COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES GENERAL DEBATE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES GENERAL DEBATE

ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

Special Representative on Situation

of Human Rights in Cambodia Presents Report

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 7 April (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights this morning continued its general debate on economic, social and cultural rights, hearing speakers stress the importance of international cooperation for the realisation of these rights to counter the negative effects of globalization.

Country delegations underlined national efforts to ensure that all people enjoyed their economic, social and cultural rights.  The indivisibility of these rights on the one hand, and civil and political rights on the other hand was reiterated by many speakers who stated that the former set of rights continued to be given less attention both within the Commission and worldwide. They noted that the income gap between the richest and the poorest countries had significantly widened over the years, and the number of people living in absolute poverty in developing countries had been increasing despite unprecedented prosperity in the developed world. The inequitable functioning of the international system was bound to worsen global disparities and nullify national efforts for the realization of economic and social rights, they said.

The issue of the economic, social and cultural rights of the Iraqi people, and how the ongoing war in Iraq was destroying these rights, was raised.  And support was expressed for the adoption of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  The need to combat the feminization of poverty and to empower women was another issue that was stressed.

The Chairperson briefly opened agenda item 19 on advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights to hear Peter Leuprecht, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, present his report and say that as Cambodia was progressing on the road to democracy, it was hoped that this year’s elections would be held in better conditions than last year’s elections.  With regard to legal and judicial reforms, progress had been disappointing and slow.  Most of the benchmarks agreed between the Government and the donors in June 2002 had not been met by the agreed upon deadline. Land and forestry concessions were also a matter of serious concern.  He warned that if the destruction of the forests was not stopped, Cambodia would face a human and ecological tragedy which would affect not only the present generation but future ones as well.

Cambodia, speaking as a concerned country in response to the report of the Special Representative, said that the principal development policy of the Government and its effort in implementing projects with economic growth objectives and social uplift through poverty alleviation programmes constituted the foundation for the promotion of human rights.  He did not claim that human rights compliance and practice in Cambodia were flawless, but in fairness to the big effort undertaken to promote human rights, he asked for help in the spirit of the United Nations advisory services and technical cooperation.

Representatives from the following States and organizations took the floor this morning: Syria, Cuba, China, Viet Nam, Pakistan, India, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uganda, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, United States, Cameroon, Malaysia, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Norway, Cyprus, Switzerland, Iraq, World Health Organization, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UN Habitat, World Bank, Holy See, United Nations Development Programme, Kuwait, Food and Agricultural Organization, Yemen, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Serbia and Montenegro, Egypt, Botswana and Mongolia.

The following non-governmental organizations also took the floor: International Commission of Jurists (joint statement with Amnesty International), Cuban Women Federation (joint statement with Women's Democratic International Federation), Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (joint statement with Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood), International Federation of University Women (speaking on behalf of others organisations), International Movement ATD Fourth World (joint statement with International Council of Women, International Federation of Social Workers), and Human Rights Advocates (joint statement with Earthjustice, and International Human Rights Law Group).

The Commission today is holding an extended meeting from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a break between 1 and 2 p.m.  When the Commission resumes its work at 2 p.m., it will continue with its discussion on economic, social and cultural rights.

Presentation of Report on Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia

PETER LEUPRECHT, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, said that the atmosphere in the country was tense after the anti-Thai riots and there had been some new assassinations.  As Cambodia was progressing on the road to democracy, it was hoped that this year’s elections would be held in better conditions than last year’s elections.   There should be no threats, no intimidation, no violence and no vote buying. With regard to legal and judicial reforms, progress had been disappointing and slow.  Most of the benchmarks agreed between the Government and the donors in June 2002 had not been met by the agreed upon deadline.  Regrettably, there was little public consultation in the law making process.  Moreover, when laws were adopted, they were frequently not enforced.  A legal aid system and a juvenile system should be established.  There was a strong need for improvement of prison conditions.

Mr. Leuprecht said that land and forestry concessions were a matter of serious concern.  The drawing of the lines for these conditions seemed to have occurred without concern for the people who lived there.  The concessions negatively affected the lives, the livelihood and the human rights of the people.  If the destruction of the forests was not stopped Cambodia would face a human and ecological tragedy which would affect not only the present generation but future ones as well.

Report of Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia

Under agenda item 19 on advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights, there is the report of Peter Leuprecht, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, on the situation of human rights in Cambodia (E/CN.4/2003/114) in which the Special Representative reports on his seventh mission to the country which took place from 12 to 19 November 2002.  The Special Representative lists major developments and human rights issues of concern in reference to judicial reform, impunity, prisons, elections, land and forestry issues, housing, trafficking in human beings, asylum-seekers and reporting obligations.

Among his conclusions and recommendations, the Special Representatives urges donors and the Government to adopt policies for economic development and poverty reduction that safeguard and take into full account the human rights of Cambodia's people, adopt a participatory approach and give a voice to the poor.  He says that overall structural judicial reform is essential.  An independent board of inquiry should be established to assess why mob attacks occur and how to prevent them.  The Government should undertake a review of all land concession contracts and their implementation, and consider using its legal right to revoke contracts where the provisions of Cambodian law and the requirements of the contracts themselves have been violated.  The Government should also take adequate measures to alleviate the problems of security, poor water, sanitation, and health and education facilities associated with landlessness.  And it should continue to combat trafficking in human beings by properly educating law enforcement officers and by strengthening the implementation of the law.

