WORLD EXPECTS UNITED NATIONS TO TAKE STAND AGAINST ATROCITIES, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Press Release
HR/CN/899
WORLD EXPECTS UNITED NATIONS TO TAKE STAND AGAINST ATROCITIES, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
19990407 Ministers from Sudan and Pakistan, Secretary-General Of Organization of Islamic Conference Address Commission(Reissued as received.)
GENEVA, 7 April (UN Information Service) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning told the Commission on Human Rights that when civilians were attacked and massacred because of their ethnicity, as in Kosovo, the world looked to the United Nations to speak up for them. The same happened when people were assaulted and mutilated, as in Sierra Leone, or when women were denied equality, as in Afghanistan. The world expected the United Nations to take a stand.
Rights were not relative, and whatever happened within national borders was of concern to the organization of sovereign States that was the United Nations, the Secretary-General said. Collectively, all should say no, we will not and we cannot accept a situation where people are brutalized behind national borders.
Mr. Annan said that of all gross violations, genocide knew no parallel in human history. It was a tragic irony of this age of human rights, that it had been repeatedly darkened by outbursts of indiscriminate violence and organized killings. Though the United Nations did not have independent observers on the ground, the signs were that this may be happening, once again and once more, in Kosovo. The result was a humanitarian disaster throughout the region.
The Commission on Human Rights continued its debate on the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world. Several speakers stressed that the situation in Kosovo was of grave importance and a durable solution was needed.
Azeddine Laraki, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, spoke of the gravity of the situation in Kosovo, and the plight of the people of that region in terms of harassment, abuse, and violation of
their rights. The international community should shoulder its full responsibility for ensuring both the present and future protection of these people.
Sartaj Aziz, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, called for an end to the human rights violations occurring in Kosovo and in Indian-occupied Kashmir. Just and peaceful solutions were necessary to restore harmony to these regions, in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin, Minister of Justice of Sudan, addressed the Commission, speaking of the implementation of a number of positive constitutional, political and legal developments in Sudan.
Representatives of China, Cuba and Indonesia addressed the Commission, as did speakers for the following non-governmental organizations: Service, Justice and Peace in Latin America; the Arab Organization for Human Rights; Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation; Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme; the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America; Centro des Estudios Europeos; International Federation for the Protection of the Rights of Ethnic, Religious Linguistic and other Minorities; Liberation; International Buddhist Foundation; Indian Movement Tupaj Amaru (joint statement with Union of Arab Jurists); International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty; the World Muslim Congress; Article XIX International Centre Against Censorship; Women's International Democratic Federation; the National Union of Jurists of Cuba; International Educational Development; and the All-China Women's Federation.
The Commission resumes its plenary at 3 p.m. to continue its debate on the question of human rights violations in any part of the world.
Statements
KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary-General, said that human rights were a priority in every United Nations programme and mission. He saluted the Commission on Human Rights' determination to ensure a firm foundation for the rights of future generations, and said that its work in combatting violations of human rights and establishing norms to protect them made history and helped to save lives.
The Secretary-General said it was his belief that human rights were at the core of the sacred bond between the United Nations and peoples of those nations. When civilians were attacked and massacred because of their ethnicity, as in Kosovo, the world looked to the United Nations to speak up for them. When people were assaulted and mutilated, as in Sierra Leone, again
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the world looked to the United Nations. When women were denied equality, as in Afghanistan, the world expected the United Nations to take a stand.
Mr. Annan said perhaps more than any other part of the work of the United Nations, the struggle for human rights resonated with the global constituency, and was deeply relevant to the lives of those most in need. It was vital, in order to answer that global constituency, to speak up and speak out in defence of human rights and to advocate their lasting universality.
Rights were not relative, and whatever happened within national borders was of concern to the organization of sovereign States that was the United Nations, the Secretary-General said. Collectively, all should say no, we will not and we cannot accept a situation where people are brutalized behind national borders. This was because a United Nations that could not stand up for human rights was a United Nations that could not stand up for itself. The United Nations mission began and ended with the individual, and his or her universal and inalienable rights.
The Secretary-General said the United Nations work was never done, for with every proclaimed right, hundreds of abuses were committed every year. For every freedom secured, more were threatened. Thousands suffered from discrimination or violence, and children were denied the right to education and a peaceful childhood.
