COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONCLUDES SPRING SESSION

Press Release
HR/4362

COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONCLUDES SPRING SESSION

Recommendations for Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Poland and Netherlands Issued; Adopts Comments on Guidelines for UN Development Assistance Framework

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 15 May (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ended its spring session this morning by issuing comments and recommendations on the implementation of these rights in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Poland and the Netherlands.

The panel's 18 experts, who are charged with monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, noted with satisfaction the desire expressed by the Government of Sri Lanka to promote economic, social and cultural rights among its citizens, in spite of the armed conflict in the country. They urged the Government to negotiate, as a matter of the highest priority, the acceptance by all concerned of its proposed peace plan involving devolution of authority to regional governments to end the war and strongly recommended the establishment of mechanisms to facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance.

On Nigeria, the experts welcomed the establishment of a national Human Rights Commission, although they noted that the powers and independence of the Commission had been the subject of criticism. Furthermore, the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights was hindered by the absence of the rule of law, the existence in Nigeria of military governments, the suspension of the Constitution in favour of ruling by military decrees, the resort to intimidation, and the negative effects that widespread corruption had on the functioning of governmental institutions.

Regarding the situation in Poland, the Committee noted with satisfaction the prominence accorded to economic, social and cultural rights in Poland's new 1997 Constitution. It also noted that, under the new Constitution, Poland was a secular State with no formal role attributed to any religious denomination. The Committee was nevertheless concerned that policies and decisions of a social nature seemed to be excessively influenced by particular religious considerations and did not take adequate account of the existence of minority religious groups.

As for the Netherlands, the Committee noted that the country had, to a considerable extent, met its obligations with respect to the protection of the rights set out in the Covenant. None the less, the experts were concerned by continuing discrimination against women at work, racial discrimination in labour matters and the permissive nature of labour legislation with regard to overtime. The finalized version of the comments on the situation in the Netherlands would be made available on Monday, 18 May, the Committee indicated.

Also this morning, the Committee adopted comments through which it expressed surprise that the provisional guidelines to enhance the human rights dimension in development operations in the process of elaborating a United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) contained no explicit reference to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Committee recommended that the UNDAF guidelines be revised to make specific reference to the Covenant as part of the essential framework; require States to establish specific benchmarks against which they propose to measure their own performance in promoting the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, and provide that the concluding observations of the six human rights treaty bodies be treated as essential reference documents in the drawing up of country-specific UNDAF strategies.

In addition to the consideration of country reports, this eighteenth session saw the Committee hold a general discussion on the effect of globalization on the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights. A number of participants representing international and non-governmental organizations pointed to what they saw as the strong connection between growing inequality and the increase in the lack of respect for human rights. Issues discussed included commercialization of indigenous cultures, activities to make human rights a permanent feature in the work of the United Nations, the impact of structural adjustment programmes on the realization of human rights and the potential consequences of the draft multilateral agreement on investment of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

The next session of the Committee will be held from 16 November to 4 December 1998. At that time the panel is scheduled to examine reports from Israel, Cyprus, Switzerland, Canada and Germany.

Conclusions and Recommendations on Country Reports

Following its review of the report of Sri Lanka, the Committee noted with appreciation that in spite of its relatively low per capita income, Sri Lanka had achieved progress in providing essential social services including free and compulsory education for all persons up to the age of 16, free health care, food subsidies and supplements for targeted vulnerable groups.

It was the view of the Committee that the question of discrimination in relation to economic, social and cultural rights with respect to ethnic groups remained the central issue of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. In this regard, the Committee noted with concern that the Government's peace plan consisting of devolution of authority into regional governments as embodied in constitutional reform had not been implemented. The Committee expressed its grave concern regarding the situation of an estimated 800,000 displaced persons, many of whom had been living in temporary shelters for the past 15 years because of the armed conflict, and who lacked basic sanitation, education, food, clothing and health care. The Committee was alarmed by the results of an independent survey estimating the incidence of undernourishment of women and children living in these shelters to be as high as 70 per cent. It also noted with concern the uncertain situation of 85,000 Tamils of Indian origin living in Sri Lanka and the existence of disparities between statutory law and customary law concerning marriageable age and inheritance. It expressed its deep concern at the lack of anti-discrimination mechanisms in the area of employment with regard to women and minority groups; deplored the Government's inability to effectively implement its child labour laws; expressed deep concern about the sexual exploitation of Sri Lankan children, which occurred largely in response to demand from foreign tourists, and noted with concern the plight of hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan women working abroad as domestic helpers, many of them underpaid and treated as virtual slaves.