Response of Concerned Country to Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Situation in Cambodia

SUOS Someth (Cambodia), speaking as a concerned country, pointed out the new reality of human rights in Cambodia from the Cambodian perspective as food for thought for the Commission.  The Special Representative was thanked for the report, which in general struck more the deja-vu issues than concrete solutions.  The principal development policy of the Government and its effort in implementing projects with economic growth objectives and social uplift through poverty alleviation programmes constituted the foundation for the promotion of human rights.  The progress in these areas was well known to all the members of the donor community who, at the Consultative Group meeting in June 2002, had expressed their support by extending substantial assistance.  The report before the Commission paid lip service to what had been achieved in various fields from socio-economic development to legal and judicial reforms.  There was peace and stability, and economic growth of over six per cent at a difficult time when countries in the region suffered an economic slow down. 

He did not claim that human rights compliance and practice in Cambodia were flawless, but in fairness to the big effort undertaken to promote human rights, he asked for help in the spirit of the United Nations advisory services and technical cooperation.  One could correctly ask where the Commission and its instruments had been when human rights principles had been trampled under the feet of Khmer Rouge.  There was no need to generalise a problem or issue as the whole country's problem.  The report painted a dark picture of human rights in Cambodia, something sounding somewhat like the Wild West and this kind of approach was confrontational in nature.  It was counterproductive and distracted from the objectives called for under agenda item 19.  It would be a case of making a mountain out of a mole if one was to compare the Cambodian human rights situation with that existing in countries regarded as having high standards of democracy and respect for human rights.     

General Debate on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

HUSSEIN ALI (Syria) said that the market economy was no longer enough to satisfy the greed of some people which was why they had invented “the blood economy”, with a basic principle saying that the value of a barrel of oil was superior to the value of a barrel of blood.  That was why these people had started the destruction of Iraq.  These people were killing children for money, they were attacking markets.  The dignity of the United Nations, religious authorities and humanity was being insulted.  The Iraqi people were not the only victims of the war.  The whole of humanity was a victim of the war, as were international law and the United Nations.  Citizens of countries participating in the war were the first victims of the war because they were paying money and blood for a war which was not theirs.  What was seen on the CNN and BBC was not everything in this dirty war.  The world was controlled by an empire with a huge destruction power and it was planning the lives and deaths of people on the planet.

JORGE-ALBERTO FERRER RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said that Cuba regretted that some Rapporteurs had once against reiterated the persistence of financial difficulties and inappropriate support by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that prevented them from thoroughly fulfilling their mandates.   The full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights was not a reality for millions of people both in the North and the South.  This issue had also had a real negative impact on civil and political rights because the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelationship between both categories of human rights was not a mere theoretical political statement, but a mutual objective, a direct and inexorable interrelation which was still an unmet challenge.  Every year many persons were deprived of their right to life - without which no other rights could be enjoyed - due to famine and preventable or curable diseases, rather than due to all the violations of civil and political rights occurring in the world.  Those millions of people, who died every year, were ignored by the so-called free and independent press and were not mentioned in the speeches of the countries of the North. 

How many people would have to die in this silent genocide so that this Commission and the international community paid attention to this holocaust and, consequently, took measures to put an end to it?  Although the primary responsibility of each government in the realisation of human rights was obvious, the responsibility of the international community, especially that of developed countries and other actors such as the financial and trade institutions and transnational companies, could not be overlooked in the realisation or denial of these rights.  

CONG JUN (China) said that rapid globalization had brought about both challenges and opportunities to the economic development of all countries and peoples' full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.  There were now ever-increasing contacts and interdependency among countries.  Without the economic growth of the developing countries, the developed countries would lack a solid basis for their development.  Most of the world's population lived in the developing world today.  In the absence of achieving the economic, social and cultural rights of the developing countries, it was hardly possible to talk of achieving such rights worldwide.  Economic globalization should allow for the common prosperity for all countries and should bring benefits to all peoples.  The developed countries should take a long and visionary view by adopting practical steps to provide the necessary assistance to the developing countries.

China was a developing country with 1.3 billion people.  Since China had adopted its reform and opening-up policy in 1978, there had been enormous progress in economic, social and cultural development.  It was on that basis that the sixteenth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party had set forth the goal of building a well-off society in an all around way.  According to that strategic blueprint, China's total Gross National Product would be quadrupled by the year 2020 over that of 2000.  The Chinese Government and people were determined to realize that lofty goal.  By the year 2020, the economic, social and cultural rights of the Chinese people would be further respected and protected.

HOANG BICH LIEN (Viet Nam) said that human beings were entitled to be free from fear and from want.  In the current circumstances of continued inequality in international relations and unevenly distributed benefits of globalization, the developing countries had suffered most.  Some 20 per cent of the richer countries owned up to 80 per cent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), whereas 20 per cent of the poorest possessed just 1 per cent.  In developing countries, poverty continued to be the most pervasive factor that violated human rights.  Development and poverty alleviation should be accorded with high priority on both national and global agendas.  The right to development should be recognized and supported with concert programmes of action.  The developing countries needed to be given favourable conditions and assistance in their efforts for development and international economic integration, while just and healthy international economic and trade relations were to be established.