Mr. Annan said the Commission on Human Rights could claim with pride to have been an architect of the international structure of rights, having created an international code of human rights. The Commission had been a pioneer in establishing norms and advancing justice. There had been great contributions towards promoting economic, social and cultural rights, and work on the right to development had opened up new horizons in the field of human rights. By the recognition that human rights were interrelated, indivisible and interdependent, the Commission had helped to ensure that the implementation of social and economic rights went hand in hand with political and civil rights. Human rights had been brought home to where they belonged: in the lives of the weakest and most vulnerable of our world. These were accomplishments in which the Commission could take great pride.
Gross and shocking violations of human rights continued daily around the world, offending the global conscience, outraging all people of good will, and undermining the deepest sense of a shared humanity. If there was no response to these acts, then the foundations laid elsewhere would crumble beneath the weight of these violations. The Commission on Human Rights had long recognized this. A vast array of envoys from the United Nations had travelled the world, planting the flag of human rights, extending the reach of the Commission, and giving victims hope of a better, freer, less repressive future.
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The achievements of the last 50 years were rooted in the universal acceptance of those rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration, and in the equally universal abhorrence of practices for which there could be no excuse. Still, it was not enough to know what the world was against. The world needed to know who it was against. The United Nations should have the courage to recognize that just as there were common aims, there were common enemies. For those guilty of gross and shocking violations of human rights, impunity was not acceptable. The United Nations would never be their refuge. Only in their defeat could the promise of the great Organization of the United Nations be redeemed.
The Secretary-General said he had chosen to dwell not only on common aims and shared accomplishments, but also on the magnitude of the human rights abuses that the United Nations was committed to ending. He had sought to draw attention to the importance of combatting the most outrageous violations of human rights, including summary executions, forced displacements, massacres, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. This was done because this Commission met under the dark cloud of the crime of genocide.
Mr. Annan said that of all gross violations, genocide knew no parallel in human history. It was a tragic irony of this age of human rights, that it had been repeatedly darkened by outbursts of indiscriminate violence and organized killings. Though the United Nations did not have independent observers on the ground, the signs were that this may be happening, once again and once more, in Kosovo. The result was a humanitarian disaster throughout the region. It was deeply regretted by all that the international community, despite months of diplomatic efforts, had failed to prevent this disaster. The hope lay in that a universal sense of outrage had been provoked. Slowly emerging was an international norm against the violent repression of minorities that would and should take precedence over concerns of sovereignty.
This was a principle that protected minorities and majorities from gross violations. The rights and ideals the United Nations existed to protect were those of peoples. The United Nations as an institution would always place the human being at the centre of everything done. No government had the right to hide behind national sovereignty in order to violate the human rights or fundamental freedom of its peoples, since these were sacred.
The Secretary-General said this developing international norm would pose fundamental challenges to the United Nations. But if this challenge was not met, if the United Nations were to become the refuge of the ethnic cleanser or mass murderer, the very ideals that inspired the founding of the United Nations would be betrayed. This hope for humanity could be too late for the thousands forcibly expelled from Kosovo, and for the thousands who had been murdered simply for who they were. But it would not be too late for the United Nations, if this emboldened it to enter a new century with a renewed
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commitment to protecting the rights of every man, woman and child, regardless of ethnic, national or religious belonging.
ALI MOHAMED OSMAN YASSIN, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Sudan, said it was unfortunate that coercive unilateral measures based on flimsy pretexts sometimes were taken to deprive some countries of their right to development; the bombing of the Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum was a clear example of how the right to development and to health of a least developed country was being denied, in total disregard of international laws and human rights standards. Sudan nonetheless had recently enacted many reforms, including adoption of a new Constitution with a wide-ranging Bill of Rights; establishment of a Constitutional Court; release of political detainees; and fostering of independent newspapers. State and national elections were in the planning stage.
Mr. Yassin said the Khartoum Peace Agreement signed in April 1997 with seven southern rebel factions and the agreement signed with the central committee of the rebels of the Nuba mountains illustrated the Government's commitment to peace. Unfortunately the remaining rebel faction, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Sudan People's Liberation Army, remained unwilling to sign a peace agreement although the Government was pursuing such an agreement relentlessly.
