Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Third Committee

36^th Meeting (AM)

THIRD COMMITTEE HEARS CALLS FOR INCREASED EFFECTIVENESS

IN OPERATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES

Five Draft Resolutions Introduced

On Women’s Issues, Self-Determination, Racial Discrimination

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today heard calls for increased effectiveness in the operations of the human rights treaty bodies and their reporting requirements, as it continued its consideration of human rights questions and the implementation of human rights instruments.

Inadequacies in the existing reporting and reviewing mechanisms had eroded the system’s overall ability to effectively improve human rights situations around the world, delegates said, highlighting the need for better coordination among the treaty bodies and for streamlining reporting procedures.

Harmonizing the working methods of the treaty bodies and standardizing their varied reporting requirements would do much to overcome the shortcomings of the current system, said the representative of the Czech Republic.  Those changes could help eliminate duplication in the drafting and consideration of reports of States parties to the various human right conventions.  Moreover, the non-reporting by States parties, which also seriously undermined the credibility of the entire system, could be addressed by making technical assistance available in order to assist States to cope with their reporting obligations.

The representative of Viet Nam stressed the need for increased cooperation between treaty bodies and States parties, with the States parties’ reports serving as the basis for constructive dialogue.  There was also a need for increased transparency and objectivity in the clarification and use of information from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), she said.

The representative of Australia, speaking also on behalf of Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Chile, said it was critical that the human rights treaty bodies operated with maximum effectiveness, since their dialogue with States parties provided the basis for achieving improvements in human rights situations at the national level.  She encouraged support for the bid of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for additional resources, particularly those elements that would strengthen support for the human rights treaty bodies.

The growing complexity in the human rights machinery, and the corresponding burden of reporting obligations had strained the resources of Member States and the Secretariat, said the representative of China. 

His Government supported the proposals of the Secretary-General for better coordination among treaty bodies, the consolidation of reports, and close cooperation between treaty bodies and States parties to deepen mutual understanding.

Government representatives also highlighted the intrinsic link between human rights and development.  The right to development was also a basic human right of all peoples, said the representative of Libya, emphasizing that the protection of human rights also meant freedom from hunger and poverty.  The representative of Bangladesh said development in any society could only take place within a matrix of democracy and human rights.

Also addressing the Committee today were the representatives of Croatia, Myanmar, Republic of Korea, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Draft resolutions were introduced today on issues related to women and girls, on racism and xenophobia and on the rights of people to self-determination.

The representative of Morocco introduced draft resolutions on the future operation of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (and on the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance and the implementation and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action).

Draft resolutions on the girl child and on the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination were also introduced by the representatives of Namibia and Pakistan respectively.  The representative of Egypt introduced a draft resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Monday to continue its consideration of human rights questions and the implementation of human rights instruments.

Background

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) will continue its consideration of human rights questions and the implementation of human rights instruments.

For further background information please see press release GA/SHC/3760 of 6 November.

Introductionof Draft Resolutions

Introducing a draft resolution on the future operations of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) (document A/C.3/58/L.36), the representative of Morocco, on behalf of the Group of 77, China and Mexico, said that progress had been made by the working group on the future operations of the Institute.  Nevertheless, several recommendations of the working group had not been implemented, including the appointment of a director for the Institute.  The draft resolution reiterated its request to the Secretary-General to appoint a director as soon as possible.  He said the draft also urged Members States to make voluntary contributions to the Institute in order to ensure its effective functioning. 

The representative of Namibia introduced a draft resolution on the girl child (document A/C.3/58/L.25/Rev.1).  She said the girl child remained a victim of discrimination.  Such discrimination often involved the denial of opportunities granted to boys, as well as being subject to harmful cultural practices.  The draft urged States to implement legal reforms to protect the human rights and freedoms of the girl child, as well as to promote gender equality in all fields.   

A draft resolution on the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination (document A/C.3/58/L.31) was introduced by the representative of Pakistan.  He said the right to self-determination was central in the United Nations Charter and had helped millions of people find freedom from colonialization, apartheid and foreign occupation.  Regrettably, in many parts of the world, such as Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir, that right remained unfulfilled.  It was hoped that the draft resolution would be adopted by consensus. 