Viet Nam had been trying hard, from the devastations and sufferings of war, to promote the people's living conditions and their human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights.  The Government's consistent objective was to build Viet Nam into "a strong and prosperous country and a just, democratic and advanced society".  Over the last 17 years of renovation, Viet Nam had recorded important achievements in all fields, especially in improving the well-being of the people and in building a State based on the rule of law.  Within the last ten years, the country's GDP had been doubled; and economic growth had been maintained at a fairly high rate of around 7 per cent annually in consecutive years.

FARRUKH IQBAL KHAN (Pakistan) said that the Government was making an effort to improve the life of the common man.  Targeted national policies in health, education and employment had been linked to the overall strategy for poverty alleviation, adult literacy and universal primary education; measures had also been taken to eliminate child malnourishment, provide clean water for all and reduce child and maternal mortality.  Recent global events had underlined that the twenty-first century would be appreciably different from the world that was known and cherished.  The most daunting challenge, especially for the weak and the undeveloped, was to counter the erosion of their sovereignty and the narrowing of their decision making power in economic, social and cultural spheres. 

A badly managed globalization and skewed international rules, especially those concerning trade, had resulted in grinding poverty and striking inequalities contributing to the violation of the most essential human right – the right of every individual to a sustainable livelihood, qualitative health, food security and secure employment.  The inequitable functioning of the international system was bound to worsen global disparities and nullify national efforts for the realization of economic and social rights.  Progress towards the achievement of the goals of the Millennium Declaration, which had set the stage for reducing global disparities, was dismal.  The continuing recession, simmering international conflicts and the rapidly changing global economic architecture had kept vast portions of the population in the debilitating grip of poverty.

RAMANATHAN KUMAR (India) said it was inconceivable that some developing countries, including from India's part of the world, had not yet acceded to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and that these countries continued to deny, for narrow and self-defeating political purposes, the most favoured nation trading status to fellow members of the same regional group. Economic, social and cultural rights could best be pursued only in open, free and democratic societies.  The Constitution of India contained a chapter which had given recognition to this set of rights even before the adoption of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  And in a series of landmark  judgements, the Indian Supreme Court had ordered that "directive principles" must be read into the fundament rights granted to citizens. The Indian Parliament had passed an Act in 2002 requiring free and compulsory education for children from 6 to 14 years of age.

Unfortunately, the evolution of multilateral trading institutions had not kept pace with the challenges of the twenty-first century.  Since its inception, the World Trade Organization had failed to deliver promised gains from trade integration.  The requisite resources to developing countries and the creation of a conducive international environment for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights was a joint responsibility.

VLADIMIR GONZALEZ VILLAPAREDES (Venezuela) said that the international community had attached great importance to economic, social and cultural rights and to the universal notion of human dignity.  The Venezuelan Constitution of 1999 had incorporated a provision that protected human rights as enumerated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  Although  economic, social and cultural rights were protected Constitutionally, the economic recession and the implementation of a programme of structural adjustment had affected the State's capacity to fully discharge its obligations.  However, the Government had continued to implement its National Plan of Human Rights in guaranteeing economic, social and cultural rights together with the other human rights.  The right to food, education, health and social security were also made part of the essential human development plan and they were associated with civil and political rights.

For the Government of Venezuela, extreme poverty and social exclusion constituted a violation of human dignity, and consequently, the immediate adoption of urgent measures to eliminate them at the national and international levels was necessary.  The poverty eradication strategy needed efforts not only at the national but also at the international level.  The early adoption of the draft optional protocol to the International Covenant was also essential.  Venezuela supported the establishment of a Global Health and AIDS Fund.

RUBEN RAMIREZ LEZCANO (Paraguay) said that it was in favour of the adoption of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The Government of Paraguay was committed to ensuring the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights for all the population.  Particular attention was accorded to the right to education and health. According to human development index of the United Nations Development Programme, Paraguay was in a middle level as regards human development.  In recent years, economic growth had dropped sharply, from 2.9 per cent between 1990-1995 to 1.7 per cent between 1996 and 2001. The UN report on human development indicated that unemployment stood at 15.9 per cent in 2001/2002. The report also stated that poverty affected 41 per cent of the population in rural areas. Despite difficult economic and financial conditions, Paraguay had managed to reduce illiteracy among the population.  Life expectancy had also been increased to 69.9 years and the rate of maternity and infant mortalities was decreased.  However, full realization of economic, social and cultural rights came up against protectionism and unfair treatment in international trade and globalization. International assistance and cooperation were essential to establishing a more equitable international order that would allow for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. The international community must show solidarity. 

Arthur GAKWANDI (Uganda) said Uganda subscribed fully to the statement made on behalf of the African Group under this agenda item.  Uganda thanked the Special Rapporteur on the right to education for her report on her visit to the United Kingdom during which she had examined the role of education in peace-making in Northern Ireland.