Recently the SPLM/SPLA rebel movement had committed an abhorrent act of barbarity when it ruthlessly executed four Sudanese nationals, one of them a Red Crescent worker; all were on a humanitarian relief mission. Mr. Yassin said it also was most regrettable that the Commission had allowed the leader of those committing this crime, John Garang, to address the Commission under the banner of the non-governmental organization Christian Solidarity International (CSI), even while his hands were soaked in the blood of those victims. CSI should be strongly condemned, and it also should be vilified for accusing the country of the crime of slavery -- the Government emphatically and categorically rejected this false charge. It was CSI that was the main source of abduction and kidnapping of children in areas controlled by the rebels; CSI was purposely and maliciously creating this practice to tarnish the image of the Sudan, and the Government had instituted criminal cases against it in the Sudan.
AZEDDINE LARAKI, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the meetings of the Human Rights Commission invariably offered an opportunity to recognize achievements of the field human rights. However, the events that took place in Kosovo today were such that he had to pay attention to this single issue, namely the human tragedy afflicted on the people in that region. The Organization of the Islamic Conference was drawn early to the gravity of the situation in Kosovo and the plight of the people in that region in terms of harassment, abuse and violation of their rights.
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The Organization condemned the massacres perpetrated against the Muslim people of Kosovo at the hands of Serbian forces, and urged the international community to shoulder its full responsibility for ensuring their protection.
Mr. Laraki said that despite all the serious and prolonged negotiations for the achievement of a solution, the Serbian Government had persisted in its policy of ethnic cleansing that had thrown the region into a human tragedy and a vast military escalation with unpredictable repercussions over the future of the people and their human rights. If the military intervention was aimed at thwarting the vicious policy of the Serb forces, the international community was duty-bound to see that the Muslim citizens of Kosovo were not compelled to leave their homes and that generous initiatives on the part of the various States which offered shelter to these citizens were not taken as an advantage by the Serb regime to empty this region of its Muslim citizens.
SARTAJ AZIZ, Foreign Minister of Pakistan, said that the Commission epitomized the moral response of the world community to the atrocities and barbarism of this century. Since 1948, the nations of the world had constructed extensive norms in the field of human rights, and had made considerable progress in creating the mechanisms to advance observance of these norms. The world today was confronted simultaneously with twin crises: an economic crisis, and a political crisis, manifested in proliferating conflicts, wars and turmoil in many countries and regions of the world. It was now imperative to promote growth with equity; to promote globalization with a human face. The right to development should be actualized, and this right should be accorded primacy in the pantheon of human rights.
Mr. Aziz said the impact of military, political and humanitarian crises in the globalized world was also more severe and widespread. Despite human rights instruments and declarations, recent conflicts had witnessed some of the most serious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity. It was most regrettable that the United Nations Security Council had been unable to respond to the grave political crisis in Kosovo, and the ongoing massive human tragedy there. Until the Council could act, it was hoped that other organs of the United Nations, especially the Commission, would be able to respond with courage and clarity to the Kosovo crisis. The international community also had a duty to take urgent steps to respond to the crisis.
Mr. Aziz stated that the human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir were well-documented and universally acknowledged. For the past decade, the people of Kashmir had been engaged in a valiant struggle for self-determination, a struggle that Pakistan supported morally, politically and diplomatically, whereas India had sought brutally but unsuccessfully to suppress the Kashmir freedom struggle and thus deny the Kashmiri people all their human rights. A complete and durable normalization could become a
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political reality once a just and peaceful solution had been found, in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.
QIAO ZONGHUAI (China) said the twentieth century was a century when the Chinese people had profoundly changed their destiny. Over the past 100 years, great changes had taken place with regard to the human rights situation in China. China entered the twentieth century in a state of deep humiliation amid the roar of cannons, when the eight-Power allied forces invaded Beijing in 1900. China had made remarkable achievements in the field of human rights over the past year. Externally, the country was faced with the Asian financial crisis. Domestically, it had suffered from severe floods. The promotion and protection of human rights of the Chinese people was not to be divorced from the specific circumstances in China.