Introducing another draft resolution, this time on the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related intolerance and the Comprehensive Implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (document A/C.3/58/L.34), was the representative of Morocco on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.  The draft reiterated the will of member States to ensure the total elimination of racism and racial discrimination.  It further emphasized the responsibility of States to combat such phenomena.  He said the draft urged States to accede to human rights instruments aiming to combat racism.  

Finally, the representative of Egypt introduced a draft resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination (A/C.3/58/L.35), saying that his delegation was both honoured and saddened to introduce this draft.  Presenting the draft resolution year after year implied that the Palestinian people were still not enjoying the right to self-determination.  The text was exactly the same as last year, since it had the same message.  The message was that the Palestinian people had the right to enjoy this fundamental right. 

Statements on Human Rights

DARKO GOETTLICHER (Croatia) said the eradication of the practice of torture in the world was one of the major challenges facing the United Nations, especially as the world became increasingly affected by conflict and violence.  As a party to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, his country attached great importance to this issue and remained committed to preventing and punishing every act of torture.  As a long-standing supporter of the Protocol to the Convention against Torture, Croatia urged other States that had not yet done so to sign the Protocol as soon as possible.

He noted that Croatia’s penal code defined torture and other degrading treatment in correctional institutions as a crime.  There were independent bodies overseeing conditions in prisons, including the courts, the General Ombudsman Office, the Red Cross and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  The General Ombudsman at a recent meeting had expressed high regard for conditions in Croatian prisons.

KYAW WIN (Myanmar) said because of the rapidly deteriorating political situation in 1988, the present Government had been compelled to assume State power in order to save the country from the brink of absolute anarchy.  From that time onwards, the Government had continuously strived to fulfil the fundamental rights of its people to essential basic needs, such as sufficiency of food, clothing, shelter, education and health care, and to promote social progress of the nation.

On the other had, aware that many of the allegations of human rights violations were originating from areas where armed insurgencies had been raging for forty years, the Government had also made it a priority to negotiate and secure ceasefire agreements with over 90 per cent of armed ethnic groups.  The current allegations of human rights violations were now emanating only from areas where faltering armed insurgencies had, in desperation, been resorting to negative propaganda campaigns in collusion with their mentors from abroad.

Decades of armed conflicts and guerrilla warfare had not only left many rural parts of the country devastated and underdeveloped, but also uninformed about the fundamental principles of human rights.  He said the Government was undertaking several initiatives to address that situation.  In terms of education and health, the Government had devoted much effort and resources to control major epidemics, including HIV/AIDS.  It must, however, be noted that sanctions and negative economic measures imposed by certain western powers had not been helpful in the control of diseases afflicting the population.

KI-HWAN KWEON (Republic of Korea) said that securing the universality of the major human rights instruments must be the primary task of the international community.  It was imperative that the effective implementation of the principal human rights treaties be a central part of strategies to promote and protect human rights.  In this regard, he was pleased to note that there had been steady progress towards the goal of universal ratification of the principal human rights instruments.

Providing support to countries for national human rights capacity-building must be a primary strategy in strengthening human rights, he said.  More specifically, it was necessary to provide support for the strengthening of national human rights systems, ratification of the major instruments, integration of human rights into national development plans, reform of national legislation and institutions and the promotion of awareness of human rights in both, the implementation and reporting processes.

He said the Republic of Korea was party to the six core human rights instruments.  These instruments were therefore fully binding on his Government.  Judicial and executive authorities, as well as all public entities must abide by the obligations under the instruments.  In addition, the Government made public its periodic reports to the treaty bodies, as well as the concluding observations and comments made by the treaty bodies upon review of the reports.

AMANDA GORELY (Australia), speaking also on behalf of Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Chile, said it was critical that the human rights treaty bodies operate with maximum effectiveness since their dialogue with States parties provided the basis for achieving improvements to human rights at the national level.  Her delegation was pleased with the significant steps towards reform of the treaty bodies that had been taken since last year.