Uganda believed education held the key to the realization of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.    Uganda had made considerable efforts to integrate this right into national life, and had introduced universal primary education in 1997.  Unfortunately for the first five years this right applied to a maximum of four children per family.  Now it was guaranteed to all children.  Currently there were plans to introduce free secondary education.  Uganda hoped it could count on the donor community in this task.  Uganda shared the reservations of the Special Rapporteur about the World Bank’s exclusive emphasis on primary education.  And it regretted that a number of developed countries were increasingly erecting barriers around their institutions of higher learning, most of them of a discriminatory nature.

Lazhar SOUALEM (Algeria) said that people living in poor countries still suffered the consequences of HIV/AIDS as a fatality, waiting for death in silence and total indifference.  For those people, human rights could be understandably summarized to only the right to survival.  The international community welcomed the Declaration on HIV/AIDS which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in June 2001.  The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, in cooperation with other concerned UN institutions, should adapt their respective mandates and missions so that their interventions, especially at the field level, met the urgency and the magnitude of the pandemic.

The external debt crisis had been analyzed since it started during the early seventies from the point of view of the impact of the structural adjustments programmes on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in the heavily indebted developing countries.  The Algerian delegation was concerned about the fact that the Commission's Working Group on the impact of the structural adjustment programmes had still not been able to start its work long after its establishment by the Commission.  It was high time for the Commission to take all the necessary measures as a matter of priority in order to permit the Working Group to fulfil its mandate.

Referring to the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing to the  occupied Palestinian territories, the speaker said that it portrayed the inhuman and degrading conditions in which the Palestinian people were constrained to as a result of the Israeli colonialization and the devastating policies and practices carried out in blatant breaches of international law and in contradiction with Israel's own duties under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Ranjith UYANGODA (Sri Lanka) said there clearly existed an imbalance as far as emphasis placed on economic, social and cultural rights was concerned.  Striking a balance between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights on the other was crucial to the promotion and protection of all human rights.  These two sets of rights were not mutually exclusive.  The importance of international assistance and cooperation could not be over-emphasized in the context of globalization and interdependence which made it impossible for developing countries alone to fulfill the economic, social and cultural rights of their own citizens. Any consideration of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would need to take into account the growing global imbalance between the rich and the poor countries.

The Government continued to take measures and implement programmes aimed at promoting and protecting the economic, social and cultural rights of all citizens. The Government-sponsored education, health and housing programmes had been an essential feature of the policy of successive government since independence.  The free health care services and the implementation of social welfare programmes by successive governments was proof of the importance given to health care as a component of basic human rights.

Khlaed Abou Aisha ALBUAISHI (Libya) regretted that in the three decades since the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had entered into effect, these rights had still not been given the same consideration as civil and political rights, either in the general debate of the Commission concerning the violation of human rights or in their worldwide implementation.  Developed countries were offering criticism but no help to developing countries which needed to overcome widespread poverty.  How could the international community ensure the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights for all when unjust wars and sanctions were imposed on developing countries which stopped these countries from being able to help their people.  The disparities between developed and developing countries continued to grow. Libya denounced research programmes which focused on problems affecting developing  countries while ignoring the poor who continued to die from curable diseases.

Richard J. WALL (United States) said the United States  was committed to providing the conditions for economic, social and cultural well-being, both at home and abroad.  The United States Government was the world’s largest contributor of funding to alleviate poverty and despair.  But the United States drew a clear distinction between economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights.  The former were aspirational; the latter were inalienable and immediately enforceable.

The question of justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights had plagued the Commission for some time now.  A claim that these rights were justiciable was a false promise because it could not be fulfilled.  The communist system had promised to fulfill them but had failed to deliver.  Experience had showed that the best way to provide them was to respect civil and political rights, practice democracy and the rule of law, and to have Governments accept responsibility for their actions.  The progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights could not be accomplished through justiciability or blame-shifting.

Jean Simplice NDJEMBA ENDEZOUMOU (Cameroon) said that his country, like many other developing countries, was faced with the phenomenon of poverty which continued due to the external debt and despite the implementation of the programme of structural adjustment.  The Government had been endeavouring to promote the economic, social and cultural rights of its citizens.  Despite its economic difficulties, the Government had adopted a national strategy for fighting poverty after consulting with different sectors of civil society and non-governmental organizations.  The implementation of the strategy required the mobilization of all sectors of the society, including the participation of the bilateral and multilateral partners of development.

Among the social issues which the Government was targeting to deal with as a priority was the fight against HIV/AIDS.  The fight against that pandemic, which affected 11 per cent of the population, was carried out by a national committee set up to that effect.  The monthly cost of treatment had been reduced from 565 Euros to the present amount of 30 Euros per person.  The international community should do all it could so that the patent-holding industries did not deprive patients from receiving low-cost medicines.  AIDS patients of the developing countries should have access to cheap medical products as part of their rights to health and survival.

Hussain RAJMAH (Malaysia) said that it was increasingly recognized that globalization had not benefited all countries.  The gap between the richest and poorest countries had significantly widened over the years; and the number of people living in absolute poverty in developing countries had been increasing despite unprecedented prosperity in the developed world.  The more vulnerable countries, especially the least developed countries that relied heavily on exports of certain primary commodities, had been negatively affected by globalization.  In order for globalization to benefit all, it had to be better managed. A new global order to correct the effects of market failures and avoid marginalization was required.  In this regard, the international community must seriously address a number of fundamental issues related to the international financial and trade systems so as to bring about a more equitable international environment.  As globalization deepened, the technological, financial and productive gap, including the digital divide, between the developed and developing countries was increasing.

