SIX DRAFT RESOLUTIONS APPROVED TODAY IN THIRD COMMITTEE ON ISSUES OF WOMEN, LITERACY, CRIME PREVENTION, CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRUPTION

Press Release
GA/SHC/3534

SIX DRAFT RESOLUTIONS APPROVED TODAY IN THIRD COMMITTEE ON ISSUES OF WOMEN, LITERACY, CRIME PREVENTION, CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRUPTION

The General Assembly would call upon all States to develop and implement national legislation and policies which prohibit traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, including female genital mutilation, by the terms of one of six draft resolutions approved without a vote, today, by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural). The Committee also continued its discussion on issues related to the elimination of racism, racial discrimination and the right of peoples to self-determination.

By the draft resolution on issues related to the advancement of women, the Assembly would call upon States to prosecute the perpetrators of customary or traditional practices affecting the health of women and girls. Also, States would be called upon to intensify efforts to raise awareness of and to mobilize international and national public opinion on the harmful effects of those practices, in particular, through education in order to totally eliminate them.

On other issues related to the advancement of women, the Committee approved a draft resolution on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. By that text, the General Assembly would urge all States that had yet not ratified or acceded to the Convention to do so as soon as possible, so that universal ratification could be achieved by the year 2000.

On issues related to social development, the Committee approved a draft resolution by which the Assembly would request the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to submit to it a proposal for a United Nations literacy decade on the basis of the outcome of the April 2000 world education forum, with a view to proclaiming a United Nations literacy decade for the period 2001-2010.

Also today, the Committee approved without a vote three draft resolutions on issues related to crime prevention and criminal justice. By a draft resolution on the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, the General Assembly would decide that the high-level segment of the Congress be held on 14 and 15 April 2000 to allow heads of State or Government to focus on the main theme of the Congress. By another text, the General Assembly would call upon States to consider the adoption of such legislative or other measures as might be necessary to establish as criminal offences under their domestic law the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition as well as explosives.

Third Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/SHC/3534 20th Meeting (PM) 21 October 1999

By the third draft resolution on issues related to crime prevention and criminal justice approved today, the Assembly would stress the need to develop a global strategy to strengthen international cooperation aimed at the prevention and punishment of corruption, including the links of corruption with organized crime or money laundering.

Two speakers addressed the Committee this afternoon. The representative of Jamaica supported the holding of the world conference on racism in South Africa. The representative of Hungary said the danger of xenophobia was a problem in Europe, and he described attacks on the Roma which, he said, had created serious political problems.

The Committee will meet again tomorrow, 22 October 10 a.m. to continue its consideration of issues related to racism and racial discrimination, and to the right of peoples to self-determination.

Committee Work Programme

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this afternoon to continue considering questions related to the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, as well as the right of peoples to self-determination. (For background information, see Press Release GA/SHC/3533 of 21 October.)

The Committee has before it a number of draft resolutions on which action is expected.

The first is a draft on the United Nations literacy decade: education for all (document A/54/L.10; see Press Release GA/SHC/3528 of 15 October for summary). By the original 16-power draft, the Assembly would appeal to all Governments to step up efforts to eradicate illiteracy and would appeal to them to set firm targets and timetables, including gender-specific education targets and programmes to combat illiteracy of women and girls. It would further appeal to Governments to reach those targets by working in partnership with civil society. Finally, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Director- General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to submit to the Assembly at its fifty-fifth session a proposal for a United Nations literacy decade and plan of action with a view to holding the decade during the period 2001-2010 based on the outcome of the world education forum to be held in April 2000. In addition to the original sponsors listed in the summary, the following became co-sponsors when the draft was introduced on 15 October by the representative of Mongolia: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Guayana, Israel, Malaysia, Malta, Namibia, Russian Federation, Thailand, Turkey, the Former Republic of Macedonia, Senegal and Sudan.

By an original 81-power draft on traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls (document A/C.3/L.13; see Press Release GA/SHC/3532 of 20 October for summary), the Assembly would emphasize the need for technical and financial assitance from the United Nations system and from all other actors to developing countries to eliminate those practices. In addition to the original sponsors listed in the summary, the following became sponsors when the draft was introduced by the representative of Netherlands on 20 October: Algeria, Barbados, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Egypt, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, Iraq, Madagascar, Mongolia, Nigeria, Republic of Moldova, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Ukraine, Uruguay, Mali and Mauritania.

By an original 48-power draft on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (document A/54/L.17 and Rev.1; see Press Release General Assembly/SHC/3532 of 20 October for summary). By that draft, the Assembly would urge States parties to the Convention to make all efforts to submit their implementation reports. The revision to the draft specifies details about United Nations actions with regard to implementation of the Convention. In addition to the original sponsors listed in the summary, the following became sponsors when the representative of Norway introduced the draft on 20 October: Bhutan, Cyprus, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand and Slovakia.

In addition, the Committee is expected to take action on three drafts recommended to the General Assembly by the Economic and Social Council. (See Press Release GA/SHC/3529 of 18 October for summaries.) By terms of a draft on the Tenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Treatment of Offenders (document A/C.3/54/L.3), the Assembly would decide that the high-level segment of the Tenth Congress would be held on 14 and 15 April 2000 and that the Congress would devote particular attention to ways and means of making operational the provisions of the draft United Nations convention against Transnational Organized Crime, focusing on capacity-building in developing countries. The Assembly would request the Congress to submit its final declaration to the Millennium Assembly and would request the Secretary-General to appoint a Secretary-General and Executive Secretary for the Tenth Congress. (See also Press Release GA/SHC/3529 of 18 October.)