She said Australia regarded the inter-committee meeting as an increasingly valuable forum for improving consistency in the system, so that it could operate as a coherent whole.  It welcomed recommendations made at the second inter-committee meeting in June for targeted periodic reports, greater harmonization of reporting guidelines and measures to address non-reporting.

She encouraged support for the bid of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for additional resources to be considered by the Fifth Committee during this General Assembly session, particularly those elements that would strengthen support for the treaty bodies.  The treaty bodies had done much in recent years to remove the backlog of reports awaiting consideration.  However, the problem of non-reporting continued to be problematic, with more than 600 reports more than five years overdue across the system.  There was much work yet to be done to reverse this trend, and Australia, Canada and New Zealand would continue to work with others to ensure that the right solutions would be implemented.

PHAM THI KIM ANH (Viet Nam) said her country was doing its best in meeting reporting obligations.  In the past three consecutive years, Viet Nam had successfully presented its second reports before four important mechanisms for Convention implementation:  The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on Human Rights, and most recently, the Committee on the Rights of the Child.  While the human rights treaty bodies were entrusted with the critical task of monitoring the implementation by States Parties of their obligations, the system was facing many challenges that were eroding its overall ability to effectively improve the human rights situation. 

She said many countries had already raised the issues of inadequacies in the existing reporting and reviewing mechanisms, such as the need for better coordination among different treaty bodies; reducing the burden to States Parties by combining reports or extending reporting periods; increasing cooperation between treaty bodies and States parties by stressing the primacy of States parties’ reports as the basis of constructive dialogue; and transparency and objectivity in the clarification and use of non-governmental organizations’ information.  Viet Nam welcomed and fully supported efforts to streamline reporting procedures and to better coordinate the work of the treaty bodies.

AHMED GZLLAL (Libya) said respect for human rights was essential to the Islamic Sharia.  The right to development was also a basic right of all peoples. Despite the international community’s great efforts, massive violations of human rights continued to take place in full view of the international community, and genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli army was of particular concern.

Moreover, many developing countries, especially in Africa, continued to see the right to development denied to them because of the situation of dependence and hegemony imposed upon them.  There was not sufficient commitment within the international community to the realization of development.  The protection of human rights also meant freedom from hunger and poverty, he stressed.  Development was not just an economic term alone but also meant building the capabilities of people.  It was impossible to separate social and economic rights from political and civil rights.

He said the imposition of sanctions for political objectives was also a serious violation of human rights.  Libya called upon States to put an end to blockades and embargoes and to renounce such policies.  The denial of human rights and basic freedoms could adversely affect social and political stability.  Libya also rejected the politicization by some countries of the human rights issue and the use of human rights to settle scores between countries in the form of political campaigns by some countries against others.  Human rights should be regarded as a purely human question and should not be used to achieve political gains.

GUO YANG (China) said that to date, China was a party to 19 international instruments on human rights, and it had implemented its treaty obligations in good faith and in a responsible manner.  That was demonstrated in its continued enactment and improvement of domestic legislation, and its regular submission of implementation reports to and its compliance with reviews by treaty bodies.  China had maintained good cooperative relations with the treaty bodies, and had won their full recognition for its progress in implementing the instruments. 

He said all reports contained the implementation practices prepared by the two special administration regions of Hong Kong and Macau, which showed that the Chinese Government, in accordance with the principle of “one country, two systems”, had vigorously supported the governments of Hong Kong and Macau in implementing the treaty obligations and safeguarding human rights. 

The reporting regime for States parties as set forth in the international human rights instruments was conducive to their effective implementation, he said.  However, attention must be given to the deficiencies in the existing reporting and review regime.  There was a growing complexity in human rights machinery, and the corresponding burden of reporting obligation strained the resources of Member States and the Secretariat.  China supported the proposals of the Secretary-General for better coordination among treaty bodies, the consolidation of reports, and close cooperation between treaty bodies and States parties to deepen mutual understanding. 

SHAMSHER M. CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said human rights were essentially linked to the practice of democracy, the pursuit of justice and peace, the respect for the rule of law, and the realization of the right to development.  There was much still to be done in transforming commitments into concrete actions to promote and protect human rights for all people. 