Sipho George NENE (South Africa) speaking on behalf of the African Group, said globalization and its impact on the full enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, had for the last four years been one of the most topical themes of the Commission.  In the same vein, the Commission had expressed deep concern at the ever-widening gap between the

industrialized and the developing countries, which adversely affected the enjoyment of human rights in the developing countries.  In this context, international trade agreements must address developmental issues on a priority basis and therefore must be implemented in a manner allowing the full realization of the provisions on special and differential treatment thus enabling African countries to benefit from trade liberalization. 

It was evident that the countries of the South and especially the majority of African countries, a region with the largest number of least developed countries  (LDCs), were being, in light of their slim share of world trade, foreign direct investment and their very limited access to information and communications technologies, marginalized from the opportunities for economic growth and prosperity resulting from globalization.   In this context, Africa was the most severely affected by the adverse effects of the process of globalization.  Of course, such a situation might be analyzed in light of national contexts where deficits of democratic and managerial skills and governance performances were being more and more recognized and where also the primary responsibility of the African governments lay.  In doing so the New Partnership for Africa’s Development initiative was anchored on the determination of Africans to extricate themselves and the continent from the malaise of under development and exclusion in a globalizing world.     

ANTOINE MINDUA KESIA-MBE (Democratic Republic of the Congo) said that by elaborating the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), African leaders hoped to reduce extreme poverty by half before the end of 2015, according to the Millennium Declaration of 2000 made in New York.  The initiative had been supported by the traditional partners of the African continent.  One of the means to fight against extreme poverty was to increase public assistance to development which had been reduced in recent years.  By reducing their military expenditure, the developed countries should also devote 0,7 per cent of the GDP to development of the developing countries.  The debt servicing by the developing countries was also seriously affecting their efforts to development.  The debt should be either written off or reduced drastically.  In the international relations, a dialogue should replace measures of economic sanctions, which aggravated the extreme situation of some countries.

Because of the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Government was obligated to spend 80 per cent of its budget for war efforts, which had deprived the population of their economic, social and cultural rights.  The level of poverty was high.  In the occupied territories, the situation was even worse.  Congo had also been a victim of systematic and massive looting of its natural resources, which had further exacerbated the people's poverty situation.

Erasmo MARTINEZ (Mexico) said Mexico agreed with the international consensus of the Vienna Declaration that all human rights were universal and indivisible.  Mexico gave economic, social and cultural rights the same importance as civil and political rights.  Discrimination and gender inequality and fostering of the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by women was vital, and that included equal enjoyment by women of property rights; once again this year Mexico would be introducing a draft resolution on this topic.  Mexico was seeking to foster a humane economy with opportunities for all, and the country’s most vulnerable groups were being given priority, including through the country’s “Opportunities” programme.

Mexico firmly supported the move for an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  Obstacles to the full enjoyment of such rights were varied and complex and difficult to combat, especially when available resources were limited.  International aid was clearly a necessary factor.  Mexico supported the proposal for a Working Group to draw up a draft Optional Protocol.  If all wished for a just world, it also was necessary, along with consolidating democracy, to reduce social and economic inequality.

Sverre BERGH JOHANSEN (Norway) said the lack of social and economic rights was closely linked with poverty.  Lack of political rights and freedoms was, however, also both a cause and a consequence of poverty.  Socially and politically excluded people were more likely to become poor, and the poor were more vulnerable to social and political marginalisation.  Human rights empowered people and this was why a holistic, human rights based approach was at the heart of Norwegian development efforts.  This meant putting social and economic well-being and access to food, health and education at the very top of the national agenda.  It meant avoiding the creation of an abyss between the very rich and the very poor.  State Parties must also fully respect fundamental principles such as equality and non-discrimination and must pay particular attention to vulnerable groups and individuals.  Many countries were struggling with conflict, poverty and manifold development challenges.  The situation was often complicated even more by the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Addressing these issues was a responsibility all countries must fulfill together.   

POLLY IOANNOU (Cyprus) said that the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights in Cyprus had always been on top of the agenda of the Government.  However, that policy had been obstructed by the prolonged and systematic destruction of the rich and ancient cultural heritage in the northern 37 per cent of Cyprus' territory, which was occupied by Turkish troops.  Since its military invasion in 1947, Turkey had proceeded with its premeditated strategy to alter the demographic, cultural, religious and ethnic character of the geographical area it occupied, vandalizing centuries of civilization that constituted today universal cultural heritage. 

In violation to all relevant UN resolutions, churches and monasteries, as well as cultural and archaeological land marks reflecting the multi-cultural historical background of the island, continued to be looted and desecrated, with their contents illegally exported and sold.  The calls of the international community had thus far been contemptuously ignored.  These unique structures of human civilization had to be salvaged

      Jean-Daniel VIGNY (Switzerland) said the Commission had played an important role in better defining the contents and limits of economic, social and cultural rights.  The Special Rapporteur on the right to health had, for example, defined and planned the execution of his mandate in an admirable way.  Switzerland supported, in the battle against HIV/AIDS, efforts to made effective treatments affordable and available to all, and it applauded the engagement of certain authorities of the pharmaceutical industry, notably from Switzerland, to improve access to medicines through efforts to apply pricing differences.  It hoped that the pharmaceutical industry as a whole would follow the same path.   Switzerland was in favour of the initiative to bring about a better understanding of economic, social and cultural rights in a non-polemic, balanced way.  It supported efforts to legitimize the right to food, and hoped a useful, consistent document would be developed by the relevant Working Group.