Mr. Zonghuai said due to different national situations, it was normal for countries to have different opinions on human rights. The Chinese Government had long maintained such differences should be solved through dialogue and exchanges on the basis of equality and mutual respect. The Chinese Government had noted with appreciation that the European Union had decided for the second time not to sponsor a China resolution at the current Commission session. This was a sensible move not only for the China-European Union human rights dialogue but also for defusing the confrontation in the Commission. However, on March 26, the United States' Government had announced it would sponsor an anti-China resolution by itself due to the "sharp deterioration of China's human rights record." Turning a deaf ear to the appeal of the majority of the Member States, the United States made the decision arbitrarily. This was sheer politicization of human rights issues and the work of this Commission.
CARLOS AMAT FLORES (Cuba) said that last year, during the fifty-fourth session of the Commission, it had become more apparent than ever that the so-called situation of human rights in Cuba was fabricated and promoted by a powerful and costly propaganda machine that served only the big Power's intrusive policy, urged in this case by its disappointment for the failure to accomplish as far as Cuba was concerned its goals of domination and hegemonism. The United States, however, had not let up in its efforts to condemn Cuba, whilst trying to strangle it.
This time, with no courage to assume its responsibility for such an action, the United States had assigned the Czech Republic, seconded by Poland, the job of serving as spearheads for its attempt. It was an open secret that the anti-Cuban draft resolution that had been circulating informally had been conceived in vitro, promoted in the shadows, and ultimately cloned by Washington in these two countries. Cuba was now accused of repressive measures against its citizens, as fallaciously exampled in the National Independence and Economy Protection Act. Cuba had every right, in use of its
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sovereign powers, to defend itself against anti-Cuban extraterritorial law passed by the United States.
Mr. Flores said that if the intrusive and aggressive United States policy against Cuba, the Helms-Burton Act and the genocidal blockade imposed by the United States had not been in force, it would not have been necessary to promulgate such laws in Cuba. Thus, any new resolution against Cuba would prompt a new spiral of confrontation and politicization of the forum, which would damage its credibility and seriousness. Double-standards, selectivity and political manoeuvering were self-evident in the Commission. The Cuban commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights went beyond its borders, as did its commitment to democracy.
SUSANTO SUTOYO (Indonesia) said rhetoric and confrontation were often preferred over genuine dialogue under this agenda item; it was a shame that some countries tended to point fingers, and that the same countries did not list their own faults as pointed out by many non-governmental organizations and the media. It also was unfortunate that discussions of human-rights performances by developing countries often did not take into account the impressive progress many of them had made, or understand the pressures they were under.
Mr. Sutoyo said Indonesia had taken strategic steps to strengthen institutions and legislation and to redress past abuses; it had released political prisoners and engaged in dialogues with various groups; and it had adopted and was implementing a national plan of action on human rights. In East Timor it was negotiating a wide-ranging autonomy plan, which, once adopted, would be followed by a direct vote by East Timorese in July on the subject of Indonesia's offer of autonomy; should that offer be rejected, the Government would consider discussion of the parting of East Timor from the State of Indonesia. Meanwhile the Government was taking all possible measures to address the root causes of social unrest -- including unfortunate incidents where religious or ethnic sentiments were manipulated -- in various parts of the country following the economic crisis and political changes that recently had occurred.
EMMA MAZA, of Service, Justice and Peace in Latin America, expressed concern over the impunity measures used in Mexico. There was a serious deterioration of human rights and Mexico gave priority to impunity over its indigenous people. The Inter-America Human Rights Commission had expressed concern over independent relationships and judicial guarantees in operation as the system showed serious irregularities in trial methods of investigation. Such was the case with the fight against drugs which had brought about forced disappearances and arrests.
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Ms. Maza asked the Mexican Government to adopt measures against those who committed these violations of human rights. It urged the Government to allow the Commission to send a Special Rapporteur to investigate the reports of arbitrary executions, detentions and arrests and to follow up on the situation of human rights in this country. He urged the Mexico Government to set dates for this.
MOHAMMED FAYEK, of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, said that although a number of Arab countries had witnessed positive developments in the field of human rights and basic freedoms, these steps, although of great importance, had not alleviated the magnitude and the nature of the significant violations which continued to occur in the region. These were namely that the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people remained absent, and geographical and demographic transformations of the occupied territories were ongoing.