He said respect for human rights was deeply rooted in the history and society of Bangladesh.  Its Constitution guaranteed fundamental rights and equality of opportunity for all citizens, forbidding discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, caste, sex or birthplace.  

Development in any society could only take place within a matrix of pluralism, democracy and human rights, and Bangladesh was undergoing a positive societal transformation by adhering to those values and promoting human rights for all its citizens. 

Establishing global security must be grounded in promoting respect for human rights, he continued.  Terrorism undermined democracy, and Bangladesh was committed to furthering international efforts to develop a common approach for combating terrorism.  It was essential not to lose sight of international human rights standards in the fight against terrorism, as it was the absence of human rights that provided fertile ground for breeding terrorism. 

LUKAS MACHON (Czech Republic) said that harmonized working methods of the treaty bodies and standardization of their varied reporting requirements would be helpful in overcoming some of the shortcomings of the current system.  Those changes might help to eliminate duplications in drafting and considering the reports of States parties.  His Government welcomed the recommendation to allow State parties to submit to all treaty bodies an expanded “core document” which would contain the information of common interest, and to accompany such a core document with a focused treaty-specific report.  The Czech Republic shared scepticism expressed during the process of consultations regarding the possibility of one single report that would summarize the States’ adherence to the full range of international human rights treaties.

He said there were major shortcomings of the current treaty system which needed to be addressed; particularly the non-reporting by States parties, which serious undermined the credibility of the entire system.  That problem could be handled by making technical cooperation available in order to assist States to cope with their reporting obligations in the broader sense.  Another way could be the wider application of already existing practice of some treaty bodies to discuss the implementation of respective treaty obligations in the country even without submitting its report for a considerable period of time.  His Government would not see such a measure as a sanction against a State party; rather it was a last resort to monitor protection of human rights of individuals provided by a specific treaty, ratified by the State voluntarily, and to make recommendations for improvement of further implementation.  Such a measure, even not being foreseen in the treaties, would, in his view, be fully in conformity with their spirit and basic purpose.

MAKHDUMZADA BASIT BOKHARI (Pakistan) said Pakistan stood fully committed to promote and protect human rights in accordance with its international obligations and constitutional framework.  The Government had focused on promotion and protection of civil and political rights that would create a culture of respect for human rights.  In addition, the Government had devoted serious attention to rid the society of extremism and lawlessness, including the reform of religious schools (madrassahs). 

The Government and people of Pakistan, however, were working for the promotion and protection of human rights under extremely difficult circumstances.  For the past several years, Pakistan had been the target of a coordinated, well-organized and vicious campaign of terrorism inspired and sponsored by external forces.

He added that armed conflicts and foreign occupation were the principal causes of human rights violations.  The people of Jammu and Kashmir had been denied their inalienable right to self-determination and continued to face Indian occupation and suffered brutal repression.  In the past 15 years, Indian forces had killed over 80,000 Kashmiris, permanently disabled over 100,000, raped over 15,000 Kashmir women and had incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri youths, who were subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment.   To legitimize its occupation, India had used force and fraud through farcical and sham elections in Jammu and Kashmir. 

India, which was in grave breach of the United Nations charter, its resolutions and treaty obligations, must be persuaded through all the means at the disposal of the United Nations to secure proper accountability of its grave human rights violations and comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions, he concluded. 

AGUNG CAHAYA SUMIRAT (Indonesia) said that in the transition to democracy, one of Indonesia’s first priorities was to strengthen the protection of the human rights of its citizens.  It had adopted a national action plan that established a timetable for the achievement of concrete goals in ratifying and implementing international human rights instruments and in education and dissemination of information on human rights issues.

He said Indonesia had become party to a number of international human rights instruments and was harmonizing existing legislation with international conventions.  National legislation and international instruments could together guarantee the protection and promotion of human rights.  His country had made a great deal of progress but realized it must go further, recognizing that human rights initiatives had to be undertaken in accordance with national priorities, culture, custom and resources.  Indonesia was committed to both the international community’s efforts to combat terrorism and to respecting human rights.

* *** *