not survive, let alone flourish, in a world where many low-income countries were among the least integrated, experiencing both falling incomes and lower levels of participation in the world economy.
GEORGE MOOSE (United States) said the country had a long history of bilateral assistance to support development; it had supported the quick implementation of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, which would reduce to sustainable levels the debt burdens of those countries with positive records of economic reform; it also had launched a new initiative to encourage Africa's integration into the global trading system. The experience of the United States in the field of development had taught many lessons, among them that human rights and democracy should be fully integrated into development -- it was no accident that Latin America had experienced a decade of phenomenal growth after democracy and economic liberalization had swept across the region; much the same thing was now happening in Africa in such nations as Ghana, Uganda and Botswana. Governments, in the end, must take primary responsibility for development and for their own actions; those who put their own prerogatives ahead of the well-being of their own people should not be surprised at the outcome. It was unfortunate that several resolutions referring to the right to development, including the one adopted by the General Assembly last year, did not reflect the views of many States and could not serve as a basis for a consensual approach; the Commission should look for common ground on the issue.
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MOHAMMED SAEED AL-ATTAR (Yemen) said his country attached great importance to the right to development and had given priority in its efforts to implement measures in that regard. It was also determined to give priority to practical implementation of the principles of the right to development. Yemen had been engaged in paving the way to allow for a market economy by liberalizing its economic policies; it had revised its legislation and had taken other reforms to enable free flow of foreign investment; and had undertaken measures to equitably distribute the national income among the population. In addition, Yemen attached great importance to international investment in enhancing its economic and social development. In its development policy, Yemen recognized democratic values and peace as prerequisite to the attainment of the goals set in its programme. Nevertheless, despite the national measures taken by the Government, the lack of adequate resources had slowed the course of development -- without international cooperation it was difficult to fully realize the right to development. The burden of external debt and the imbalance in trade terms were also obstacles to development.
JOSEPH PHILIPPE ANTONIO (Haiti) said the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should make everyone take stock of the progress made so far. There had been a lot of progress for civil and political rights, therefore, the anniversary should be an opportunity to review the universality and indivisibility of human rights in the Universal Declaration. Haiti believed that everyone should enjoy economic, social and cultural rights. However, the least developed countries like Haiti encountered difficulties that hampered the full implementation of those rights. Haiti wanted to underscore the problems caused by the debt burden and economic adjustment programmes -- those two issues were incompatible in the short term with implementation of economic, social and cultural rights. Financial institutions favoured drastic reforms which could have dramatic effects on those rights; it was as though those institutions were not part of the United Nations. Haiti believed that only an integrated programme for development of human rights where all protagonists were involved could bring about the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.
RANA FLOWERS, of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the organization played an active role in humanitarian assistance, emergencies, and development cooperation -- all underpinned by a commitment to human rights, principles, and activities where children's and women's rights gained a particular relevance. Survival, protection and development of children were universal development imperatives and UNICEF, through country programmes, promoted the equal rights of women and girls; it envisaged the child as the central subject of development efforts, and acted as national, regional, and global levels to fulfil the right to development for children; its front line of action was in helping the most disadvantaged, including those who lived in poverty. Its advocacy was based on social mobilization and rested on the principle that children's well-being was an accurate measure of the degree of
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social development and quality of life in a given society. Current cutbacks in aid flows must be reversed, and economic globalization could not become the pretext for abandoning the world's most disadvantaged and destitute families to their destinies.
GERALD MOORE, of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told the Commission that FAO and the High Commissioner for Human Rights had concluded a memorandum of understanding in May of last year for cooperation on the subject of the rights related to food and implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action. The cooperation had been most fruitful. FAO had also participated actively in the High Commissioner's consultation on the right to adequate food held at the end last year. The full implementation and realization of he right to adequate food called for action at both the international and the national levels. At the international level the mandate of the High commissioner had been clearly formulated by the World Food Summit and the Commission. FAO continued to stand ready to provide its support to the High Commissioner in the fulfilment of her mandate.