Mr. Fayek said the continuing application of international sanctions on Iraq had resulted in tens of thousands of innocent victims, mostly children, and in deteriorating health conditions and education in Iraq; in Somalia, the peace agreement signed in Cairo at the beginning of 1998 had not been implemented; in the Sudan, nothing had been done to normalize political life; and there had been thousands of victims of violence and terrorism in Algeria. Numerous regrettable human rights violations had also occurred in Iraq, Sudan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon and Libya. Human rights organizations had been a target of a campaign of criticism, and human rights workers had been arrested. The Commission should adopt an effective programme to implement the United Nations Declaration regarding the protection of human rights defenders.
RAFENDI DJAMIN, of the Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation, said arbitrary actions had been carried out beginning early in 1998 by the Indonesian military to safeguard President Suharto's re-election, and at that point violence and human-rights violations had escalated. Later these violations had continued under the country's new regime. Thousands of Megawati's PDI supporters were arrested and detained without trial; kidnappings, torture, and secret detentions were inflicted against activists; when thousands of students demonstrated, they were fired on and some female students were sexually abused by security forces; then there were terrifying riots in which at least 1,190 people died and many ethnic Chinese women were gang raped.
Mr. Djamin said the transition of power to President Habibie evidently had not brought about any meaningful change in human-rights protections, unfortunately -- security forces already had killed dozens of students engaged in political activities. The Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances should visit Indonesia, along with the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions.
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Mr. HENDARDI, of Agir Ensemble Pour le Droits de L'homme, said the fall of former dictator Suharto last May opened new opportunities for human rights defenders in Indonesia to end the country's poor record on human rights by bringing justice to all the victims of the various gross human rights violations perpetrated since 1965. The new Government led by President Habibie and Chief of the Armed Forces General Wiranto had stated its commitment to democratic reform and respect for human rights. However, the lack of political will so far to persecute Suharto and the appointment of generals with poor human rights records had strengthened public scepticism about President Habibie and General Wiranto's commitment to genuine reform.
Mr. Hendardi said all steps taken by President Habibie's Government to promote human rights in Indonesia, such as the launching of the National Action Plan on Human Rights and allowing the Special Rapporteur on violence against women to visit Indonesia last November 1998, did not have any structural impact and had not changed the gross human rights violations that continued to take place. The failure of the State to contain the conflict among the various ethnic and religious groups within the judicial system and to prevent large scale communal violence in several parts of Indonesia had created a chaotic situation and disintegration that legitimized the presence of strong military rule. Based on the above observations, the Commission was urged to request the Indonesian Government to invite the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings in 1999 so that she could present her finds for the next session in year 2000. The organization also urged the Commission to closely-follow up all recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and the Working Group on arbitrary detentions.
LOURDES CERVANTES, of the Organization for the Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, expressed several considerations of a general nature. It was time to study human rights in southern countries, whilst not forgetting that it was globally understood that the state of human rights in northern countries was more than acceptable, whilst southern countries needed to prove this. This was due to an undue politicization and double standards, as exampled by the state of human rights in Cuba, and the draft resolution on this matter, as created by the United States in a political attempt to undermine the Cuban Government. Different cultural and social standards should be thought of during the implementation of human rights standards. Economic blackmail should not be allowed, nor should northern countries be allowed to interfere. It was time to work for a more integrated and updated view of human rights, and to face up to the multiplication of violations that were due to social and financial inequalities. The problems facing mankind had put in jeopardy the most basic human rights across the globe.
LAZARO MORA SECADE, of Centro de Estudios Europeos, said that when the renewal of the Special Rapporteur for Cuba was rejected last year, it appeared
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an important step had been taken to halt double standards and selectivity in the Commission's activities; but on 30 March the delegation of the United States had organized a meeting and had introduced an item on the situation of human rights in Cuba, and when it was asked if the new members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Poland and the Czech Republic, were going to introduce a resolution on Cuba at this year's Commission session as a reward to the United States for this membership, the question was lightly put aside.
Mr. Secade said it was very clear that the United States did not care about human rights in Cuba, since it had carried out an economic blockade against Cuban citizens for decades, thus causing intense human suffering. The United States in fact had a political aim -- it wanted to destroy the type of Government Cubans had chosen; it wanted to destroy the Cuban revolution. The United States Government also had fostered dissident organizations and subversives elements within Cuba. Faced with this aggression, the Cuban people were defending themselves.