By terms of a draft on the activities of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime: Illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition, as well a consideration of the need to develop an instrument on the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in explosives (document A/C.3/54/L.5), the Assembly would call on States to adopt measures making it a criminal offence to manufacture and traffic in illicit firearms and related materiel. The Assembly would request the Secretary-General to convene an expert group to prepare a study on the issue as it was related to use for criminal purposes, also requesting him to facilitate the participation of experts from developing countries by providing resources for their travel, from either existing or extrabudgetary resources.

A draft on action against corruption (document A/C.3/54/L.6) would have the Assembly stress the need to develop a global strategy to strengthen international cooperation aimed at preventing and punishing corruption. The strategy would include consideration of developing a global system of peer review regarding the adequacy of practices aimed at combating corruption. The Assembly would direct the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to incorporate into the draft convention, measures against corruption linked to organized crime, requesting it to explore development of an international instrument against corruption. It would request the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention to revise the manual on practical measures against corruption, develop a global programme of technical assistance and explore ways for financial centres to deal with organized crime and corruption.

Action on Draft Resolutions

The Committee took up the draft resolution on “A United Nations literacy decade: education for all”. Additional sponsors to that draft were: Algeria, Belgium, Bhutan, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Erithrea, Uganda, Spain, United Republic of Tanzania, Benin, Guatemala, Iceland, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Congo, Colombia, Norway, Croatia, Finland, Cyprus, Cameroon, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Indonesia, Ireland, Kyrgysztan, Jamaica, Japan, Panama, Portugal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Tajikistan, San Marino and Viet Nam. The representative of Mongolia orally introduced drafting revisions to the text.

The Committee approved that draft, as orally revised, without a vote.

The draft resolution on the “Tenth United Nations Congress on the prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders” was taken up.

The Committee approved that draft without a vote.

The Committee then took up the draft resolution entitled “Activities of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime: Illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition, as well as consideration of the need to develop an instrument on the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in explosives”.

The Committee approved that draft without a vote.

The draft resolution on “Action against corruption” was taken up.

The Committee approved that resolution without a vote.

The Committee took up the draft resolution on “Traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls”. Additional sponsors to that draft were: Azerbaijan, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Philippines, Turkey, Malawi, United Republic of Tanzania, Guayana, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Oral drafting revisions to the text were introduced by the representative of the Netherlands.

That draft resolution was approved, as orally revised, without a vote.

The Committee took up the draft resolution on the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. Additional sponsors of that draft were: Barbados, Benin, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Granada, Japan, Latvia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Panama, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, South Africa, Armenia, Ukraine, Equatorial Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Liberia, Bulgaria, Malawi, St. Vincent, Burkina Faso, Guyana, Myanmar, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo, Kenya, Haiti, Guinea, Nicaragua and Uganda.

The representative of Norway made oral drafting revisions to that text.

The Committee approved that draft resolution, as orally revised, without a vote.

Statements

CRAIG LAWRENCE (Jamaica) said he was baffled by the lack of interest in the Third Decade on combating racism as indicated in the Secretary-General’s report. It certainly could not be because the world was brimming with brotherly love. It could not be because the issue was too complex and it was better to keep the world’s people segregated, because interaction between groups was necessary since isolationism and xenophobia were precursors to racism. Maybe it was because of embarrassment that at the cusp of the twenty-first century, racism still existed. Whatever the reason, it was clear that the only way to address the problem was to acknowledge it and work toward its solution.

Racism had been at the heart of some of the most heinous crimes against humanity, he continued. The belief that people different from oneself were less deserving of respect, basic freedoms or even life itself was at the heart of racism and it was based on ignorance and fear. The fundamental principles of the United Nations were based on equality among States and by extension, equality among peoples. The Secretary-General’s study on economic factors in racism would be important in showing that the question of economic opportunities was inseparable from issues of justice, good governance and human rights. The face of racism was changing with the Internet. The media and Internet industries must share responsibility for the misuse of the powerful tools they commanded. He welcomed the conditional offer by South Africa to host the conference on racism and urge all States to ensure that the necessary resources were secured for it.

ANDRE ERDOS (Hungary) said the European Union paid particular attention to issues of racism and discrimination. Any country contemplating membership was subjected to the most rigorous examination about its attitude. The danger of xenophobia was a problem in Europe, as the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights had pointed out in a number of specific cases, including in his own country. The Roma numbered about 5,000 among a total of 10 million people. The attacks on them created serious political problems, as did their segregation in towns. The social integration of that population could not be achieved in the short term.

Legislative and administrative changes had been made to ease the situation, he said and enumerated examples. A number of consultative bodies had been set up to be in contact with the Gypsy and Roma communities and the Roma were being integrated into decision-making. A global approach to ending prejudice was needed in Europe, with attention paid to differing national problems and needs. The Europe of tomorrow needed to be both unified and diversified. His country had been pleased with the visit of the Special Rapporteur and would implement his suggestions. The proposed world conference on racism was very welcome.

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