It was important to strengthen the dialogue on bolstering efforts to ensure the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights for all.

      Khalil A. KHALIL (Iraq) said international instruments guaranteed people the right to enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights, which were interlinked with civil and political rights.  Any violation of these rights was a crime.  Iraq had accomplished important strides forward with regards to economic, social and cultural rights.  However, after the Gulf War and the ensuing 12-year-long embargo, Iraqis' economic, social and cultural rights had been systematically violated.  Since March of this year, the American and British administrations had pursued an illegal aggression affecting the very core of Iraqi society, including its infrastructure.  This had resulted in Iraqis being unable to enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights, including their right to health and their right to self-determination.  The Commission could not remain silent in the face of such violations of human rights. 

HELENA NYGREN KRUG, of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that WHO was committed to the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals.  Health was a means to reduce poverty and attain sustainable economic development.  That was one important reason why WHO supported them.  Another was because WHO regarded them as an important step in the progressive realization of the right to the highest attainable standard of health.  Access to essential drugs was one of the most cost-effective elements of modern health care and the Millennium Development Goals included access to essential medicines as one of the 17 health-related indicators.  Access to essential drugs also constituted an important element in the fulfilment of the right to health.  Today, over one-third of the world's population, and over half the population of the poorer countries in Asia and Africa still lacked access to essential medicines.  In over 30 countries, public spending on medicines was still less than two dollars per head per year on account of unaffordable prices and unreliable supply systems.

With globalization, free trade in goods and services, the development of increasing sophisticated health care technologies, and the revolution in information technology, many new issues had emerged in global health.  Of particular concern to WHO and its Member States was the complex relationship between innovation, intellectual property rights and public health.  International law provided an important framework for addressing all those issues.  The fundamental health right to the highest attainable standard of health should be at the centre of that framework.

RAFAEL OLAYA, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the transition from relief to development was vital, and had been the subject of a study by a UN inter-agency Working Group.  The International Federation was familiar with the challenges involved, through work in such countries as Afghanistan, Angola, East Timor, and Sri Lanka.  In each case, it had found that the key to successful transition was the building and empowerment of local capacity.

Also important was the fostering of free movement of information to provide grassroots communities with opportunities for involvement in decision-making; full deployment of resources and political will to battle against diseases, especially HIV/AIDS; and capacity building at all levels and in all parts of a country.  Attention to water, as noted by the Third World Water Forum, was vital, and more attention was needed to the development difficulties of small island developing States.

ANNA KAJUMULO TIBAIJUKA, of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, said almost 900 million people in developing countries lived in poverty without security of tenure and in conditions that could be described as life and health threatening.  Over half of these lived in urban slums.  Overcoming exclusion in human settlements and achieving the full and progressive realization of housing rights were key objectives.  The violation of women’s land, housing and property rights was unfortunately still widespread.  In some cases, discrimination against women was allowed by law and, in other cases, by practice.  While customs and traditions in many areas ensured that no member of a community was excluded from access to land, the modernization and individualization of land occupation and registration processes had in large parts of the world eroded this basis of solidarity.  It was crucial that the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on housing was extended and also that his recent study on women and adequate housing be further extended.

ELWYN GRAINGER-JONES, of the World Bank, said that the international community had come to recognize and acknowledge that human rights were of fundamental importance in its thinking and in its actions regarding health care and education in developing countries.  References to the right to education and health care were found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and other instruments.  A number of international and bilateral agencies had endorsed a human rights orientation in the provision of health care and education in developing countries.  The rights-based approach to human development taken by the World Bank had significant areas of coherence and overlap.  International human rights instruments offered guidance for participation and empowerment, two key elements of recent World Bank Development reports.  In light of the Millennium Development Goals in health, education and water, as well as poverty reduction, the Bank was particularly concerned with the nature and function of national and local governmental institutions as they provided for the provision of quality services for poor people.

DIARMUID MARTIN (Holy See) said the existence of extreme poverty had to be addressed within the context of globalization.  Inclusion should be a distinguishing mark of a human rights approach to poverty reduction, and a human rights approach to the fight against poverty must distinguish itself to foster policies which treated persons as creative subjects of their own lives, and which involved the extreme poor directly in the policy decisions that affected them and their families.  It was probably only through listening to the very poor that others could fully understand what the experience of extreme poverty entailed.  These people should not have their best interests decided by others, and in the past many international development programmes had failed because of their lack of sensitivity to local knowledge and local ownership.

One also could not talk about extreme poverty today without addressing the dramatic crisis of HIV/AIDS, especially in Africa.  Here again, it was vital to recognize those suffering from the affliction as persons, and to provide them with a voice, recognition and inclusion.