KYRIACOS KALATTAS, of the International Federation for the Protection of the Rights of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and Other Minorities, said that the Cyprus problem had been before the Commission for over 25 years. According to the Turkish Government's statement of 20 July 1974, the purpose of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus was to eliminate the danger directed against the rights of all Cypriots, and to restore the independence, territorial integrity and security of the region. Instead of doing this, Turkey had committed barbarism and atrocities in the course of the invasion by bombing civilians and committing torture, as well as repeated assaults, mass rapes and murder. Turkey had since refused to comply with the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, amongst others.
Turkey's policy of colonization of the occupied part of Cyprus was contrary to the Geneva Conventions and Protocol. The declaration of independence of the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was a violation of the 1960 treaty that had established the Republic of Cyprus. The Security Council should impose mandatory sanctions against Turkey, or it would never comply with United Nations resolutions upon the matter. All States, international organizations, legal bodies and institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights should focus their attention on the breaches of international law and the violations of human rights committed in Cyprus by Turkey, and should strive for the imposition of comprehensive mandatory sanctions against Turkey.
HALEPOTA MUNAVAR, of Liberation, said human rights and fundamental freedom in Yemen had been abused for a long time and its citizens had been routinely subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and other forms of discriminatory, and inhuman treatment and punishment. There was also suppression of freedom of opinion as well as missile military bombardments on
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civilian communities. In one such incident, 100 women and children were killed and wounded last year in Mareb and Dhala. The Commission should look into the deteriorating state of human rights in Yemen and the Government should abide by its international commitments. Concerns were raised over the people of Sindh in Pakistan. The "state of emergency" declared last year, following "nuclear explosions"; the establishment of military courts; and the issuing of death sentences after four-day trials further undermined the constitutional rights and fundamental freedom of the people of Sindh.
Mr. Munavar said there was a widespread violation of human rights in Pakistan, as reported by the Special Rapporteur. Rape, torture and death in custody by security forces were being used to suppress the right to self-determination by the people of Sindh. Also the people of Aceh since 1989 had been subjected to thousands of killings, disappearances, rapes and torture. On 3 February, soldiers had opened fire on a large crowd of Acehnese returning from a public rally in east Aceh, killing an unknown number of people. Some bodies which had been bound hand and foot and weighed down with stones were later recovered from Avakonda River. The Indonesian Government should be urged to initiate proceedings against those known perpetrators of human rights violation in Aceh and provide for thousands of widows and orphans who were victims of the region.
TED AKITO, of the International Buddhist Foundation, said all must speak out against violence or terrorism that took away human life and destroyed religious sites, whether in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, or anywhere else in the world. Indiscriminate violence was not justified under any circumstances. Whoever supported or promoted terrorism was totally against Buddhist philosophy.
This momentum towards violence led to such things as the savage attack on one of the holiest shrines in the world, the sacred Tooth Relic Temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka, by the Tamil Tigers early last year. The attack was part of a cycle of violence, a pattern of action and reaction involving the army of Sri Lanka, the Indian army, and the terrorist Tamil Tigers. Justice there had to be made to function independently and properly so that democracy could be restored. Governments must not hesitate to put their own soldiers behind bars for human rights violations. The Commission must find suitable ways both to condemn Governments which were guilty of barbarism and to reject attempts to glorify criminal or terrorist organizations.
LAZARO PARY, of Indian Movement "Tupaj Amaru", said the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had launched vicious attacks against Iraq's people without the agreement of the Security Council. The deadly bombs launched from the warships and planes against the military and civilian population in Iraq were more than those launched during the whole
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Persian Gulf War. The United States had impeached the international law under the so-controlled wars.
Mr. Pary said the Congress of the United States had sanctioned wars against Iraq with the help of its Arab neighbours. Bombs and missiles continued to fall on Serbs and Kosovars in Yugoslavia to show the world that it was back in 1941 when massive exodus of populations occurred. The embargo against Cuba by the United States maintained terrorist acts on the island to close its economic circles, causing millions to starve. Imposing laws on sovereign countries was a violation of international laws and the international community was urged to put an end to these measures.