The Committee experts called on the Government, as a matter of the highest priority, to negotiate the acceptance by all concerned of its proposed peace plan involving devolution of authority to regional governments; strongly recommended the establishment of government mechanisms to facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance and to strictly monitor and ensure that the intended recipients actually receive the assistance; took note of Government's avowed plans to provide citizenship to the 85,000 stateless Tamils living in Sri Lankan territory and requested an update regarding this situation in the next report; urged the State party to enforce the minimum legal marriageable age of 18 years as well as inheritance laws affecting women, in order to supersede discriminatory customs and traditions; recommended that the State party adopt policy and implement relevant measures to combat discrimination in employment of women and of minority groups in both the private and public sectors; urged the Government to vigorously enforce its child labour laws, and to immediately establish a legal minimum age for work in all industries in accordance with international standards.

Following its consideration of the report of Nigeria, the Committee welcomed the establishment of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission, although it noted that the powers and independence of the Commission had been the subject of criticism. It also welcomed the establishment of a Ministry for Women's Affairs which was now responsible for the welfare of women and children, the establishment of the National Child Rights Implementation Committee and the preparation of a National Child Plan of Action.

However, the Committee noted that the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights was hindered by the absence of the rule of law, the existence in Nigeria of military governments, the suspension of the Constitution in favour of ruling by military decrees, the resort to intimidation and the negative effects that widespread corruption had on the functioning of governmental institutions. The Nigerian people were deprived of the necessary judicial protection of their human rights since the judiciary was undermined by "ouster clauses" attached to many military decrees as well as by the Military Government's refusal to implement the judiciary's decisions. The Committee regretted, furthermore, that the Nigerian authorities had deemed it fit to expel an estimated half a million Chadian and workers of other nationalities in inhuman and undignified circumstances, even those among them who had been legally established for many years with residence permits in Nigeria. The Committee was concerned about the alarming number of work accidents and the lack of adequate preventive security measures; about the dissolution of the executive councils of the NLC, NUPENG, and PENGASSAN in 1994 by military decrees and that military administrators have been appointed to run these workers' unions since then; about the fate of the NUPENC General-Secretary Frank Kokori and PENGASSAN General-Secretary Milton Dabibi who had been imprisoned for four and two years respectively; about repeated violations of the right to strike; about the Government's policy of retrenchment aimed at expelling up to 200,000 employees in the public sector, without adequate compensation, and about the implementation of the inadequate social security system.

The Committee noted with concern that gross under-funding and inadequate management of health services led during the last decade to rapid deterioration of health infrastructures in hospitals. It also noted with alarm the extent of devastation that oil exploration had done to the environment and quality of life in the areas such as Ogoniland. It called upon the Nigerian Government to restore a democratic political system and respect for the rule of law. It urged in the strongest terms that union leaders and their rank and file members who had been imprisoned without being charged or tried, be freed immediately. Harsh prison conditions should be alleviated and political prisoners freed and pardoned. The rights of labour unions and syndicates should be restored and respected. The rights of minority and ethnic communities -- including the Ogoni people -- should be respected and full redress should be provided for the violations of the rights set forth in the Covenant that they have suffered. The Committee called on the Government to cease and prevent, in law and in practice, all forms of social, economic and physical violence and discrimination against women and children, especially the continuous, degrading and dangerous practice of female genital mutilation. It urged the Government of Nigeria to cease forthwith the massive and arbitrary evictions of people from their homes and take such measures as were necessary in order to alleviate the plight of those who were subject to arbitrary evictions or were too poor to afford a decent accommodation.

After taking up the report of Poland, the Committee noted with satisfaction the prominence accorded to economic, social and cultural rights in the new 1997 Constitution. It further welcomed the status accorded to international legal instruments, including the Covenant, in Polish national law. The Committee welcomed the establishment and functioning of the office of the Commissioner for Citizens' Rights, who could be addressed by all persons and who appeared to exercise sufficiently broad powers of investigation and application for redress from the relevant authorities. It noted that, under the new Constitution, Poland was a secular State with no formal role attributed to any religious denomination.

The Committee was nevertheless concerned that policies and decisions of a social nature seemed to be excessively influenced by particular religious considerations and did not take adequate account of the existence of minority religious groups. The Committee noted that the recent imposition of legal restrictions on abortion had excluded economic and social grounds and expressed its concern that because of this restriction, women in Poland were now resorting to unscrupulous abortionists and risking their health in doing so. The Committee was also concerned that family planning services were not provided in the public health care system so that women had no access to affordable contraception.