GONCALO DE SANTA CLARA GOMES (Portugal) said Portugal attached great importance to the question of the realization and implementation of economic, social and cultural rights and would be, along with a large number of co-sponsors, tabling a draft resolution on this subject. Portugal would propose that the implementation of the access to primary education free of charge be chosen as a concrete approach to the realization of these rights. There was no doubt that all other economic, social and cultural rights deserved increased attention by national governments and the international community. Therefore, Portugal also fully supported the initiatives taken by other delegations such as France on the alleviation of extreme poverty and Cuba on the basic and essential right to food. It was of capital importance to work closely with international organisations to increase the incidence of their activities in the field of human rights. The activities of civil society, in particular non-governmental organizations, must also be expanded and must adequately take account of the activities of United Nations bodies in the field of human rights.
SAID KHELIFI (Algeria) said unequal treatment persisted for individual rights and collective rights, and the end of the cold war had created a new dichotomy -- differences in wealth and development between the countries of the North and of the South. The need of Southern countries for development was a legitimate one, and deserved greater emphasis, and in fact the international community should realize that the aim was in everyone's interest because otherwise the instability of the developing countries would threaten the prosperity and security of all. Efforts to establish democratic systems were confronted with social and economic claims that could in some cases lead to political instability and threaten democratic institutions. External debt often made such matters worse. Temporary, selective steps were not enough to solve these problems; mankind's destiny could only be achieved through true
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international solidarity. Debt relief, increased aid, reconsideration of economic sanctions, and other matters were the complex basis on which development progress must be established.
CECILIA SANCHEZ REYES (Nicaragua) said human rights recognition had been based on respect for human dignity, which also included civil and political and economic, social and cultural rights. The Vienna Declaration had further affirmed the indivisibility and universality of human rights. Nicaragua believed that human rights could not be fully attained without the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. For its part, Nicaragua had applied a policy of sustainable development programme and had reformed its political system to allow the free expression of opinion by the population and to guarantee all other human rights. Last year, an office had been set up to monitor human rights. The international community should commit itself and react in a flexible manner in helping developing countries.
GUSTAVO CASTRO GUERRERO (Colombia) said that today, more poverty-stricken peoples bore the enslaving burden of an endemic underdevelopment perpetuated by a hierarchical and exclusive economic climate. The full realization of the inalienable and human right to development should be the aspiration of all peoples. This was because peace, security and democracy became fragile if absolute poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, hunger and illness besieged a large part of the world population. The full and effective exercise of the right to development also involved the principle of joint responsibility. The State should assure essential conditions to grant the participation of its people in economic, social and cultural and political development. On its part, the international community should watch over the unconditional realisation of free determination, respect without interference to national sovereignty and the strengthening of a fair economic environment.
ALI KHORRAM (Iran) said the framers of the Universal Declaration had been obsessed with the horrors and atrocities of the Second World War and so had primarily focused their attention on civil and political rights; they had excluded the elaboration of economic, social and cultural rights. That imbalance had come to be known as the missing trait of the Declaration; and the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights had been a turning point, as it presented a holistic approach in which economic and development rights were given their full importance. Still, these assertions had yet to be translated into deeds; and some still tried to relegate economic, social, and cultural rights to second-class status, an approach that had done much harm. Iran approved of the proposal for a follow-up mechanism to review promotion of the right to development, and thought the best method would be to establish an open-ended working group of the Commission. Meanwhile, more attention and emphasis was needed on eradicating poverty for millions around the world; to reach the true goal of human rights for all, it was necessary to have common will and determination to do so and to forge dynamic international partnerships.
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MARIBEL WOLF, of the International Federation Terres des Hommes, said the region of Chiapas in Mexico was rich in oil as well as forest resources, and provided a good share of the country's electricity. Those resources were in the hands of a local elite in a region inhabited by a majority of poor Indians. The number of persons displaced from that region was estimated to be 14,000, out of whom 8,000 were from the Chenalho municipality and 6,000 from the northern zone. They lived in extreme poverty; they had left their dwelling places because of the terror sown by the paramilitary groups, particularly since the massacre at Acteal in December 1997. That massacre had cost the lives of 45 persons, mostly women and children. Similarly, in Colombia, some 250,000 persons had been displaced from their homes due to paramilitary activities.