WILFRED WONG, of the International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty, said there were serious problems with religious liberty in Indonesia, where Christian churches had been attacked by Muslim rioters in February; six Christians also had been killed in the violence, and mob violence against Christians in Indonesia in fact had been going on since 1945 -- over that period at least 390 churches had been destroyed. During fighting between Muslims and Christians on the Indonesian island of Ambon recently at least 200 had died, and Ambonese Christian leaders had accused some members of the Indonesian security forces of siding with the Muslim rioters. The Government was urged to ensure that its security forces acted impartially to protect all religious groups.
Mr. Wong said meanwhile there also were problems in India, where Hindu extremists had burned and vandalized churches, and in Burma, where the military regime continued to carry out a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the country's minority peoples; the regime should be tried by an international tribunal for crimes of genocide.
GHULAM MUHAMMAD SAFI, of the World Muslim Congress, said although India claimed to be the largest democracy in the world, it had one of the worst human rights records that encompassed all conceivable types of human rights abuses and exercises. Over 50 per cent of India's population were the majority and were out-castes merely by accident of birth. These included the Dalit "untouchables" who by law were classified as scheduled castes. They were the economically and socially most deprived half of the Indian population. They were born and died in servitude. Dalit women and girls were bought and sold, subjected to all forms of exploitation and sexual abuse, and treated as property by the landed class. Approximately 20 per cent of the Indian population fell in the category of minorities. These included Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and other religious beliefs. Religious intolerance was deep-rooted in India as evidenced by the massacre in 1984 of Sikhs in New Delhi and other parts of India, the destruction of Babri Mosque and widespread killing of Muslims in Bombay in 1992.
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Mr. Safi said that according to Indian human rights organizations, state agents participated in and abetted crimes of violence against women. The Indian Minister of Home Affairs had admitted 4,414 incidents of rape of minor girls below age of 16 and 10,922 of adult women during 1997. Prostitution was widespread in India, with half a million child prostitutes. Dowry deaths continued to plague the Indian society along with female infanticide. The problem of child labour was highly acute and according to independent sources, approximately 87 million children were employed in labour of one form or another.
EDETAN OJO, of Article XIX, International Centre against Censorship, addressed the situation of human rights in Nigeria and Algeria. The significant progress already made in Nigeria in the programme of transition to civilian rule and the expected inauguration of a new civilian Government and President was most welcome, but the transition to civilian rule did not mean that democracy and human rights had been secured. The transition had been flawed in many respects, and much remained to be done if the latest democratic experience was not to be short-lived and superficial. In Algeria, widespread killings, disappearances and suppression of other basic human rights, including freedom of expression, continued. While many abuses were committed by shadowy armed groups, others had undoubtedly been the work of government forces. There was a suppression of independent information on the conflict, which served to protect the perpetrators and throw a cloak of impunity over their actions. Article XIX urged the Commission to appoint a Special Rapporteur to study the situation of human rights in Algeria.
LEYLA AGDAS, of the Women's International Democratic Federation, said there was growing recognition of State responsibility to respect human rights, but that did not mean there were no serious human-rights problems; hundreds of thousands still were deprived of their rights. Worse, those responsible for serious abuses enjoyed impunity. Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK, had gone to Italy to exercise his right to political asylum, but had not been allowed to stay, nor had he been allowed to stay in Russia; and thanks to complicity between the Turks, Israelis, Greeks, Americans, and Kenyans, he had been arrested and brought back to Turkey where it was clear that he would be tried in a judicial process that did not respect the fundamental rights of defendants; he probably would be sentenced to death.
Ms. Agdas said that given Turkey's policy of brutal repression of the Kurdish people, the Kurds had had no choice but to resort to violence; they had suffered murders without investigation or resolution; torture; arbitrary executions. The Commission must call for a peaceful political solution to the war in Kurdistan.
FRANCISCO GARCIA HENRIQUEZ, of the National Union of Jurists of Cuba, lamented and condemned the obvious intent of the United States Government to
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manipulate and confuse the intent of the Commission by misinterpreting Cuban legislation. The United States had consistently attempted to undermine the Cuban Government in many ways, and this was deplored. The United States Government had no right to maintain an economic embargo against Cuba for the last 30 years. This harmed the citizens of Cuba, not only by the embargo, but by the United States policy of state terrorism against Cuba. The United States criminal actions against peace violated the Nuremberg statutes. There was a need for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur to investigate the state of human rights in the United States.
