PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE WINNERS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE WINNERS

United Nations Human Rights Defenders Award winner Angelina Acheng Atyam of Uganda appealed this morning to the international press to expose the abduction and enslavement of Ugandan children by local rebel groups.

Introduced at a Headquarters press conference by the Director of Promotion and Public Services Division, Mian Qadrud-Din, Mrs. Atyam said that in the last decade, 10,000 children had been abducted from various places -- homes, schools and gardens. They were mistreated and turned into slaves. Girls were forced to be sex slaves. Her own daughter, 14 at the time of her capture two years ago, had been pregnant when last seen.

Speaking as Vice-Chair and founding member of the Concerned Parents Association, Mrs. Atyam called for help in securing the unconditional release of all the children, reintegrating them into society and establishing peace in Uganda. She had taken her appeal to governments, religious leaders, the United States Congress and Hillary Clinton, and had connected with human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. While many children had been rescued and treated, many others had died.

Mrs. Atyam and four other recipients of the award -- Sunila Abeyeskera of Sri Lanka; Jimmy Carter of the United States; Jose Gregori of Brazil; and Anna Sabatova of the Czech Republic -- were honoured today at the opening of the commemorative session marking the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A sixth prize was given to human rights defenders everywhere.

Mr. Qadrud-Din said the commitment of ordinary people to human rights was represented by the thousands of courageous individuals worldwide who struggled to protect and promote human rights.

Jose Gregori said that he could not hide his emotion over receiving the award, as he and others had fought for human rights for a long time, even under the military regime in Brazil, when almost all human rights had been suppressed. Human rights suffered when there was no democracy, independent justice or free press. Now, as a government official, he had been able to disseminate the importance of respect for human rights. His Government had opted to make human rights one of its most important public policies and had set up a national programme of human rights to fulfil the commitment undertaken at the Vienna Conference. A national Secretary for Human Rights was appointed to implement the programme.

Despite its serious problems in the human rights area, including the disparity in the levels of society, discrimination against minorities, police violence and slow justice, he said the Government was actively trying to promote respect for human rights. The prize was a stimulus to that work. If, at the end of the twentieth century, the importance of human rights was

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recognized, it would facilitate peace, solidarity and equality.

Anna Sabatova said the human rights programme had been created in 1977 on the basis of the covenant of civil and political rights and the covenant on economic and social rights. Czechoslovakia had signed the covenants, thus giving a legal basis for the defense of human rights. Despite that, many people had been imprisoned for their activities in support of human rights. Strengthened by the conviction that they were right, they had created a committee to pursue such activities and had cooperated with human rights activists in other parts of Eastern Europe.

In 1989, she said, the situation had changed. Political rights had been provided for and the new Government had declared support for human rights. There were, however, new issues of concern including the treatment of minorities, police who operated outside of the law, the situation in prisons and the rights of the child.

"You know you must be doing something right when nobody likes you", Sunila Abeyeskera said. The Executive Director of INFORM, a key human rights organization in her country, she noted that 15 years of civil war in Sri Lanka meant that much human rights work took place in the midst of armed conflict. Human rights workers were not appreciated by either the Government or the rebels.

She stressed the importance of the women's movement in promoting human rights. Women had put the issue of discrimination back on the human rights agenda, not only racial and gender discrimination, but also discrimination regarding sexual orientation. Women had reached out to form alliances with many other human rights groups in the effort to establish respect for all human rights. Today's award was a validation of their work.

In a letter read out on his behalf, former United States President Jimmy Carter congratulated the other honorees and said that they and others who toiled on the forefront of the human rights movement needed attention and unfailing support. Although they had made great strides in the 50 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, much remained to be done. He and his wife, Rosalyn, had encountered injustices both in his own country and abroad and had sought to address them. They believed that every person armed with freedom and resources could find solutions to any challenge. The Carter Center continued its commitment through a wide range of programmes throughout the world aimed at realizing the fights of people to an adequate standard of living, health care, and nutrition, as well as the right to choose their own leaders and to express their beliefs without fear.

He said the United Nations had a special role to play in the advancement of human rights. When the world's governments moved together in concert to advance the cause of human rights, great things were possible. Who was providing strength and protection to the rebels? a correspondent asked Mrs. Atyam. She replied that the mere fact that they could abduct 10,000 children indicated that they were receiving protection. She didn't know where they got their weapons, but many assumed that they came from the Sudan because that was where they ran. She noted that her daughter had last been seen in a rebel camp in the Sudan.

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