The Committee recommended that special care be taken to ensuring full respect for the rights of all religious groups, particularly in issues of national policy, such as education, gender equality and health care; that every effort be made to ensure the rights of women to health, in particular to reproductive health; that sexual harassment against women be prohibited by law; that the 1962 citizenship law which discriminated against women be abolished; that the right to work be fully protected for women as well as for men on the basis of "equal pay for equal work", and that the conditions for permissible forced evictions be specified in law, with provisions addressing the need for alternative lodging for those evicted.

After considering the report of the Netherlands, the Committee noted that the country had, to a considerable extent, met its obligations with respect to the protection of the rights set out in the Covenant. The Committee welcomed very warmly the success of the racial discrimination campaign which could be seen especially in the fact that incidents of racial violence have disappeared. The Committee also welcomed the Government's programmes to create new jobs and help the unemployed, particularly ethnic

minorities, young people and those over 50 years of age, to become part of or to become reintegrated into the labour force.

But the Committee was concerned by continuing discrimination against women at work. In labour matters racial discrimination could also be seen to exist and contributed to some extent to unemployment among immigrants. The Committee expressed its concern that the reform of the social security system may have certain as yet unacknowledged effects on the most underprivileged sectors of society, and called upon the Government to address the issue in detail in the next periodic report. It also expressed concern at the statement that it was not the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands which was responsible for the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights in Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, given that those islands were equal parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Another matter for concern was the insufficient living conditions of asylum seekers in some reception centres throughout the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Committee recommended that the Government should intensify its efforts to guarantee equal employment between men and women, and equal wages for equal work. The Government should continue its endeavours to root out racial discrimination in the labour market since otherwise it will be unable fully to integrate immigrants and their families into national life. The Committee drew the Government's attention to the need to ensure that the reduction of budgetary allocations for social welfare programmes does not adversely affect the economic social and cultural rights of the most vulnerable groups in the Netherlands. The increased fees as a consequence of the implementation of the Tuition Fees Act has revealed its adverse effects for some social groups; the Government should take appropriate steps to alleviate or eliminate such effects.

Incorporation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into UNDAF Process In comments adopted this morning on the incorporation of economic, social and cultural rights into the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) process, the Committee noted the establishment of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) Ad Hoc Working Group on the Right to Development "to develop a common approach for enhancing the human rights dimension in development operations in the process of elaborating a United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) to apply in relation to the country level activities of the United Nations, including in the work of the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Population Fund". The development of a set of "Provisional Guidelines" for the process was a major step, according to the Committee.

The Committee welcomed these steps but it noted with surprise that the Provisional Guidelines contained no explicit reference to the Covenant, although mention was made of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The principal reference document that appeared to be used in relation to human rights was the Declaration on the Right to Development. The UNDAF process should proceed on the basis of the broad principles contained in the Declaration and add to those the operational dimension to be found in the core human rights treaties. The Committee urged the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the other participants in the UNDAF process to pay particular and explicit attention to economic, social and cultural rights in general, and the framework of the Covenant in particular, in future elaboration of the guidelines. In this regard, attention could be given to the incorporation of these rights in the statement of objectives to be sought and the specific policy issues to be addressed. This would involve the elaboration of benchmarks for the realization of these rights and the development of specific programmes to achieve these goals in line with the human rights obligations of the States concerned.

The Committee recommended that the UNDAF guidelines be revised to make specific reference to the Covenant as part of the essential framework; require States to establish specific benchmarks against which they propose to measure their own performance in promoting the realization of economic, social and cultural rights and particularly in relation to those issues which are at the heart of the UNDAF position such as the rights to adequate food, adequate housing, health care, and primary and secondary education; and provide that the concluding observations of the six human rights treaty bodies be treated as essential reference documents in the drawing up of country-specific UNDAF strategies.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Economic and Social Council established the Committee in 1985. Elected by secret ballot from a list of persons nominated by States parties to the Covenant, its 18 members are human-rights experts serving in their personal capacity.

The Committee is composed of the following experts: Ade Adekuoye (Nigeria), Mahmoud Samir Ahmed (Egypt), Philip Alston (Australia), Ivan Antanovich (Belarus), Virginia Bonoan-Dandan (Philippines), Dumitru Ceausu (Romania), Oscar Ceville (Panama), Abdessatar Grissa (Tunisia), Mar a de los Angeles Jim nez Butrague o (Spain), Valeri I. Kouznetsov (Russian Federation), Jaime March n Romero (Ecuador), Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay (Mauritius), Kenneth Osborne Rattray (Jamaica), Eibe Reidel (Germany), Walid M. Sa'di (Jordan), Philippe Texier (France), Nutan Thapalia (Nepal), and Javier Wimer Zambrano (Mexico).

States Parties to Covenant

The Covenant has been ratified or acceded to by 137 States: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, C te d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Latvia.

Also: Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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