MARY TOM, of Caritas Internationalis, said it would address the problem of the unpayable debt of the most impoverished countries. The international debt presented a moral challenge on how it affected the human dignity, human rights and human welfare of some of the most vulnerable people in the global community. An ethical analysis was as fundamental as any economic analysis in solving the debt crisis. In many countries, large external debt obligations prevented Governments from investing sufficiently in the basic human needs that were the foundation for sustainable development and human security. Attempts had been made to reduce the debt of the world's poorest countries, but this was far from sufficient. This was because the initiatives on behalf of heavily indebted poor countries required countries that wanted debt relief to carry out structural adjustment policies. These policies could reform economies in positive ways but could also contribute to poverty. The organization called for the cancellation of the unpayable debt of the most impoverished countries by the year 2000.
ROGER WAREHAM, of the International Association Against Torture, said that in the right to development one found a microcosm of the human-rights struggle in the United Nations: double standards, haves versus have-nots, North versus South, Capitalism versus Socialism, political and civil rights versus economic, social, and cultural rights. At the point in its history when Europe was violently colonizing the world and violating peoples' and nations' rights to self-determination, Europeans arrogated unto themselves the right to development; then, later, during the framing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these same leading players changed the rules; they declared that development was no longer a right but a privilege. The de facto attack on the right to development was most clearly revealed in the policies of the United States, where many were wealthy but where the income gap was enormous and growing; where African-Americans were poor and discriminated against and where their continued subjugation was a matter of Government policy; there was even the CIA's role in drug trafficking as another weapon against the African-American community. The policy of the United States in dealing with Africa and Cuba also must be regarded with skepticism.
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BRUNO ROMAZZOTTI, of the International Movement ATD Fourth World, said her group had found it essential that the Commission carry out a serious study on the conditions of the participation of the very poor in national policies and international programmes in the combat against poverty. The group also fully supported the proposition made by the Indian delegation concerning a draft declaration on human rights and extreme poverty. Such a project should reflect all the thoughts and debates in the Commission on the issue during the past and should include consultation of poor persons.
GHENNET GRIMA, of the African Association of Education for Development, said there had always been resistance from powerful countries and transnational corporations to the idea of the right to development and to economic, social, and cultural rights. Today there was justified fear that this trend was worsening because of rampant liberal-style globalization; worse, Governments could not hide their inability to cope behind an international context -- up to now the right to development had been only the right to embezzlement. Governments needed help, both from international sources and from grass-roots organizations; still, they held the primary responsibility for development and could not continue eternally to blame external forces for the situations within their countries. Extreme poverty around the world coexisted with scandalous luxury and extreme wastefulness; something must be done. The Association also wished to say that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, had clearly indicated in his selective criticism of some countries' human-rights records that double standards were still being applied.
U.S. SHARMA of the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, said that the manner in which a person could exercise his or her unalienable right to development was becoming a factor of the political structures that surrounded him or her. Pakistan was a case in point where Hindus, Christians, minority sects like the Ahmediyas, and women were all relegated to a place lower down on the social and legal matrix. Whatever be the individual capabilities of people belonging to those discriminated segments of society they had no opportunity to attain for themselves a level of existence commensurate with their talents. In Afghanistan, men and women alike were at the mercy of armed men, cloaked in values imbibed in fundamentalist schools in Pakistan, dictating life to the average Afghan. Similarly, Indian Jammu and Kashmir had faced the diktats of similar groups.
YVES LADOR, of the Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund, said even though the Commission on Human Rights would not take up a resolution on human rights and the environment this session, the link between the two was important and should be of concern to the forum. There had been various important developments involving environmental human rights, such as efforts in the field of standard-setting to draft a covenant on this issue and steps to develop a model for an international ombudsman for the environment. The organization commended the report of the Special Rapporteur on moving and
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dumping of toxic and dangerous products and waste, whose work showed how human rights were involved with environmental degradation. Regional organizations had already started to address that linkage and begun standard-setting. It was of vital importance that all human rights bodies gave serious consideration to environmental human rights.
TAUNI SINCLAIR-NGATIPRROV, of the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples, said the right to development was important; but development which contravened other human rights did not qualify as proper development. That included development which damaged ecosystems; development that did not meet human needs; development that was monopolistic. The exploitation and consumption of earth's resources could not continue at its present rate; as competition intensified, progress often equated to reductions of workforces; the global market had become the final frontier. He came from New Zealand, which had a history of environmental respect, yet the standard of living was falling and there was much environmental damage, including loss of fish stocks and deforestation. The Maori, who had lived there for many generations, had had a much more sustainable approach to land and resources, and it was time for the world to rethink its current concept of "progress". New Zealand also had one of the highest rates of foreign direct investment, a cause of great concern -- profits now went offshore, while social debt, especially among Maori, climbed. The predations of multinational corporations must not be allowed to escape the attention and reaction of the Commission.