ODILE SORGHO MOULINIER, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said the respect of these rights made the human being a better economic actor; however this depended on both health and development.  UNDP had noted the important work of the High Commissioner on poverty alleviation and reduction.  The importance of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in this connection was stressed.  Among UNDP’s work, some objectives included the facilitation of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in accordance with national strategies; to help developing countries establish their reports in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals; to promote research activities; and to put in place a series of awareness-raising campaigns involving civil society and other players in the international community. 

Aisha M.S. AL-ADSANI (Kuwait) said that education was free of charge and compulsory for children through primary and secondary schools in Kuwait.  In 2001, Kuwait had been chosen as the headquarters of the open Arab university.  Kuwait was involved in combating illiteracy, whose level had been sharply reduced.   The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had commended efforts undertaken by Kuwait to combat illiteracy.  Kuwait has also taken numerous steps to promote the rights of disabled persons at the national and international levels.  The human dimension was a central element in the Government’s policy of income distribution.

PIERO CALVI-PARISETTI, of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that, as directed by the World Food Summit, the FAO had established an intergovernmental Working Group, with the participation of stakeholders, to elaborate, within a period of two years, a set of voluntary guidelines to support Member States' efforts to achieve the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.  The Working Group, at its first session, had held an innovative debate that enabled both State and non-State actors to contribute equally in a constructive way.

The Working Group's bureau had been entrusted with the task of preparing a first draft of Voluntary Guidelines in time for the next session of the Working Group in September.  The FAO Secretariat had established a close working relationship with the High Commissioner for Human Rights to service the Working Group.  The next step would be further consultations among States and stakeholders.  FAO hoped the Commission would continue to support the work under way.

Ali Saleh ABDULLAH (Yemen) said his country had made great strides in the field of economic, social and cultural rights, the provisions for which were covered in the laws of Yemen.  There had also been a significant increase in civil society participation in the drawing of development programmes.  His country was committed to fighting poverty since it was the worst form of deprivation and human rights violation.  More attention had been paid to the sector of human resources development, health, education and social security.  The Government was also trying to promote increased production in the agriculture sector.  The country was moving towards modernization through its poverty alleviation programmes and its economic liberalization in cooperation with international financial institutions as well as international organizations.

Kerstin HOLST of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that an important means to promote and protect human rights was human rights education.  Indeed, implementation of human rights was not possible without knowledge of human rights standards and the procedures and mechanisms for their protection.  For this reason, education on human rights and for human rights were among the main priorities of UNESCO.  The implementation of economic, social and cultural rights was of key importance in the struggle against poverty.  UNESCO’s efforts for the eradication of poverty were founded on the conviction that poverty was a flagrant denial of human dignity and a violation of human rights.  The struggle against poverty required, among with many other measures, research on its root causes. The recognition of the equal importance of all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social –was the very basis of advancing human rights.

Milorad SCEPANOVIC (Serbia and Montenegro) said that despite obvious progress, the country still faced numerous challenges and difficulties brought about by the transition process and, in particular, by ongoing substantial and comprehensive socio-political and economic reforms.  Nevertheless, democratic reforms would continue, with emphasis on the rule of law and on full protection of individual and collective human rights.  Serbia and Montenegro considered the implementation of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights particularly important, and it would rely primarily on its own potential, but it also counted on further support from the international community, the European Union, and the Council of Europe.

Serbia and Montenegro fully supported international initiatives to bolster economic, social and cultural rights.  The country's Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, recently established on a level of the State union, would make it possible for Serbia and Montenegro to have better coordination with relevant national institutions and the NGO sector.  Shortly, Serbia and Montenegro would submit their initial reports to human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

IHAM KHALIL (Egypt) said her country had reaffirmed, in its Constitution, the obligation of the State to achieve economic, social and cultural rights.  The Government tried to achieve these rights through a set of strategies, which also respected civil and political rights.  The efforts by the Commission to protect all human rights and the mandates given to the Special Rapporteurs on economic, social and cultural rights were appreciated and very important.  Special reference was made to the report of the Special Rapporteur on food, the situation in Africa and in countries suffering embargoes where food was used as a bargaining tool.  It was essential to elaborate a clear and precise text for the optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights since it was a fundamental issue in the structures that were being established in developing countries.  A balance must be struck between the rights and obligations with a view to strengthen equity, an essential element in international human rights. 

Charles T. NTWAAGAE (Botswana) said that it believed that every human being was entitled to an environment which allowed all people to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural interests.  It also believed in an international social order in which all rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights could be fully realized.  Botswana had undertaken various measures aimed at creating the necessary enabling environment for all sections of the population to have full enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, however, remained by far the greatest challenge to Botswana’s development efforts.  Some of the measures which had been adopted in order to mitigate the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic included making available anti-retroviral therapy and the prevention of transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother-to-child. 

Badarch SUVD (Mongolia) said the Mongolian Government had taken consistent measures to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and two years ago a National Human Rights Commission had been established to that end.  A National Human Rights Action Programme would soon be approved, but much remained to be done, especially in respect of economic, social and cultural rights.  The country's transition to a market economy had proved difficult, especially given socio-economic challenges at home and the impact of negative aspects of globalization.  Poverty and unemployment were still obstacles.