KAREN PARKER, of International Educational Development, said that Africa alone had 16 wars and at least seven near wars. As a result there were millions of deaths, and hundreds of thousands were wounded, disabled, displaced and facing starvation. In Sierra Leone the closing down of the Bo/Kenema roads since January 1999 new offensive by Sam Bokarie and the Revolutionary United Front against Freetown and other parts of the country had made hundreds of thousands sick and at risk of starvation. The involvement of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional political body, had not defused the armed conflict between Kabbah's Government and the Revolutionary United Front. There were equally bad wars in the Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo and Burundi. It was less catastrophic in Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho, the Comoro Federation, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Angola and between Ethiopia and Eritrea and Morocco and the Western Sahara. In fact, the United Nations mandate was postponed for the Western Sahara. In Asia, there was war in Sri Lanka and the Government rejected all international efforts to monitor and negotiate. The situation in Myanmar was grave, in part due to the failure of the international community to address the illegal nature of the regime in control.
Ms. Parker said the organization was encouraged by the efforts of Indonesia's new Government concerning East Timor to date. The organization had worked intensely on the situation in Mexico for the past five years. There were violations of human rights and brutality by the Mexican authorities. In 1997, there was a massacre of innocent indigenous population which could only have taken place with collusion of the Mexican authorities. It was imperative that the Commission adopt a resolution in which it appointed a Special Rapporteur for Mexico.
SONG WENYAN, of All China Women's Federation, said that unfortunately in many parts of the world, the protection of human rights, including women's rights, was still inadequate. In the United States, for example, 18 per cent of American women had been victims of attempted rape or had been raped; the United States had the worst labour protection for women; child abuse was a serious problem; racial discrimination and police brutality were at unacceptable levels. Now the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, led by the
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United States, was carrying out military attacks with modern weapons against a small sovereign State, leaving large numbers of innocent civilians displaced, injured, or dead. The All China Women's Federation expressed its great indignation and demanded a stop to these attacks.
Ms. Wenyan said the Federation hoped the Commission would find a way to play a more positive role in the promotion and protection of human rights, and that the violations that had occurred in the current century would not be repeated in the next.
CORRECTION
The statement by the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Pedros Eftychiou, which appeared in press release HR/CN/896 of 6 April 1999, should read as follows:
PEDROS EFTYCHIOU (Cyprus) said 25 years after the Turkish invasion and occupation of 37 per cent of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, massive violations of human rights continued in a systematic manner well after the end of hostilities. He reminded the countries of the tragic consequences of the 1974 Turkish invasion and the human rights situation in Cyprus today.
Mr. Eftychiou said that as a result of the Turkish invasion, 200,000 people living in the area occupied by the Turkish army were forced to abandon their homes and turn into refugees within their own country. Some 25 years later, not a single displaced person had been allowed to return home. The agony and drama of the families of the missing still continued. With the occupation, a large part of Cyprus' cultural heritage, including religious and archaeological monuments, found itself under the control of the occupied regime. At the time of the invasion, there were approximately 120,000 Turkish Cypriots living in Cyprus. Today there were only 60,000 left and at the same time, 114,000 Turkish settlers had been implanted in occupied Cyprus. With regard to the case of Cyprus, the relevant resolutions and high level agreements would offer a sound basis for achieving a just and viable solution to the problem.
The statement by Emmanuel Manoussakis of Greece, which appeared in press release HR/CN/896 of 6 April 1999, should read as follows:
EMMANUEL MANOUSSAKIS (Greece), speaking in right of reply, said Turkey once again had misled the Commission; he wished to state once and for all that Greece did not and never would support terrorism and did not support the PKK. In fact the Kurdish situation was a human rights matter and needed to be faced up to and resolved on that basis by Turkey. It also should be pointed out that fighting against terrorism could not be used as an excuse for human rights violations.
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Mr. Manoussakis said that as to the Muslim minority residing in Greece, it enjoyed all freedoms and guarantees and full equality with all Greek citizens, contrary to the Greeks who lived in Istanbul, the number of which had diminished from 150,000 to only 3,000 since the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923.
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