CLAIRE SHORT and KAMILA SINHA, of the Socialist International, said economic growth had brought progress to man; but that progress had been patchy. More than a third of the world's people were denied the basic right to a dignified standard of living, having less than a dollar a day on which to survive, In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of people living below the poverty line had even gone up slightly. The rights of mothers and children to special car and assistance, recognized in the Universal Declaration, was denied for millions of women and children, who made up the vast majority of the poor. Women constituted nearly two-thirds of illiterate adults in developing countries, the South had an infant mortality rate of nearly 10 per cent, and mothers in the South were 15 times more likely not to survive childbirth than their Northern counterparts.
MANON OLSTHOORN, of the Minority Rights Group, said that indigenous and minority communities were particularly vulnerable groups. The Minority Rights Group recently published a World Directory of Minorities, which showed that many indigenous and minority communities were among the poorest of the poor. The report of the second session of the intergovernmental group of experts on the right to development invited States to adopt economic and social measures in order to avoid the exclusion of groups marginalized by extreme poverty which directly denied the right to development. The report also underlined the need to protect the cultural identity of minorities and indigenous peoples as an essential element in eliminating patterns of discrimination against
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these groups. If violent conflicts and human rights abuses that often affected minorities were to be prevented, it was essential to see how development, development rights and minority rights interacted together. Minority Rights Group invited all concerned about minorities and development to join it in an initiative to realise participatory and development rights for minorities.
Indigenous Issues
The Commission this afternoon opened its general discussion on indigenous issues when it received the report of the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on indigenous people, José Urrutia (Peru) (document E/CN.4/1998/106). The working group is elaborating a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. The report contains a record of the general debate and the articles of the draft declaration adopted by consensus at first reading during the last session of the group, which took place from 27 October to 7 November 1997.
Introducing the report, JOSE URRUTIA, Chairman-Rapporteur of the working group, said the last session of the group had seen the participation of 123 indigenous organizations and government delegations. The meetings were held in a formal manner in order to allow the free flow of ideas relating to the specific problems of indigenous people. The discussions had also given legitimacy to the work of the group. During the last session, the reading of the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples had focused on discussion on an article-by-article basis. So far some articles had been adopted by consensus while others needed further discussion and amendments. The Commission should allow the working group to continue with its work, as the results achieved so far were encouraging.
Right of Reply
CARLOS ALBERTO SINAS MAGALHAES (Brazil), speaking in right of reply, said the intervention this morning by the International Indian Treaty Council, a recognized and respected NGO, needed some discussion; obviously a fire was taking place now in the north of Brazil -- a natural phenomenon causing a lot of concern and anguish for the people of Brazil; the Amazon forest was a prized resource to the country; it wasn't correct to say the Brazilian Government had not taken any initiative to respond to the fire; he wished to thank the Argentine and Venezuelan professionals who were helping Brazil to fight the fire. The Humanitarian Affairs Department of the UN also had offered to help, and Brazil hoped to work with them; currently some 1,200 to 1,300 people were fighting the fire in a complex and difficult task costing a great deal of money. All foreign and specialized assistance would be welcomed, based on coordination with the Brazilian Government.
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SUSANA DIOGO (Portugal) said she took the floor to exercise her right of reply on the Indonesian statement made yesterday in response to the statement by the Foreign Minister of Portugal. Besides historical and factual misrepresentations which Portugal would not respond to, Indonesia pretended that the East Timorese had already shown their willingness to submit to the sovereignty of Indonesia. Portugal could not disagree more. The Government of Indonesia refused to let the people of East Timor publicly address that issue; the right of self-determination of the East Timorese had not been exercised. There were serious human rights violations in East Timor which the Foreign Minister of Portugal had addressed yesterday; moreover, the situation was worsening.
PRIMATO HENDRASMORO (Indonesia) said the previous interventions by Indonesia could be considered to stand here in response to the most recent statement by Portugal.
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