The Government had adopted a national programme on Good Governance for Human Security to combat these difficulties, and it was implementing a Health Sector Master Plan to improve the accessibility and quality of health services.  While Mongolia understood that primary responsibility for economic, social and cultural rights lay with States, it had to be understood that international cooperation and support played an essential role in helping developing countries achieve such rights for their citizens.

MR. SEDERMAN, of the International Commission of Jurists, speaking on behalf of Amnesty International, urged that the mandate of the inter-sessional open-ended ICESCR/optional protocol Working Group took into account a number of considerations.  The agenda must be focused and include the abundant experience and jurisprudence of national, regional and international bodies that employed adjudicative procedures related to violations of economic, social and cultural rights; a plethora of national and international conferences and instruments that had clarified the nature and scope of economic, social and cultural rights; and general comments, discussions, summary records, studies and reports from the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that had clarified various aspects of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  It was also important that an appropriate time frame was agreed upon.  Guided by the wealth of information available to the Working Group that would be established at the fifty-ninth session of the Commission to consider options regarding the elaboration of an optional protocol to the International Covenant, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists fully supported that the Working Group be empowered to negotiate the substantive text of an optional protocol.

MAGALYS AROCHA DOMINGUEZ, of Cuban Women’s Federation, said that women were among the most affected by structural adjustment policies, which deprived them of the most basic human rights, including the right to life, to food, housing, education, health, social services and development.  Globalization had negative economic and social impacts in the developing world and the absence of rights in the Third World was the outcome of the exploitation by developed countries. However, even in developed countries there were groups of marginalized people.  Some 60 million adults in Europe were hardly literate, for instance.  Sanctions, blockades and foreign occupation had negative impacts on the enjoyment of human rights and must be eliminated.  Economic collaboration should take into account the unequal development of countries.

BIRTE SCHOLZ, of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, in a joint statement with Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood, said 70 per cent of the 1.6 billion persons in the world who were inadequately or not housed were female -- that meant that almost one-third of the world's women were living in informal settlements, slums, squatter communities, or on the street.  Despite women's indispensable contribution to the world's development and progress, they were denied blatantly by law, custom and tradition of ownership, access to, and control over housing and land, and that contributed greatly to the feminisation of poverty.

In Uganda, women struggled for laws to protect ownership rights; in Nepal, women united to physically block bulldozers coming to destroy their homes; in Peru, women built themselves houses out of self-made bricks.  These were only a few examples of what women were doing on their own.  The international community and Governments must act as well on the need for women's full housing and property rights, and the Commission was urged to enforce Governments' obligations to provide and respect such rights for women.

TINA CAAMBA of International Federation of University Women speaking on behalf of others organizations, said one-third of the world’s households was headed by women.  As a direct consequence of women’s disadvantaged situation with regard to education, employment, reproductive rights, inheritance rights or land tenure and the various ways of discrimination and exclusion they experienced in their daily lives, most of these households belonged to the poorest segments of societies.  Neglect of girls’ and women’s access to lifelong education and training, to productive assets and to credit, not only deprived women and their families of income but also reduced the skill level of a nation’s human resources, limited national production and barred countries from being competitive in the global market.

The organizations also stressed the importance of developing a culture of tolerance and respect for diversity in a multi-cultural society.  There were indeed differences primarily biological and physical as in sex and age; anthropological as in ethnicity, culture, traditions; sociological as in gender, group or community relations; and in economic well being.  One could not use culture, tradition or religion as an excuse to inflict harm which violated women’s rights such as honour killing or female genital mutilation.  Societies must do away with impunity and other forms of violence against women because of their reproductive role. 

THIERRY VIARD of International Movement ATD Fourth World speaking on behalf of International Council of Women and International Federation of Social Workers, said that on many occasions the Commission had expressed its concern over the spread of extreme poverty across the world. Experience had shown that in order for long-lasting progress in the fight against extreme poverty to be achieved, it was not enough to focus on certain basic rights to which other fundamental rights would be subordinated.  On the contrary, it was necessary to implement policies that were based on all human rights.  The Commission was urged to continue its pioneering work on the issue by studying ways and means of establishing a partnership with the poorest members of society and the Sub-Commission was urged to continue its work on drafting a text on human rights and extreme poverty on the basis of the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights

TINAROSE CAMBA of Human Rights Advocates, Inc. speaking on behalf of Earthjustice and International Human Rights Law Group, said it was imperative to regulate the activities of multinational corporations, particularly in the developing world.  The adverse effects of the movement of toxic wastes by such firms included when such wastes were moved to developing countries from countries where such toxic wastes were banned; this was occurring in the shipping of obsolete computers from North America to China.  Another concern was when

industries moved to nations where those responsible for the production of toxic wastes might be able to escape responsibility for their cleanup.  This had happened when an American-owned company had run a lead smelter in Mexico, and then, when it was closed for environmental damage, had escaped responsibility by retreating over the US border and avoiding arrest warrants.

Multinationals also were privatizing basic services, such as water and electricity, in the developing world; the World Bank had encouraged such privatization in Bolivia and South Africa, and the result had been soaring prices, leaving many without access.  The Commission should encourage international financial institutions such as the World Bank to ensure that the right to life, health and a healthy environment was given due attention in international accords.

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